Sanitation, Diet, Disease, etc. 327
syphilis on their bodies. Again, no figures are obtainable show-
ing the extent to which syphilis and venereal diseases prevail
amongst the general population, though this is known to be very
large. Lastly, it may be objected that in those instances where
syphilis had been contracted subsequent to the development of
leprosy, the ignorance of the informant rendered it difficult to
decide with certainty as to which was the prior event. These
concessions must naturally detract a great deal from the value
of Table III. However, three authentic cases were seen by
the Commissioners, where there could not be the slightest
doubt that syphilis was contracted subsequent to the disease.
These were all seen at the asylum in Madras. Two were young
men who had suffered from leprosy for the last four and five
years respectively: each of them had a typical roseolar second-
ary eruption, the characteristic appearances of the tongue,
tonsils, and fauces, and moreover one of them presented the
remains of a true Hunterian sore, while the other had lost the
fraenum praeputii and showed an unmistakable scar. The
third case concerned a low caste Hindu, twenty years of age,
who had suffered from tubercular leprosy for the last twelve
months and at the time of examination actually had a primary
sore on the glans penis. These three instances alone are suffi-
cient to destroy the syphilis-hypothesis.
TABLE III.
Relation of Syphilis to Leprosy.

ASYLUM OR LOCALITY.
SYPHILIS CASES.
REMARKS.
Before
Leprosy.
After
Leprosy.
TOTAL.
Agra .
6
6
Aligarh .
1
1
Almora
71
1
8
(1) Three cases contracted syphilis at about the same time they became lepers.