Now it is a remarkable fact that in certain regions in Norway the nodular form predominates; in others the maculo-anæsthetic does not indeed predominate, but is present almost as frequently as the nodular. The maculo-anæsthetic cases are more numerous in the eastern districts, where the climate is dry; the nodular in the western, along the coasts where the climate is moist. And in this western division there is a region where the climate is not nearly so moist as in the division generally, and here the proportion of maculo-anæsthetic cases is distinctly higher, as may be seen by referring to TABLE III, page 144. Sogn lies in Nordre Bergenhus, and is an inland fjord with a rather dry climate. Söndfjord and Nordfjord lie nearer the coast, and have, especially the former, very damp climates. We have already noted that the leprous nodes are most frequently found on the exposed parts of the skin, and it is quite possible that the form is determined by climatic influences. As the TABLE shows, males are more affected than the opposite sex, and this too may depend on climatic influences. It is also possible that the bacilli always possess the same virulence, and that it is solely dependant on the soil in which they live, whether they multiply freely or no. But it is impossible to say anything definite on this, so long as we are unable to cultivate the bacillus, and so long as we can only refer to the conditions in Norway; and nowhere else have we such definite statistics of the disease and its form as to justify us in drawing any conclusions. We must, therefore, for the present leave in suspense this most important and interesting question of the virulence of the Lepra bacillus, since we possess no experimental proof of any attenuation. CHAPTER VI. DIAGNOSIS AND PROGNOSIS.