Difference between revisions of "Medicine"

<p> Medicine. [[Egypt]] was the earliest home of medical and other skilld for the region of the [[Mediterranean]] basin, and every [[Egyptian]] mummy, of the more expensive and elaborate sort, involved a process of anatomy. Still we have no trace of any philosophical or rational system of Egyptian origin; still medicine in Egypt was a mere art or profession. [[Compared]] with the wild countries around them, however, the [[Egyptians]] must have seemed incalculably advanced. Representations of early Egyptian surgery apparently occur on some of the monuments of Beni-Hassan. Those who have assisted at the opening of a mummy have noticed that the teeth exhibited a dentistry, not inferior in execution to the work of the best modern experts. This confirms the statement of [[Herodotus]] that every part of the body was studied by a distinct practitioner. </p> <p> The reputation of Egypt's practitioners, in historical times, was such that both [[Cyrus]] and [[Darius]] sent to that country for physicians or surgeons. Of midwifery, we have a distinct notice, Exodus 1:1, and of women as its Practitioners, which fact may also be verified from the scriptures. The scrupulous attention paid to the dead was favorable to the health of the living. The practice of physic was not among the Jews, a privilege of the priesthood. Any one might practice it, and this publicity must have kept it pure. [[Rank]] and honor are said to be the portion of the physician, and his office to be from the Lord. [[Sirach]] 38:1; Sirach 38:3; Sirach 38:12. </p> <p> To bring down the subject to the period of the New Testament, St. Luke, "the beloved physician," who practiced at Antioch, whilst the body was his care, could hardly have failed to be convenient, with all the leading opinions current down to his own time. [[Among]] special diseases named in the Old [[Testament]] is ophthalmia, [[Genesis]] 29:17, which is perhaps, more common in [[Syria]] and Egypt, than anywhere else in the world; especially in the fig season, the juice of the newly-ripe fruit having the power of giving it. It may occasion partial or total blindness. 2 Kings 6:18. </p> <p> The "burning boil," Leviticus 13:23, is merely marked by the notion of an effect resembling that of fire, like our "carbuncle." The diseases rendered "scab" and "scurvy" in Leviticus 21:20; Leviticus 22:22; Deuteronomy 28:27, may be almost any skin disease. Some of these may be said to approach the type of leprosy. The "botch (shechin) of Egypt," Deuteronomy 28:27, is so vague a term as to yield a most uncertain sense. In Deuteronomy 28:35, is mentioned a disease attacking the "knees and legs," consisting in a "sore botch which cannot be healed," but extended, in the sequel of the verse, from the "sole of the foot to the top of the head." </p> <p> The [[Elephantiasis]] gracorum is what now passes under the name of "leprosy;" the lepers, for example, of the huts near the [[Zion]] gate of modern [[Jerusalem]] are elephantissiacs. See [[Leprosy]]. </p> <p> The disease of King Antiochus, 2 [[Maccabees]] 9:5-10, etc., was that of a boil breeding worms. The case of the widow's son restored by Elisha, 2 Kings 4:19, was probably one of sunstroke. The palsy meets us in the New Testament only, and in features, is too familiar to need special remark. Palsy, gangrene and cancer were common, in all the countries, familiar to the scriptural writers, and neither differs from the modern disease of the same name. [[Mention]] is also made of the bites and stings of poisonous reptiles. Numbers 21:6. </p> <p> Among surgical instruments or pieces of apparatus, the following only are alluded to in Scripture: A cutting instrument, supposed a "sharp stone," Exodus 4:25, the "knife" of Joshua 5:2, The "awl" of Exodus 21:6 was probably a surgical instrument. The "roller to bind" of Ezekiel 30:21 was for a broken limb, and is still used. A scraper, for which the "potsherd" of Job was a substitute. Job 2:8; Exodus 30:23-25 is a prescription in form. An occasional trace occurs of some chemical knowledge, for example, The calcination of the gold by Moses, Exodus 32:20, the effect of "vinegar upon natron," Proverbs 25:20; compare Jeremiah 2:22. The mention of "the apothecary," Exodus 30:35; Ecclesiastes 10:1, and of the merchant in "powders," [[Song]] of [[Solomon]] 3:6, shows that a distinct and important branch of trade was set up in these wares, in which, as at a modern druggist's, articles of luxury, etc., are combined with the remedies of sickness. </p> <p> Among the most favorite of external remedies has always been the bath. There were special occasions on which the bath was ceremonially enjoined. The [[Pharisees]] and [[Essenes]] aimed at scrupulous strictness in all such rules. Matthew 15:2; Mark 7:5; Luke 11:38. River-bathing was common, but houses soon began to include a bathroom. Leviticus 15:13; 2 Samuel 11:2; 2 Kings 5:10. </p>

<p> The physicians in [[Genesis]] 1 were [[Egyptian]] embalmers. [[Physic]] was often associated with superstition; this was Asa's fault, "he sought not unto [[Jehovah]] but to the physicians" (2 Chronicles 16:12). Luke "the beloved physician" practiced at Antioch, the center between the schools of [[Cilicia]] (Tarsus) and Alexandria. Ecclesiastes (Ecclesiastes 12:6) uses language which under the [[Spirit]] (whatever [[Solomon]] knew or did not know) expresses scientific truth: "the silver cord" is the spinal marrow, white and precious as silver, attached to the brain which is "the golden bowl." The "fountain" may mean the right ventricle of the heart, the "cistern" the left, the "pitcher" the veins, the "wheel" the aorta or great artery. The "wheel"' however may mean life in its rapid motion, as James 3:6, "the wheel of nature." The circulation of the blood is apparently expressed. </p> <p> The washing's, the restriction in diet to clean animals and the prohibition of pork, the separation of lepers, the laws of marriage and married intercourse (Leviticus 15), the cleanliness of the camp (Deuteronomy 23:12-14), and the comprehension of all varieties of healthful climate in Palestine, account for Israel's general exemption from epidemics and remarkable healthiness. The healing art in the Old [[Testament]] seems mainly to consist in external applications for wounds, etc. balm abounded in Gilead, and therefore many physicians settled there. Jeremiah 8:22, "Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is not the health (lengthening out) of the daughter of my people gone up (Hebrew)?" i.e., why is not the long bandage applied? or why is not the health come up again, as skin coming up over a wound in healing? (See BALM.) </p>

<p> (1): </p> <p> (n.) Intoxicating liquor; drink. </p> <p> (2): </p> <p> (n.) Hence, a similar object or agency among other savages. </p> <p> (3): </p> <p> (n.) Short for [[Medicine]] man. </p> <p> (4): </p> <p> (n.) The science which relates to the prevention, cure, or alleviation of disease. </p> <p> (5): </p> <p> (n.) Any substance administered in the treatment of disease; a remedial agent; a remedy; physic. </p> <p> (6): </p> <p> (n.) A philter or love potion. </p> <p> (7): </p> <p> (n.) A physician. </p> <p> (8): </p> <p> (v. t.) To give medicine to; to affect as a medicine does; to remedy; to cure. </p> <p> (9): </p> <p> (n.) [[Among]] the North American Indians, any object supposed to give control over natural or magical forces, to act as a protective charm, or to cause healing; also, magical power itself; the potency which a charm, token, or rite is supposed to exert. </p>

<p> Jeremiah 30:13 (a) The [[Scriptures]] are used as a type in this place because they heal the broken heart, they mend the wounds that sin makes, they bind up the bruises that are incurred in wandering away from GOD's path. </p> <p> Jeremiah 46:11 (a) The many means and methods used by [[Israel]] to help in their troubles and </p> <p> sorrows are described by this type. Men are still evading GOD's remedy and trying by legislation and by religious programs and by social service plans to relieve the wickedness and sin of men. [[None]] of these remedies are successful. Every one fails. Only that which is provided by GOD through JESUS CHRIST, and administered by the [[Holy]] [[Spirit]] will succeed in curing the ills of society. </p>

<p> MED'ICINE, n. L. medicina, from medeor, to cure vulgarly and improperly pronounced med'sn. </p> 1. Any substance, liquid or solid, that has the property of curing or mitigating disease in animals, or that is used for that purpose. Simples, plants and minerals furnish most of our medicines. Even poisons used with judgment and in moderation, are safe and efficacious medicines. Medicines are internal or external, simple or compound. 2. The art of preventing, curing or alleviating the diseases of the human body. Hence we say, the study of medicine, or a student of medicine. 3. In the French sense, a physician. Not in use. <p> MED'ICINE, To affect or operate on as medicine. Not used. </p>

<p> On the banks of the future river that will flow from the sanctuary, trees will grow, of which it is said, "The <i> fruit </i> thereof shall be for meat, and the <i> leaf </i> thereof for medicine." Ezekiel 47:12 . This agrees with Revelation 22:2 . The prophet Jeremiah twice observes that when [[God]] brings His judgements upon a people, no medicine will cure them. Jeremiah 30:13; Jeremiah 46:11 . Proverbs 17:22 says, "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine," or 'promoteth healing.' </p>

<p> (תְּרוּפָה, teruphahh a medical powder, Ezekiel 47:12; Sept. ὑγίεια, comp. θεραπεία of Revelation 22:2; Vulg. medicina; also the plur. רְפֻאוֹת, rephuoth', medicaments, or remedies for wounds, Jeremiah 30:13; Jeremiah 46:11; "healed," Ezekiel 30:21; but גֵּהָה,gehah', in Proverbs 17:12, is properly the removal of the bandages from a sore, hence its healing; therefore render, " a joyful heart perfects a cure "). ‘‘ In the following article we endeavor as far as possible to treat the subject from the modern scientific point of view. (See [[Heal]]) </p> <p> I. Sources of Medical Science among the Hebrews.- </p> <p> 1. Natural. — [[Next]] to care for food, clothing, and shelter, the curing of hurts takes precedence even among savage nations. At a later period comes the treatment of sickness; and recognition of states of disease, and these mark a nascent civilization. Internal diseases, and all for which an obvious cause cannot be assigned, are in the most early period viewed as the visitation of God, or as the act of some malignant power, human — as the evil eye or else superhuman, and to be dealt with by sorcery, or some other occult supposed agency. The Indian notion is that all diseases are the work of an evil spirit (Sprengel, Gesch. der Arzeneikunde, 2:48). But among a civilized race the pre-eminence of the medical art is confessed in proportion to the increased value set on human life, and the vastly greater amount of comfort and enjoyment of which civilized man is capable. </p> <p> 2. Egyptian. — It would be strange if their close connection historically with [[Egypt]] had not imbued the [[Israelites]] with a strong appreciation of the value of this art, and with some considerable degree of medical culture. From the most ancient testimonies, sacred and secular, Egypt, from whatever cause, though perhaps from necessity, was foremost among the nations in this most human of studies purely physical. Again, as the active intelligence of [[Greece]] flowed in upon her, and mingled with the immense store of pathological records which must have accumulated under the system described by Herodotus, Egypt, especially Alexandria, became the medical repertory and museum of the world. [[Thither]] all that was best worth preserving amid earlier civilizations, whether her own or foreign, had been attracted, and medicine and surgery flourished amid political decadence and artistic decline. The attempt has been made ‘ by a French writer (Renouard, Histoire de' [[Medicine]] depuis son Origine, etc.) to arrange in periods the growth of the medical art as follows </p> <p> 1st. The Primitive or Instinctive Period, lasting from the earliest recorded treatment to the fall of Troy. </p> <p> 2dly. The [[Sacred]] or Mystic Period, lasting till the dispersion of the Pythagorean Society, BC. 500. </p> <p> 3dly. The Philosophical Period, closing with the foundation of the [[Alexandrian]] Library, BC. 320. </p> <p> 4thly. The Anatomical Period, which continued till the death of Galen, AD. 200. </p> <p> But these artificial lines do not strictly exhibit the truth of the matter. Egypt was the earliest home of medical and other skill for the region of the [[Mediterranean]] basin, and every [[Egyptian]] mummy of the more expensive and elaborate sort involved a process of anatomy. This gave opportunities. of inspecting a vast number of bodies, varying in every possible condition. Such opportunities were sure to be turned to account (Pliny, N. H. 19:5) by the more diligent among the faculty, for ‘ the physicians" embalmed (Genesis 1, 2). The intestines had a separate receptacle assigned them, or were restored to the body: through the ventral incision (Wilkinson, v. 468); and every such process which we can trace in the mummies discovered shows the most minute accuracy of manipulation. [[Notwithstanding]] these laborious efforts, we have no trace of any philosophical or rational system of Egyptian origin, and medicine in Egypt was a mere art or profession. Of science the Asclepiadae of Greece were the true originators. Hippocrates, who wrote a book on "Ancient Medicine," and who seems to have had many opportunities of access to foreign sources, gives no prominence to Egypt. It was no doubt owing to the repressive influences of her fixed institutions that this country did not attain to a vast and speedy proficiency in medical science, when post mortem examination was so general a rule instead of being a rare exception. Still it is impossible to believe that considerable advances in physiology could have failed to be made there from time to time, and similarly, though we cannot so well determine how far, in Assyria. Recent researches at Kuyunjik have given proof, it is said of the use of the-microscope in minute devices, and yielded up even specimens of magnifying lenses. A cone engraved with a table of cubes, so small as to be unintelligible without a lens, was brought home by [[Sir]] H. Rawlinson, and is now in the British Museum. As to whether the invention was brought to bear on medical science, proof is wanting. [[Probably]] such science had not yet been pushed to the point at which the microscope becomes useful. Only those who have quick keen eyes for the nature world feel the want of such spectacles. The best guarantee for the advance of medical science is, after all, the interest which every human being has in it, and this is most strongly felt in large gregarious masses of population. [[Compared]] with the wild countries around them, at any rate, Egypt must have seemed incalculably advance. Hence the awe with which Homer's [[Greeks]] speak of her wealth, resources, and medical skill (II 9:3 1; Od. 4:229. See also Herod. 2:84, and 1:77). The simple heroes had reverence for the healing skill which extended only to wounds. There is hardly Any recognition of disease in Homer. There is sudden death, pestilence, and weary old age, but hardly any fixed morbid condition, save in a simile (Od. v. 395). See, however, a letter [[De]] rebus ex Homnero medicis, D. G. [[Wolf]] (Wittenberg, 1791). So likewise even the visit of Abraham, though prior to this period, found Egypt no doubt in advance of other countries. Representations of earl, Egyptian surgery apparently occur on some of the monuments of Beni-Hassan. [[Flint]] knives used for embalming have been recovered; the "Ethiopic stone" of [[Herodotus]] (2. 86; comp. Ezekiel 4:25) was probably either black flint or agate (See [[Knife]]), and those who have assisted at the opening of a mummy have noticed that the teeth exhibit a dentistry not inferior in execution to the work of the best modern experts. | This confirms the statement of Herodotus that every part of the body was studied by a distinct practitioner. Pliny (7. 57) asserts that the [[Egyptians]] claimed the invention of the healing art, and (26. 1) thinks them subject to many diseases. Their" many medicines" are mentioned (Jeremiah 46:11). [[Many]] valuable drugs may be derived from the plants mentioned by Wilkinson (iv. 621). and the senna of the adjacent interior of [[Africa]] still excels all other. Athothmes II, king :of the country, is said to have written on the subject of anatomy. [[Hermes]] (who may perhaps be ‘ the same as Athothmes, intellect personified, only disguised as a deity instead of a legendary king), was said to have written six books on medicine, in which an entire chapter was devoted to diseases of the eye (Rawlinson's Herod. note to 2:84), and the first half of which related to anatomy. The various recipes known to have been beneficial were recorded, with their peculiar cases, in the memoirs of physic, inscribed among the laws, and deposited in the principal temples of the place (Wilkinson, 3:396, 397). The reputation of its practitioners in historical times was such that both [[Cyrus]] and [[Darius]] sent to Egypt for physicians or surgeons (Herod. 3:1, 129-132); and by one of the same country, no doubt, Cambyses's wound was tended, though not, perhaps, with much zeal for his recovery. </p> <p> Of midwifery we have a distinct notice (Exodus 1:15), and of women as its practitioners, which fact may also be verified from the sculptures (Rawlinson's note on Herod, 2:84). The sex of the practitioners is clear from the Hebrews grammatical forms. The names of two, [[Shiphrah]] and [[Puah]] are recorded. The treatment of new-born [[Hebrew]] infants is mentioned (Ezekiel 16:4) as consisting in washing, salting, and swaddling-this last was not used in Egypt (Wilkinson). The physicians had salaries from the public treasury, and treated always according to established precedents, or deviated from these at their peril, in case of a fatal termination if, however, the patient died under accredited treatment, no blame was attached. They treated gratis patients when travelling or ‘ on military service. Most diseases were by them ascribed to indigestion and excessive eating (Diod. Sicul. 1:82), and when their science failed them magic was called in. On recovery it was also customary to suspend in a temple an exvoto, which was commonly a model of the part affected; and such offerings doubtless, as in. the Coan [[Temple]] of Esculapius, became valuable aids to the pathological student. The Egyptians who lived in the corn-growing region are said by Herodotus (ii. 77) to have been specially attentive to health. The practise of circumcision is traceable on monuments certainly anterior to the age of Joseph. Its antiquity is involved in obscurity, especially as all we know of the Egyptians makes it. unlikely that they would have borrowed such a practice, so late as the period of Abraham, from any mere sojourner among' them. Its beneficial effects in the temperature of Egypt and [[Syria]] have often been noticed, especially as a preservative of cleanliness, etc. The scrupulous attention paid to the dead was favorable to the health of. the living. Such powerful drugs as asphaltum, natron, resin, pure bitumen, and various, aromaticgums, suppressed or counteracted all noxious effluvia from the corpse; even the saw-dust of the floor, on which the body had been cleansed, was collected in small linen bags, which, to the number of twenty or thirty, were deposited in vases near the tomb (Wilkinson, v. 468, 469). For. the extent to which these practices were imitated among the Jews, (See [[Embalming]]). </p> <p> At any rate, the uncleanness imputed to contact with a corpse was a powerful preservative against the inoculation of the livings frame with morbid -humors: But, to pursue to later times this merely general question, it appears (Pliny, N. H. 19:5) that the [[Ptolemies]] themselves practiced dissection, and that, at a period when [[Jewish]] intercourse with Egypt was complete and reciprocal, there existed in [[Alexandria]] a great deal for anatomical study. The only influence of importance which would tend to check the [[Jews]] from sharing this was the ceremonial law, the special reverence of Jewish feeling towards human remains, and the abhorrence of "uncleanness." [[Yet]] those Jews and there were, at all times since the Captivity, not a few, perhaps who tended to foreign laxity, and affected Greek. philosophy and. culture, would assuredly, as we shall have further occasion to notice that they in fact did, enlarge their anatomical knowledge from sources which repelled their stricter brethren, and the result would be apparent in the general elevated standard of that profession, even as practiced in Jerusalem. The diffusion of [[Christianity]] in the 3d and 4th centuries exercised a similar but more universal restraint on the dissecting-room; until anatomy as a pursuit became extinct, and, the notion of profaneness quelling everywhere such researches, surgical science became stagnant to a degree to which it had never previously sunk within the memory of human records. </p> <p> 3. Grecian.-In comparing the growth of medicine in the rest of the ancient world, the high rank of its practitioners — princes and heroes-settles at once the question as to the esteem in which it was held in the Homeric and preHomeric period. To descend to the historical, the story of Democedes at the court of Darius illustrates the practice of [[Greek]] surgery before the. period of [[Hippocrates]] anticipating, in its gentler waiting upon nature, as compared (Herod. 3:130) with that of the [[Persians]] and Egyptians, the methods, and maxims of that father of physic, who wrote against the theories and speculations of the so-called Philosophical school, and was a true empiricist before that sect was formularized. The Dogmatic school was founded after his time by his disciples,. who departed from his eminently practical and inductive method. It recognized hidden causes of health and sickness arising from certain supposed principles or elements, out of which bodies were composed, and by virtue of which all their parts and members were tempered together and became sympathetic. Hippocrates has some curious remarks on the sympathy of men with climate, seasons, etc. He himself rejected supernatural accounts of disease, and especially demoniacal possession. </p> <p> He refers, but with no mystical sense, to numbers as furnishing a rule for cases. It is remarkable that he extols the discernment of Orientals above Westerns, and of Asiatics above Europeans, in medical diagnosis. The Empirical school, which arose in the 3d century BC., under the guidance of Acron of Agrigentum, [[Serapion]] of Alexandria, and Philinus of Cos, waited for the symptoms of every case, disregarding the rules of practice based on dogmatic principles. Amongits votaries was a Zachalias (perhaps Zacharias, and possibly a Jew) of Babylon, who (Pliny, N. H 37:10; comp. 36:10) dedicated a book on medicine to [[Mithridates]] the Great; its views were also supported by Heroddotus of Tarsus, a place which, next to Alexandria, became distinguished for its schools of philosophy and medicine; as also by a [[Jew]] named Theodas, or Theudas, of [[Laodicea]] (see Wunderbar, Biblisch- Talmudische Medicin, 1:25), but a student of Alexandria, and the last, or nearly so, of the empiricists whom its schools produced. The remarks of [[Theudas]] on the right method of observing, and the value of experience, and his book on medicine, now lost, in which he arranged his subject under the heads of indicatoria, curatoria, and salubris, earned him high reputation as a champion of empiricism against the reproaches of the dogmatists, though they were subsequently impugned by [[Galen]] and. Theodosius of Tripoli. His period was that from Titus to. Hadrian., The empiricists held that observation and the application of known remedies in one case to others presumed to be similar constitute the whole art of cultivating medicine. [[Though]] their views were narrow, and their information scanty when compared with some of the chiefs of the other sects, and although they rejected as useless and unattainable all knowledge of the causes and recondite nature of diseases, it is undeniable that, besides personal experience, they freely availed themselves of historical detail, and of a. strict analogy founded upon observation and the resemblance of phenomena" (Dr. Adams, Paul. AEgin. ed. [[Sydenham]] Soc.). </p> <p> This school, however, was opposed by another, known as the Methodic, which had arisen under the leading of Themison, also of Laodicea, about the period of Pompey the Great. [[Asclepiades]] paved the way for the "method" in question, finding a theoretic basis in the corpuscular or atomic theory of physics which he borrowed from [[Heraclides]] of Pontus. He had passed some early years in Alexandria, and thence came to [[Rome]] shortly before Cicero's time (Quo nos medico amicoque usi sumus," Cicero, de Orat. 1:14).: He was a transitional link between the Dogmatic arid [[Empiric]] schools and this :later, or. Methodic (Sprengel, ut sup. pt. v. 16), that sought to rescue medicine from the bewildering mass of particulars into which empiricism had plunged it. He reduced diseases to: two classes, chronic arid acute, and endeavored likewise to simplify remedies. In the meanwhile, the most judicious of medical theories since Hippocrates, Celsus, of the Augustan period had reviewed medicine in the light which all these schools afforded, land, not professing any distinct teaching, but borrowing from all, may be viewed as eclectic. He translated Hippocrates largely verbatim; quoting in a less degree Asclepiades and others. [[Antonius]] Musa, whose "cold-water cure," after its successful trial on [[Augustus]] himself, became generally popular, seems to have had little of scientific basis, but by the usual method, or the usual accidents, became merely the fashionable practitioner of his day in Rome. Attalia, near Tarsus, furnished also, shortly after the period of Celsus, Athenaeus, the leader of the last of the schools of medicine which divided the ancient world, under the name of the "Pneumatic," holding the tenet "of an ethereal principle ῥ (πνεῦμα ) residing in the microcosm, by means of which the mind performed the functions of the body." This is also traceable in Hippocrates, and was an established opinion of the Stoics. It was exemplified in the innate heat, θερμὴ ἔμφυτος (Aret. de Caus. et Sign. Morb. Chron. ii; 13), and the calidum innatum of modern physiologists, especially in the 17th century (Dr. Adams, Pref. Aretceus, ed. Sydelh. Soc.). </p> <p> 4. Effect of these Systems.-It is clear that all these schools may easily have contributed to form the medical opinions current at the period, of the N.T.; that the two earlier among them may have influenced rabbinical teaching on that subject at a much earlier period; and that, especially at the time of Alexander's visit to Jerusalem, the Jewish people, whom he favored and protected, had an opportunity of largely gathering from the medical lore of the West. It was necessary, therefore, to pass in brief review the growth of the latter, and especially to note the points at which it intersects the medical progress of the Jews. Greek Asiatic medicine culminated in Galen, who was, however, still but a commentator on his [[Western]] predecessors, and who stands literally without rival, successor, or disciple of note, till the period when Greek learning was reawakened by the [[Arabian]] intellect. The Arabs, however, continued to build wholly upon Hippocrates and Galen, save in so far as their advance in chemical science improved their pharmacopoeia: this may be seen on reference to the works of Rhazes, AD. 930, and Haly Abbas. AD. 980. The first mention of small-pox is ascribed to Rhazes, who, however, quotes several earlier writers on the subject. [[Mohammed]] himself is said to have been versed in medicine, and to have compiled some aphorisms upon it; — and a herbalist literature was always extensively followed in the East from the days of [[Solomon]] downwards (Freind's History of Medicine, 2:5,:27). Galen himself belongs to the period of the Antonines, but he appears to have been acquainted with the writings of Moses, and to have travelled in quest of medical experience over Egypt, Syria, and Palestine, as well as Greece, and a large part of the West, and, in particular, to have visited the banks of the [[Jordan]] in quest of opobalsamum, and the coasts of the [[Dead]] [[Sea]] to obtain samples of bitumen. He also mentions [[Palestine]] as producing a watery wine, suitable for the drink of feeble patients. </p> <p> II. [[Historical]] Notices.— Having thus described the external influences which, if any, were probably most potent in forming the medical practice of the Hebrews, we may trace next its internal growth. The cabalistic legends mix up the names of [[Shem]] and [[Heber]] in their fables about healing, and ascribe to those patriarchs a knowledge of simples and rare roots, with, of course, magic spells and occult powers, such as have clouded the history of medicine from the earliest times down to the 17th century. </p> <p> 1. In the Old Testament. — So to [[Abraham]] is ascribed a talisman, the touch of which healed all disease. We know that such simple surgical skill as the operation for circumcision implies was Abraham's; but severer operations than this are constantly required in the flock and herd, and those who watch carefully the habits of animals can hardly fail to amass some guiding principles applicable to man and beast alike. [[Beyond]] this, there was probably nothing but such ordinary obstetrical craft as has always been traditional among the women of rude tribes, that could be classed as medical lore in the family of the patriarch, until his sojourn brought him among the more cultivated [[Philistines]] and Egyptians. The only notices which [[Scripture]] affords in connection with the subject are' the cases of difficult midwifery in the successive households of Isaac, Jacob, and [[Judah]] (Genesis 25:26; [[Genesis]] 24:17; Genesis 38:27), and so, later, in that of [[Phinehas]] 2 Samuel 4:19). :Doubts have been raised as to the possibility of twins being born, one holding the other's heel; but there does not seem to be any such limit to the operations of nature as an objection on that score would imply. After all it was perhaps only just such a relative position of the limbs of the infants at the. mere moment of birth as would suggest the "holding by the heel." The midwives, it seems, in case of twins, were called upon to distinguish the first-born, to whom important privileges appertained. The tying on of a thread or ribbon was an easy way of preventing mistake, and the assistant in the case of [[Tamar]] seized the earliest possible moment for doing it. "When the hand or foot of a living child protrudes, it is to be pushed up, and the head made to present" (Paul. AEgin. ed Sydenh. Soc. 1:648, Hippocr. quoted by Dr Adans). This probably the midwife did, at the same time marking him as first-born in virtue of being thus "presented" first. The precise meaning of the doubtful expression in Genesis 38:27 and mag. is discussed by Wunderbar, ut sup. p. 50, in reference both to the children and to the mother. Of [[Rachel]] a Jewish commentator says, "Multis etiam ex itinere difficultatibus praegressis,viribusque post diu protractos dolores exhaustis, atonia uteri, forsan quidem hemorrhagia in pariendo mortua est" (ibid.). The traditional value ascribed to the mandrake, in regard to generative functions, relates to the same branch of natural medicine; but throughout this period there occurs no trace of any attempt to study, digest, and systematize the subject. </p> <p> But, as [[Israel]] grew and multiplied in Egypt, they doubtless derived a large mental cultivation from their position until cruel policy turned it into bondage; even then [[Moses]] was rescued from the lot of his brethren, and became learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, including, of course, medicine and cognate sciences (Clem. Alex. i, p. 413), and those attainments, perhaps, became suggestive of future laws. Some practical skill in metallurgy is evident from Exodus 32:20. But, if we admit Egyptian learning as an ingredient, we should also notice how far exalted above it is the standard of the whole Jewish legislative fabric, in its exemption from the blemishes of sorcery and juggling pretences. The priest, who had to pronounce on the cure, used no means to advance it, and the whole regulations prescribed exclude the notion of trafficking in popular superstition. We have no occult practices reserved in the hands of the sacred caste. It is [[God]] alone who doeth great things, working by the wand of Moses, or the brazen serpent; but the very mention of such instruments is such as to expel all pretence of mysterious virtues in the things themselves. Hence various allusions to God's "healing mercy," and the title "Jehovah that healeth" (Exodus 15:26; Jeremiah 17:14; Jeremiah 30:17; Psalms 103:3; Psalms 147:3; Isaiah 30:26). Nor was the practice of physic a privilege of the' Jewish priesthood. Any one might practice it, and this publicity must have kept it pure. Nay, there was no scriptural bar to its practice by resident aliens. We read of "physicians," "healing," etc., Exodus 21:19; 2 Kings 8:29; :2 Chronicles 16:12; Jeremiah 8:22. At the same time the greater leisure of the [[Levites]] and their other advantages would make the the students of the nation, as a rule, in all science, and their constant residence in cities would give. them the opportunity, if carried out in fact, of a far wider field of observation. </p> <p> The reign of peace in Solomon's days must have opened, especially with renewed. Egyptian intercourse new facilities for the study. He himself seems to have included in his favorite natural history some knowledge of the medicinal uses of the creatures. His works show him conversant with the motion of; remedial treatment (Proverbs 3:8; Proverbs 6:15; Proverbs 12:18; Proverbs 12:22; Proverbs 20:30; Proverbs 29:1; Ecclesiastes 3:3); and one passage (Ecclesiastes 12:3-4) indicates considerable knowledge of anatomy. His repute in magic is the universal theme of [[Eastern]] story. It has even been thought he had recourse to the shrine of Esculapius at Sidon, and enriched his resources by its records-or relics; but there is some doubt whether this temple was of such high antiquity. Solomon, however, we cannot doubt, would have turned to the account, not only of wealth but of knowledge, his peaceful reign, wide dominion, and wider renown, and would have sought to traffic in learning as well as in wheat and gold. To him the [[Talmudists]] ascribe all volume of cures" (ספר רפואות ), of which they make frequent mention (Fabricius, Cod. Pseudep. V. T. p. 1043). [[Josephus]] (Ant. 8:2) mentions his knowledge of medicine, and the use of spells by him to expel daemons who cause sicknesses," which is continued among us," he adds, "to this time." The dealings of. various prophets with quasimedical agency cannot be' regarded as other than the mere accidental torn which their miraculous gifts took (1 Kings 13:6; 1 Kings 14:12; 1 Kings 17:17; 2 Kings 1:4; 2 Kings 20:7; Isaiah 38:21). Jewish tradition has invested [[Elisha]] it would seem, with a function more largely medicinal than that of the other servants of God; but the scriptural evidence on the point is scanty, save ‘ that he appears to have known at once the proper means to apply to heal the waters, and temper the noxious pottage (2 Kings 2:21; 2 Kings 4:39-41). </p> <p> His healing the Shinammite's son has been discussed as a case of suspended animation and of animal magnetism applied to resuscitate it; but the narrative clearly implies that the death was real As regards the lepros, had the Jordan commonly possessed the healing power which Naaman's faith and obedience found in it, would there have been "many lepers in Israel in the days of [[Eliseus]] the prophet," or in any other- days? Further, if our Lord's words (Luke 4:27) are to </p>

<p> '''''med´i''''' -'''''sin''''' , '''''med´i''''' -'''''s'n''''' ( גּהה , <i> '''''gēhāh''''' </i> , תּרוּפה , <i> '''''terūphāh''''' </i> , רפאה , <i> '''''rephu'āh''''' </i> ): These words are used in the sense of a remedy or remedies for disease. In Proverbs 17:22 the King James Version, a merry heart is said to do good "like a medicine." There is an alternative reading in the King James Version margin, "to a medicine," the Revised Version (British and American) "is a good medicine"; the Revised Version margin gives another rendering, "causeth good healing," which is the form that occurs in the [[Septuagint]] and which was adopted by Kimchi and others. Some of the Targums, substituting a <i> '''''waw''''' </i> for the first <i> '''''h''''' </i> in <i> '''''gēhāh''''' </i> , read here "doeth good to the body," thus making this clause antithetic to the latter half of the verse. In any case the meaning is that a cheerful disposition is a powerful remedial agent. </p> <p> In the figurative account of the evil case of [[Judah]] and [[Israel]] because of their backsliding ( Jeremiah 30:13 ), the prophet says they have had no <i> '''''rephu'āh''''' </i> , or "healing medicines." [[Later]] on (Jeremiah 46:11 ), when pronouncing the futility of the contest of [[Neco]] against Nebuchadrezzar, Jeremiah compares [[Egypt]] to an incurably sick woman going up to [[Gilead]] to take balm as a medicine, without any benefit. In Ezekiel's vision of the trees of life, the leaves are said (the King James Version) to be for medicine, the Revised Version (British and American) reads "healing," thereby assimilating the language to that in Revelation 22:2 , "leaves of the tree ... for the healing of the nations" (compare Ezekiel 47:12 ). </p> <p> Very few specific remedies are mentioned in the Bible. "Balm of Gilead" is said to be an anodyne (Jeremiah 8:22; compare Jeremiah 51:8 ). The love-fruits, "mandrakes" (Genesis 30:14 ) and "caperberry" (Ecclesiastes 12:5 margin), myrrh, anise, rue, cummin, the "oil and wine" of the [[Good]] Samaritan, soap and sodic carbonate ("natron," called by mistake "nitre") as cleansers, and Hezekiah's "fig poultice" nearly exhaust the catalogue. In the [[Apocrypha]] we have the heart, liver and gall of Tobit's fish (Tobit 6:7). In the [[Egyptian]] pharmacopoeia are the names of many plants which cannot be identified, but most of the remedies used by them were dietetic, such as honey, milk, meal, oil, vinegar, wine. The [[Babylonian]] medicines, as far as they can be identified, are similar. In the [[Mishna]] we have references to wormwood, poppy, hemlock, aconite and other drugs. The apothecary mentioned in the King James Version ( Exodus 30:25 , etc.) was a maker of perfumes, not of medicines. [[Among]] the <i> '''''fellahı̂n''''' </i> many common plants are used as folk-remedies, but they put most confidence in amulets or charms, which are worn by most Palestinian peasants to ward off or to heal diseases. </p>