2O Introduction. 



fied form both of rubiola and variola, and this crossed with' 

 leprosy, the two poisons, as an epidemic, meeting each other 

 on the confines of their natural borders, Arabia and the 

 Nile, through the country of Ethiopia ; and as a hybrid of 

 germs, both arising out of hot climates, and of pure animal 

 origin ; like grafts upon particular stocks, under favourable 

 conditions, are far more fruitful than either scions, when left 

 to themselves. So when leprosy was grafted on a rubeoloid 

 germ, the latter of which retained its individual stamp the 

 most, an acute and wide-spread disease, of 'certain specialities 

 peculiar to both, was the result. 



In order to establish certain facts in relation to leprosy a 

 general outline of chronology is given from the time of 

 Abraham to the time of Christ. During part of this long 

 period reference is made to man's age being 70 to 80 years 

 of duration, from the time of the Egyptian Exodus, but 

 longer antecedent to that time. Next, that the first general 

 recorded epidemic which spread over the known world was 

 about 767 B.C. 



Again, that leprosy was always endemic in Egypt from 

 the earliest historical records to this day, but it spread into 

 Asia Minor several times before 767 or 750. That after 

 60 B.C. it spread not only in Asia Minor but also to Southern 

 Europe, as Italy and Spain. But from 750, or thereabouts,, 

 until 103 B.C., leprosy outside Egypt was apparently a 

 totally unknown disease, for which reasons are given why, 

 if it had been outside Egypt, it ought to have been found 



