Dr. Aixslie's Obsenations on the Lepra Arahum. 283 



strange, that neither Strabo nor Herodotus, so far as I can learn, makes the 

 least mention of it. Niebuhr,* in his "Travels in Arabia," speaks of the 

 Bohak (Alphos), Baras (Leiice), and Dzudham (Elephantiasis), as all 

 common amongst the Arabs. On Ceylon t such affections are but too 

 frequent. In the Island of Candia, leprosy was observed by Sonnini •,t 

 who seemed to think that it was the only contagious disease which the 

 inhabitants had, and that it was originally brought to them from Asia. In 

 the more remote parts of that quarter of the world, in China,§ in Sumatra,|| 

 all along the shores of the Malaya peninsula, the most piteous wretches 

 are often seen, covered with scurf, or deprived of their fingers and toes ; 

 and on the different islands,^ which constitute the Indian y\.rchipeIago, 

 similar sufferers are perhaps still more common. 



I shall now proceed to give some account of Elephantiasis, as it aj)pears 

 in our Eastern dominions. 



Sauvages has given perhaps the best nosological definition of the disorder : 

 " Facies deformis tuberibus callosis, ozoena, raucedo, cutis Elephantina, 

 crassa, unctuosa, in extremis artubus anassthesia." 



This, it will be seen, diflTers from Cullen's description in two essential 

 points : the latter author having omitted ozoena, which is a never-failing 

 symptom of the disease in its advanced stages ; and moreover calls it morbus 

 contagiosus, of which there are great doubts, notwithstanding the assertions 

 of the learned Darwin ; indeed, for my own part, after the most minute 

 inquiry, I am led to conclude that it is not a contagious disease ; and should 

 be further inclined to believe, with due deference to the high authority just 

 mentioned, as well as to Pierre Campet,^* Areta'us,\\ and Dr. TorvnejXX that 



* See Niebulir's Travels in Arabia, vol. ii. page 278. 



•)■ See Marsliall's Medical Topography of Ceylon, page 43. 



% See Sonniiii's Travels in Greece, page 396. 



§ See Dr. John Clarke's Observations on the Diseases of long Voyages, vol. i. page 128. 



II See Marsden's Sumatra, page 151. 



^ Leprosy is so frequent in those islands, that the Dutch were obliged, and we afterwards 

 followed their example, to allot a sm.nll island for the exclusive use of the unhappy sufferers; it 

 is called Lepers Island, and is near that of Saparoa, under the government of Amboyna. For 

 the frequency of the disorder in those islands, the reader is referred to Mr. Crawfurd's History 

 of the Indian Archipelago, vol. i. page 34. 



** See Maladies graves de la Zone Torride, page 290. 



■J-f Vide Aretaeus, lib. ii. cap. xii. 



XX See Towne's Treatise on West-India Diseases, page 190. 



Vol. I. 2 P 



