Gilbert's discussion of leprosy (_De lepra_, f. 336 d) covers twenty pages and, according to Sprengel, is "almost the first correct description of this disease in the Christian West." Freind says this chapter is copied chiefly _from_ Theodorius of Cervia. See page 3 ante. If, however, I am correct in my conjecture that the Compendium was written about the year 1240, the copying must have been done _by_ Theodorius, whose "Chirurgia" did not appear until 1266. Leprosy is defined as a malignant disease due to the dispersion of black bile throughout the whole body, corrupting both the constitution (_complexionem_) and the form of its members. Sometimes, too, it occasions a solution of continuity and the loss of members. The disease is sometimes congenital, arising from conception during the menstrual period. For the corrupt blood within the maternal body, which forms the nourishment of the fetus, leads likewise to the corruption of the latter. Sometimes the disease is the result of a corrupt diet, or of foul air, or of the breath or aspect of another leper. Avicenna tells us that eating fish and milk at the same meal will occasion the same result. Infected pork and similar articles of diet may likewise produce the disease. Cohabitation with a woman who has previously had commerce with a leper may also produce infection. Among the general symptoms of leprosy Gilbert enumerates a permanent loss of sensation proceeding from within (_insensibilitas mansive ad intrinseco veniens_) and affecting particularly the fingers and toes, more especially the first and the little finger, and extending to the forearm, the arm or the knees; coldness and formication in the affected parts; transparency (_luciditas_) of the skin, with the loss of its natural folds (_crispitudines_), and a look as if tightly stretched or polished; distortion of the joints of the hands and feet, the mouth or the nose, and a kind of tickling sensation as if some living thing were fluttering within the body, the thorax, the arms or the lips. There is felt also a sensation of motion, which is even visible also by inspection. Fetor of the breath, the perspiration and the skin are likewise noticeable. The localities affected lose their natural hair and are re-covered with very fine hairs, invisible except when held between the eye and the sun. The hair of the eyebrows and the eyelashes are lost--one of the worst of symptoms. There are present also hoarseness and an obstruction of the nostrils, without any visible cause. When the patient takes a bath the water runs off the affected localities as if they had been greased--another sign of evil omen. The angles of the eyes are rounded and shining. The skin, even when unaffected by cold, or other similar cause, is raised into very minute pimples, like the skin of a plucked goose. The blood in venesection has an oily appearance, and displays small particles like sand. Small tumors accompany the depilation of the eyebrows. Lepers