246 REPORT OF THE LEPROSY COMMISSION:
that these would represent 142 lepers. This is not quite cor-
rect, as some patients married twice. But while facilitating
calculations, it will in no way affect the ratio, and moreover
will compensate for omissions among the other leper marriages.
These were contracted between a leper and a healthy person
and amount to 1,493. Thus 1,493 lepers must be added to
the above 142, which gives a total of 1,635. In the case of the
1,493 marriages between a healthy and an affected person the
fact that in a few instances the healthy individual subsequently
became diseased has been neglected, and thus matters will be
equalised.
The 1,635 lepers would be replaced by 2,915 children. A
few of the children have already died, but as this fact was not
consistently enquired into, it will be best to consider them all
to be alive. The 1,635 lepers therefore have contributed a per-
manent addition of 1,280, for 1,635 of the children must be
deducted as merely replacing their leprous ancestors. Now it
is certain that all the children would not become lepers. At
present only 78 of the children are affected, but this small
number may be due to the fact that many of them are still
young, and it may be reasonably expected that some of them
will show manifestations of the disease at a more advanced
age. Tables VII and VIII fully justify this suspicion. How-
ever, a certain proportion of them are adults and married and
have healthy children.
Taking everything into consideration, it is unlikely that more
than 5 per cent. of the 2,915 children will become lepers. This
would indicate that of the total number of children born up to
the present, 145 only are likely to become lepers through the
agency of heredity. Hence a leprous population of 1,635
individuals may be expected to transmit the disease to 145.
This latter number, as far as the statistical tables show, is too
high. It would appear probable from Tables VI, VIII, and
XI that about 80 of the children would become lepers through
the assumed influence of heredity.