26 SINGULAR NATURE OF THIS LEPROSY. 



of hopeless misery which they used to present to visitors 

 was described to me by one of my companions as abso 

 lutely heart-rending. 



The disease is described as commencing its attacks by 

 discolouring the skin of the limbs, giving rise at times 

 to excruciating pains, fixing itself more deeply upon the 

 extremities, rendering insensible the feet and hands, 

 stiffening the joints, and gradually, by a species of dry 

 gangrene, causing the fingers and toes to drop off. It 

 attacks the face also, discolouring it, causing the features 

 to swell, and in some cases inducing a diseased and 

 ulcerated appearance, which is really frightful to look 

 upon. The origin of the disease is unknown, as is also 

 the time of its first appearance in the colony ; and as the 

 penalty for being attacked by it is separation from all 

 friends, and perpetual seclusion with fellow-sufferers, by 

 order of the Provincial Government, it is believed by 

 many to be much more widely spread among the French 

 population than it is publicly known to be. Some years 

 ago, in consequence of representations being made on 

 the subject to the Provincial Legislature, a commission 

 of the most eminent medical men in the province was 

 appointed to report upon the nature of the disease, and 

 the best means of curing or repressing it. The members 

 of this commission did not arrive at a unanimous opinion 

 as to the nature of the disease some regarding it, I 

 believe, as the true leprosy of the ancients, and others 

 as of venereal origin. But that it was incurable, and 

 might spread, was generally agreed ; and, therefore, that 

 the confinement of the affected in a secluded hospital was 

 a measure demanded by the public weal. The establish 

 ment of this hospital at Tracadi, and the removal of the 

 patients from an island in the Miramichi, where they had 

 formerly been confined, was the consequence. 



At the time of my visit, a little hope had been inspired 

 into the minds of the unhappy patients, through the 



