om time to time, to visit mankind.

It is, I believe, a singular fact, that the Jews, "the chosen people
of God," have a special immunity from the disease, being less
predisposed than other races. Dr. V. Carter says that during a period
of seventeen years, out of a very large number of cases in Bombay, he
had seen only four cases, and but one death among Jews, that is of
_Elephantiasis Graecorum_.

Belcher on "Our Lord's Miracles," says that in Tangiers at the present
day, the two diseases are found, the _Lepra Hebraeorum_ prevailing
chiefly among the Jewish residents, and presenting exactly the
symptoms as described in Leviticus. On the other hand, in Syria,
_Elephantiasis Graecorum_ is unknown among the Jews.

It appears to have been very prevalent in this country; but when, and
how it was introduced, is not known. Some certify it was brought back
by the Crusaders, being the only thing they ever did bring back. But
it existed here long anterior to the days of the _first_ crusade. The
City of Bath is said to have originated from an old British King
afflicted with Leprosy, who being obliged, in consequence, to wander
far from the habitation of men, and being finally reduced to the
condition of a swineherd, discovered the medicinal virtues of the hot
springs of Bath, while noticing that his pigs which bathed therein
were cured of sundry diseases prevailing among them.

The following epigram on King Bladud, who was killed 844,
B.C.,--father of King Leir, or Leal, d. 799, B.C.,--was written by a
clergyman of the name of Groves, of Claverton:--

"When Bladud once espied some hogs
Lie wallowing in the steaming bogs,
Where issue forth those sulphurous springs,
Since honour'd by more potent kings,
Vex'd at the brutes alone possessing
What ought t' have been a common blessing,
He drove them, thence in mighty wrath,
And built the mighty town of Bath.
The hogs thus banished by their prince,
Have lived in Bristol ever since."

Many Lazar or Leper Houses were built in England during the early part
of the reign of William the Norman, who founded several.

The medical writers of the 13th and 14th centuries, which include the
names of Theodoric, the monk, a distinguished surgeon of Bologna; the
celebrated Lanfranc, of Milan and afterwards of Paris; Professor
Arnold Bachuone, of Barcelona, reputed in his day the greatest
physician in Spain; the famous French surgeon Guy de Chauliac;
B