310 PERRY. 



IV. It is desirable that tlie healthy children of lepers should be separated 

 from their leprous parents as soon as possible and that these children should 

 remain under observation. 



V. An examination should be made from time to time of those who have lived 

 with lepers, by a competent physician. 



VI. All theories on the etiology and the mode of propagation of leprosy should 

 be carefully examined to ascertain if they accord with our knowledge of the nature 

 and the biology of the baeilus of leprosy. It is desirable that the question of 

 the transmissibility of leprosy by insects should be elucidated, and that the 

 possibility of the existence of leproid diseases among animals ( rats ) should receive 

 early study. 



VII. The clinical study of leprosy induces the belief that it is not incurable. 

 We do not at present possess a certain remedy. It is desirable, therefore, to con- 

 tinue the search for a specific remedy. 



For the purpose of comparison, the following are the resolutions 

 passed at the First International Conference on Leprosy at Berlin, 1897 : 



I. In all countries in which leprosy occurs in foci, or is widely distributed, 

 isolation is the best means of preventing the spread of the disease. 



II. The system of compulsory notification, supervision, and isolation, as 

 carried out in Norway, should be recommended to all nations possessing local 

 self-government and an adequate number of physicians. 



III. It must be left to the legally constituted authorities, after consultation 

 with the sanitary authorities, to determine the special regulation which must 

 be adapted to the special social conditions (of each country). 



With regard to the resolutions passed at the Second International 

 Conference, the original of No. II read as follows: 



"In view of the success obtained in Germany, Iceland, Norway, and 

 Sweden, it is desirable that these countries should isolate lepers, placing 

 them under such conditions of life as can be voluntarily accepted oy 

 them," but the members of this conference objected to the word "vol- 

 untarily" and passed the resolution as it stands in the paragraph 

 numbered II above. 



Another great advance was made when Sir Jonathan Hutchinson 

 proposed as an amendment to the resolutions that as the papers and 

 discussions were presented principally in the German and French 

 languages, with which probably many of the members of the conference 

 were not familiar, it would be better to come to no determination, 

 particularly with regard to that distinguished observer's ideas, as to the 

 relation of a decomposed fish diet with the cause of this disease. This 

 amendment was lost by a very large majority, only two members 

 (including the proposer of the amendment) voting for it, which indicates 

 that the fish theory is not generally accepted. 



The failure to carry this amendment has cleared the way considerably 

 for further research along new lines. 



Perhaps the most important resolutions passed at the Second Inter- 

 national Conference were the following : The second resolution, as to 



