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VIVISECTION PROSECUTION AT NORWICH.
851 moreover, alcohol and
absinthe could be injected by other and less painful means than by an incision in the thigh, such as that made by M. Magnan in this case. The four WE congratulate Dr. Mackay, the head of the Statistical gentlemen who were represented by Mr. Chittock were prethe experiment (one of them assisted in procuring a Department of the Navy, on the early appearance in print sent atand they voted for. its continuance when it was proof the Report on the Health of the Navy for 1873, and dog), tested against. we notice that in his official letter to the Admiralty, Sir Mr. Euight Bruce, of London, deposed that on the 13th Alexander Armstrong calls their Lordships’ attention to the of August last he was in the smoking-room at the Masonic fact, that "for the first time since these statistical reports Hall at Norwich. On that occasion he saw a gentleman, a Frenchman, who was represented to be Dr. Magnan, of were published in 1840, the return is issued within twelve Paris. M. Magnan was operating, with a good deal of months of the period which it embraces." upon two dogs, which were lying upon a On the Home station, the most noteworthy incident was gesticulation, table. The dogs were "crucified" upon the table, being of some cases of enteric fever in three vessels tied down the occurrence by the legs, apparently with tapes. The dogs’ of the Channel Squadron supposed to have been occasioned months were also tied with the "wretches" had use of water obtained An the at impure epidemic fortified themselves against tapes; by Vigo. the dogs in this manner. of the same disease, and referred to the same source, also Tubes were inserted in the dogs, but witness did not see an occurred in the two vessels of the Detached Squadron. He saw arterial blood, which incision actually made. Medical officers continue to bear unqualified testimony to showed that M. had done more than was necessary. Magnan the beneficial operation of the Contagious Diseases Acts. The tubes were inserted in the thighs of the dogs. One of When thoroughly carried out, it is said to be perfectly the a white one, was almost insensible ; he was sucdogs, efficacious, and any apparent failure in its working is traced cumbing, and was let loose, and died soon afterwards. The to its too limited sphere of action. At the Cape of Good Frenchman’s arm was the dog was bloody, the table Hope and at Bombay, where Contagious Diseases Acts ex- was bloody, and it was bloody, a ghastly scene. Witness altogether isted and have been repealed, the lamentable spread of to the Frenchman; he would rather not protested warmly disease in consequence has been very marked ; and the repeat what he said. Witness left the room for Sir James same may be said of Port Royal, Jamaica, where, in conwho, however, expressed to witness his approval of of some defect in the Act which Paget, sequence legislation, the the experiment-rather of vivisection generally, scarcely of had been in operation was suspended towards the end of this particular experiment. Sir James Paget permitted the the year. At Hong Kong, on the other hand, were surveilto continue. When the tapes were released from experiment lance is thoroughly carried out, disease, it is stated, is re- the first the animal staggered to his legs and writhed dog, duced to a minimum. in agony. Witness expostulated with M. Magnan in English On the Mediterranean Station cholera appeared in a French. ship stationed in the river Danube, where it prevailed and Richard Roard, Inspector of the Royal Society for the Prein some towns situated on its banks. Of of the epidemically vention of Cruelty to Animals, deposed to making inquiries eight cases, three only presented the characteristic features into the occurrence. of the malignant form of disease, and of these two proved Mr. T. J. Tuffnell, of Dublin, said he was president of the fatal. Royal Society of Surgeons of Ireland. On the 13th of An epidemic of yellow fever, limited happily in extent, he was present at the Masonic Hall at Norwich. He August but very fatal in its results, occurred on the North America was on his way to the hall when a gentleman addressed him, and West Indies Station, chiefly at Port Royal, Jamaica. Of and in consequence of what was said to him he went into forty-three cases returned as specific yellow fever, twenty- the hall, where he found a number of gentlemen. There was seven proved fatal. a long table, at one end of which was a white dog fastened On the West Coast of Africa and Cape of Good Hope down. Witness asked what was going on. He was told station, the operations on the Gold Coast in connexion with ‘ Dr. of Paris, is about to demonstrate the effects Magnan, the Ashanti war were productive of a large amount of of alcohol and absinthe when injected into the veins of the febrile disease and dysentery, and, as a consequence, of a two the table." Witness said, "I think it is a dogs upon great increase in the invaliding and death-rates on that cruel proceeding putting a poor devil of a dog to the pain it station. Compared with the preceding twelve months, the is in, as it is unnecessary." Witness was told that the dog increase in the ratio of invaliding was to the extent of 76 4 to which he referred was not suffering anything, as it was 1000 of and in of 12-5 the death-rate force, per 1000. per insensible. Witness replied that the dog was struggling Notwithstanding the prevalence of serious forms of disease hard to get free, and he took a knife and cut the dog adrift. in an epidemic form on so many stations, and in the Irre- The dogjumped up, and witness said, "Now you see the dog gular Force, and in the amount of sickness resulting from is sensible, and I don’t think this is a proceeding at all in the operations on the Gold Coast, it is gratifying to be able favour of the Association." An altercation took place, and to report that the ratios of cases of invaliding and deaths the Rev. Dr. of Dublin, protested against the Haughton, in the total force were only increased in a comparatively proceedings. The sense of those present was taken as to small degree. whether the proceedings should go on, and the majority of those present were in favour of their going on. M. Magnan injected alcohol into one of the dogs. a. white one, and the dog VIVISECTION PROSECUTION AT NORWICH. speedily became insensible. M.M agnan said the dog would recover, but witness said it would die, and it did die in the ON Wednesday, before the Norwich magistrates, Mr. course of the evening. M. Magnan then injected absinthe into dog, and witness saw the dog in epileptic convulColam, secretary of the Royal Society for the Prevention another sions. He then came away. An incision had been made of Cruelty to Animals, attended in support of a prosecution in the first dog before witness arrived in the room. The instituted against M. Eugene Magnan, of Paris, and Mr. white dog struggled as much as it possibly could, and Haynes S. Robinson, Mr. J. B. Pitt, Mr. R. Wentworth showed signs of suffering. Witness now declared upon his White, and Mr. H. Turner, four Norwich medical practi- oath that the experiment was a cruel one, because it was The experiment might have been carried out tioners, on a charge of having tortured two dogs at the unnecessary. in another way, less painful to the dog, and, in his opinion, Masonic Hall at Norwich, on the 13th of August last. more calculated to demonstrate, through the means of the Mr. Chittock appeared for the defendants, Robinson, Pitt, lower animals, the influence of alcohol and absinthe on White, and Turner. The man, which was, he believed, the aim of M. Magnan. Mr. Colam opened the case at considerable length, stating fluids in question might have been thrown into the stomach that the prosecution arose out of an experiment made by of a dog by a tube, or, if the dog vomited, into the bowel by M. M. Eugene Magnan, of Paris, at the recent meeting of means of a tube. The effects of absinthe upon the human the British Medical Association at Norwich, with the view system were generally known by physiologists ; the effects of demonstrating the effects of alcohol and absinthe upon of alcohol were also known. The analogy would be more live dogs. He contended that that experiment was unne- perfect if the alcohol or absinthe were thrown into the cessary, as the effects in question were already well known ; stomach of one of the lower animals or a human being,
THE HEALTH OF THE NAVY.
852 than if it were injected into the veins of one of the 10weI animals to illustrate its effects upon a human being. Witness, in cross-examination, admitted that great benefits were to be derived from experimenting with the lower animals, and of the lower animals the dog was one of the best animals to experiment upon. The dog had a stomach very much like the human stomach, and therefore it was a desirable animal to experiment upon. Witness had seen experiments made with live frogs, so as to illustrate the circulation of the blood and the contraction of the muscles. These experiments did not involve pain to the frogs, because the frogs were decapitated first. Experiments were made repeatedly and frequently with frogs, for the benefit of students. The introduction of alcohol into the stomach of a dog by a stomach-pump would not have been painful, and the fluid would have caused less inconvenience to the dog if it had been introduced into the stomach. Witness knew from experience he acquired in 1854 with French officers with Omar Pasha on the Danube that the excessive use of absinthe produced "troublesome drunkenness: ’ He did not know before the experiment of Dr. Magnan that it would produce epileptic fits in a dog. Witness did not know that in consequence of the discoveries of M. Magnan it had been found that cases which had been treated as apoplexy, were, in fact, cases of epilepsy occasioned by the excessive use of absinthe. Experiments had been made at Edinburgh upon dogs for the purpose of illustrating the effects of mercury upon the liver of man. In these Edinburgh experiments one side of a dog was cut open. He was not aware that one side of the gall-bladder was cut open, and fastened to its side, so that the bile might flowout. Witness did not know that the Edinburgh experiment had proved that mercury had no direct action on the liver. He had read in Taylor’s "Medical Jurisprudence" of a case of a chemist’s assistant who had taken a large quantity of absinthe, and who had shown epileptic symptoms. If Sir James Paget went to witness M. Magnan’s experiment for the purpose of being instructed by it, he was not an eminent physiologist; Sir James was an eminent surgeon. Sir James Paget allowed the experiment to proceed without a full discussion of the subject taking place. Sir W. Fergusson deposed that if absinthe were administered to a dog in the femoral vein he should consider it would cause suffering to the animal. He could not say that the suffering would be acute ; if an incision were made in the thigh of a dog, it would undoubtedly cause pain. He could not see that such an experiment as the opening of a vein in the thigh of a dog and injecting absinthe into it would be useful in the interests of science. The effects of absinthe upon the human system were very well known in France, although they were less well known in England. He considered an experiment like that indicated with a dog would be an act of cruelty. In cross-examination witness said he did not know that Professor Ferrier approved of experiments with dogs. Witness had performed experiments himself, but principally for his own information. Witness had never seen alcohol injected into the vein of an animal, or absinthe either. He did not know that absinthe administered to an animal would produce epilepsy; he did not know it now. Ordinary drunkenness would produce epilepsy. Persons in an epileptic condition appeared to be suffering great pain, but they were totally unconscious. He considered the experiment of M. Magnan unnecessary in the interests of science and for the benefit of mankind. Further evidence was offered by the prosecution, but at the close of the case the Bench intimated that they did not consider that it had been sufficiently established that Mr. Pitt or Mr. White were present at the experiments or assisted at them. The case against those gentlemen accord-
ingly fell through. Proceedings against the two defendants, Mr. Robinson and Mr. Turner, until
were
Thursday.
Thursday,
the 10th inst.,
a
most
important and
some-
stormy meeting of the Council of the College of Sur-
was held (at which we understand that neither Mr. Southam of Manchester, nor Mr. Alfred Baker of Birming-
geons
article on the Conjoint Scheme. We are happy to that the Council decided to accept the offer contained in that letter, and to press forward its Enabling Act of Parliament," and we have also the satisfaction of knowing that Sir James Paget gave notice of a motion to the effect that the Council would take into consideration the appointment of the examiners required by the proposed scheme. our
announce
11
Correspondence. 4’Audi alteram
partem."
ELEPHANTIASIS IN NEW BRUNSWICK. To the Editor of THE LANCET. SIR,-In THE LANCET of November 14th reference is made to a notice in a Toronto paper concerning the existence of Greek leprosy in a certain district of New Brunswick. During a late sojourn in this province of Canada, I was enabled to obtain several interesting facts in connexion with the Tracadie lepers, as they are called. The history of these poor outcasts is as follows :-About a century ago a number of emigrants from Normandy settled on the N.E. coast of New Brunswick, in what is now known as Gloucester county. Here their descendants have continued to reside, speaking the mother tongue, and maintaining a strict exclusiveness as regards their neighbours, so that it is very rare for any member to marry out of the community. In consequence they are all more or less allied by blood relationship ; indeed so closely that few families can marry without a dispensation, in accordance with the requirements of the Roman Catholic Church. This constant breeding in and in has told on the general physique, and produced characters of degeneracy, by which these French colonists are distinguished from the other settlers in their neighbourhood. They subsist moreover to a great extent, especially during the long winter months, on salted fish, which has been said to have been one of the causes of the leprosy. The origin of the disease is very obscure. There is a tradition of shipwrecked French sailors having brought it from the Levant many years since, whilst its prevalence in families created a belief in the disease being contagious. About thirty-five years ago, in consequence of the increasing ravages of the disease, a hospital was erected on an island, and stringent laws were passed by the local government for .the seclusion in this lazaretto of every person affected with leprosy. The establishment has since been removed to the mainland, where some thirty or forty inmates, including both sexes and of various ages, from children to old people, are immured for life in a dismal hospital with an enclosed boundary of a few acres of forest
clearing.
The late Drs. Bayard and Wilson, ofSt. John, were deputed by the Government to draw up a report on the Tracadie lepers, which report is published in the Journal of the House of Assembly for 1847. After entering fully into the symptomatology of the cases, and establishing their specific characters with the true elephantiasis Groacoruni, they give tables of the consanguinity of the inmates of the hospital, showing the hereditary nature of the disease, whereby the latter is clearly traced ; whilst all their researches failed to remaining confirm the current belief that the malady was contagious. adjourned This is the only published medical account of the Tracadie lepers known to me. My friend, Dr. Benson, of Chatham,
THE COLLEGE OF SURGEONS. ON what
ham, found it convenient to be present), in order to consider the letter from Dr. Pitman, to which we have referred in
New Brunswick, is familiar with the district, and would no doubt willingly furnish valuable data to persons interested in the subject. There is a description of the hospital and its management by the late Governor, the Hon. Arthur Gordon, in " Vacation Tourists" for 1863, from which I have given a quotation, along with other details, in my work on °Field and Forest Rambles in Eastern Canada." As far as I could discover, no instance of leprosy has occurred in the Tracadie district that was not inherited in
absinthe could be injected by other and less painful means than by an incision in the thigh, such as that made by M. Magnan in this case. The four WE congratulate Dr. Mackay, the head of the Statistical gentlemen who were represented by Mr. Chittock were prethe experiment (one of them assisted in procuring a Department of the Navy, on the early appearance in print sent atand they voted for. its continuance when it was proof the Report on the Health of the Navy for 1873, and dog), tested against. we notice that in his official letter to the Admiralty, Sir Mr. Euight Bruce, of London, deposed that on the 13th Alexander Armstrong calls their Lordships’ attention to the of August last he was in the smoking-room at the Masonic fact, that "for the first time since these statistical reports Hall at Norwich. On that occasion he saw a gentleman, a Frenchman, who was represented to be Dr. Magnan, of were published in 1840, the return is issued within twelve Paris. M. Magnan was operating, with a good deal of months of the period which it embraces." upon two dogs, which were lying upon a On the Home station, the most noteworthy incident was gesticulation, table. The dogs were "crucified" upon the table, being of some cases of enteric fever in three vessels tied down the occurrence by the legs, apparently with tapes. The dogs’ of the Channel Squadron supposed to have been occasioned months were also tied with the "wretches" had use of water obtained An the at impure epidemic fortified themselves against tapes; by Vigo. the dogs in this manner. of the same disease, and referred to the same source, also Tubes were inserted in the dogs, but witness did not see an occurred in the two vessels of the Detached Squadron. He saw arterial blood, which incision actually made. Medical officers continue to bear unqualified testimony to showed that M. had done more than was necessary. Magnan the beneficial operation of the Contagious Diseases Acts. The tubes were inserted in the thighs of the dogs. One of When thoroughly carried out, it is said to be perfectly the a white one, was almost insensible ; he was sucdogs, efficacious, and any apparent failure in its working is traced cumbing, and was let loose, and died soon afterwards. The to its too limited sphere of action. At the Cape of Good Frenchman’s arm was the dog was bloody, the table Hope and at Bombay, where Contagious Diseases Acts ex- was bloody, and it was bloody, a ghastly scene. Witness altogether isted and have been repealed, the lamentable spread of to the Frenchman; he would rather not protested warmly disease in consequence has been very marked ; and the repeat what he said. Witness left the room for Sir James same may be said of Port Royal, Jamaica, where, in conwho, however, expressed to witness his approval of of some defect in the Act which Paget, sequence legislation, the the experiment-rather of vivisection generally, scarcely of had been in operation was suspended towards the end of this particular experiment. Sir James Paget permitted the the year. At Hong Kong, on the other hand, were surveilto continue. When the tapes were released from experiment lance is thoroughly carried out, disease, it is stated, is re- the first the animal staggered to his legs and writhed dog, duced to a minimum. in agony. Witness expostulated with M. Magnan in English On the Mediterranean Station cholera appeared in a French. ship stationed in the river Danube, where it prevailed and Richard Roard, Inspector of the Royal Society for the Prein some towns situated on its banks. Of of the epidemically vention of Cruelty to Animals, deposed to making inquiries eight cases, three only presented the characteristic features into the occurrence. of the malignant form of disease, and of these two proved Mr. T. J. Tuffnell, of Dublin, said he was president of the fatal. Royal Society of Surgeons of Ireland. On the 13th of An epidemic of yellow fever, limited happily in extent, he was present at the Masonic Hall at Norwich. He August but very fatal in its results, occurred on the North America was on his way to the hall when a gentleman addressed him, and West Indies Station, chiefly at Port Royal, Jamaica. Of and in consequence of what was said to him he went into forty-three cases returned as specific yellow fever, twenty- the hall, where he found a number of gentlemen. There was seven proved fatal. a long table, at one end of which was a white dog fastened On the West Coast of Africa and Cape of Good Hope down. Witness asked what was going on. He was told station, the operations on the Gold Coast in connexion with ‘ Dr. of Paris, is about to demonstrate the effects Magnan, the Ashanti war were productive of a large amount of of alcohol and absinthe when injected into the veins of the febrile disease and dysentery, and, as a consequence, of a two the table." Witness said, "I think it is a dogs upon great increase in the invaliding and death-rates on that cruel proceeding putting a poor devil of a dog to the pain it station. Compared with the preceding twelve months, the is in, as it is unnecessary." Witness was told that the dog increase in the ratio of invaliding was to the extent of 76 4 to which he referred was not suffering anything, as it was 1000 of and in of 12-5 the death-rate force, per 1000. per insensible. Witness replied that the dog was struggling Notwithstanding the prevalence of serious forms of disease hard to get free, and he took a knife and cut the dog adrift. in an epidemic form on so many stations, and in the Irre- The dogjumped up, and witness said, "Now you see the dog gular Force, and in the amount of sickness resulting from is sensible, and I don’t think this is a proceeding at all in the operations on the Gold Coast, it is gratifying to be able favour of the Association." An altercation took place, and to report that the ratios of cases of invaliding and deaths the Rev. Dr. of Dublin, protested against the Haughton, in the total force were only increased in a comparatively proceedings. The sense of those present was taken as to small degree. whether the proceedings should go on, and the majority of those present were in favour of their going on. M. Magnan injected alcohol into one of the dogs. a. white one, and the dog VIVISECTION PROSECUTION AT NORWICH. speedily became insensible. M.M agnan said the dog would recover, but witness said it would die, and it did die in the ON Wednesday, before the Norwich magistrates, Mr. course of the evening. M. Magnan then injected absinthe into dog, and witness saw the dog in epileptic convulColam, secretary of the Royal Society for the Prevention another sions. He then came away. An incision had been made of Cruelty to Animals, attended in support of a prosecution in the first dog before witness arrived in the room. The instituted against M. Eugene Magnan, of Paris, and Mr. white dog struggled as much as it possibly could, and Haynes S. Robinson, Mr. J. B. Pitt, Mr. R. Wentworth showed signs of suffering. Witness now declared upon his White, and Mr. H. Turner, four Norwich medical practi- oath that the experiment was a cruel one, because it was The experiment might have been carried out tioners, on a charge of having tortured two dogs at the unnecessary. in another way, less painful to the dog, and, in his opinion, Masonic Hall at Norwich, on the 13th of August last. more calculated to demonstrate, through the means of the Mr. Chittock appeared for the defendants, Robinson, Pitt, lower animals, the influence of alcohol and absinthe on White, and Turner. The man, which was, he believed, the aim of M. Magnan. Mr. Colam opened the case at considerable length, stating fluids in question might have been thrown into the stomach that the prosecution arose out of an experiment made by of a dog by a tube, or, if the dog vomited, into the bowel by M. M. Eugene Magnan, of Paris, at the recent meeting of means of a tube. The effects of absinthe upon the human the British Medical Association at Norwich, with the view system were generally known by physiologists ; the effects of demonstrating the effects of alcohol and absinthe upon of alcohol were also known. The analogy would be more live dogs. He contended that that experiment was unne- perfect if the alcohol or absinthe were thrown into the cessary, as the effects in question were already well known ; stomach of one of the lower animals or a human being,
THE HEALTH OF THE NAVY.
852 than if it were injected into the veins of one of the 10weI animals to illustrate its effects upon a human being. Witness, in cross-examination, admitted that great benefits were to be derived from experimenting with the lower animals, and of the lower animals the dog was one of the best animals to experiment upon. The dog had a stomach very much like the human stomach, and therefore it was a desirable animal to experiment upon. Witness had seen experiments made with live frogs, so as to illustrate the circulation of the blood and the contraction of the muscles. These experiments did not involve pain to the frogs, because the frogs were decapitated first. Experiments were made repeatedly and frequently with frogs, for the benefit of students. The introduction of alcohol into the stomach of a dog by a stomach-pump would not have been painful, and the fluid would have caused less inconvenience to the dog if it had been introduced into the stomach. Witness knew from experience he acquired in 1854 with French officers with Omar Pasha on the Danube that the excessive use of absinthe produced "troublesome drunkenness: ’ He did not know before the experiment of Dr. Magnan that it would produce epileptic fits in a dog. Witness did not know that in consequence of the discoveries of M. Magnan it had been found that cases which had been treated as apoplexy, were, in fact, cases of epilepsy occasioned by the excessive use of absinthe. Experiments had been made at Edinburgh upon dogs for the purpose of illustrating the effects of mercury upon the liver of man. In these Edinburgh experiments one side of a dog was cut open. He was not aware that one side of the gall-bladder was cut open, and fastened to its side, so that the bile might flowout. Witness did not know that the Edinburgh experiment had proved that mercury had no direct action on the liver. He had read in Taylor’s "Medical Jurisprudence" of a case of a chemist’s assistant who had taken a large quantity of absinthe, and who had shown epileptic symptoms. If Sir James Paget went to witness M. Magnan’s experiment for the purpose of being instructed by it, he was not an eminent physiologist; Sir James was an eminent surgeon. Sir James Paget allowed the experiment to proceed without a full discussion of the subject taking place. Sir W. Fergusson deposed that if absinthe were administered to a dog in the femoral vein he should consider it would cause suffering to the animal. He could not say that the suffering would be acute ; if an incision were made in the thigh of a dog, it would undoubtedly cause pain. He could not see that such an experiment as the opening of a vein in the thigh of a dog and injecting absinthe into it would be useful in the interests of science. The effects of absinthe upon the human system were very well known in France, although they were less well known in England. He considered an experiment like that indicated with a dog would be an act of cruelty. In cross-examination witness said he did not know that Professor Ferrier approved of experiments with dogs. Witness had performed experiments himself, but principally for his own information. Witness had never seen alcohol injected into the vein of an animal, or absinthe either. He did not know that absinthe administered to an animal would produce epilepsy; he did not know it now. Ordinary drunkenness would produce epilepsy. Persons in an epileptic condition appeared to be suffering great pain, but they were totally unconscious. He considered the experiment of M. Magnan unnecessary in the interests of science and for the benefit of mankind. Further evidence was offered by the prosecution, but at the close of the case the Bench intimated that they did not consider that it had been sufficiently established that Mr. Pitt or Mr. White were present at the experiments or assisted at them. The case against those gentlemen accord-
ingly fell through. Proceedings against the two defendants, Mr. Robinson and Mr. Turner, until
were
Thursday.
Thursday,
the 10th inst.,
a
most
important and
some-
stormy meeting of the Council of the College of Sur-
was held (at which we understand that neither Mr. Southam of Manchester, nor Mr. Alfred Baker of Birming-
geons
article on the Conjoint Scheme. We are happy to that the Council decided to accept the offer contained in that letter, and to press forward its Enabling Act of Parliament," and we have also the satisfaction of knowing that Sir James Paget gave notice of a motion to the effect that the Council would take into consideration the appointment of the examiners required by the proposed scheme. our
announce
11
Correspondence. 4’Audi alteram
partem."
ELEPHANTIASIS IN NEW BRUNSWICK. To the Editor of THE LANCET. SIR,-In THE LANCET of November 14th reference is made to a notice in a Toronto paper concerning the existence of Greek leprosy in a certain district of New Brunswick. During a late sojourn in this province of Canada, I was enabled to obtain several interesting facts in connexion with the Tracadie lepers, as they are called. The history of these poor outcasts is as follows :-About a century ago a number of emigrants from Normandy settled on the N.E. coast of New Brunswick, in what is now known as Gloucester county. Here their descendants have continued to reside, speaking the mother tongue, and maintaining a strict exclusiveness as regards their neighbours, so that it is very rare for any member to marry out of the community. In consequence they are all more or less allied by blood relationship ; indeed so closely that few families can marry without a dispensation, in accordance with the requirements of the Roman Catholic Church. This constant breeding in and in has told on the general physique, and produced characters of degeneracy, by which these French colonists are distinguished from the other settlers in their neighbourhood. They subsist moreover to a great extent, especially during the long winter months, on salted fish, which has been said to have been one of the causes of the leprosy. The origin of the disease is very obscure. There is a tradition of shipwrecked French sailors having brought it from the Levant many years since, whilst its prevalence in families created a belief in the disease being contagious. About thirty-five years ago, in consequence of the increasing ravages of the disease, a hospital was erected on an island, and stringent laws were passed by the local government for .the seclusion in this lazaretto of every person affected with leprosy. The establishment has since been removed to the mainland, where some thirty or forty inmates, including both sexes and of various ages, from children to old people, are immured for life in a dismal hospital with an enclosed boundary of a few acres of forest
clearing.
The late Drs. Bayard and Wilson, ofSt. John, were deputed by the Government to draw up a report on the Tracadie lepers, which report is published in the Journal of the House of Assembly for 1847. After entering fully into the symptomatology of the cases, and establishing their specific characters with the true elephantiasis Groacoruni, they give tables of the consanguinity of the inmates of the hospital, showing the hereditary nature of the disease, whereby the latter is clearly traced ; whilst all their researches failed to remaining confirm the current belief that the malady was contagious. adjourned This is the only published medical account of the Tracadie lepers known to me. My friend, Dr. Benson, of Chatham,
THE COLLEGE OF SURGEONS. ON what
ham, found it convenient to be present), in order to consider the letter from Dr. Pitman, to which we have referred in
New Brunswick, is familiar with the district, and would no doubt willingly furnish valuable data to persons interested in the subject. There is a description of the hospital and its management by the late Governor, the Hon. Arthur Gordon, in " Vacation Tourists" for 1863, from which I have given a quotation, along with other details, in my work on °Field and Forest Rambles in Eastern Canada." As far as I could discover, no instance of leprosy has occurred in the Tracadie district that was not inherited in