No. 141 S, dated Simla, the 3rd July 1877.
From—LEPEL GRIFFIN, Esq., Offg. Secretary to the Government of the
Punjab.
To—The Offg. Secretary to the Government of India, Home Dept.
IN continuation of letter No. 3187 of the 26tli September last,
I am desired to forward, for the information of the Government of
India, copy of a letter from the Officiating Sanitary Commissioner,
No. 1853 of the 12th June, communicating a few remarks on the
causation and distribution of leprosy.
No. 1853, dated Lahore, the 12th June 1877.
From—H. W. BELLEW, Esq., c. s. i., Offg. Sanitary Commissioner,
Punjab.
To—The Officiating Secretary to the Government of the Punjab.
Government of India No. 141, dated 5th March
1875, paragraph 8.
Secretary to Government, Punjab, No. 1176,
dated 23rd March 1875.
Secretary to Government, Punjab, No. 202, dated
15th March 1877.
WITH reference to the correspondence noted in the margin regarding· the
causation and distribution or leprosy, I
have the honour to state that I am unable
to give, from my own personal knowledge,
any further information on the subject
than that already furnished, by my pre-
decessor, Dr. DeRenzy, in his letter
No. 1065, dated 6th December 1874.
2. Asfar as I can learn from the remarks made by the several Civil Surgeons
of the Province in their sanitary reports for the past year, it appears that the
disease does not exist to any great extent in the Punjab, nor is it anywhere local-
ized. The extent to which it prevails in municipal towns will be seen on a reference
to the late census statements published in the Supplementary Gazette of the
Punjab Government of the 1st February 1877. The total number of lepers entered
in them was 346.
3. Herewith are subjoined the remarks of those Civil Surgeons who have
dwelt upon this subject in their reports.
Mr. Fox, in civil medical charge of the Hoshiarpur District, states—" Leprosy
in the Hoshiarpuv District is not localized but diffused. A leper village exists,
about two miles from Hoshiarpur, which contains about fifteen or twenty souls, and
they are from different villages in the district : besides a few are to be seen along
the road to Dusuha and Garshankar. There is no peculiarity connected with the
place where the village is situated. The village is in a cluster of trees, and to the
North-east flows a { chor*. The water for drinking 1 purposes, &c., is procured
from a well in the vicinity ; they live chiefly on charity j their food is very scanty—
consisting of dal and cakes ; they are very filthy in their habits, and have scarcely
any covering. Thirteen cases of leprosy treated in hospital. The disease ap-
peared in three after a severe attack of gonorrhoea ; in two after primary syphilis ;
two after exposure to wet and cold ; three attribute the disease to itch, and three
from causes unknown, though all declare that none of their relatives ever suffer-
ed from the disease. From the statement of these cases none appear to have been
caused from ( hereditary taint' or contagion. In the venereal cases the disease
appeared two years after the attack, and in all cases the prevailing symptoms were
anaesthesia, with roughness and thickening of the cutis"
Dr. H. Whitwell, Civil Surgeon, Amritsar District, states—" Nothing that I
have noticed since nay stay here has led me to believe in the existence of localized
leprosy in the district. There is a leper asylum at Tarn Taran, but this is more
a provincial establishment, and in the majority of instances the cases seeking
admission are in an advanced stage of the disease, and no reliable information is
to be obtained regarding the history. On only one point is there any reliability
to be placed, that is on the hereditary tendency of the disease."
Dr. B. G. Quinell, Civil Surgeon, Gujranwala, states—"Leprosy is not very
prevalent in this district, and few cases present themselves for treatment. At the
village of Dhaukal, near "Wazirabad, where a fair, the largest in this district, is
held every year in June. A large number of lepers from all parts of the Province,