156 APPLIED BACTERIOLOGY 



fibres. Besides the ansesthesia, other evidences of in- 

 terference with nerves, such as vesicular eruptions and 

 alterations in pigmentation and ulceration, frequently 

 occur. The peculiar and characteristic lesions of the 

 disease gave rise to the following descriptive terms : Ele- 

 phantine, leonine, tygria, alopecia ; the meanings of which 

 are sufficiently clear. 



Sticker {Munch, med. Wooh., 1897, Nos. 39 and 40) 

 states that (1) lepers eliminate with the nasal secretion the 

 leprous bacillus often in extraordinary numbers, and 

 during the greatest period of the disease, and (2) the front 

 part of the nasal mucous membrane, and mostly that 

 covering the nasal septum, is the place which leprosy first, 

 and perhaps always, attacks. The author has examined 

 143 lepers from this point of view. In 55 out of 57 cases 

 of tubercular leprosy the leprous bacillus was found in the 

 nasal secretion, and yet in only 2 cases were there any 

 leprous nodules in the nose. In 45 out of 68 cases of 

 anaesthetic leprosy, and in 27 out of 28 of the mixed form, 

 the bacillus was also found. 



Preventive Measures. — From the earliest times it has been 

 the practice to insist on compulsory isolation or segregation 

 of lepers. This action was, of course, based on the common 

 belief that the disease was spread by contagion. It appears 

 that strict segregation was never systematically carried out 

 in England (Newman), and it is evident that other agencies 

 caused its decline. In Norway also, and in many other 

 leprous localities, segregation is not strictly enforced. 

 Voluntary isolation should be arranged, the sale of articles 

 of food by lepers should be prohibited, leper colonies dis- 

 couraged, leper asylums established, and sanitation per- 

 sistently improved. 



The French Academy of Medicine have recently been 

 trying the new serum-therapy in leprosy, at the St, Louis 



