Owing to failure in receiving replies to several letters of inquiry and to other pressing demands upon my time, I have been unable to complete the supplement to my former report on leprosy, which I expected to offer at this meeting. I shall, however, add a few facts and observations to what was written four years ago.
Since 1890, evidence has been accumulating in favor of the theory then advanced, that the most important factor in the causation of leprosy is contagion, and it is now generally admitted that it is the only factor deserving serious consideration. The most noteworthy testimony to this effect is the report I of the Indian Commission of 1892, based upon investigations made the previous year. The most important conclusions reached were that leprosy is not kindred to syphilis or tuberculosis, that it is contagious, and that it is not diffused by hereditary transmission.
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