208 A MANUAL OF BACTERIOLOGY 



yellow films with irregular borders. On glycerine 

 agar-agar they are said to have developed as small, 

 grey, munded, isolated points, usually at the end of 

 ten days or a fortnight ; secondary cultivations, 

 however, made their appearance at the end of forty- 

 eight hours, and after the first few cultivations the 

 microbe could be grown on serum or on ordinary 

 gelatine and agar-agar, but much more slowly than 

 when glycerine had been added.' 



Leprosy, or elephantiasis grecorum, is a specific 

 disease, characterised by the slow development of 

 nodular growths in connection with the skin, 

 mucous membranes, and nerves, and by the super- 

 vention of ansesthesia, paralysis, and a tendency to 

 ulcerative destruction and gangrene. 



Although prevalent in the Middle Ages, leprosy 

 is very rare in Europe at the present day, being 

 confined to isolated areas on the shores of Spain, 

 Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and in Italy, 

 Kou mania, Hungary, and Greece, where it is still 

 endemic. It is, however, common in Egypt, 

 Morocco, Cape Colony, Madagascar, Southern Asia 

 (including Japan), Brazil, United States of Colom- 

 bia, Guiana, Argentina, New Zealand, and in certain 

 islands of the Pacific Ocean (especially Hawaii). 



In the United States of Colombia leprosy first 

 made an appearance in 1646, and was introduced 

 into that country from Spain. It seems to have 

 spread slowly but surely throughout a great part of 

 the country during the succeeding two hundred 

 years; but since 1870 the increase in the number 

 of cases has been much more rapid, and within that 



