?104	REPORT OF THE LEPROSY COMMISSION:
the principle of diminished return from land after the soil has
been worked to a certain extent, the application to it of addi-
tional labour or capital ceases to bring in the same proportion-
ate return as it did at first, and this decrease in productiveness
is continuous, it is clear that the density of population is no
index of the wealth of a district, and that the comparative
wealth of the various areas must be estimated in a different
manner.33
Yet it seems proper to enquire into the relation between
the leper diffusion and the density of population. The append-
ed table shows clearly that no law exists between the two,
whether famine districts be excluded or not. Bengal, Bombay,
Madras, and the Punjab have been chosen, and these four
provinces may suffice. Examples demonstrating the truth of
the above statement might easily be multiplied.
TABLE XVIII.
Density of Population and Leprosy.
[Census 1881.]
DISTRICT. 
No. of  
persons per square mile.
Lepers per  10,000 of population.
REMAKRS. 
BENGAL.



Burdwan ....
516·06
29·5

Bankoora ....
397·46
37·2

Beerbhoom
452·40
32·7

Midnapore
495·44
9·2

Hooghly ....
828·10
11·1

Howrah ....
1,334·83
5·6

TOTAL BURDWAN DIVISION .
533·67
19·5

(33) J. A. Baines : Operations and Results in the Presidency of Bombay, Chap-
ter II.