LEPROSY. 409 



Method of Babes. Preparations are stained in rosaniline hydrochlorate 

 in aniline water, decolorised in 33 per cent, hydrochloric acid, and after- 

 stained with methylene-blue. 



Stamping-out System. The history of leprosy in the British 

 Islands during the Middle Ages, and the conditions under which it 

 both increased and declined, have been discussed by several writers. 

 A large number of institutions of a charitable and ecclesiastical 

 character were established in endemic areas and were occupied by 

 the lepers either voluntarily, or compulsorily by means of the Act 

 De leproso amovendo. These institutions were to a very small extent 

 a means of segregation. According to Dr. Newman the disease, 

 which had reached its zenith about the twelfth or thirteenth century, 

 began to decline from that time owing to " a general and extensive 

 social improvement in the life of the people, to a complete change 

 in the poor and insufficient diet (which it is evident consisted far 

 too largely of bad meat, salt, putrid and dried fish, and an almost 

 entire lack of vegetables) and to agricultural advancement, improved 

 sanitation and land drainage." Of all the unfavourable conditions 

 it would appear that food in some way was especially associated with 

 the cause of the disease, either by introducing the bacillus or by 

 rendering the tissues a suitable soil for its reception and development. 



In other countries segregation has been attempted voluntarily 

 or compulsorily, but it has never been completely carried out. There 

 can be very little doubt that the presence of a leper in a healthy 

 community is no greater source of danger than the presence of 

 an individual suffering from tuberculosis, but, for other reasons, 

 voluntary isolation should be carried out as completely as local 

 circumstances will permit. 



The Leprosy Commission in India recommended 



(a) That the sale of articles of food and drink by lepers should 



be prohibited, and that lepers should be prevented from 

 following certain specified occupations. 



(b) That the concentration of lepers in towns should be discouraged. 



(c) That Leper Asylums should be established in which lepers 



might live voluntarily. 



(d) That Leper Farms scattered over the country should be 



encouraged. 



(e) That the few children who are born of lepers should be 



removed to Orphanages. 



They concluded that by means of improved sanitation and good 

 dietetic conditions a diminution of leprosy will result. 



