( 20 )
Here it would appear that the disease on account of its manifestation almost
simultaneously in three different subjects must have been conveyed in discharges
from sores. On the other hand, it is possible it may have been transmitted from
husband to wife, and the children inherited it.
W. DUNCAN.
Civil Surgeon.
Report on leprosy, with a history of cases and deductions therefrom.
IN connection with the present report, the history of ten reliable cases is given,
and the particulars arranged under the following heads :
Sex.—More males are afflicted than females ; proportion eight to ten of those
reported upon.
Caste.—Hindus and Muhammadans equally affected.
Particular castes of Hindus.—Dhanghur one ; Dossad one ; Brahmin one ; and
Gowlas two, that is to say double. The two first approach each other in their habits
and mode of life, being animal and vegetable feeders and labouring. The third is
a vegetarian and fish-eater and non-labouring ; and all Gowlas partake plentifully of
milk.
Âges.—Chiefly between 30 and 40 ; one out of the ten 64 years old, and one 20 ;
juveniles none ; showing the disease to be peculiar to, and contracted in, adult life
and not rapidly fatal.
Occupation.—Various, agricultural labourers chiefly three ; domestic servants—
such as gardener, cartman, grass-cutter, water-carrier, milkman and kidmutgar,—
single cases, and one case above the working class.
Birth-place and residence.—Native of Moorshedabad one, of Bhagalpur one,
of Tirhoot one, of Lahore one, of Purneah six, which are not excessive.
Names of the Purneah villages, viz., Ekumba, Kusba, Sousa, Sarsy, and
Rambag.
Peculiarities.—Of the first four places, open and well cultivated ; of the last, or
Rambag, uncultivated, wooded and swampy ; this place has furnished two cases,
the other places one case each.
Parentage.-— Healthy in nine cases ; an hereditary taint on the paternal side
traceable in one.
Brothers and sisters.—-One leper says that he has two brothers—one is diseased,
and the other, as well as his parents, are healthy.
Married.—Four out of ten.
Wives.—Alive, and cohabitation five.
Husbands.—Alive, and ditto one.
Where husbands are diseased wives are healthy, and vice versa.
Progeny of lepers appear not to be numerous. Among the cases cited none
had more than three—mostly one and two. The children were born healthy to
all appearances, and kept so up to eight years, and even to adult age, but were
infected with a diathesis probably capable of development later. There was
no issue from one couple, and a healthy offspring died shortly after birth, whether
from tainted constitution or natural causes cannot be determined.
Condition of community about respective residences.—The leper from the Sub-
Division of Soopul, in the Tirhoot District, knows of three others in his village; and
two of the Purneah men know of one other besides themselves.
Intercourse.—Unrestrained between the married and no positive separation from
their different sections.
Syphilis.— Three had primary ulcers only, one had secondary eruptions, and
one man had two attacks of each anterior to the present disease, i. e., half the
number out of ten.
Mercury.—Salivation was undergone in one case.
Medicaments.—Both Native and European medicines were taken in one case, and
wild herbs in a few. Among the Native remedies valued are strychnia, bleeding,
purgatives, the flower of a vegetable called ole, which has tubercular protuberances
like leprosy.