CHAPTER VI 



LEPROSY 



History. This disease prevailed among the Egyptians as early as 

 2,400 years before Christ. The records show that it existed in India 

 and China at least 1,000 years B. C. Whether the word leprosy as 

 used in the Old Testament was confined to this disease or included 

 other loathsome conditions, has been a matter of dispute among 

 scholars and remains without definite settlement. Some say that the 

 Israelites became infected with this disease in Egypt and the claim 

 is made that on account of the prevalence of this disease among them 

 they were driven out of that country. The Persian wars apparently 

 led to its introduction into Greece, and with the Roman subjugation 

 of Greece it was diffused over Italy, in parts of which it had existed 

 long before this time. During the first and second centuries of our 

 era it became quite common in Italy and gradually spread over the 

 greater part of Europe. It had become so common and had awakened 

 so much apprehension in France in the sixth and seventh centuries 

 that the segregation of lepers was begun. 



With the general scientific awakening of the fifteenth and sixteenth 

 centuries, more attention was given to the restriction of this disease. 

 It is said that the number of leprosaria in France reached 1,500 and 

 that in the whole of Europe it was as great as 19,000. Lepers were 

 generally known as Christ's poor, and the leprosaria were under the 

 special care of the order of St. Lazarus, and were directed by priests, 

 who were themselves lepers. The attempt was made, and it must 

 have been on the whole successful, to segregate all lepers in these 

 institutions. When a leper went abroad he wore a peculiar garb and 

 at night he carried a bell. Recognized by these signs he was shunned. 

 During the seventeenth century the number of lepers in Europe rap- 

 idly decreased until the disease practically disappeared, "except on the 

 fringe of the continent." However, traces of it have continued, espe- 

 cially in Norway and parts of Russia. It has continued in Asia and 

 Africa. Whether the North American Indians or the Aztecs of 



