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sterilization of infectious cases of leprosy so that no children may be
born to them. None of these three measures is practicable on a large scale
in India at the present time.

    10. So far we have dealt chiefly with the results of leprosy research in
the clinic and in the field. We will now mention one of the most difficult
and puzzling fields of medical research, namely, laboratory research in
leprosy. It is extremely doubtful if the lepra bacillus has yet been cul-
tured artificially or whether an animal susceptible to leprosy has yet been
found. One of the chief pieces of leprosy laboratory research done in
Calcutta during the last fifteen years has been to attempt to apply to
the problem of the culture of the leprosy bacillus the more recent advances
in knowledge and technique of bacteriology. A tremendous amount of
work of this kind has been done with negative or inconclusive results.
From time to time encouraging results are obtained, but attempts at
verification and extension of the experiment fail. This line of work is
still being energetically pursued.

    11. Animal experiments in human leprosy have been confined to at-
tempts to discover an animal susceptible to leprosy or to find some way
of rendering susceptible to leprosy, animals which are naturally immune.
These attempts have not been successful.

    12. A considerable amount of work has been done in studying rat
leprosy, a disease analogous to but separate from human leprosy, and
much knowledge has been gained but it is uncertain how far findings made
regarding rat leprosy and its organism are applicable to human leprosy.
The organism of rat leprosy has not yet been cultured.

    13. This is a very brief outline of the lines of leprosy research which
have been followed in India during the last twenty years or so. Most of
the work has been done in connection with the School of Tropical Medicine,
Calcutta, or in connection with the Indian Council of British Empire
Leprosy Relief Association, with grants from the Indian Research Fund
Association, but valuable work has been done by the workers in other
centres which cannot be enumerated here. The work was initiated by
Sir Leonard Rogers, who was later succeeded by Dr. Ernest Muir, who
retired a few years ago and whose work is now carried on by Dr. John
Lowe.

    14. The results of this work have been widespread. There is a greatly
increased interest in leprosy taken by the medical profession and by the
general public. Many leprosy institutions have been changed from asylums
for the disabled or dying leper to leprosy hospitals for the study and
treatment of leprosy in all its stages. There are now hundreds of leprosy
clinics for the diagnosis and treatment of leprosy. The leprosy problem
in India is however very vast; it is to a considerable extent a social and
economic problem, and it cannot be said that the problem is being ade-
quately attacked, nor even that it is yet clear what are the best lines of
attack. Much more study of leprosy in India is needed.