Dr. Ainslie^s Observations on the Lepra Arabum. S9l 



by pressure over the heart itself; the whole frame is emaciated, the face 

 is frightful to behold, the voice sounds hollow as if from the tomb : the 

 hands and feet now, from long want of due nourishment, begin to give 

 way ; partially blistered-looking ulcerations taking place over their joints, 

 they gradually drop off, and so add helplessness to miseiy and long-pro- 

 tracted calamity. Soon after this stage, comes the last closing scene ; worn 

 out by lingering and hopeless wretchedness, dead almost to every feeling of 

 body as well as mind, the poor leper hastens to his grave : yet, cadaverous 

 as he is, he is not deserted in his expiring moments, but finds a humane 

 and charitable support from the more prosperous of his race. If a Pariah, 

 he is taken care of by those of the same rank till death comes to his relief: 

 if a Hindu or Muhammedan, he is cherished by the individual benevolence 

 of his sect or caste ; and having been conveyed to the vicinity of some 

 pagoda or mosque, breathes out his dying prayer on what he conceives to 

 be sacred ground ! 



I have been informed by my much respected friend Mr. H. T. Cole- 

 brooke, that the Lepra Arabum is supposed by the Hindus of Upper India 

 to be inflicted as a punishment for sins committed in this world, and that 

 any person dying of it is liable to a return of the disease in his next birth ; 

 an evil that may be averted by voluntary death, by which means former 

 crimes are expiated: the sufferer is born again, clean, and no longer subject * 

 to the same disorder. 



I have so far taken a view of the malady as it appears unchecked by any 

 medicine whatever ; it however will be found to vary according to existing 

 circumstances, to the peculiar constitution of the leper, and as it may or 

 may not meet with any other disorder in the habit. In poor people, who 

 are badly fed, who do not keep themselves perfectly clean, who may be 

 perhaps during the first stages of the complaint harassed with labour, and 

 perhaps unavoidably exposed to the vicissitudes of heat and cold — in such, in 

 fact, whose circulation must from a combination of debilitating causes, 

 become every day more languid, the lepra will soonest reach to its greatest 

 height ; but amongst the more affluent, whose means enable them to take 

 greater care of themselves in regard to diet and non-exposure to excessive 

 heat, it will prove more tardy in its progress, owing to the better preserved 



• See Ward's Hindoo Mythology, vol. ii. book 4. chap. ii. sect. 29. 



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