The nose and throat in medical history / by Jonathan Wright.

  • Jonathan Wright
Date:
[1898?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The nose and throat in medical history / by Jonathan Wright. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    who practiced spells and incantations, and the “Zend-Avesta” rec- ommends the latter class, not an anomalous proceeding in ecclesias- tical advice of later time as well, but it gives, perhaps, a very good reason, viz.: They were apparently the least to be feared. We learn that one of their evil deities created 99,999 diseases with which to plague mankind. Out of this large number we find no mention of those of the upper-air passages, nor of any other differ- entiation that is intelligible to us. THE MEDICINE OF THE “TALMUD.” There are a number of modern treatises upon the medical knowl- edge of the “Talmud,” but a perusal of them, while it reveals a per- haps interesting state of early Hebrew sanitary science, does not give us much insight into their knowledge of diseases of the nose and throat. There are several references* to acute inflammations of the throat which seem to bespeak the existence among the Baby- lonian Jews of diphtheria, or of that disease described later by Aretaeus as Syriac ulcer, from which “they died the most terrible death of all” the 903 deaths possible. This passage reminds one of the mention of the number of diseases in the “Zend-Avesta.” We are still further reminded of Chaldean medicine by the incanta- tions spoken of as therapeutic measures, of demons as etiological factors in fatal throat inflammations, and of the dung of a -white dog mixed with myrrh as a local throat application in cases of coryza. Cynanche and “tumor of the palate” (apparently quinsy) are also mentioned. In the Mischnaf (Fol. 42) we learn that transverse division of the trachea is fatal, but (Holin, Fol. 45) that longitudinal section is not, if there remains an unsevered portion at the top and bot- tom. In the “Ghemara” (Holin, Fol. 57) it is stated that a hole in the trachea may be stopped by an artificial contrivance. It appears that they learned these facts from their sacrificial practice on animals. In the “Kethubot” treatise occurs this passage: “Samuel says that the polyp shows itself by a bad smell of the nose. A ‘beraitha’ says the odor comes from the mouth.” Evi- dently Samuel and the “beraitha” meant ozena, although in afoot- note the translator seems to think otherwise.! * “Die Medizin der Talmudisten,’’ Bergel, 1885, pp. 33, 37, 42, 51. t “La Medizin du Talmud. Rabbinowitz. t Being entirely ignorant of Hebrew and Sanskrit I have had to rely on the authority of translations which have been sharply criticised, but X have taken some pains to verify the above extracts from the Talmud.” T he Jews are said, I know not on what authority, to have been ignorant of medicine until their introduction into Egypt.