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    "title": "LEPROSY",
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    "verified_text": "since 1910 a new and more hopeful era in the 3,000-year-old leprosy problem has been opened up by the discovery of an improved treatment of at least the earlier stages of the disease. it still remains a great scourge, recent estimates placing the world’s lepers, including early little recog- nised cases, at two to three millions, the great majority being met with in tropical and subtropical asia and africa, the last having the highest numbers in proportion to population. leprosy is most prevalent tn hot damp climates, and least in very dry areas, humidity being apparently favourable to the survival of the lepra bacillus and its transmission to others, usu- ally through long and close contact, 40% of traced infections being due to living in the same house and 30% more to sleeping in the same bed with a leper. children and young adults are most susceptible. the disease is less infectious than tubercu- losis, and many advanced crippled nerve cases lose their infec- tivity. one-third of the isolated lepers in south african institu- tions were recently released on this account, with great reduction 4 701 in expenditure and in opposition to segregation, which is only necessary in infective stages, and has resulted in the reduction of the lepers in norway to only 5% of the numbers known in 1856, when it was introduced there. sweden and iceland show very similar results. under the more difficult conditions in poor tropical countries such as hawaii and the philippines, and in the absence of an effective treatment, the effects of this policy have not been so good and it has led to hiding of the earlier and more amenable cases, from whom infections may arise before they are discovered and isolated. freatment— numcrous suggested remedies, including nastin, having failed to fulfil their early promise, only the old indian drug, chaulmoogra oil, was known to have some power of retard- ing the progress of the disease by such doses as could be taken orally on account of its nauseating properties. but slightly better results were obtained by victor g. heiser in the philip- pines by prolonged painful courses of intramuscular injections of the oil, which few patients would submit to. real advance was made in 1916-7 when l. rogers injected the soluble sodium salts of the fatty acids of chaulmoogra and other oils intra- muscularly, and still better intravenously. this produced febrile and local reactions, accompanied by extensive destruc- tion of the lepra bacilli in the diseased tissues, with subsequent absorption and eventually complete disappearance of the nod- ules and the organisms in a considerable proportion of not very advanced cases. dean and hollmann at honolulu soon after introduced the practically important modification of using intramuscular in- jections of ethyl esters in place of the more troublesome intra- venous ones of the sodium salts, enabling a larger number of cases to be treated. the result was that in the last four recorded years the number of cases discharged as recovered by a board of medical experts, has numbered 53 % of the 399 admissions during the same period, and the total lepers, including advanced in- curable cases among whom the mortality is high, are being reduced at arate which will nearly solve the problem in hawaii within about 25 years. further, at the great culion leper settlement of the philippines a little over 4,000 cases in all stages have been treated during the last two or three years, and 645 have already cleared up and are bacteriologically negative. good progress is also being made in many other countries. many early cases are now com- ing forward, for the first time in the age-long history of leprosy, in the early amenable stages and asking for admission to the leper institutions in order to obtain the new treatment. they consequently recover before they have reached the more infec- tive stages, cutting short numerous foci of infection in the houses. active research work, still further to improve the treat- ment, is going forward in several important centres. the dis- heartening old asylums for hopelessly advanced and often quite harmless uninfective lepers are giving place to agricultural colonies, much on the lines of tuberculosis sanatoria for the in- fective cases amenable to treatment. hospital clinics are being established to enable the early un- infective cases to be treated as out-patients without the cost and disadvantages of separation from friends and relatives, and only sufficient funds and organisation are required to enable this loathsome disease to be reduced to negligible proportions in many parts of the world within a very few decades. {see f. oldrieve, /ndia’s lepers, 1924.) (l. ro.) leroy-beaulieu, henri jean baptiste anatole (1842-1912), french publicist (see 16.485), died in paris june 16 1912. leroy-beaulieu, pierre paul (1843-1916), french economist (see 16.485), died in paris dec. 9 1916. : levasseur, pierre emile (1828-1911), french econo- mist (see 16.505), died july 9 rort. levelling: see surveying. leverhulme, william hesketh lever, rsr viscount (1851-1925), british man of business born at bolton lancs. sept. 19 1851, was the son of james lever, a grocer. his ed- ucation, received at the bolton church institute, was cut short 702 in 1867 when he went into his father’s wholesale warehouse is an apprentice. with his zeal for knowledge and a wonderful memory, he utilised every opportunity for self education, at- tending evening classes for shorthand, drawing, french and chemistry, and interesting himself particularly in accountancy, pictorial art and architecture. persuading his father to make him his commercial traveller, he showed such capacity that in 1874 he was taken into partnership and was thus able to marry the friend of his childhood, elizabeth ellen, duughter of mr. cromp- ton, linen draper, of bolton. in 1877, having foreseen that important economies in trans- port of goods could be eflected by opening a branch of the busi- ness in wigan, he established a centre there which ultimately became more profitable than the bolton headquarters. it was doing so well in 1884 in the hands of his father and capable assist- ants that he was on the point of abandoning it to them and seeking a fresh field for his activities; but refreshed by a holiday \\in the isle of lewis he returned to the wigan shop “ full of ideas about soap.”’ these “ ideas,” it soon appeared, could not be realised until he had personal control of the manufacture. he accordingly leased a small soap works at warrington, which had previously been carried on at a loss, and speedily, by his energy, activity and general good management, transformed it into a well-organised, flourishing business, with london branch premises and agents all over the country, well encouraged and supported by their chief's extensive advertising schemes of striking novelty and enterprise. soon, a freehold site where he would have more space for expansion became urgently necessary, and this he found for himself, near bebington, cheshire, where on bromborough pool mrs. lever on march 3 1888 cut the first sod for the foundations of port sunlight, the now famed model industrial village—a con- spicuous example of successful town planning, with parks, tree- bordered thoroughfares, open spaces and halls, institutions and dwelling houses of great and varied architectural interest, the last named well adapted in size to the needs of the occupants, and provided with baths and gardens in front and allotments behind. as for “‘ the space for expansion,” the original 56 acres (of which 24 were reserved for the works and 32 for the village) were latterly extended to 547 acres, 287 allotted to works and 260 to the village, including its extensions. the firm’s expansion overseas has become world-wide, for in 1925 it was recorded in progress, one of the company’s maga- zines, that over 250 companies in all quarters of the globe were associated with lever brothers. through bromborough pool and the mersey, lord leverhulme had from port sunlight secured access by water to london and to british ports gen- erally for home trade, and to the waterways of the world for his exports, as well as to the sources of the raw materials for soap manufacture. these facilities, owing to his foresight and enter- prise, are about to be greatly increased by the opening of the bromborough dock under construction on the mersey side, from and to which ocean steamers will take and bring cargo. mr. lever and his brother, before they moved to port sun- light, had determined that their employees should share in their prosperity. the prosperity sharing pledge was primarily re- deemed in the creation of port sunlight village with its abun- dant amenities, and in the spaciousness of the factory area and the buildings erected thereon with all the arrangements now comprehended in the term “ factory workers’ welfare.’’ those who lived in the village further enjoyed ‘ prosperity-sharing rents,” based on the cost of maintenance repairs and renewals, the interest on the capital expended being a charge on the com- pany’s profits. the same principle was applied to works welfare expenses, beginning with a pensions scheme called the em- ployers’ benefit fund, long service awards, cottage hospital, holiday club, but including in jater days the co-partnership scheme and the many benefits flowing from it, e.g., free insurance policies, unemployment and sickness benefits, staff college training and scholarships. the effect of the prosperity-sharing environment on the workers was a frequent subject of inquiry on the part of visitors; to mr. and mrs. lever it was a source of leverhulme pride, cultivating as they did the affection of the children and missing no opportunity of promoting their health and happiness and entertainment, or of meeting them in their sunday schools and day school festivals. in 1906 (12 years after the incorporation of the private com- pany of lever brothers limited into a public company) an attack was directed by a powerful press organisation against an arrange- ment made by mr. lever with some other soap makers, which was mistakenly denounced as a soap trust. [it was shown, how- ever, in the course of the legal action taken by mr. lever against his principal assailant, that on the contrary, the object of the plan was to render better service to the public as well as to the distributors, both wholesale and retail. on the third day of mr. lever’s ordeal in the witness box the counsel for the defence withdrew the plea of justification, as well as every imputation made upon mr. levers’ honour and integrity, and apologised for having made the attack upon him. mr. lever presented the university of liverpool with the amount of the damages and costs awarded to him, together with an additional sum which brought the endowment up to £100,000. mr. lever was in politics an advanced liberal and, in aid of his party against strong conservatives, allowed himself to be nominated a parliamentary candidate six times in all, thrice for birkenhead, twice for wirral and once for the ormskirk division of lancashire. he scored a notable victory on his second candi- dature for wirral in 1906, and introduced bills on old age pen- sions and payment of members, which were afterwards taken up by the government and became law. after being raised to the peerage he made a favourable impression in the house of lords by his speeches on labour questions, and on decimal coinage he introduced a bill which was remitted, with another, to a select committee, which, however, did not complete its sittings within the life of that parliament. in 1909 mr. lever launched his great scheme of co-partner- ship with employees. ‘“ a remarkable year’ he characterised this, for it happened to be the centenary of his father’s birth, the 21st anniversary of the foundation of port sunlight, and the year in which his son was coming of age and entering the business. the scheme, avoiding the objections to ordinary profit-sharing arrangements, was contrived to give to managers and other employees a common interest with the employer in avoiding loss as well as in sharing gain, the motto of all being “* waste not, want not.” a reduced facsimile of the partnership certificate 1s bound together with a number of lord lever- hulme’s addresses explaining his scheme, in “ the six-hour day ” referred to below. the years 1910-4 brought to the founder of port sunlight fresh honours but also severe personal sorrows. in roro his brother died. in ro1r he was made a baronet; in 1913 he received from the king of the belgians the cross of grand officer of the order of leopold ii. on july 24 of the same year he suffered his heaviest bereavement in the loss of lady lever, who had been his companion on many voyages, had visited with him his concessions on the congo, and, on her return, had been made a fellow of the royal geographical society. her memory was honoured, when on the visit of king george v. and queen mary in 1914 his majesty laid the foundation stone of the lady lever memorial art gallery. the completion of this building was impossible until the close of the world war, but then became a lordly treasure house, built, furnished, endowed and dedicated to lady lever’s memory by her husband, the princess beatrice opening it in 1922. sir william’s war activities included the loan of several buildings as hospitals, and service on many committees, includ- ing the liquor control board and the army and navy canteen board. he was also gazetted hon. col. of the 2nd vol. batt., the cheshire regt., in which, in its early days, as a volunteer training corps, he had drilled as a private. after his baronetcy, many other public honours were be- stowed on him. he was raised to the peerage in 1917 as baron leverhulme (a name chosen by himself as combining that of his late wife with his own) and the designation “of bolton-le- levi—lieygues moors’ as indicating his unceasing affection for his native town. he was high sheriff of lancashire in 1917 and mayor of bolton in 1918-9. the university of edinburgh conferred upon him the hon. degree of ll.d. he was also made hon. fellow of the royal institute of british architects. in 1918 lord leverhulme turned his attention to the subject of reconstruction after the war and advocated the running of machinery in factories in double shifts of six hours in order to absorb the unemployed and to increase production at a lower cost. under the title of the six-hour day and other industrial questions a selection of lord leverhulme’s speeches and writ- ings on co-partnership, education and business was edited by mr. stanley unwin, and published with an introduction by viscount haldane. the editor, in his preface, remarked that ‘lord leverhulme prescribes a six-hour day, but manages to work sixteen.” he might have added that further time was saved for business transactions by his habit of travelling to and from london by night trains. when at home in london he rose at 4:30 a.m. to read reports and prepare for the day’s inter- views and correspondence. it was in 1918 also that lord lever- hulme bought from col. duncan matheson the island of lewis, acquiring later north and south harris also. he spent large sums in a sincere effort to extend and develop the fishing in- dustry and to help the islanders in other ways, but lack of sup- port, especially on the part of the scottish office, led to the abandonment of his schemes as far as lewis was concerned; and he gave the town of stornoway, including lewis castle and its grounds, to the people of stornoway. he continued his developments in harris, where more local appreciation was shown, until his death. one of lord leverhulme’s personal enterprises for the eco- nomic development of his hebridean properties was the open- ing or acquisition in 1919 of the retail fish shops, since familiar to the public as “‘ mac fisheries,’”’ to serve as an outlet for the fishing industry of lewis and harris, the catches being conveyed by swift steamers to fleetwood and then distributed to over 300 shops in england, of which 110 were in london. lord lever- hulme, having borne the whole of the expenses of the formation and development of mac fisheries, handed the business over to lever brothers a year or two later with its capital intact. among lord leverhulme’s many benefactions, the presenta- tion to the nation of stafford house, renamed in compliment to him lancaster house, and now constituting a home for the london museum, is conspicuous. he was a generous benefactor to the congregationalist denomination, of which he was a mem- ber; and jointly with his brother he erected the blackburn road church, bolton, as a memorial to his parents. he also built christ church, port sunlight, st. george’s church, thornton hough, and neston congregational church. he was a renowned collector of antique furniture, pictures and chinese porcelain, and presented the larger part of his wonderful collection to the lady lever art gallery at port sunlight. in freemasonry he reached the high rank of grand junior warden of england. in 1922 lord leverhulme was made a viscount. awarded the messel memorial medal in 1924, it fell to him to deliver the messel memorial lecture to the society of chemical industry entitled “ science, religion and workshop,” a typical example of his happy gift of relieving solid and serious argument with brief intervals of humorous anecdote. at the 15th distribution of partnership certificates to his employees, on his 72nd birthday, lord leverhulme protested against a suggestion that he was without hobbies “ other than the unselfish and noble hobby of devising schemes for the bene- fit and interest of his workpeople.”’ he said he had a great many hobbies, adding, “i think road-making 1s my greatest hobby, and then i have the building of towns. port sunlight was my first. i am now engaged on my 11th—moor park in middlesex. there are five or six in the congo and others in various places.” lord leverhulme began his seventh journey round the world on nov. 14 1923 and completed it on march 24 1924. his last journey was to west africa, returning to london on the morn- ing of march 15 1925. he resumed his business activities with 703 his usual unsparing disregard of self, and caught a chill, which suddenly ended his remarkable carcer, on may 7 1925. the testimony of lord leverhulme's fellow directors, embodied in a resolution drawn up on the morning of his death, summed up his life and work as ‘“‘ distinguished by genius, courage, imagination and devotion to duty, a career inspired by the highest ideals of public spirit and service to his fellow men, and notably by his interest in the welfare, education, better housing and amelioration of the conditions of labour of every rank of industrial worker, as evinced by his crea- tion of co-partnership, life insurance, old age pensions, educational and other schemes for the benefit of his employees and by his gifts to the communities of port sunlight and merseyside, to his native town of bolton and to the nation.’”’ the directors further testified to “ his natural simplicity, the charm of his character, the wealth of “ his affection and the loyalty of his friendship.” (aw? levi, sylvain (1863- ), french orientalist, was born in paris march 28 1863. educated at the university of paris, in 1886 he was appointed a lecturer at the school of higher studies in paris. as special lecturer in sanskrit he taught at the faculty of letters from 1889 to 1894 when he was appointed to a professor- ship at the college de france. in 1897 and 1898 he made impor- tant tours of scientific research in india and japan, and from ro21 to 1923 he travelled in india, indo-china, japan, korea, siberia and russia. prof. levi became a director at the school of higher studies and a member of numerous socicties, including the royal asiatic society, the linguistic society and the society of jewish studies. in 1923 he was made an officer of the legion of honour. his works include le thedtre indien (1890, prix du budget, acade- mie des inscriptions et belles-lettres) ; la doctrine du sacrifice dans les brahmanas (1898); le nepal (1905-8). levy, auguste michel (1844-1911), french geologist (see 16.519), died sept. 21 1911. lewis, isaac newton (1858- ), american soldier and inventor, was born at new salem, pa., oct. 12 1858. on gradu- ating from the u.s. military academy in 1884 he was given a commission in the artillery. from 1894 to 1898 he was a member of the board on the regulation of coast artillery fire in new york harbour. in 1898 he became recorder of the board of ordnance and fortification in washington, and the same year made a study of ordnance in europe which led to the re-armament of the u.s. field artillery. he is the inventor of a number of range finding and other mechanical and electrical instruments used for artillery fire control purposes in u.s. coast defences. from 1904 to 1911 he was instructor and director of the coast artillery school at fort monroe, becoming lieutenant-colonel in t1o11. in 1913 he retired from active service with rank of colonel. the same year a machine-gun of his invention (the lewis gun) was accepted by the british, french and belgian govts. after it had been rejected in america. throughout the world war it was extensively used by all the allies. col. lewis refused to accept the royalties, amounting to $1,276,000, on his guns made for the american govt. after the united states entered the world war. lewis, sinclair (1885- ), american author, was born at sauk centre, minn., feb. 7 1885. he graduated from yale university in 1907, and was engaged for a time in newspaper work, being reporter on various papers. he acted in an editorial capacity for the frederick a. stokes co., the publishers’ news- paper syndicate, and george h. doran co., at the same time writing short stories and novels. among his works are: our mr. wrenn (1914); the trail of the hawk (1915); and free air (1919). his early work owed much to the influence of h. g. wells. by main street (1920), a study of a small town, he won wide rec- ognition while he provoked much criticism. babbitt (1922) was one of the most discussed novels of the century, and added a new word to the english language. it was followed by the scarcely less popular arrowsmith (1924). leygues, georges (1858- ), french politician, was born at villeneuve-sur-lot on nov. 28 1858, and educated in his native town, toulouse and bordeaux. on arriving in paris he took up the study of the law, but his natural bent inclined him at the same time towards letters and he was well received in the parnassian group of poets. after pursuing wide travels, ranging from the polar regions to the levant, he 704 entered politics. at the age of 26 he was elected deputy for the lot et garonne department. in 1894 and 1895 he was given ministerial posts, respectively in the dupuy and ribot cabinets. in june 1898 he was elected vice-president of the chamber, but he resumed ministerial office in the 3rd dupuy cabinet of the same year. in waldeck-rousscau’s cabinet (1899-1002) known as that of ‘ defence and republican action,”’ he helc the portfolio of public instruction, while m. sarrien appointed him minister for the colonies in 1906. in the clemenceau cabinet of 1917 he was minister of marine. in 1920, when m. millerand became president, m1. leygues was asked to form a government. ile remained until 1921 prime minister and minister for foreign affairs. he was again minister of marine in the cabinets formed by m. briand in nov. 1925 and march 1926. his publications include le coffret brise (1882); l’ecole et la vie (1904); la pologne (1918); colbert et son oeuvre (1920). liang shih-yi (1860- ), chinese politician, was born in kwangtung, and, unlike many other chinese republican leaders of his time, was educated wholly in china and knew no other language than his own. graduating with honours in classics, he was appointed secretary to tang shao-yi when that statesman led a mission to india in 1906, and then began a successful career in the civil service. he was appointed director of railways and assistant director of the chiao t’ung bank in 1907, acting director of imperial chinese posts in rg11, acting minister of communications in 1912, acting vice-minister of finance in 1913, and a member of the council of state and director- general of customs and taxes in 1915. the failure of yuan shih- kai’s monarchical coup d’etat, of which he was one of the sup- porters, compelled him to resign, but in 1918 he returned to favour as speaker of the senate. throwing in his lot with chang t’so-lin in the contest between the latter and wu pei-fu, he be- came prime minister in 1921. the defeat of chang, however, resulted in his fall, and he left peking in 1922 to escape wu's vengeance and took no further part in politics. he visited europe in 1924. ; liapunov, alexander mikhailovich (1857-1918), russian mathematician, was born april 25 (old style) 1857, a son of the astronomy professor in the university of kazan, and the brother of the musician and composer sergei m. liapunov. in 1901 he was made a member of the russian academy of science and later was appointed professor at kharkov university. he died oct. 31 1918 in odessa. his mathematical research belongs mainly to hydrodynamics and his chief work is sur les figures d’equilibre peu differentes des ellipsoides d’une masse liquide homogene douee d’un mouvement de rotation (1909-12). his voluminous investigations are very specialised and not available to the ordinary reader, but they are of incomparable value to specialists. they are published in french and in the azemoirs of the russian academy of sciences (1895, etc.) and his first treatises, which appeared in russian, are translated into french and published in the lnnales de toulouse.",
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