ELEPHANTIASIS. 



185 



Elephantiasis of the legs and arms, and 

 especially of the scrotum, afflicts, it is calcu- 

 lated, 20 per cent, of the inhabitants : Arabs 

 and Hindus, Indian Moslems and Africans, how- 

 ever dissimilar in their habits and diet, all suffer 

 alike. It is remarked that the malady has never 

 attacked a pure white, European or American : 

 perhaps the short residence of the small number 

 accounts for the apparent immunity. Similarly, 

 in the Brazil I have never seen a European 

 stranger subject to the leprosy, or to the goitre, 

 so prevalent in the great provinces of Sao Paulo 

 and Minas Geraes. The Banyans declare that a 

 journey home removes the incipient disease, or 

 at least retards its progress : it recurs, however, 

 on return to Zanzibar. The scrotum will often 

 reach the knees ; I heard of one case measur- 

 ing in circumference 41 inches, more than the 

 patient's body, whilst its length (33 inches) 

 touched the ground. There is no cure, and the 

 cause is unknown. The people attribute it to 

 the water, and possibly it may spring from the 

 same source which produces goitre and bron- 

 chocele. 



Syphilitic and scorbutic taints appear in 

 ulcers and abscesses. The helcoma resembles 

 that of Aden : it generally attacks the legs and 



