20 NATURAL HISTORY 



this island at all, but partake of the same 

 benumbed state : for we cannot suppose 

 that, after a month's absence, house-mar- 

 tins can return from southern regions to 

 appear for one morning in November, or that 

 house-swallows should leave the districts of 

 Africa to enjoy, in March, the transient 

 Summer of a couple of days. 



1 am, &c. 



LETTER XXXVII. 



TO THE SAME. 

 DEAR SlR; Selborne, Jan. 8, 1778. 



There was in this village several years 

 ago a miserable pauper, who, from his 

 birth, was afflicted with a leprosy, as far 

 as we are aware, of a singular kind, since 

 it affected only the palms of his hands and 

 the soles of his feet. This scaly eruption 

 usually broke out twice in the year, at the 

 Spring and fall ; and, by peeling away, left 

 the skin so thin and tender, that neither his 



