THE KING'S EVIL
Sth,—Is there a possibility that scrofula was not the only disease originally embraced within the genpric term of "king's evil "? In the -Grande Chronique de France, 1505, there is reference to the "grand nombre de ladres et de meseaulx, ce dont le roy eut grand dtplaisir, veu que Dieu dust en are moult griesfment courrouce." This seems to infer that those afflicted by such suppurative diseases as leprosy, syphilis and scrofula were regarded as suffering under divine punishment, so that it is not difficult to imagine an appeal to the royal person for intercession. Failure to cure the more serious complaints may have gradually persuaded those
in authority to substitute the less alarming and more promising cases
of scrofulitic origin.—Yours faithfully, H. DE B. §AUNDERS. Wylderne, Great Kimble, near Aylesbury, Bucks.
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