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SPECIAL PHILANTHROPY. 389sufferers. Now quite a number of missionary societieshave leper homes or asylums, or encourage their staffto minister to the spiritual welfare of the lepers in thevillages. In the homes and asylums the leper is caredfor, fed and clothed. When death comes to ease him ofhis distress he is decently buried.At Pakhoi, Foochow, Hangchow, Hokchiang andelsewhere, the C. M. S. is successfully engaged in thismerciful work. At Tungkun the Rhenish Mission hasrecently established a leper asylum. At Wuchow thereis also a small leper home under Christian supervision.Lepers are particularly numerous around Canton, wherea good work has been going on for many years by theChristian church. The only leper home in the interiorof China is at Siaokan, near Hankow. Here the L. M. S.has been doing effective work for fifteen years. Theaim of those in charge is to have such a model asylumas shall ultimately lead to imitation by the Chinesethemselves.So far only the fringe of the leper crowd has beentouched. There is need for many another asylum andmany more workers. It will be a glad day when theChinese government is persuaded to take in hand thequestion of the prevention of leprosy. She might wellfollow the example of the Japanese government in thismatter. There are many signs of humanitarian progressin that country. By a special law the whole countryhas been divided into six districts, in each of which thelocal government is to establish an asylum for theshelter and relief of the wandering leper. Doctors areto intimate all cases brought to their notice to theauthorities, while houses in which leprosy has occurredare to be thoroughly disinfected. The cost is to be metjointly by the national treasury and the district governments. A large and difficult problem confronts theexecutive, for the government of Japan has officialrecords of some 30,000 families in which the disease isknown to exist.