Memoir on leprosy in Syria / by John Wortabet.

  • John Wortabet
Date:
1873
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Memoir on leprosy in Syria / by John Wortabet. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    him unclean; if not, he shall declare him clean, because a segregation of two weeks only is appointed for the leprosy which exists in the skin of the flesh; it being understood that, if one of these three signs of uncleanness should appear in him after he had been pronounced clean, the priest shall at once pronounce him unclean, because these three signs of uncleanness are always decisive, as well in the begin- ning as after segregation. If the whiteness of the leprous spot approaches that of white wool or snow, but afterwards becomes darker (or contracted) and reduced to the appearance of an egg- shell, this is not yet a sign of cleanness, but quite a sign of un- cleanness, as in the beginning, until it becomes darker than an egg-shell, when, because it is a pustule, he is held to be clean.”1 Miriam’s and Gehazi’s leprosy is described as having transformed the natural colour of the skin into that of snow.2 The same thing appears to be hinted in the case of Naaman the Syrian,3 so that abnormal whiteness of the skin in patches, with a corresponding change in that of the hair, seems to have been the main sign, or at least, form of Jewish leprosy.4 * The other cases described are those of raw flesh, or of a spreading scall, both of which were considered to be decisive signs of leprosy. A careful study of the whole subject would, perhaps, result in the following conclusions : 1. Jewish leprosy seems to have prevailed among the Hebrews in ancient times to a remarkable extent. Tor not only did the Levitical law recognise it and make an ample provision for its legal treatment, but the Jews were judged by contemporary nations to have been a leprous people.6 2. The Mosaic account can not be identified with the present disease known as leprosy. The chief and distinguishing signs of the Jewish leprosy either do not apply to the modern disease, or include many skin diseases, wdiile the main symptoms of modern leprosy are not alluded to at all in the Levitical description. Edited by J. H. Hottingen. 1 Rabbi Levi Barzelonita’s ‘Laws of tbe Jews.’ Loot, clxix. 2 Numb, xii, 10; and 2 Kings v, 27. 3 2 Kings v, 14. 4 R. Levi gives tbe following definitionLepra lime est, cum albus fucrit locus unus aut plures in cute carnis hominis; ita ut locorum illorum albedo accedat ad albidenem testae ovi, aut etiam superat earn. Quamdiu verb subobscura, infra albedmem testae ovi, fuerit, non est lepra; sed leuce vel vitiligo, id est, alius morbus, qui ex leprae generc non est, sed scabiei.” (‘ Juris Hebrcoorum,’ Hot- trager, elxvni. ’ 3 Thus, Lysimachus, quoted in JosephusThe people of the Jews being leprous and scabby, and subject to certain other kinds of distempers, in the davs of Boechons, King of Egypt, they fled to the temples, and got their food there by begging; and as the numbers were very great that were fallen under these dis- eases, there arose a scarcity in Egypt.” He then goes on to speak of a law having been passed by the king to have them drowned and expelled into the desert, which iTi' §U<34)thC cstabllshnieut of tko Jewish kingdom. (‘ Josophus against Apion,’
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