The principles and practice of obstetric medicine and surgery : in reference to the process of parturition / by Franics H. Ramsbotham.
- Francis Henry Ramsbotham
- Date:
- 1865
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The principles and practice of obstetric medicine and surgery : in reference to the process of parturition / by Franics H. Ramsbotham. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.
722/778 page 602
![who presided over marriage and childbirth ; which latter office, also, was the peculiar provinc* of the Juno Lucina, of the Romans. Hpn has, indeed, usually been derived from epaw, to love, KJ,—as being an amiable personage; but, putting out of the question that the poets it Juno's character in the most amiable light, the very rare circumstance of an 3rd having for its root an unasperated one. would lead to the belief that such a as incorrect. The palpable and easy derivation of the genitive and other cases r by the Romans, Jovis, &c. from niPT Jehovah, would strengthen such an did not pai asperated v derivation V of Jupite idea. Through the frequent and intimate intercourse which was held fr tween the Jews and all the other civilized nations of the world, we ma the Greeks were well acquainted, not only with the Jewish superstiti familiar phrases. If we grant this, we may as readily imagine that the i th. otest time be- readily conclude that is, but also with their were acquainted with e 'Hpr; proves. Thus, the Hebrew word jnn. Heron, as indeed I consider their this bone would be called npov iorcov, as being the part where the pains of labour were prin- cipally felt; and by a very slight change of pronunciation, a most easy and natural transition, or by the ignorance of transcribers, the fyov would be corrupted, and slide into upov, especially s thN latte vith thei t Greeks, a and ] ■ part ; the moderns, pronounced the 7 as the e letter i; which would approximate the sound of the Greek word more closely to that of the Hebrew. In this manner it would acquire the name tpov oanov ; and the Latins translating it, would retain the Greek phrase, without knowing how it originated. If this be true, the upovooTtov, os sacrum, will signify no more than the bone intimately connected with the internal organs of generation, or chiefly affected by the throes of parturition. It is worth remarking, that a curious superstition connected with the sacrum or coccyx, sprung up among the Jews soon after the Christian era, and became one of the Rabbinical doctrines; viz. that part of the skeleton would resist decay, would remain unchanged, and become the germ from which the body would be raised in the resurrection. The bone invested with this restorative power was called the pS luz, and was the low Thus, Buxtorf, (Lexicon Chaldaic. Talmud, et Rabbin, col. 1120.) in corpore humano quod scribunt Hehraei esse incorruptible, futuram totius corporis resurrectionem. For which he quotes se giving Latin translations: Lus est os spinas dorsi in homine, c corrumpitur in perpetuum. Lus est os parvum in fine vertebr cit, excepto isto osse. Lus vertebrarum, unde Deus regermiu Turn, &c. Butler, in his celebrated satire, has pleasantly introduced this s The learner! Jtabhins of the Jews 'Lusnomen b propterea, eral Rabbini spinal column. ossis cujusdam ejus beneficio md non com re faciet ho buritur, neque minem in futu- iperstition :- ustly style the par —IIl'DiB. Canto ii. Part iii. In a very ancient Hebrew expositic Rabbath, treating of the Deluge, we Yoradek, the destruction was so con- race then existing, except Noah and Haninah, being desirous of proving t took a luz, and attempted to grind fire, but it would not be bur an anvil, and began to striki without' ' i of the Holy Scriptures, known bv the name Medrach •ead (p. 28-6.) on the authority of Rabbi Simeon, son of ilete, that not even the luz, from which man was to be d ; for the Almighty would not preserve a vestige of the is family. It goes on to say. that Rabbi Joshua, son of the Roman emperor Adrian the truth of the resurrection, t in a mill, but it would not be ground ; to burn it with it in water, and it was not destroyed : he placed it on mmer, but the anvil was split, and the hammer burst Had this superstition arisen i Hippocrates' time, we might suppose that the Greeks borrowed from it their term 'Upov oortov, in consequence of the presumed incorruptible nature and holy function of the bone after death. But as this fable cannot be traced farther back than the age of Adrian, who lived in the second century, such a supposition of course falls to the ground. pb is one of the Hebrew words for an almond or an almond tree; and the phrase, Os parvum in fine vertebrarum, would evidently imply the coccyx. The coccyx, then, might have been so named from its supposed resemblance to an almond, being slender and pointed. But it is probable that this term was applied either to the sacrum or coccyx, or both of these bones conjointly. Now the Jews adopted the almond tree as an emblem of haste and fertility, from the rapidity with which it brought its fruit to perfection (Jer. i. 11-12, also Ecclesiast. xii. 5.) From the figurative character of the Hebrew language, it is easy to suppose that the word used as the symbol of fertility might be trans- ferred to any of the organs connected with the process of reproduction. Indeed, Mendelsohl,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21007123_0722.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
