DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11637#0038
24 TRAVELS IN UPPER
this country *. Cutaneous diseases are common ;
and would be still more prevalent, were it not for
the use of the bath. The leprosy, and that hor-
rible complaint the elephantiasis, sometimes make
their appearance ; but they seem not to be very
contagious, for individuals labouring under them
are but rarely seen.
The last-mentioned species of leprosy, to which
the ancient Egyptians also were liable, dries up
and hardens the epidermis of the legs, and ren-
ders them very large, rugous, and similar in ap-
pearance to those of the elephant. It is peculiar
to the northern part of Egypt; very seldom ap-
pearing much beyond Cairo, as the ancients had
already remarked-f-. Hillary, who observed this
dry leprosy at Barbadoes, never saw both legs
swelled at the same time % : in Egypt, on the
contrary, they equally acquire a hideous magni-
tude. No remedy for this disease is yet known :
but the talents and researches of our French phy~
* Certainly a tight waistband must rather contribute to the
production of hernia, than act as a preservative against it; if
we except the umbilical, which is far from the most common
species.—T.
f Est clefihai morlus qui propter flumina Nili
Gigxitur, Egypto in medio ncque jircterea usquam.
Lucretius.
J W. Hillary on the Glandular Disease of Barbadoes.
sicians
this country *. Cutaneous diseases are common ;
and would be still more prevalent, were it not for
the use of the bath. The leprosy, and that hor-
rible complaint the elephantiasis, sometimes make
their appearance ; but they seem not to be very
contagious, for individuals labouring under them
are but rarely seen.
The last-mentioned species of leprosy, to which
the ancient Egyptians also were liable, dries up
and hardens the epidermis of the legs, and ren-
ders them very large, rugous, and similar in ap-
pearance to those of the elephant. It is peculiar
to the northern part of Egypt; very seldom ap-
pearing much beyond Cairo, as the ancients had
already remarked-f-. Hillary, who observed this
dry leprosy at Barbadoes, never saw both legs
swelled at the same time % : in Egypt, on the
contrary, they equally acquire a hideous magni-
tude. No remedy for this disease is yet known :
but the talents and researches of our French phy~
* Certainly a tight waistband must rather contribute to the
production of hernia, than act as a preservative against it; if
we except the umbilical, which is far from the most common
species.—T.
f Est clefihai morlus qui propter flumina Nili
Gigxitur, Egypto in medio ncque jircterea usquam.
Lucretius.
J W. Hillary on the Glandular Disease of Barbadoes.
sicians