Medica Sacra Part 3

But here occurs a considerable difficulty. For Moses says, "If in the leprosy there be observed a white tumour in the skin, and it have turned the hair white in it, and there be quick flesh within the tumour; it is an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh. But if the leprosy spread broad in the skin, and cover the whole skin of the diseased from his head even to his feet, the person shall be p.r.o.nounced[49] clean." But the difficulty contained in this pa.s.sage will vanish, if we suppose, as it manifestly appears to me, that it points out two different species of the disease; the one in which the eroded skin was ulcerated, so that the quick flesh appeared underneath; the other, which spread on the surface of the skin only in the form of rough scales. And from this difference it happened, that the former species was, and the latter was not, contagious. For these scales, being dry and light like bran, do not penetrate into the skin; whereas the purulent matter issuing from the ulcers infects the surface of the body. But concerning the differences of cuticular diseases, I heartily recommend to the reader's perusal, what Johannes Manardus, equally valuable for his medical knowledge and the purity of his Latin, has written upon the subject.[50]

[49] _Levit. Chap. xiii. v. 10 &c._

[50] _Epist. Medicinal. Lib. vii. Epist. ii._

There is no time, in which this disease was not known; but it was always more severe in Syria and Egypt, as they are hotter countries, than in Greece and other parts of Europe; and it is even at this day frequent in those regions. For I have been a.s.sured by travellers, that there are two hospitals for the leprous alone in Damascus. And there is a fountain at Edessa, in which great numbers of people affected with this cuticular foulness wash daily, as was the ancient custom.

Moreover we read the princ.i.p.al signs, which occur in the description of the Mosaic leprosy, excepting only the infection of the cloaths and houses (of which by and by) recorded by the Greek Physicians.

Hippocrates himself calls the ?e??? or white leprosy F??????? ??s??

the Phnician disease.[51] For that the word f?????? ought to be read F???????, appears manifestly from Galen in his _Explicatio linguarum Hippocratis_; where he says that F??????? ??s?? is a disease which is _frequent in Phnicia and other eastern regions_.[52] In the foregoing chapter I said that the Leprosy (Leuce) and the Elephantiasis, were diseases of great affinity:[53] in confirmation of which notion the same Galen observes, that the one sometimes changes into the other.[54] Now these two distempers are no where better described than by Celsus, who lived about the time of Augustus Caesar, and having collected the works of the princ.i.p.al Greek writers in physic and surgery, digested them into order, and turned them into elegant Latin with great judgment. Thus he describes the leprous diseases. _Three are three species of the_ Vitiligo. _It is named_ ??f??, _when it is of a white colour, with some degree of roughness, and is not continuous, but appears as if some little drops were dispersed here and there; sometimes it spreads wider, but with certain intermissions or discontinuities. The_ ??a? _differs from this in colour, because it is black, and like a shadow, but in other circ.u.mstances they agree.

The_ ?e??? _has some similitude with the_ ??f??, _but it has more of the white, and runs in deeper: and in it the hairs are white, and like down. All these spread themselves, but in some persons quicker, in others slower. The_ Alphos _and_ Melas _come on, and go off some people at different times; but the_ Leuce _does not easily quit the patient, whom it has seized.[55] But in the Elephantiasis_, says the same author, _the whole body is so affected, that the very bones may be said to be injured. The surface of the body has a number of spots and tumors on it; and their redness is by degrees changed into a dusky or blackish colour. The surface of the skin is unequally thick and thin, hard and soft; and is scaley and rough: the body is emaciated; the mouth, legs and feet swell. When the disease is inveterate, the nails on the fingers and toes are hidden by the swelling._[56] And the accounts left us by the Arabian physicians, agree with these descriptions. Avicenna, the chief of them, says that _the Leprosy is a sort of universal cancer of the whole body_.[57] Wherefore it plainly appears from all that has been said, that the Syrian Leprosy did not differ in nature, but in degree only, from the Grecian, which was there called ?e???; and that this same disease had an affinity with the Elephantiasis, sometimes among the Greeks, but very much among the Arabs. For the climate and manner of living, very much aggravates all cuticular diseases.

[51] _Prorrhetic. Lib. ii. sub finem._

[52] ? ?at? F???????, ?? ?at? t? ???a ??at????? ??? p?e?????sa.

[53] _Pag. 15._

[54] _De simpl. medicam. facult. Lib. xi._

[55] _De medicina, Lib. v. Cap. xxviii. --. 19._

[56] _Lib. iii. Cap. xxv._

[57] _Canon, Lib. iv. Fen. 3. Tract. 3. Cap. i._

Now with regard to the infection of the cloaths, it has been found by most certain experiments, not only in the plague, and some other malignant eruptive fevers, as the small pox and measles, but even in the common itch; that the infection, once received into all sorts of furs or skins, woollen, linnen, and silk, remains a long time in them, and thence pa.s.ses into human bodies. Wherefore it is easy to conceive, that the leprous miasmata might pa.s.s from such materials into the bodies of those, who either wore or handled them, and, like seeds sown, produce the disease peculiar to them. For it is well known, that the surface of the body, let it appear ever so soft and smooth, is not only full of pores, but also of little furrows, and therefore is a proper nest for receiving and cheris.h.i.+ng the minute, but very active, particles exhaling from infected bodies. But I have treated this subject in a more extensive manner in my _Discourse on the Plague_.[58] And these seeds of contagion are soon mixed with an acrid and salt humor, derived from the blood; which as it naturally ought, partly to have turned into nutriment, and partly to have perspired through the skin, it now lodges, and corrodes the little scales of the cuticle; and these becoming dry and white, sometimes even as white as snow, are separated from the skin, and fall off like bran. Now, altho'

this disease is very uncommon in our colder climate; yet I have seen one remarkable case of it, in a countryman, whose whole body was so miserably seized by it, that his skin was s.h.i.+ning as if covered with snow: and as the furfuraceous scales were daily rubbed off, the flesh appeared quick or raw underneath. This wretch had constantly lived in a swampy place, and was obliged to support himself with bad diet and foul water.

[58] _Chap. i._

But it is much more difficult to account for the infection of the houses. For it seems hardly possible in nature, that the leprous spots should grow and spread on dry walls, made of solid materials. But upon a serious consideration of the different substances employed in building the walls of houses, such as stones, lime, bituminous earth, hair of animals, and other such things mix'd together; I thought it probable, that they may by a kind of fermentation, produce those _hollow greenish or reddish strokes in sight lower than the wall_ (or within the surface)[59] which, as they in some measure resembled the leprous scabs on the human body, were named the _Leprosy in a house_.

For bodies of different natures, very easily effervesce upon being blended together. Wherefore we may reasonably suppose that this moisture or mouldiness, gradually coming forth and spreading on the walls, might prove very prejudicial to the inhabitants, by its stinking and unwholesome smell, without having recourse to any contagious quality in it. And somewhat a.n.a.logous to this is pretty frequently observable in our own houses; where, when the walls are plaistered with bad mortar, the calcarious and nitrose salts sweat out upon their surface, of a colour almost as white as snow. The power of inspecting their houses was invested in the priests; who, when they observed this foulness, gave orders first to have the walls of the house sc.r.a.ped all around; and afterwards, if it continued to break out, to pull down the house, and carry the materials out of the city into an unclean place.

[59] _Levit. Chap. xiv. v. 37._

I am well aware, that all this is related, as if G.o.d himself had struck the house with this plague. But it is well known, that that way of speaking is not uncommon in the jewish history; as in unexpected evils and dreadful calamities, which are sometimes said to be done by the hand of G.o.d, tho' they may be produced by natural causes. Nor can I be easily induced to believe, with some divines, that G.o.d, who commanded his people to be always free from every sort of uncleanness, would vouchsafe to work a miracle, in order to inflict this most filthy punishment on any person. Thus much is indubitable, that the precepts of the mosaic law were const.i.tuted particularly, to avert the people from idolatry and false religion, and at the same time to keep them clear of all uncleanness.[60] To this end conspired the prohibition of eating blood, carrion, or animals that died spontaneously, swines flesh, and that of several other creatures.[61]

For all these meats yield a gross nutriment, which is improper and prejudicial in diseases of the skin.

[60] _Mos. Maimonid. More Navochim, Part. iii. Cap. x.x.xiii.

et xlviii._

[61] _Levit. Chap. xi. et xvii._

But in order to close these theological researches with somewhat medical, I am convinced from experience, that there is not a better medicine known against this filthy disease, than the _tincture of Cantharides_ of the _London Dispensatory_. Its remarkable virtue in this case, is owing to the diuretic quality of these flies. For there is a great harmony between the kidneys and glands of the skin, so that the humors brought on the latter, easily find a way thro' the former, and are carried off by urine: and on the other hand, when the kidneys have failed in the performance of their functions, an urinous humor sometimes perspires thro' the cuticular pores. But such cathartics are to be interposed at proper intervals, as are most proper for evacuating thick and acrid humors.

CHAPTER III.

_The disease of king Saul._

When "King Saul was abandoned by the Spirit of G.o.d, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him; his courtiers persuaded him to command his servants to seek out somebody that was a good player on the harp, who might sooth or compose him by his music, when the evil spirit from G.o.d was upon him." Which when Saul had done, by sending messengers for David; "whenever it happened that Saul was seized with that evil spirit, David took his harp, and play'd on it; and thus Saul was refreshed and became composed, and the evil spirit departed from[62]

him."

[62] _See Samuel, or Kings, Book i. Chap. xvi._

Now to me it appears manifest, that this king's disease was a true madness, and of the melancholic or atrabilarious kind, as the ancient physicians called it. And the fits return'd on him at uncertain periods, as is frequently the case in this sort of disease. Nor could the cause of that disorder be a secret, seeing he had been lately deprived of his kingdom by G.o.d's express command. Likewise the remedy applied, to wit, playing on the harp, was an extremely proper one. For physicians have long since taught us, that symphonies, cymbals, and noises, were of service towards dissipating melancholic thoughts;[63]

the power of which we have accounted for in another place upon geometrical principles.[64] Hence also it more plainly appears, that the disorder was owing to natural causes; for otherwise how could the music of a harp drive it away? Counsel and prudence in a man was, in the Hebrew language, usually stiled the Spirit of G.o.d; and a person deprived of these qualities, was said to be troubled with an evil spirit, that is, to be mad.

[63] _See Cels. Lib. iii. Cap. xviii._

[64] _Mechanical Account of Poisons, Essay ii. Ed. 4._

I am not ignorant that the Jews, by a manner of expression familiar among them, are wont to describe diseases of this kind, to the power of evil angels, as ministers of G.o.d; and that even at this day, some very learned men defend the same notion. But for my part, if I may be allowed to declare my thoughts with freedom, I cannot think it right to have recourse to the divine wrath for diseases, which can be proved to have natural causes; unless it be expresly declared, that they were sent down directly from heaven. For if they fall on us in punishment of our sins, the intention of the supreme lawgiver would be frustrated, unless a sure rule was given, whereby his vengeance might be distinguished from common events; in as much as the innocent may be equal sharers in such calamities with the guilty. Moreover, it seems reasonable to believe, that evils inflicted by the omnipotent judge, must be either incurable, or curable by himself alone; that the connection of his power with his equity, may the more brightly s.h.i.+ne forth. By such a criterion, are miraculous works distinguished from the operations of nature. For it would be impiety to suppose, that the almighty creator of heaven and earth intended, that his works should be performed in vain. Wherefore it is worthy of our observation, that great care is always taken in the sacred histories, to make the divine power in such cases, appear most manifest to all. Thus when the Lord had infected Miriam (or Mary) with a leprosy, for a sin committed by her, and consented, on the supplication of Moses, to make her whole; it was not done till seven days afterward.[65] Gehazi's leprosy remained in him and his progeny for ever.[66] King Azariah was smote with the leprosy, for not having demolished the high places; and he was a leper unto the day of his death.[67] Ananias and his wise were struck dead suddenly by the miraculous power of St. Peter.[68] Elymas the sorcerer, was struck blind for a season by St. _Paul_, for his frauds and wickedness.[69] Therefore since threats and plain indications of diseases, inflicted in an uncommon manner, are always manifestly declared; whensoever these are wanting, why may we not say, that the event was by no means supernatural? And I desire, once for all, that this sentiment may hold good with regard to several other calamities.

[65] _Numbers, Chap. xii. Verse 14._

[66] _Kings, Book ii. (al. iv.) Chap. v. Verse 27._

[67] _The same, Chap. xv. Verse 5._

[68] _Acts, Chap. v._

[69] _The same, Chap. xiii. Verse 11._

CHAPTER IV.

_The disease of king Jehoram._

Of king Jehoram it is related, that, "for his wicked life, the Lord smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease, so that he voided his intestines daily for the s.p.a.ce of two years, and then died of the violence of the[70] distemper." Two impious kings are recorded to have had the same end, Antiochus Epiphanes, and Agrippa; of whom it was said: ??? t? t? sp?????a t??? ? sp?a???????????.[71]

[70] _Chronicles, Book ii. Chap. xxi. Verse 18._

[71] _See the Notes of Grotius on this Place._

Of what avail are bowels to those who have no bowels?

Now this distemper seems to me to be no other than a severe dysentery. For in this the intestines are ulcerated, and blood flows from the eroded vessels, together with some excrement, which is always liquid, and slimy matter; and sometimes also some fleshy strings come away, so that the very intestines may seem to be ejected.