482 Leprosy in India. [part ii. 



between male and female lepers under the sanction of those in charge of the 

 institution. In 29 of these marriages no children were produced ; 2 were fruitful to 

 the extent of two children each. 



In connection with this subject, a very interesting experiment is now in progress 

 at Almora. There are at present in the orphanage 12 children of lepers now or 

 formerly inmates of the Asylum. The total number of such children who have been 

 admitted into the orphanage is 14, but of these 1 has died, and another, a girl of 

 twenty-two, has now left the orphanage, is married and has children — healthy to all 

 appearances. Of the 12 remaining, 7 were born in the Asylum of two leprous 

 parents, 5, the offspring of one leprous and one healthy parent, were born in the 

 villages to which their parents belonged. Their ages range from 19 to 5 years; 

 their health and general condition is excellent, and as yet they show no signs of 

 leprosy. The experiment is as yet imperfect, but it is capable of affording very 

 valuable information if the future history of the children be carefully noted. They 

 have been removed from the surroundings under which the disease manifested itself 

 in their parents, have been well fed and carefully attended to, and their subsequent 

 history cannot but throw light on the extent to which the influence of heredity 

 can exert itself, or may be modified and kept in abeyance by ameliorated conditions 

 of life. 



10. — Practical suggestions. 



So far as our information goes, it appears then, that, even allowing for a certain 

 proportion of imported cases, any risk of rapid increase in the prevalence of leprosy 

 in Kumaon is not to be apprehended. We have no satisfactory evidence of 

 contagion and none of a rapid increase of cases due to hereditary influences. 

 Whilst, however, the prevalence of the disease remains as high as it is, there is 

 ample reason for determined effort to ascertain by what laws this prevalence is 

 regulated and by what practical measures it may be diminished. 



The means for affecting this can hardly be looked for in attempts at forcible 

 repression of the disease, such as the compulsory imprisonment of lepers in Asylums. 

 Quite apart from the objections founded on the tyranny involved in any such 

 measures, there are other serious and almost insurmountable difficulties in carrying 

 them effectually out. It would not be sufficient merely to confine those suffering 

 from developed disease, but all those who might in any degree be supposed to be 

 hereditarily disposed towards it, would have also to be secured. It would in truth 

 be even more important to secure the latter, for, from the present evidence there 

 appears to be only a very small number of children born to confirmed lepers. But 

 had all those predisposed to be secured, how and by whom could the existence of 

 predisposition be determined? In the case of hereditary predisposition, it is quite 

 uncertain for how long — for how many generations, the disposition may be transmitted 

 without giving any ostensible sign of its presence, but capable under certain circum- 



