74 



TlMEHRI. 



and relief within their walls ; whilst hundreds of others, it 

 is well known, do not enter but remain outside to mingle 

 with and contaminate their surroundings. A disquieting 

 answer truly is to be found in this fact ; but further 

 on in this paper it will be seen that not only is leprosy 

 on the increase in the colony, but that the increase has 

 been greatest in the last decade. Wherever the writer 

 goes he meets with lepers walking about among, and 

 mixing with, the people, may be in church, or in shops ; 

 and as the signs and symptoms of the disease become 

 better known, they will perhaps be more easily recognised 

 by the uninitiated. 



Before proceeding, it may be desirable to state briefly 

 some of the characteristics of leprosy as far as may with 

 propriety be done in the columns of this journal, in 

 order that we may have some idea of the more pro- 

 minent symptoms of one of the most loathsome mala- 

 dies the human race is subject to, compelling them, 

 unhappy mortals, ever to cry " Unclean ! unclean !" and 

 then to glance back for a moment at its past history, and 

 trace its introduction and gradual progress in this our 

 colony. 



For this purpose it will be only necessary to describe 

 two forms of leprosy : — I. The tubercular. II. The 

 anaesthetic. I. Tubercular leprosy, known also as the 

 lion-like disease, black leprosy, satyriasis, &c, is ushered 

 in by premonitory fever, and followed by an eruption of 

 excrescences called tubercles, hence its name. After a 

 time the latter come out over the face, ears, &c, distort- 

 ing the features, disfiguring the body, and invading the 

 air passages. After an interval this is followed by fresh 

 exacerbations of disease and successive crops of tuber- 



