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classed as cases of typical leprosy lepra vulgaris, a disease never intended by Gov-
ernment, I presume, to be included under the head of leprosy at all. So much
confusion exists on this head that, in order to render reports of any value, it would
be well, I think, to specify more particularly the varieties of the disease regarding
which the Government wish for information.
If it be the disease as described by Dr. Vandyke Carton in his able treatise,
I can state from personal observation that it is not at all prevalent in any part
of this district near the sadr station, nor, as far as I can gather, at any of the
sub-divisions.
The 42 cases mentioned in the report of the Assistant Surgeon of Behar Sub-
Division as typical cases of leprosy, on his own admission, consist entirely of lepra
vulgaris and alphoides, now generally classed under the head of "Alphos".
Almost all the lepers I have met with within the sadr station have been
itinerant beggars from other districts, and such also is the experience of Assistant
Surgeon Bollye Chunder Sen, who has charge of the Temple School Hospital.
The ordinary duties of an Assistant Surgeon in charge of a sub-division demand
his constant presence on the spot, and it is exceedingly difficult for him to collect
trustworthy information regarding a disease of this kind, unless time were afforded
him for travelling about to inspect localities where leprosy was reported to be
prevalent. From all the enquiries I have been able to make, the disease is not
endemic in any part of this district. A further report has been called for regarding
the villages of Emadpur, where seven lepers are reported by the Assistant Surgeon
of Behar. Should the particulars prove of any interest, I will forward them as
soon as the information is received.
No, 100 H, dated Bankipur, the 6th December 1877.
From—Babu BOLLYE CIIUNDER SEN, Assistant Surgeon, Baukipur.
To—The Civil Surgeon of Patna.
With reference to your circular memorandum No. 555, dated 11th ultimo,
and enclosure, 1 have the honour to report for your information that I have no
local knowledge of the causation of leprosy in this district, and the few patients
that have come under my observation were itinerant beggars not belonging to this
district, and whose disease was not caused by any local influence whatever. In some
the disease was hereditary, in others it was due to insufficient food and exposure
to heat and cold under unfavourable circumstances, in a few there was history of
syphilis with abuse of mercury, hut it is more than doubtful whether they had any
influence in the causation of the disease.
No. 85, dated Patna, the 5th December 1877.
From—Babu RAM CHUNDER GOOPTA, Assistant Surgeon, Patna.
To—The Civil Surgeon of Patna.
WITH reference to your circular memorandum No. 555, I have the honour to
inform you that I have no reliable information whether leprosy is endemic in any
part of this district, but both in this city as well as at Behar (where I stopped for
six months in 1875) I saw and distributed medicines to many persons suffering
from the disease. Out of 15,144 patients who attended this out-door dispensary
in 1876, 139 were those suffering from leprosy.
There are at present two cases of leprosy (males) in hospital—one a low caste
Pasee and the other a Gowala. The former had a leper grandmother of his mother's
side, and he contracted the disease some time after performing her funeral ceremony;
the latter could not trace out anything as to the cause of his disease. Three cases
of leprosy have also been attending the out-door dispensary—one male and two
females. The former is a resident of Jodpur, and Bunnea by caste, and he inherited
the disease from his mother ; and the latter could not account for the disease. Be-
sides the hereditary taint, there is a popular notion in this part of the country that
the free use of the flesh of a buffalo causes leprosy. Many times I enquired of
my leper patients if they were using the flesh of a buffalo, and on many occasions
I received the reply that they had been using it, but left off taking if after con-
tracting the disease, having had the impression that the buffalo flesh was the cause
of the disease. Syphilis is another cause of leprosy. Too much use of beef and
that of the musoor-ke-dal are also said to cause leprosy. As far as my experience is
concerned, leprosy is not contagious. I knew a man to have been suffering from
tubercular leprosy for a period of twenty years, and all this time his wife was