Leprosy

(lép'ro-se.) [From Gr. le pros, rough.] (Med.) A cutaneous disease, appearing in dry, white, thin, scurfy scales, either on the whole body or some part of it. The L. or Lepra is of various kinds; that to which the Jews were particularly subject is supposed to have been elephantiasis, or black L. The Jewish law, without excepting even kings, excluded lepers from communion with mankind, banishing them into the country or to uninhabited places. The Crusaders introduced the disease into Europe, where it raged with such virulence during the Middle Ages that almost every town had its lazar-house for the reception of lepers. It is still now occasionally met with in various warm climates. [s. 539]