(10)
4. There is no doubt that the disease is hereditary, but some of the children
of lepers escape the disease entirely.
5. The disease is probably not contagious, except in the ulcerative form, and
that solely and purely by inoculation.
6. Special conditions of locality, such as swamps, damp, cold and malarious
influences generally, seem to predispose to attacks of the disease, as also do personal
conditions of uncleanliness and intemperance.
No. 492. dated Mozufferpur, the 30th June 1875.
From-E, GAYER, Esq., Civil Surgeon of Mozufferpur.
To-The Deputy Surgeon General, Dinapore Circle.
IN reply to your circular memorandum No. 11, dated Dinapore, the 21st April
1875, forwarding circular memorandum No. 12, dated Fort William, 17th April
1875, from the Surgeon General, Indian Medical Department, calling for an early
report in a concise form on the extent to which leprosy exists among the people
in this district, I have the honour to state that I have not made a special study
of this disease which, as far as I am able to judge, is not very common in this
district. I have had the dispensary records searched for the last eight years, and
find that during this time 963 cases of leprosy have applied for relief at the
Mozufferpur Charity Hospital. Very nearly the whole of this number have been
out-patients, and the form of leprosy has not been entered in the books, so I am un-
able to say which form of leprosy has predominated; but from the experience I have
had I think the ansthetic and mixed forms are most seen, and the Assistant Sur-
geon at the dispensary thinks so likewise. During the last eight years 85,473
patients of all kinds have been registered in the Charity Hospital books, so that,
if the people afflicted with leprosy have applied in an equal ratio with those suffer-
ing from other diseases, it would appear that it is not very common here. Never-
theless, there are a good many cases to be seen in the villages and elsewhere, but I
am not aware that leprosy is at all localized in this district, nor in any way peculiar;
both the tubercular and ansthetic varieties are to be seen. No doubt the chief
cause of the propagation of leprosy here, as elsewhere, is hereditary transmission.
No. 37, dated Buxar, the 24th June 1875.
From-H. HARVEY, Esq., F. R. C. S., Civil Surgeon of Buxar.
To-The Deputy Surgeon General, Dinapore Circle.
I HAVE the honour, in reply to your circular No. 28 of 17th instant, to state
that circular No. 81 of the Surgeon General, dated 31st of August 1874, is not in
my possession, and I am therefore unable to submit the report asked for. This
probably is not a matter of any importance as no cases of leprosy have entered this
hospital, and the return would, therefore, be a blank. It does not seem to be a
common disease in this district, but I have no doubt that, if a search be made for
cases, a few could be collected. The income of the Buxar dispensary is so small,
and the demands on the institution so great, that I am obliged to exercise much
strictness in the kind of cases which I admit as in-patients, unless the patient
consents to pay for his own dieting, which they not unfrequently do. We can only
afford to have three or four patients dieted daily from the hospital funds, and if we
admitted tedious cases of leprosy, the hospital would become simply a leprosy
hospital. When an hospital has a superabundance of patients, it appears to me
that the proper course is to select those cases for admission in which the greatest
benefit can be done. Each in-patient costs in diet about Rs. 4 a month, and if
we received official assistance to that extent per patient, we could easily accommo-
date and observe two or three cases of leprosy.
R. D'R.-Home, Rev. & Agri. Dept. Press-No. 463-26-8-79-100.