292 Dr. Ainslie's Observations o?i the Lepra Arabum. 



vigour of constitution : nor has it on those last-mentioned individuals by 

 any means so unsightly an appearance ; for though there are present, in 

 every instance, the affection of the nose, the altered voice, the clouded 

 colour, and that constant characterizing symptom the want of feeling in 

 the extremities, yet in such cases the joints sometimes do not fall off, 

 at all events not till a very late period of the malady ; and the skin on 

 the legs and arms does not put on the scurfy look in so great a degree, but, 

 though rough, furrowed, and shining, is kept comparatively smooth by 

 frequent bathings, and the external use of cocoa-nut oil. 



Mr. Robinson, in a valuable paper on Elephantiasis as it appears in 

 Hindusthan, and which may be found in the Medico-Chirurgical Trans- 

 actions, Vol. X., has described two varieties of the disease, which he thinks 

 are often confounded under the same name. The one he calls Ekphaiiliasis 

 Anaistltetos, the other Elephantiasis Tuberculata : the first, as the name 

 implies, marked by a want of feeling in the extremities ; the second, by 

 tubercles. I cannot say that I ever was led to believe that there were 

 two distinct varieties, though the malady no doubt assumes varying appear- 

 ances in different individuals, the natural consequence of age, peculiarity 

 of habit, mode of living, &c. &c. j and this much I can affirm, that 1 never 

 met with a single case of the genuine disease, which was not equally 

 distinguished by want of feeling in the hands and feet, and by tubercles. 



In tlie first volume of the Edinburgh Medical Transactions may be seen 

 a paper on this Lepra by Mr. Playfair, in which he particularly notices the 

 virtues of the maddr powder,* as a remedy for it. 



I have already expressed a doubt whether this lamentable disorder ought 

 to be considered as contagious ; and I at the same time assigned my reasons 

 for believing it to be hereditary : there is, however, another question which 

 naturally offers itself regarding it, and that is, whether it may occur inde- 

 pendently of constitutional predisposition. I confess that I am inclined to 

 be of opinion, that in most regions of the Torrid Zone it may be brought 

 on by a particular combination of causes, which I shall soon mention, 

 operating on a habit distinguished by certain peculiarities. Such instances, 

 however, amongst Europeans, we may safely suppose are extremely rare ; 

 and 1 cannot here omit noticing a singular fact, connected with leprosy ; it 



Powder of the bark of the root of the Asclepias Gigantea. 



I 



