Leprosy

an infectious disease due to a minute parasitic plant, called the bacillus of leprosy. It is not considered hereditary. Leprosy is transmitted from one person to another by actual contact with a diseased body. Leprosy is described in the books of Moses. It was formerly prevalent throughout Europe, but is now confined to isolated cases in Norway, Sweden, and Hungary. Although a hard thing to do, civilized communities exclude lepers from communication with their friends. A lazaretto, or hospital for lepers is maintained at Bergen, Norway. It has 130 inmates. There is a leper settlement in the Gulf of St. Lawrence now containing possibly a score of persons. Leprosy is quite prevalent in the Sandwich Islands where the islet of Molokai, set apart for them, is inhabited by over 1,000 lepers. A hospital for lepers is maintained on an islet off the north coast of Cuba. There are several hundred inmates. A lepers' colony has been established in the Philippines. There are in all about 4,000 lepers in the islands. Leprosy is still prevalent around the coasts of Egypt, Asia Minor, and farther Asia. There are said to be 250,000 lepers in India. It is believed that there are 200 lepers scattered through the cities of the United States. A picture of the leper's hard lot is drawn well by Lew Wallace in Ben Hur. See Damien

Lesage or LeSage, Alain Rene alan rena'le sazh' (1668-1747), a French novelist and dramatist. He was born at Boulognesur-Mer. He was educated at Paris for the law, but soon turned his attention to literature. He achieved no success, however, until he was forty years old, when the two plays, Crispin Rival de Son Maitre and Turcaret, won him reputation as a playwright. His most famous work is the novel, Gil Blas de Santillane, which has become a classic. See Gil Blas

QUOTATIONS.

It may be said that his wit shines at the expense of his memory.

Facts are stubborn things.

Plain as a pike-staff.