Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 September 1888 — How a Leper Looks. [ARTICLE]

How a Leper Looks.

Chicago Herald. ' r Johnson, the leper, lies in a room off from the contagious ward. He is hideous. His hands and hairless face areincrusted with scale-like blotches of red-dish-brown. The face shows more distinctly the ravages of the horrible disease. The lower lids of the eyes are drawn down and turned inside out. The lips are blue, and the nose is swollen to twice its natural size. His back and abdomen are covered with huge tubercles. The scales slightly change color from time to time. There is no known remedy for leprosy. It has for all time defied the efforts of physicians. But one important discovery has been made of late years, and that is that the disease is contagious, and is not hereditary, as generally supposed. The germ of the disease is known to exist, and animals have been inoculated, afterwards showing unmistakable sign§, of the malady. Still no cure has been discovered, or even a remedy to alleviate the leper’s suffering. Leprosy is a slow,disease, and Johnson may live for even fifteen years. Tiiere are two forms of the disease—viz., black leprosy and white leprosy. Ip the former the’ scales are dark and in the latter perfectly white, Johnson- 4s suffering from the former. The leprosy of the ancient Jews consisted of shiny smooth blotches on which the hair turned white and silky, and the skin and muscular flesh lost their sensibility. It was incurable. It was not until abqut the year 900 A. I). that the black leprosy appeared. In, time the toes and fingers drop off, and when the eating process reaches the vitals death ensues. -