146Comp.Simon Zeller von Zellenberg, Abhandl. über die ersten Erscheinungen venerischer Lokal-Krankheitsformen und deren Behandlung, (Treatise on the first Appearances of Local Forms of Venereal disease, and their Treatment), (One treatise under six heads),—Vienna 1820. large 8vo. pp. 11-18.147According toAl. Donné, Recherches microscopiques sur la nature des mucus et la matière des divers écoulements des organes genitourinaires chez l’homme et chez la femme, (Microscopic Researches into the Nature of the Mucous Secretions and the Constituents of the Various Discharges from the genito-urinary Organs in Male and Female), Paris 1837., the vaginal mucus disengaged under normal circumstancesalways exhibits an acid reaction.148According toJ. P. Schotte, Von einem ansteckenden, schwarzgallichten Faulfieber, welches im Jahr 1778 in Senegall herrschte, (Account of a Contagious, black biliary, putrid Fever, prevalent in Senegal in the Year 1778), from the English (Stendal) 1786. 8vo., p. 103., both men and women in Senegal get ulcers, quite without any syphilitic contagion, in the one sex on theglans penisor the under side of the prepuce, in the other on the inner side of thelabia.149Virey, De la Femme, 2nd. edition, Brussels 1826., p. 70., En effet, dans la chaleur, lorsque les excrétions de la peau, des glandes sébacées, des cryptes du vagin, augmentent en abondance et en fétidité, il n’est pas étonnant que le sang menstruel, pour peu qu’il séjourne en ces parties voisines de l’anus, qui sont dans un état d’orgasme, acquière bientôt de l’odeur. (Indeed in a hot climate, when the secretions from the skin, from the sebaceous glands, from the recesses of the vagina, increase in abundance and in foulness, it is not surprising that the menstrual blood, remaining for a time as it does in the regions contiguous to the anus, these regions being in a state of sur-excitation, quickly acquires an evil smell). SoHallertoo says (Elem. Physiolog. Vol. VII. pt. II. p. 146.),Ex Asia videtur opinio de menstrui sanguinis foetida et venenata natura ad nos pervenisse, et per medicos potissimum Arabes ad Europaeos transiisse. In calidissimis certe regionibus, si ad aestuosum aerem immundities accesserit, non repugnat, sanguinem in loco calente, in vicinia faecum alvinarum retentum, acrem fieri et foetire....Lentorem aliquem possit mucus admistus addidisse.(It is from Asia that the opinion as to the fetid and poisonous character of menstrual blood would seem to have come to us, being transmitted mainly by the Arab physicians to those of Europe. No doubt in very hot climates, if dirty habits be added to the extreme heat of the atmosphere, there is nothing at all unlikely in the blood, retained as it is in a hot locality, in close proximity to the faeces in the bowels, growing sour and smelling foul....A certain viscous quality may very well have been added by the admixture of mucous discharge). What has been observed as to the injuriousness of menstrual blood by our predecessors sincePliny(Hist. Nat. VII. 15. XIX. 10. XXVIII. 7.) may be found partially collected inSchurig, Parthenologia 227-240. Comp.Frank de Frankenau, Satyrae Medicae (Medical Satires), p. 89. Comp. pp. 54. sqq.—Hensler, Geschichte der Lustseuche, (History of Venereal Disease), Vol. I. pp. 204. sqq., where it is demonstrated that a great proportion of the Writers on Venereal disease at the beginning of the XVIth. Century attribute its rise to intercourse with women during menstruation.150Burdach, Die Physiologie als Erfahrungswissenschaft, (Physiology as an Experimental Science), 2nd. edition, Vol. I. p. 196.—Boerhaave, Tract. de lue venerea, (Treatise on Venereal Contagion), Venice 1753., p. 6., says, In Asia ad partes genitales sub praeputio naturaliter sordes colliguntur, quae acres redditae generant multa mala, quae praecipue ad luem veneream accedere proxime videntur; non vere sunt lues venerea; imo nostri nautae hoc etiam experiuntur, dum in illis terris degunt, nam nisi quotidie praeputium eluerent aqua salsa et aceto, vel similibus remediis brevi eodem morbo laborarent. (In Asia filth of sorts naturally enough collects on the genital parts beneath the prepuce, and this turning sour originates many complaints, which seem above all others to approximate closely to the Venereal disease. This our sailors found out, when living in those regions; for if they did not daily thoroughly wash the prepuce with salt water and vinegar, or similar remedies, they would soon suffer from the disease in question).151Thevenot, Travels, Pt. I., p. 58., says, “The Arabs in fact have the prepuce so long that, if they did not have it circumcised, they would suffer much inconvenience from it; and little children are to be seen among them whose prepuce hangs down to a very considerable length;—not to mention that, supposing their foreskin uncircumcised, every time after passing water some drops would remain behind, rendering them unclean.”152Niebuhr, Beschreibung von Arabien, (Description of Arabia) Copenhagen 1772. 4to., p. 77.153Josephus, Contra Apionem bk. II. ch. 13., ὅθεν εἰκότως μοι δοκεῖ τῆς εἰς τοὺς πατρίους αὐτοῦ νόμους βλασφημίας δοῦναι δίκην Ἀπίων τὴν πρέπουσαν· περιετμήθη γὰρ ἐξ ἀνάγκης,ἑλκώσεως αὐτῷ περὶ τὸ αἰδοῖον γενομένης· καὶ μηδὲν ὠφεληθεὶς ὑπὸ τῆς περιτομῆς ἀλλὰ σηπόμενος ἐν δειναῖς ὀδύναις ἀπέθανεν. (for translation see text). The expression περὶ τὸ αἰδοῖον (about the privates) is evidently to be understood here as meaning theglans penis, or at any rate the prepuce. This is implied by the general sense of the whole passage.154Philo, De circumcisione, Works edit. Th. Mangey Vol. II. p. 211. Ἓν μὲν, χαλεπῆς νόσου καὶ δυσιάτου πάθους ἀπαλλαγὴν, ἣνἄνθρακα καλοῦσιν, ἀπὸ τοῦ καίειν ἐντυφόμενον, ὡς οἶμαι, ταύτης τῆς προσηγορίας τυχόντος, ἥτις οὐ κολώτερον τοῖς τὰς ἀκροποσθίας ἔχουσιν ἐγγίνετο· Δεύτερον, τὴν δι’ ὅλου τοῦ σώματος καθαρότητα πρὸς τὸ ἁρμόττειν τάξει ἱερωμένῃ. Παρ’ὃ καὶ ξυρῶντο τὰ σώματα προσυπερβάλλοντες οἱ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ τῶν ἱερέων. ὑποσυλλέγετο γὰρ καὶ ὑποστέλλει καὶ θριξὶ καὶ ποσθίαις ἔνια τῶν ὀφειλόντων καθαίρεσθαι. (for translation see text above).155That is to say so far as it is suffered to remain for any length of time in the vagina and comes more or less in contact with the atmospheric air; for in the case of healthy menstrual blood no injurious combination is set up at all or any foul acridity developed, asJohn Stedman(Physiolog. Versuche und Beobachtungen,—Physiological Investigations and Observations, transl. from the English, Leipzig 1778. 8vo., pp. 50-54.) long ago maintained. It is more probable however that any slight putrefactive action occurring is in each case due not so much to this as to theacid qualityof the menstrual blood, which in conjunction with the acid vaginal mucus undergoes a kind of acetous fermentation in the vagina, the product of which has thus a corrosive effect.Retziusindeed has lately not only found menstrual blood to possess an exceedingly acid reaction, but even proved that it contains free phosphoric and lactic acids. Comp. Arsberättelse om Svenska Läkare Sällskapets Arbeten, 1835., pp. 19-21. Froriep’s Notiz, Vol. 49., p. 237.156Hence tooHugo Grotiuswrites (Commentar. ad Mosis lib. III.—Commentary on Book of Leviticus, ch. 15.): Sciendum est autem in Syria et locis vicinis non minus τὴν γονόῤῥοιαν quam τὰ ἐμμήνια habere aliquid contagione nocens, (But it is to be observed that in Syria and the neighbouring regions ἡ γονοῤῥοία (discharge from the genitals) no less than τὰ ἐμμήνια (menstrual discharge) contains a principle contagiously injurious). EvenAstruc, the eager advocate of the American origin of Venereal disease, says (Vol. I. p. 92.): Sane constat in hac nostra Europa, quae magis temperata est, si cum menstruatis res habeatur, balanum et praeputium leviore phlogosi aut superficiariis pustulis, quae tamen brevi cessant,plerumqueaffici. Quanto graviora ergo iis impendere credendum est, quos in calidiore et aestuante climate misceri cum foeminis non pudet, dum illis menses actu fluunt natura acerrimi et quasi virosi. Ideo forsan factum est, ut medici Arabes, qui regiones calidiores incolebant, quam Graeci et Latini, et primi et saepe disseruerint de pustulis et ulceribus virgae, oriundis ex coitu cum foeda muliere, hoc est (?), cum muliere menstruata. (It is an undoubted fact that in this Europe of ours, though enjoying a more temperate climate, if intercourse is had with women during menstruation, theglans penisand prepuce aregenerallyattacked by some little inflammation or by superficial pustules, which however soon disappear. What much more serious consequences then must we suppose threaten those who in a warmer climate, one steaming with heat, are not ashamed to make coition with women, whilst theirmensesare actually flowing, these being from the nature of the case exceedingly acrid and almost poisonous. Perhaps this is why the Arab physicians, who lived in warmer countries than the Greek and Latin practitioners, first and most often treated of pustules and ulcers of the verge, arising from coition with an unclean woman, that is to say (?) with a woman during menstruation). Comp.Fr. EagleandJuddin Behrend’s Syphilologie, Vol. I. 117 and 285.157Palladius, Lausiaca historia, ch. 39. in Magna Bibliotheca Patrum (Great Library of the Fathers), Vol. XIII., Paris 1644. fol., p. 950.: Οὕτως δὲ γαστριμαργῶν καὶ οἰνοφλυγῶν ἐνέπεσεν καὶ εἰς τὸν βόρβυρον τῆς γυναικείης ἐπιθυμίας· καὶ ὡς ἐσκέπτετο ἁμαρτῆσαιμιμάδι τινὶ προσομιλῶν συνεχῶς τὰ πρὸς τὸ ἕλκος ἑαυτοῦ διελέγετο· τούτων οὕτως ὑπ’αὐτοῦ διαπραττομένων γέγονεν αὐτῷ κατά τινα οἰκονομίαν ἄνθραξ κατὰ τῆς βαλάνου· καὶ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἐνόσησεν ἑξαμηνιαῖον χρόνον, ὡς κατασαπῆναι αὐτοῦ τὰ μορία καὶ αὐτομάτως ἀποπεσεῖν· ὕστερον δὲ ὑγιάνας καὶ ἐπανελθών ἄνευ τούτων τῶν μελῶν, καὶ εἰς φρόνημα θεϊκὸν ἐλθὼν καὶ εἰς μνήμην τῆς οὐρανίου πολιτείας, καὶ ἐξομολογησάμενος πάντα τὰ συμβεβηκότα αὐτῷ τοῖς ἁγίοις πατράσιν, ἐνεργῆσαι μὴ φθάσας ἐκοιμήθη μετὰ ὀλίγας ἡμέρας. (for translation see text above). For κατὰτινὰοἰκονομίαν (by a certain providence) we ought probably to read κατὰθινὰνorθείανοἰκονομίαν, a collocation of words constantly found in Palladius, and occurring in this very chapter a few lines before, in the sense of “by Divine providence”. On the other hand the words τὰ πρὸς τὸ ἕλκος ἑαυτοῦ διελέγετο are to us absolutely unintelligible.Helvetiustranslates the passage: Incidit in coenum femineae cupiditatis et cum peccare constituisset cum quadam mima assidue colloquutus,ulcus suum aperuit, (He fell into the mire of lust after women, and having set his mind on sinning, constantly conversing with a certain actress,he opened his sore. Indeed the γυναικείη ἐπιθυμία (womanly lust) itself is ambiguous, as strictly speaking it points to something unmanly, and if we compare with it the γυναικεία νοῦσος (womanly disease) of Dio Chrysostom (p. 209.), our thoughts cannot but turn to the vice of the pathic,—which however Hero could not very well practise with an actress, and to which he could hardly owe ananthraxon theglans penis. But ch. 35. shows us plainly enough thatPalladiusin using the phrase means lust, indulgence with women, accomplishing coition. It is related in that chapter of the Abbot Elias, how he had founded a nunnery, and was thereupon assailed by violent desire to abuse the nuns; wherefore he prayed, ἀπόκτεινόν με, ἵνα μὴ ἴδω αὐτὰς θλιβομένας. ἢτὸ πάθοςμου λάβε, ἵνα αὐτῶν φροντίζω κατὰ λόγον. (Kill me, that I may not see them troubled, or else take away mypassion, that I may look upon them with reason and moderation). Thereafter he fell asleep and dreamed the angels had castrated him, and on waking found indeed that he still possessed his genitals, but he declared, ὅτι οὐκέτι ἀνέβη εἰς τὴν καρδίαν μου πάθοςγυναικὸς ἐπιθυμίας. (there no more entered into my heart the passion oflust afterwomen). But now what does τὰ πρὸς τὸ ἕλκος mean? Guided by the general sense, we might take it as meaning the genital organs, though we have searched in vain for analogous passages. But in that case it could be made to apply only to the female genitals or to the rectum, because these only exhibit a breach of continuity (ἕλκος,—a wound); or else we should have to suppose the seed to be looked upon in a sort of way as matter discharged, and the male genitals, which secrete it, therefore called ἕλκος (a wound), for otherwise the ἑαυτοῦ (his own) cannot be got in. No less uncertain is the meaning of διελέγετο; “to converse” cannot possibly be taken as the sense here.SuidasandHesychiusexplain διαλέγεσθαι by συνουσιάζειν (to associate with).Pollux, Onomast. V. 93. περὶ μίξεως ζώων (On the intercourse of Animals) says, διαλεχθῆναι.—οὐδ’ ἡ διάλεξις, ἀλλὰ διειλέχθην αὐτῇ καὶ διειλεγμένος εἰμὶ ὡς Ὑπερίδης. II. 125. Ὑπερίδης δὲ διειλεγμένος, ἐπ’ἀφροδισίων. Ἀριστοφάνης δὲ διαλέξασθαι ἔφη. (διελεχθῆναι,—not ordinary conversation, but it means “I had converse with her”, or “I am conversant”, as says Hyperides, II. 125. Now Hyperides says “conversant with”, speaking of love intercourse; and Aristophanes “to have converse with”). Comp. Küster and Brunck on Aristophanes’ Plut. 1083. Moeris p. 131. Abresch, lect. Aristaenet. p. 50. But the meaning of accomplishing coition is implied already in προσομιλῶν (associating with), so that διαλέγεσθαι must here indicate some other more special circumstance. The Scholiast of Aristophanes on Lys. 720 interprets διαλέγουσιν by διορύττουσιν (bore through), penetrate); accordingly we must take διαλέγεσθαι as deponent, in which case we should have to read τὰ πρὸς τὸ ἕλκοςαὐτῆςδιελέγετο (he penetratedherprivate parts), and make the τὰ πρὸς ἕλκος refer to the actress and her hymen (or fibula?), just as in the passage cited from Josephus on p. 315. the expression περὶ τὸ αἰδοῖον (about the privates) signifies the foreskin. If we would keep ἑαυτοῦ (his own), then we must take διαλέγομαι in the sense of καθαίρειν (to purify) (Hesychius says διαλέγειν, ἀνακαθαίρειν,—to purify), and put in an οὐκ (not),—i.e. he did not purify his genitals. If we keep to the meaning of separation, division, we might understand the sentence as saying that Hero tore apart his foreskin; though really ἕλκος could scarcely be applied with any propriety to the male genitals at all. For its being used of the female genitals on the other hand a good analogy is offered by ἐσχάρα (a scab), which occurs in Aristophanes, Knights 1286. and often elsewhere. Eustathius, on Odyss. p. 1523., says: δῆλον δ’ὅτι ἐσχάραν καὶ τὸ γυναικεῖον ἐκάλουν μόριον. (Now it is evident they used to call the female part ἐσχάρα). However in this case the learned reader must be left to decide for himself.]158Leviticusch. 20. v. 18. It is trueMaimonidesaccording toSelden, Uxor Hebraica (The Jewish Wife), Frankfurt 1673. 4to., p. 133., says: At vero si esset mensibus immunda, tametsi deducta fuerit,etiam et coitus sit secutus, nuptiae non perficiebantur. (But indeed if she were unclean with menstruation, though she had been led forth to a husband’s house,even if coition had followed, the marriage was not proceeded with)—but in that case of course it happened unwittingly; though no doubt it may very well on the other hand have been done not unfrequently wittingly.Festusexplains the Latin wordimbubinareby “menstruo mulierum sanguine inquinare” (to pollute with the menstrual blood of women), which might almost justify us in conjecturing, thatbuboeshad been observed to originate from intercourse with women during menstruation.Hippocrates, De natura pueri (On the Bodily Constitution of the Boy), edit. Kühn Vol. I. p. 390., derives affections of the sort in women from arrested menstruation.159LeviticusCh. 15. Want of space forbids our giving this Chapter here; but anyone who will read it through carefully, must easily see that in it the question is merely of a morbid discharge from the genitals (basar), the duration of which was uncertain. For this reason those affected continued still unclean for nine days after the cessation of the flux, whereas the man who had encountered ordinary pollution (verse 16.) was unclean only till the evening. The Septuagint translators render the flux by ῥύσις (flowing, flux), the person affected by the flux γονοῤῥυής (having a flux from the genitals), while they say of ordinary pollution, ὡς ἐὰν ἐξέλθῃ ἐξ αὐτοῦ κοίτησπέρματος(“if any man’s seed of copulation go out of him”).Astrucand others wished to refer the flux from the genitals to Lepra (Leprosy), but in that case the Leprosy must needs have been previously noticeable in the person affected by the flux, and the flux therefore been really a symptom. Thus it would have demanded no further special ordinance for purification, as that commanded for Leprosy would have been used for it. Again the same would also have occurred, had the flux been noticed asfirstsymptom of the Leprosy, for then the Priest was bound to have confined the person so affected and put him under observation, to see whether the other symptoms of Leprosy would show themselves as well. But of this there is nothing whatever to be found in the writings attributed to Moses, who clearly distinguishes between the flux and Leprosy, as also does the Author of II Samuel III. 29. Speaking generally, no other Author ever mentions the flux as a constant or frequent symptom of Leprosy, whileSchillingeven denies its occurrence altogether. Comp.Hensler, Vom abendl. Aussatze (On Oriental Leprosy), pp. 130, 396.160Astruc, De morbis venereis (Of Venereal diseases), p. 93., Quid igitur mirum varia, heterogenea, acria multorum virorum semina (et smegmata we may add) una confusa, cum acerrimo et virulento menstruo sanguine mixta, intra uterum aestuantem et olidum spurcissimarum mulierum coercita, mora, heterogeneitate, calore loci brevi computruisse ac prima morbi venerei semina constituisse, quae in alios, si qui forsan continentiores erant, contagione dimanavere?... Cum ergo in omnibus terrae locis,ubi lues venerea antiquitus endemia fuisse videtur, eundem aeris fervorem cum pari incolarum impudicitia coniunctum fuisse manifestum sit, haud inanis inde locus est colligendi morbum natura eundem, quo regiones longissime dissitae et inter quas nulla fuit commercii communio, simili modo infestabantur, a simili causarum earundem concursu, in quo tantum convenirent, generatum olim fuisse etgenerari etiamnum, si indigenae iisdem moribus vivant. (What is there surprising then in the fact that the various, heterogeneous, acrid seminal fluids of a number of different men (and unguents as well, we may add), all confounded together and mixed with the exceedingly acrid and virulent menstrual blood, confined within the steaming hot and fetid womb of the dirtiest of women, by long continuance in one place, by heterogeneity of components, by the heat of the locality, should very soon have grown putrid, and so laid the first seeds of Venereal disease,—which then passed on by contagion to other men, men that were very possibly more self-restrained?... So, inasmuch as in all parts of the world,wherever Venereal disease appears to have been endemic in Antiquity, it is plain the same heat of the atmosphere was united with a similar immorality on the part of the inhabitants, there is therefore sufficient ground for concluding that the disease, identical in its nature and one whereby regions far removed from one another and between which existed no commercial intercourse were attacked in a like way, was originally produced by a like conjunction of identical causes, a conjunction wherein these only agreed,—andis still so produced, supposing the inhabitants to still live after the same fashion).Wizmann(loco citato p. 32.) moreover is of opinion that Venereal disease under the conditions just named originates in Turkey to this dayin its true form. A similar view is shared byEagleandJudd(loco citato p. 306.).161Herodotus, bk. III. ch. 106., ἡ Ἑλλὰς τὰς ὥρας πολλόν τι κάλλιστα κεκραμένας ἔλαχη. (Hellas possesses seasons in many respects most admirably combined). Comp.Dahlmann, Herodotus pp. 90. sqq.Platoagain praises the εὐκρασία τῶν ὡρῶν (happy mingling of the seasons) of Hellas in more than one passage; e.g. Timaeus 24, C., Critias III E., Epinom. 987 D.; andAristophanesin a fragment of his Horae preserved by Athenaeus, Deipnos. IX. p. 372. says of Attica:ὥστ’οὐκέτ’οὐδεὶς οἵδ’ ὁπηνίκ’ ἐστὶ τοὐνιαουτοῦ.(So never yet has any man been able to tell precisely in what part of the year he is).162Galen, De symptomat. causis bk. III. ch. 11., edit. Kühn Vol. VII. p. 267., καὶ μὴν αἰ γονόῤῥοιαι, χωρὶς μὲν τοῦ συντείνεσθαι τὸ αἰδοῖον, ἀῤῥωσίᾳ τῆς καθεκτικῆς δυνάμεως τῆς ἐν τοῖς σπερματικοῖς ἀγγείοις· ἐντεινομένου δέ πως, οἷον σπασμᾷ τινι παραπλήσιον πασχόντων ἐπιτελοῦνται. (Moreover gonorrhoeas, except in the case of the member being in a state of tension, arise from weakness of the retentive capacity in the spermatic vessels; but when there is tension of any sort, they are subject to a kind of spasm resembling that of convulsive patients).163Larrey, “Relation historique et chirurgicale de l’expédition de l’armée d’Orient, en Egypt et en Syrie,” (Historical and Surgical Account of the Expedition of the Army of the East, in Egypt and Syria), Paris 1803. p. 116., Pendant le travail de la suppuration, les blessés furent seulement incommodés des vers ou larves de la mouche bleue, commune en Syrie. L’incubation des oeufs que cette mouche deposait sans cesse dans les plaies ou dans les appareils, étoit favorisée par la chaleur de la saison, l’humidité de l’atmosphère et la qualité de la toile à pansement (elle étoit de coton) la seule qu’on ait pu se procurer dans cette contrée. La présence de ces vers dans les plaies paraissait en accélérer la suppuration, causait des demangeaisons incommodes aux blessés et nous forçait de les panser trois ou quatre fois le jour. Ces insectes, formés en quelques heures, se développaient avec une telle rapidité, que du jour au lendemain, ils étaient de la grosseur d’un tuyau de plume de poulet. On faisait à chaque pansement des lotions d’une forte décoction de rhue et de petite sauge, qui suffisaient pour les détruire; mais ils se reproduisaient bientot après par le défaut des moyens propres à écarter l’approche des mouches et à prévenir l’incubation de leurs oeufs. (During the action of suppuration, the only inconvenience the wounded met with was from the worms or larvae of the blue fly, common in Syria. The hatching of the eggs, which this fly was continually depositing in the wounds or their dressings, was favoured by the heat of the season, the moisture of the atmosphere, and the nature of the material used for bandages. This was cotton, the only material for the purpose that could be procured in that country. The presence of these worms in the wounds appeared to accelerate their suppuration, caused the wounded men to suffer from troublesome itchings and forced us to renew the dressings three or four times a day. These insects, formed in a few hours, developed with such extraordinary rapidity, that from one day to the next, they reached the size of a fowl’s quill. At each dressing lotions were applied of a strong decoction of rue and dwarf sage, which was effectual in destroying them; but they reappeared again very soon afterwards owing to the want of proper means for preventing the approach of the flies and hindering the hatching of their eggs). Compare what Larrey (p. 278.) says as to the climate of Syria.164Eusebius, Histor. Eccles. bk. VIII. 14., τί δεῖ τὰς ἐμπαθεῖς ἀνδρὸς αἰσχρουργίας μνημονεύειν; ἢ τῶν πρὸς αὐτοῦ μεμοιχευμένων ἀπαριθμεῖσθαι τὲν πληθύν; οὐκ ἦν γέ τοι πόλιν αὐτὸν παρελθεῖν, μὴ οὐχὶ ἐκ παντὸς φθορὰς γυναικῶν παρθένων τε ἁρπαγὰς εἰργασμένον.—cap. 16. μέτεισι γοῦν αὐτὸν θεήλατος κόλασις· ἐξ αὐτῆς αὐτοῦ καταρξαμένη σαρκὸς, καὶ μέχρι τῆς ψυχῆς παρελθοῦσα.ἀθρόα μὲν γὰρ περὶ τὰ μέσα τῶν ἀποῤῥήτων τοῦ σώματος ἀπόστασις γίγνεται αὐτῷ· εἶθ’ ἕλκος ἐν βάθει συριγγώδες καὶ τούτων ἀνιάτος νομὴ κατὰ τῶν ἐνδοτάτῳ σπλάγχνων· ἀφ’ ὧν ἀλεκτόν τι πλῆθος σκωλήκων βρύειν, θανατώδη τε ὀδμὴν ἀποπνέειν, τοῦ παντὸς ὄγκου τῶν σωμάτων ἐκ πολυτροφίας αὐτῷ καὶ πρὸς τῆς νόσου εἰς ὑπερβολὴν πλήθους πιμελῆς μεταβεβληκότος· ἣν τότε κατασαπεῖσαν, ἀφόρητον καὶ φρικτοτάτην τοῖς πλησιάζουσι παρέχειν τὴν θέαν, ἰατρῶν δ’ οὖν οἱ μὲν, οὐδ’ ὅλως ὑπομεῖναι τὴν τοῦ δυσώδους ὑπερβάλλουσαν ἀτοπίαν οἷοι τε, κατεσφάττοντο. οἱ δὲ διῳδηκότος τοῦ παντὸς ὄγκου καὶ εἰς ἀνέλπιστον σωτηρίας ἀποπεπτωκότος μηδὲν ἐπικουρεῖν δυνάμενοι, ἀνηλεῶς ἐκτείνοντο. (What need to recall the passions and abominations of the man? or to count the multitude of debaucheries done by him? Nay, he could not pass through a city without leaving behind him everywhere ruin of women and rape of virgins.—ch. 16. Yet heaven-sent punishment overtakes him, commencing with his very flesh and going on to assail the life. For an incessant suppurative inflammation attacks him in the region of the private parts of the body; then later on a wound penetrating deep in like a fistula and an incurable eating sore affecting these inmost intestines. Then from these an indescribable number of worms bred, and a corpse-like smell was given off, the whole bulk of the bodily parts having through high living and under the influence of the disease changed into an exaggerated superfluity of fat. Then this rotting away, displayed an intolerable and an appalling spectacle to his attendants; while among his physicians, some finding themselves utterly unable to endure the exceeding horribleness of the stench, put an end to their lives; while others, the whole bulk having gone to complete rottenness, and the patient in a condition that admitted no hope of recovery, being unable to afford any help, were cruelly put to death). This passage occurs as well, word for word, inNicephorus, Histor. Eccles. VII. 22. Aur. Victor. Epit. ch. 40., Galerius Maximianusconsumptis genitalibusdefecit, (Galerius Maximianus died,the genital organs being destroyed).—Zosimus, Hist. II. 11. speaks merely of τραῦμα δυσίατον (a wound difficult to cure), andPaulus Diaconus, Hist. miscell. XI. 5., says: putrefacto introrsum pectore, et vitalibus dissolutis, cum ultra horrorem humanae miseriae etiam vermes eructaret, medicique iam ultra foetorem non ferentes, crebro iussu eius occiderentur etc. (the bosom having putrefied within, and the vitals rotted away, when exceeding the climax of human horror and suffering he began to bring up worms, and his physicians unable to bear the excessive foulness of the stench, were being executed at his frequent order, etc.). The same fate happened toHerod, of whomJosephus, Antiq. XVII. 6. says: τοῦ αἰδοίου σῆψις σκώληκας ἐμποιοῦσα (mortification of the genitals producing worms). Comp.Bochart, Hierozoicon, edit. Rosenmüller vol. III. p. 520.165This reading is clearly preferable. The Septuagint translators render it σήπη καὶ σκώληκες κηρονομήσουσιν αὐτὸν, (Rottenness and worms shall be his heritage), where however it must be admitted σῆτες (moths) is also retained by the Editors.166“Nouvelles recherches sur la structure de la peau”, (Recent Investigations as to the Structure of the Skin), with 3 Plates. Paris 1835. 221 pp. 8vo.167“Vergleichende Untersuchungen über die Haut des Menschen und der Haussaügethiere, besonders in Beziehung auf die Absonderungsorgane des Hauttalgs und des Schweisses,” (Comparative Investigations as to the Skin in Man and the Domestic Mammals, with particular reference to the Organs of Secretion of the Sebaceous Humour and the Sweat), inMuller’sArchiv. für Physiologie Jahrg. 1835., pp. 399-418. With copperplates, a comparison of which will very much facilitate the proper understanding of what follows.168Already we findLorry, “Abb. von den Krankheiten der Haut,” (Treatise on Diseases of the Skin), Vol. I. p. 50., saying: “There is found to exist moreover a certain sympathy between the generative parts of men and women and the skin, which under the violent stimulus of sexual coition swells; but after it is over, sweat comes out on it, andsometimes little heat-pimples appear. p. 83., Now at puberty, a period when all the glands are opened, there is brought to the organs of transpiration a great quantity of a subtle and fluid material, there arises a peculiar smell, and if this matter has accumulated, it clogs the minute vessels, the humour contained in these becomes thick by retardation and solidification,—the result being a pimply eruption on the skin. This much is certain, that if both sexes are fully developed, and live chaste, an extensive series of mutually connected pustules may arise,just as if they were produced by the swelling of the glands in the skin. The pustules are ranged in the same order as that in which the glands lie; exactly as if they were the meeting-place of the humours that would seem to have been dispersed in the skin.” Comp.Haller, Elem. physiolog. Vol. VII. bk. XXVIII. sect. 3. § 4.169More precise information on this, as well as on several other opinions expressed in the course of these Inquiries as to the pathology of Venereal disease, the reader will find placed at his disposal in our forthcoming Work, “Introduction to a Scientific Knowledge of the Venereal Disease.”170Comp.Hillary, “Beobachtungen über die Veränderungen Luft und die damit verbundenen epidemischen Krankheiten auf der Insel Barbados,” (Observations on Changes of Atmosphere and the Epidemic Sicknesses connected with them in the Island of Barbadoes), transl. from the English by J. Ch. G. Ackermann. Leipzig 1776. 8vo., pp. 3 sqq.171Alex. Traj. Petronius, De morbo Gallico, (On the French Disease—Syphilis), bk. II. chs. 24., and 26 (Aphrodisiacus pp. 1225, 1226.) in his time says: Et in regione calida, quoniam secundum naturae suae impetum ad cutem fertur, minus saevire, in frigida vero, quoniam contra suam naturam ad interna migrare cogitur, magis.—Neque nos non lateat, in ambiente (ut dicunt) calido, quoniam ad cutim attractio fit, morbum hunc et secundum naturae suae impetum creari, et simul ad exteriora prorumpere solere. In frigido autem, quia intro repellitur contra suae naturae motum retroverti et solidas corporis partes saepius depasci. Frequentius etiam in regione calida quam frigida apparere; hic enim circumfusus aer, ne morbus ad cutim extendatur, prohibet (nam intro pellit), illic vero et ad cutim trahit et eandem retinet. (Moreover in a hot region, inasmuch as in accordance with the impulse of its nature it is carried to the skin, it is there less virulent; whereas in a cold one, as it is compelled against its nature to travel to the inward parts, it is more so.—Again we should not let this escape our notice, that in a hot environment (as they say), inasmuch as an attraction takes place towards the skin, this disease also according to the impulse of its nature is there brought into being, and is wont to break out towards the external parts. On the other hand in a cold one, because it is drawn within, it is turned back contrary to the motion of its nature, and more often feeds upon the solid parts of the body. Again it appears more frequently in a hot region than in a cold one; for in the latter case the surrounding air (driving it within as it does) hinders the disease from extending to the skin, whereas in the former it draws it to the skin and keeps it there). But specially pertinent in this connection is p. 1211.—Puydebat, “Über den Einfluss des Climas auf den Menschen,” (Of the Influence of Climate on Man), in the “Bulletin méd. de Bordeaux, 1836. May 21. (Froriep Notiz. 1836. Vol. 49. p. 179.) writes: Die immer geöffneten Hautporen hauchen in den heissen Ländern einen reichlichen, mehr oder weniger stark riechenden Schweiss aus. Die Hautdrüsen sondern eine ölige Flüssigkeit in Menge ab, welche die Haut schlüpfrig macht und derselben jenes bei den Negern so auffallende Ansehn giebt. Dieser Zustand der Haut macht sie zu Exanthemen, z. B. Masern, Blattern, Syphilis, Lepra, Elephantiasis geneigt. (The ever open skin-pores expire in hot countries a rich and more or less strongly smelling sweat. The cutaneous glands secrete an oily fluid in quantities, which makes the skin slippery and gives it that appearance so striking in Negroes. This state of the skin makes it liable to exanthematic effections, e.g. Measles, Small-pox, Syphilis, Leprosy, Elephantiasis).—In cold countries the transpiration of the skin is very weak; in consequence the internal secretions are increased in quantity, while in hot countries they are lessened from a directly opposite cause.” Comp.J. von Röser, “Ueber einige Krankheiten des Orients,” (On some Diseases of the East). Augsburg 1837., pp. 67-71., to whose statements we shall have to return on several future occasions.172Joannes Leo, “Descriptio Africae”, (Description of Africa), Leyden 1632. 12mo., p. 86., Paucis admodum toto Atlante, tota Numidia totaque Libya hoc notum est contagium. Quodsi quisquam fuerit qui se eo infectum sentiat, mox in Numidiam aut in Nigritarum regionem proficiscitur, cuius tanta est aeris temperies, ut optimae sanitati restitutus inde in patriam redeat: quod quidem multis accidisse ipse meis vidi oculis, qui nullo adhibito neque pharmaco neque medico, praeter saluberrimum iam dictum aërem, revaluerant. (To very few persons indeed in the whole of the Atlas, the whole of Numidia and of Libya, is this contagion known. But if there should be any man who feels himself attacked by it, he presently journeys into Numidia or the district of the Nigritae, where the nature of the air is such that he returns home again restored to excellent good health. This I have seen happen to many with my own eyes, who without help of druggist or doctor recovered by the exceeding salubrity of the air as aforesaid). Comp.Scaliger, Exercitat. CLXXX. ch. 18.—Petronius, loco citato p. 1213.173Schnurrer, “Geographische Nosologie,” (Geographical Nosology,—Distribution of Diseases), p. 454.174Brown, W. G.“Reisen in Afrika, Egypten und Syrien.” (Travels in Africa, Egypt and Syria), transl. from the English by C. Sprengel. Weimar 1800. 8vo., p. 389., tells us of a marine at Kahira, who had become infected, how the man, having in the mean time taken no means whatever to combat the disease and without giving up either the use of brandy or the practice of copulation, two months later got a violent itching eruption over his whole body, and particularly on the head and over the glands of the neck. This he treated by sprinkling over it a sort of red earth, whereupon it dried up and disappeared, so that four weeks later he found himself completely cured and his skin as clean and smooth as before.Schnurrer, loco citato p. 453., also gives the story, but with sundry inaccuracies. Similar observations were made byTh. Clarkeat the Cape of Good Hope, London Med. Gazette 1833.Behrend, Syphilidologie Vol. I. pp. 241 sqq. The MinoriteContideclared in opposition toNorberg(Biörnstähl’s Briefe, 6 vol. p. 410.): “Christian no less than Mussulman in the East is strictly forbidden to cohabit with a woman before the eighth day after her purification. If itisdone within that period, the man’s body is poisoned: he experiences swelling, ulcers, sores, itch and pains in the limbs, and shows all the symptoms of leprosy. At this time the female does not become pregnant, because the blood is unclean, but if conception does occur, the child also gets a bad itch, and generally is affected like his parents.”Fr. Eagle(Lancet July 1836., Note 671.).Behrend’sSyphilidologie, Vol. I. p. 118., relates a number of cases that occurred in London where after intercourse with women during menstruation both gonorrhœa and chancre supervened.175Von Roeser, loco citato p. 69.Sonnerat, “Reise nach Ostindien”, (Journey to the East Indies), I. 94, 99.Schnurrer, Geogr. Nosologie p. 409. Note, says: “In Hindostan in particular experience has shown that a badly treated syphilis changes into leprosy.” That this is not a thing of such extreme rarity in Europe either, we shall prove more fully in another place. Meantime compare whatHensler, “Vom Abendländischen Aussatze”, (On Oriental Leprosy), pp. 228 sqq., says on the subject.176Galen, Ad Glaucon. de meth. med. II., edit. Kühn Vol. XI. p. 142., says: κατὰ γοῦν τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρειανἐλεφαντιῶσι πάμπολλοιδιά τε τὴν δίαιταν καὶτὴν θερμότητα τοῦ χωρίου·—ἅτε δὲ θερμοῦ τοῦ περιέχοντος ὄντος καὶ ἠ ῥοπὴ τῆς φορᾶς αὐτῶν πρὸς τὸ θέρμα γίνεται· (At any rate in the neighbourhood of Alexandria very many persons suffer from elephantiasis as well through their mode of life as owing tothe heat of the locality;—for indeed as a result of the excessive heat of the climate, the tendency of their constitution is also towards heat). In Germany and Mysia he asserts the disease is seldom observed, and in Scythia almost never.177Phlyctaenae (blisters) in erysipelas of the uterus are mentioned by Hippocrates, De ant. mulierum, edit. Kühn II. p. 541.Galen, edit. Kühn Vol. XVII. A. p. 358., ἴσθι γὰρ ὅτι τὰ ἐξανθήματα ἐν ταῖς τῆς μήτρας διαθέσεσιν εἰς τὸ δέρμα ἐκραγέντα σημαίνουσιν ὅτι ἡ φλεγμονὴ ἢ ἐρυσίπελας ἐκ τοῦ ἀποζέοντος καὶ λεπτοῦ αἵματος ἐν ταῖς μήτραις ἐγγίνεται, ὡς ἐν τῷ περὶ γυναικείης φύσεως γέγραπται. (Be assured that those eruptions that break out on the skin in certain morbid conditions of the womb signify that the inflammation or erysipelas proceeds from the deficiency and poorness of the blood in the womb, as is stated in my Work, On the Female Constitution).178Aristotle, Problem IV. 18.179Aëtius, Tetrab, IV. serm. 1. ch. 122., Novimus quosdam audaciores qui sibi ipsis testes ferro resecarunt; castratis enim non in peius malum ipsum procedet. Neque enim temere reperias, inquit Archigenes, ullum aliquem castratum elephantiasi laborantem, neque item facile mulierem. Quare etiam quidam ex confidentioribus medicis manum admoverunt, et quotquot sane ex eis ex sectione periculum evaserunt, per consequentis curationis usum perfecte ab hac maligna affectione liberati sunt. (We know of some bolder spirits who have amputated their own testicles with the knife; for after castration the actual evil will not then proceed to any worse length. For, says Archigenes, you will not readily find any single case of a castrated man suffering from elephantiasis, nor will you easily discover a woman at all affected by this disease. Wherefore, in fact, some of the more daring practitioners have operated, and there is no doubt that such of their patients as escaped the dangerous effects of the operation, have been through the employment of subsequent precautions completely freed from this malignant complaint). Comp.Hensler, “Vom Aussatz”, (On Leprosy), p. 401. With regard tothe immunity of women, an assertion likewise made in connection withmentagra(p. 288),von Roeserwrites (loco citato p. 67.) referring to Venereal disease: “Above all it is now the case in Greece and Turkey that the practising physician,—and I have been assured of the fact by many persons,—exceedingly seldom meets with syphilitic female patients in his practice; that yet notwithstanding this none ofthe sequelæ and different forms of subsequent mischiefthat are usually found resulting from the disease when every kind of medical aid is neglected, are seen in patients of that sex.”—P. 71., “Only poison would seem, as a result of the secretive process exerted by the affected parts of the skin and the mucous membrane, which is much more powerful in women than in men, to be more readily eliminated from the body than is the case with men, so much so indeed that it is an almost unheard of thing in Egypt to find a female patient under medical treatment.”—still this does not justify the conclusion that womenneversuffered from Venereal disease, as even von Roeser himself admits. Again Larrey, loco citato p. 253., actually found himself constrained in view of the wide dissemination of the disease among the French soldiers, to establish a special hospital for infected women, in order to check the spread of the complaint.
146Comp.Simon Zeller von Zellenberg, Abhandl. über die ersten Erscheinungen venerischer Lokal-Krankheitsformen und deren Behandlung, (Treatise on the first Appearances of Local Forms of Venereal disease, and their Treatment), (One treatise under six heads),—Vienna 1820. large 8vo. pp. 11-18.
146Comp.Simon Zeller von Zellenberg, Abhandl. über die ersten Erscheinungen venerischer Lokal-Krankheitsformen und deren Behandlung, (Treatise on the first Appearances of Local Forms of Venereal disease, and their Treatment), (One treatise under six heads),—Vienna 1820. large 8vo. pp. 11-18.
147According toAl. Donné, Recherches microscopiques sur la nature des mucus et la matière des divers écoulements des organes genitourinaires chez l’homme et chez la femme, (Microscopic Researches into the Nature of the Mucous Secretions and the Constituents of the Various Discharges from the genito-urinary Organs in Male and Female), Paris 1837., the vaginal mucus disengaged under normal circumstancesalways exhibits an acid reaction.
147According toAl. Donné, Recherches microscopiques sur la nature des mucus et la matière des divers écoulements des organes genitourinaires chez l’homme et chez la femme, (Microscopic Researches into the Nature of the Mucous Secretions and the Constituents of the Various Discharges from the genito-urinary Organs in Male and Female), Paris 1837., the vaginal mucus disengaged under normal circumstancesalways exhibits an acid reaction.
148According toJ. P. Schotte, Von einem ansteckenden, schwarzgallichten Faulfieber, welches im Jahr 1778 in Senegall herrschte, (Account of a Contagious, black biliary, putrid Fever, prevalent in Senegal in the Year 1778), from the English (Stendal) 1786. 8vo., p. 103., both men and women in Senegal get ulcers, quite without any syphilitic contagion, in the one sex on theglans penisor the under side of the prepuce, in the other on the inner side of thelabia.
148According toJ. P. Schotte, Von einem ansteckenden, schwarzgallichten Faulfieber, welches im Jahr 1778 in Senegall herrschte, (Account of a Contagious, black biliary, putrid Fever, prevalent in Senegal in the Year 1778), from the English (Stendal) 1786. 8vo., p. 103., both men and women in Senegal get ulcers, quite without any syphilitic contagion, in the one sex on theglans penisor the under side of the prepuce, in the other on the inner side of thelabia.
149Virey, De la Femme, 2nd. edition, Brussels 1826., p. 70., En effet, dans la chaleur, lorsque les excrétions de la peau, des glandes sébacées, des cryptes du vagin, augmentent en abondance et en fétidité, il n’est pas étonnant que le sang menstruel, pour peu qu’il séjourne en ces parties voisines de l’anus, qui sont dans un état d’orgasme, acquière bientôt de l’odeur. (Indeed in a hot climate, when the secretions from the skin, from the sebaceous glands, from the recesses of the vagina, increase in abundance and in foulness, it is not surprising that the menstrual blood, remaining for a time as it does in the regions contiguous to the anus, these regions being in a state of sur-excitation, quickly acquires an evil smell). SoHallertoo says (Elem. Physiolog. Vol. VII. pt. II. p. 146.),Ex Asia videtur opinio de menstrui sanguinis foetida et venenata natura ad nos pervenisse, et per medicos potissimum Arabes ad Europaeos transiisse. In calidissimis certe regionibus, si ad aestuosum aerem immundities accesserit, non repugnat, sanguinem in loco calente, in vicinia faecum alvinarum retentum, acrem fieri et foetire....Lentorem aliquem possit mucus admistus addidisse.(It is from Asia that the opinion as to the fetid and poisonous character of menstrual blood would seem to have come to us, being transmitted mainly by the Arab physicians to those of Europe. No doubt in very hot climates, if dirty habits be added to the extreme heat of the atmosphere, there is nothing at all unlikely in the blood, retained as it is in a hot locality, in close proximity to the faeces in the bowels, growing sour and smelling foul....A certain viscous quality may very well have been added by the admixture of mucous discharge). What has been observed as to the injuriousness of menstrual blood by our predecessors sincePliny(Hist. Nat. VII. 15. XIX. 10. XXVIII. 7.) may be found partially collected inSchurig, Parthenologia 227-240. Comp.Frank de Frankenau, Satyrae Medicae (Medical Satires), p. 89. Comp. pp. 54. sqq.—Hensler, Geschichte der Lustseuche, (History of Venereal Disease), Vol. I. pp. 204. sqq., where it is demonstrated that a great proportion of the Writers on Venereal disease at the beginning of the XVIth. Century attribute its rise to intercourse with women during menstruation.
149Virey, De la Femme, 2nd. edition, Brussels 1826., p. 70., En effet, dans la chaleur, lorsque les excrétions de la peau, des glandes sébacées, des cryptes du vagin, augmentent en abondance et en fétidité, il n’est pas étonnant que le sang menstruel, pour peu qu’il séjourne en ces parties voisines de l’anus, qui sont dans un état d’orgasme, acquière bientôt de l’odeur. (Indeed in a hot climate, when the secretions from the skin, from the sebaceous glands, from the recesses of the vagina, increase in abundance and in foulness, it is not surprising that the menstrual blood, remaining for a time as it does in the regions contiguous to the anus, these regions being in a state of sur-excitation, quickly acquires an evil smell). SoHallertoo says (Elem. Physiolog. Vol. VII. pt. II. p. 146.),Ex Asia videtur opinio de menstrui sanguinis foetida et venenata natura ad nos pervenisse, et per medicos potissimum Arabes ad Europaeos transiisse. In calidissimis certe regionibus, si ad aestuosum aerem immundities accesserit, non repugnat, sanguinem in loco calente, in vicinia faecum alvinarum retentum, acrem fieri et foetire....Lentorem aliquem possit mucus admistus addidisse.(It is from Asia that the opinion as to the fetid and poisonous character of menstrual blood would seem to have come to us, being transmitted mainly by the Arab physicians to those of Europe. No doubt in very hot climates, if dirty habits be added to the extreme heat of the atmosphere, there is nothing at all unlikely in the blood, retained as it is in a hot locality, in close proximity to the faeces in the bowels, growing sour and smelling foul....A certain viscous quality may very well have been added by the admixture of mucous discharge). What has been observed as to the injuriousness of menstrual blood by our predecessors sincePliny(Hist. Nat. VII. 15. XIX. 10. XXVIII. 7.) may be found partially collected inSchurig, Parthenologia 227-240. Comp.Frank de Frankenau, Satyrae Medicae (Medical Satires), p. 89. Comp. pp. 54. sqq.—Hensler, Geschichte der Lustseuche, (History of Venereal Disease), Vol. I. pp. 204. sqq., where it is demonstrated that a great proportion of the Writers on Venereal disease at the beginning of the XVIth. Century attribute its rise to intercourse with women during menstruation.
150Burdach, Die Physiologie als Erfahrungswissenschaft, (Physiology as an Experimental Science), 2nd. edition, Vol. I. p. 196.—Boerhaave, Tract. de lue venerea, (Treatise on Venereal Contagion), Venice 1753., p. 6., says, In Asia ad partes genitales sub praeputio naturaliter sordes colliguntur, quae acres redditae generant multa mala, quae praecipue ad luem veneream accedere proxime videntur; non vere sunt lues venerea; imo nostri nautae hoc etiam experiuntur, dum in illis terris degunt, nam nisi quotidie praeputium eluerent aqua salsa et aceto, vel similibus remediis brevi eodem morbo laborarent. (In Asia filth of sorts naturally enough collects on the genital parts beneath the prepuce, and this turning sour originates many complaints, which seem above all others to approximate closely to the Venereal disease. This our sailors found out, when living in those regions; for if they did not daily thoroughly wash the prepuce with salt water and vinegar, or similar remedies, they would soon suffer from the disease in question).
150Burdach, Die Physiologie als Erfahrungswissenschaft, (Physiology as an Experimental Science), 2nd. edition, Vol. I. p. 196.—Boerhaave, Tract. de lue venerea, (Treatise on Venereal Contagion), Venice 1753., p. 6., says, In Asia ad partes genitales sub praeputio naturaliter sordes colliguntur, quae acres redditae generant multa mala, quae praecipue ad luem veneream accedere proxime videntur; non vere sunt lues venerea; imo nostri nautae hoc etiam experiuntur, dum in illis terris degunt, nam nisi quotidie praeputium eluerent aqua salsa et aceto, vel similibus remediis brevi eodem morbo laborarent. (In Asia filth of sorts naturally enough collects on the genital parts beneath the prepuce, and this turning sour originates many complaints, which seem above all others to approximate closely to the Venereal disease. This our sailors found out, when living in those regions; for if they did not daily thoroughly wash the prepuce with salt water and vinegar, or similar remedies, they would soon suffer from the disease in question).
151Thevenot, Travels, Pt. I., p. 58., says, “The Arabs in fact have the prepuce so long that, if they did not have it circumcised, they would suffer much inconvenience from it; and little children are to be seen among them whose prepuce hangs down to a very considerable length;—not to mention that, supposing their foreskin uncircumcised, every time after passing water some drops would remain behind, rendering them unclean.”
151Thevenot, Travels, Pt. I., p. 58., says, “The Arabs in fact have the prepuce so long that, if they did not have it circumcised, they would suffer much inconvenience from it; and little children are to be seen among them whose prepuce hangs down to a very considerable length;—not to mention that, supposing their foreskin uncircumcised, every time after passing water some drops would remain behind, rendering them unclean.”
152Niebuhr, Beschreibung von Arabien, (Description of Arabia) Copenhagen 1772. 4to., p. 77.
152Niebuhr, Beschreibung von Arabien, (Description of Arabia) Copenhagen 1772. 4to., p. 77.
153Josephus, Contra Apionem bk. II. ch. 13., ὅθεν εἰκότως μοι δοκεῖ τῆς εἰς τοὺς πατρίους αὐτοῦ νόμους βλασφημίας δοῦναι δίκην Ἀπίων τὴν πρέπουσαν· περιετμήθη γὰρ ἐξ ἀνάγκης,ἑλκώσεως αὐτῷ περὶ τὸ αἰδοῖον γενομένης· καὶ μηδὲν ὠφεληθεὶς ὑπὸ τῆς περιτομῆς ἀλλὰ σηπόμενος ἐν δειναῖς ὀδύναις ἀπέθανεν. (for translation see text). The expression περὶ τὸ αἰδοῖον (about the privates) is evidently to be understood here as meaning theglans penis, or at any rate the prepuce. This is implied by the general sense of the whole passage.
153Josephus, Contra Apionem bk. II. ch. 13., ὅθεν εἰκότως μοι δοκεῖ τῆς εἰς τοὺς πατρίους αὐτοῦ νόμους βλασφημίας δοῦναι δίκην Ἀπίων τὴν πρέπουσαν· περιετμήθη γὰρ ἐξ ἀνάγκης,ἑλκώσεως αὐτῷ περὶ τὸ αἰδοῖον γενομένης· καὶ μηδὲν ὠφεληθεὶς ὑπὸ τῆς περιτομῆς ἀλλὰ σηπόμενος ἐν δειναῖς ὀδύναις ἀπέθανεν. (for translation see text). The expression περὶ τὸ αἰδοῖον (about the privates) is evidently to be understood here as meaning theglans penis, or at any rate the prepuce. This is implied by the general sense of the whole passage.
154Philo, De circumcisione, Works edit. Th. Mangey Vol. II. p. 211. Ἓν μὲν, χαλεπῆς νόσου καὶ δυσιάτου πάθους ἀπαλλαγὴν, ἣνἄνθρακα καλοῦσιν, ἀπὸ τοῦ καίειν ἐντυφόμενον, ὡς οἶμαι, ταύτης τῆς προσηγορίας τυχόντος, ἥτις οὐ κολώτερον τοῖς τὰς ἀκροποσθίας ἔχουσιν ἐγγίνετο· Δεύτερον, τὴν δι’ ὅλου τοῦ σώματος καθαρότητα πρὸς τὸ ἁρμόττειν τάξει ἱερωμένῃ. Παρ’ὃ καὶ ξυρῶντο τὰ σώματα προσυπερβάλλοντες οἱ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ τῶν ἱερέων. ὑποσυλλέγετο γὰρ καὶ ὑποστέλλει καὶ θριξὶ καὶ ποσθίαις ἔνια τῶν ὀφειλόντων καθαίρεσθαι. (for translation see text above).
154Philo, De circumcisione, Works edit. Th. Mangey Vol. II. p. 211. Ἓν μὲν, χαλεπῆς νόσου καὶ δυσιάτου πάθους ἀπαλλαγὴν, ἣνἄνθρακα καλοῦσιν, ἀπὸ τοῦ καίειν ἐντυφόμενον, ὡς οἶμαι, ταύτης τῆς προσηγορίας τυχόντος, ἥτις οὐ κολώτερον τοῖς τὰς ἀκροποσθίας ἔχουσιν ἐγγίνετο· Δεύτερον, τὴν δι’ ὅλου τοῦ σώματος καθαρότητα πρὸς τὸ ἁρμόττειν τάξει ἱερωμένῃ. Παρ’ὃ καὶ ξυρῶντο τὰ σώματα προσυπερβάλλοντες οἱ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ τῶν ἱερέων. ὑποσυλλέγετο γὰρ καὶ ὑποστέλλει καὶ θριξὶ καὶ ποσθίαις ἔνια τῶν ὀφειλόντων καθαίρεσθαι. (for translation see text above).
155That is to say so far as it is suffered to remain for any length of time in the vagina and comes more or less in contact with the atmospheric air; for in the case of healthy menstrual blood no injurious combination is set up at all or any foul acridity developed, asJohn Stedman(Physiolog. Versuche und Beobachtungen,—Physiological Investigations and Observations, transl. from the English, Leipzig 1778. 8vo., pp. 50-54.) long ago maintained. It is more probable however that any slight putrefactive action occurring is in each case due not so much to this as to theacid qualityof the menstrual blood, which in conjunction with the acid vaginal mucus undergoes a kind of acetous fermentation in the vagina, the product of which has thus a corrosive effect.Retziusindeed has lately not only found menstrual blood to possess an exceedingly acid reaction, but even proved that it contains free phosphoric and lactic acids. Comp. Arsberättelse om Svenska Läkare Sällskapets Arbeten, 1835., pp. 19-21. Froriep’s Notiz, Vol. 49., p. 237.
155That is to say so far as it is suffered to remain for any length of time in the vagina and comes more or less in contact with the atmospheric air; for in the case of healthy menstrual blood no injurious combination is set up at all or any foul acridity developed, asJohn Stedman(Physiolog. Versuche und Beobachtungen,—Physiological Investigations and Observations, transl. from the English, Leipzig 1778. 8vo., pp. 50-54.) long ago maintained. It is more probable however that any slight putrefactive action occurring is in each case due not so much to this as to theacid qualityof the menstrual blood, which in conjunction with the acid vaginal mucus undergoes a kind of acetous fermentation in the vagina, the product of which has thus a corrosive effect.Retziusindeed has lately not only found menstrual blood to possess an exceedingly acid reaction, but even proved that it contains free phosphoric and lactic acids. Comp. Arsberättelse om Svenska Läkare Sällskapets Arbeten, 1835., pp. 19-21. Froriep’s Notiz, Vol. 49., p. 237.
156Hence tooHugo Grotiuswrites (Commentar. ad Mosis lib. III.—Commentary on Book of Leviticus, ch. 15.): Sciendum est autem in Syria et locis vicinis non minus τὴν γονόῤῥοιαν quam τὰ ἐμμήνια habere aliquid contagione nocens, (But it is to be observed that in Syria and the neighbouring regions ἡ γονοῤῥοία (discharge from the genitals) no less than τὰ ἐμμήνια (menstrual discharge) contains a principle contagiously injurious). EvenAstruc, the eager advocate of the American origin of Venereal disease, says (Vol. I. p. 92.): Sane constat in hac nostra Europa, quae magis temperata est, si cum menstruatis res habeatur, balanum et praeputium leviore phlogosi aut superficiariis pustulis, quae tamen brevi cessant,plerumqueaffici. Quanto graviora ergo iis impendere credendum est, quos in calidiore et aestuante climate misceri cum foeminis non pudet, dum illis menses actu fluunt natura acerrimi et quasi virosi. Ideo forsan factum est, ut medici Arabes, qui regiones calidiores incolebant, quam Graeci et Latini, et primi et saepe disseruerint de pustulis et ulceribus virgae, oriundis ex coitu cum foeda muliere, hoc est (?), cum muliere menstruata. (It is an undoubted fact that in this Europe of ours, though enjoying a more temperate climate, if intercourse is had with women during menstruation, theglans penisand prepuce aregenerallyattacked by some little inflammation or by superficial pustules, which however soon disappear. What much more serious consequences then must we suppose threaten those who in a warmer climate, one steaming with heat, are not ashamed to make coition with women, whilst theirmensesare actually flowing, these being from the nature of the case exceedingly acrid and almost poisonous. Perhaps this is why the Arab physicians, who lived in warmer countries than the Greek and Latin practitioners, first and most often treated of pustules and ulcers of the verge, arising from coition with an unclean woman, that is to say (?) with a woman during menstruation). Comp.Fr. EagleandJuddin Behrend’s Syphilologie, Vol. I. 117 and 285.
156Hence tooHugo Grotiuswrites (Commentar. ad Mosis lib. III.—Commentary on Book of Leviticus, ch. 15.): Sciendum est autem in Syria et locis vicinis non minus τὴν γονόῤῥοιαν quam τὰ ἐμμήνια habere aliquid contagione nocens, (But it is to be observed that in Syria and the neighbouring regions ἡ γονοῤῥοία (discharge from the genitals) no less than τὰ ἐμμήνια (menstrual discharge) contains a principle contagiously injurious). EvenAstruc, the eager advocate of the American origin of Venereal disease, says (Vol. I. p. 92.): Sane constat in hac nostra Europa, quae magis temperata est, si cum menstruatis res habeatur, balanum et praeputium leviore phlogosi aut superficiariis pustulis, quae tamen brevi cessant,plerumqueaffici. Quanto graviora ergo iis impendere credendum est, quos in calidiore et aestuante climate misceri cum foeminis non pudet, dum illis menses actu fluunt natura acerrimi et quasi virosi. Ideo forsan factum est, ut medici Arabes, qui regiones calidiores incolebant, quam Graeci et Latini, et primi et saepe disseruerint de pustulis et ulceribus virgae, oriundis ex coitu cum foeda muliere, hoc est (?), cum muliere menstruata. (It is an undoubted fact that in this Europe of ours, though enjoying a more temperate climate, if intercourse is had with women during menstruation, theglans penisand prepuce aregenerallyattacked by some little inflammation or by superficial pustules, which however soon disappear. What much more serious consequences then must we suppose threaten those who in a warmer climate, one steaming with heat, are not ashamed to make coition with women, whilst theirmensesare actually flowing, these being from the nature of the case exceedingly acrid and almost poisonous. Perhaps this is why the Arab physicians, who lived in warmer countries than the Greek and Latin practitioners, first and most often treated of pustules and ulcers of the verge, arising from coition with an unclean woman, that is to say (?) with a woman during menstruation). Comp.Fr. EagleandJuddin Behrend’s Syphilologie, Vol. I. 117 and 285.
157Palladius, Lausiaca historia, ch. 39. in Magna Bibliotheca Patrum (Great Library of the Fathers), Vol. XIII., Paris 1644. fol., p. 950.: Οὕτως δὲ γαστριμαργῶν καὶ οἰνοφλυγῶν ἐνέπεσεν καὶ εἰς τὸν βόρβυρον τῆς γυναικείης ἐπιθυμίας· καὶ ὡς ἐσκέπτετο ἁμαρτῆσαιμιμάδι τινὶ προσομιλῶν συνεχῶς τὰ πρὸς τὸ ἕλκος ἑαυτοῦ διελέγετο· τούτων οὕτως ὑπ’αὐτοῦ διαπραττομένων γέγονεν αὐτῷ κατά τινα οἰκονομίαν ἄνθραξ κατὰ τῆς βαλάνου· καὶ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἐνόσησεν ἑξαμηνιαῖον χρόνον, ὡς κατασαπῆναι αὐτοῦ τὰ μορία καὶ αὐτομάτως ἀποπεσεῖν· ὕστερον δὲ ὑγιάνας καὶ ἐπανελθών ἄνευ τούτων τῶν μελῶν, καὶ εἰς φρόνημα θεϊκὸν ἐλθὼν καὶ εἰς μνήμην τῆς οὐρανίου πολιτείας, καὶ ἐξομολογησάμενος πάντα τὰ συμβεβηκότα αὐτῷ τοῖς ἁγίοις πατράσιν, ἐνεργῆσαι μὴ φθάσας ἐκοιμήθη μετὰ ὀλίγας ἡμέρας. (for translation see text above). For κατὰτινὰοἰκονομίαν (by a certain providence) we ought probably to read κατὰθινὰνorθείανοἰκονομίαν, a collocation of words constantly found in Palladius, and occurring in this very chapter a few lines before, in the sense of “by Divine providence”. On the other hand the words τὰ πρὸς τὸ ἕλκος ἑαυτοῦ διελέγετο are to us absolutely unintelligible.Helvetiustranslates the passage: Incidit in coenum femineae cupiditatis et cum peccare constituisset cum quadam mima assidue colloquutus,ulcus suum aperuit, (He fell into the mire of lust after women, and having set his mind on sinning, constantly conversing with a certain actress,he opened his sore. Indeed the γυναικείη ἐπιθυμία (womanly lust) itself is ambiguous, as strictly speaking it points to something unmanly, and if we compare with it the γυναικεία νοῦσος (womanly disease) of Dio Chrysostom (p. 209.), our thoughts cannot but turn to the vice of the pathic,—which however Hero could not very well practise with an actress, and to which he could hardly owe ananthraxon theglans penis. But ch. 35. shows us plainly enough thatPalladiusin using the phrase means lust, indulgence with women, accomplishing coition. It is related in that chapter of the Abbot Elias, how he had founded a nunnery, and was thereupon assailed by violent desire to abuse the nuns; wherefore he prayed, ἀπόκτεινόν με, ἵνα μὴ ἴδω αὐτὰς θλιβομένας. ἢτὸ πάθοςμου λάβε, ἵνα αὐτῶν φροντίζω κατὰ λόγον. (Kill me, that I may not see them troubled, or else take away mypassion, that I may look upon them with reason and moderation). Thereafter he fell asleep and dreamed the angels had castrated him, and on waking found indeed that he still possessed his genitals, but he declared, ὅτι οὐκέτι ἀνέβη εἰς τὴν καρδίαν μου πάθοςγυναικὸς ἐπιθυμίας. (there no more entered into my heart the passion oflust afterwomen). But now what does τὰ πρὸς τὸ ἕλκος mean? Guided by the general sense, we might take it as meaning the genital organs, though we have searched in vain for analogous passages. But in that case it could be made to apply only to the female genitals or to the rectum, because these only exhibit a breach of continuity (ἕλκος,—a wound); or else we should have to suppose the seed to be looked upon in a sort of way as matter discharged, and the male genitals, which secrete it, therefore called ἕλκος (a wound), for otherwise the ἑαυτοῦ (his own) cannot be got in. No less uncertain is the meaning of διελέγετο; “to converse” cannot possibly be taken as the sense here.SuidasandHesychiusexplain διαλέγεσθαι by συνουσιάζειν (to associate with).Pollux, Onomast. V. 93. περὶ μίξεως ζώων (On the intercourse of Animals) says, διαλεχθῆναι.—οὐδ’ ἡ διάλεξις, ἀλλὰ διειλέχθην αὐτῇ καὶ διειλεγμένος εἰμὶ ὡς Ὑπερίδης. II. 125. Ὑπερίδης δὲ διειλεγμένος, ἐπ’ἀφροδισίων. Ἀριστοφάνης δὲ διαλέξασθαι ἔφη. (διελεχθῆναι,—not ordinary conversation, but it means “I had converse with her”, or “I am conversant”, as says Hyperides, II. 125. Now Hyperides says “conversant with”, speaking of love intercourse; and Aristophanes “to have converse with”). Comp. Küster and Brunck on Aristophanes’ Plut. 1083. Moeris p. 131. Abresch, lect. Aristaenet. p. 50. But the meaning of accomplishing coition is implied already in προσομιλῶν (associating with), so that διαλέγεσθαι must here indicate some other more special circumstance. The Scholiast of Aristophanes on Lys. 720 interprets διαλέγουσιν by διορύττουσιν (bore through), penetrate); accordingly we must take διαλέγεσθαι as deponent, in which case we should have to read τὰ πρὸς τὸ ἕλκοςαὐτῆςδιελέγετο (he penetratedherprivate parts), and make the τὰ πρὸς ἕλκος refer to the actress and her hymen (or fibula?), just as in the passage cited from Josephus on p. 315. the expression περὶ τὸ αἰδοῖον (about the privates) signifies the foreskin. If we would keep ἑαυτοῦ (his own), then we must take διαλέγομαι in the sense of καθαίρειν (to purify) (Hesychius says διαλέγειν, ἀνακαθαίρειν,—to purify), and put in an οὐκ (not),—i.e. he did not purify his genitals. If we keep to the meaning of separation, division, we might understand the sentence as saying that Hero tore apart his foreskin; though really ἕλκος could scarcely be applied with any propriety to the male genitals at all. For its being used of the female genitals on the other hand a good analogy is offered by ἐσχάρα (a scab), which occurs in Aristophanes, Knights 1286. and often elsewhere. Eustathius, on Odyss. p. 1523., says: δῆλον δ’ὅτι ἐσχάραν καὶ τὸ γυναικεῖον ἐκάλουν μόριον. (Now it is evident they used to call the female part ἐσχάρα). However in this case the learned reader must be left to decide for himself.]
157Palladius, Lausiaca historia, ch. 39. in Magna Bibliotheca Patrum (Great Library of the Fathers), Vol. XIII., Paris 1644. fol., p. 950.: Οὕτως δὲ γαστριμαργῶν καὶ οἰνοφλυγῶν ἐνέπεσεν καὶ εἰς τὸν βόρβυρον τῆς γυναικείης ἐπιθυμίας· καὶ ὡς ἐσκέπτετο ἁμαρτῆσαιμιμάδι τινὶ προσομιλῶν συνεχῶς τὰ πρὸς τὸ ἕλκος ἑαυτοῦ διελέγετο· τούτων οὕτως ὑπ’αὐτοῦ διαπραττομένων γέγονεν αὐτῷ κατά τινα οἰκονομίαν ἄνθραξ κατὰ τῆς βαλάνου· καὶ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἐνόσησεν ἑξαμηνιαῖον χρόνον, ὡς κατασαπῆναι αὐτοῦ τὰ μορία καὶ αὐτομάτως ἀποπεσεῖν· ὕστερον δὲ ὑγιάνας καὶ ἐπανελθών ἄνευ τούτων τῶν μελῶν, καὶ εἰς φρόνημα θεϊκὸν ἐλθὼν καὶ εἰς μνήμην τῆς οὐρανίου πολιτείας, καὶ ἐξομολογησάμενος πάντα τὰ συμβεβηκότα αὐτῷ τοῖς ἁγίοις πατράσιν, ἐνεργῆσαι μὴ φθάσας ἐκοιμήθη μετὰ ὀλίγας ἡμέρας. (for translation see text above). For κατὰτινὰοἰκονομίαν (by a certain providence) we ought probably to read κατὰθινὰνorθείανοἰκονομίαν, a collocation of words constantly found in Palladius, and occurring in this very chapter a few lines before, in the sense of “by Divine providence”. On the other hand the words τὰ πρὸς τὸ ἕλκος ἑαυτοῦ διελέγετο are to us absolutely unintelligible.Helvetiustranslates the passage: Incidit in coenum femineae cupiditatis et cum peccare constituisset cum quadam mima assidue colloquutus,ulcus suum aperuit, (He fell into the mire of lust after women, and having set his mind on sinning, constantly conversing with a certain actress,he opened his sore. Indeed the γυναικείη ἐπιθυμία (womanly lust) itself is ambiguous, as strictly speaking it points to something unmanly, and if we compare with it the γυναικεία νοῦσος (womanly disease) of Dio Chrysostom (p. 209.), our thoughts cannot but turn to the vice of the pathic,—which however Hero could not very well practise with an actress, and to which he could hardly owe ananthraxon theglans penis. But ch. 35. shows us plainly enough thatPalladiusin using the phrase means lust, indulgence with women, accomplishing coition. It is related in that chapter of the Abbot Elias, how he had founded a nunnery, and was thereupon assailed by violent desire to abuse the nuns; wherefore he prayed, ἀπόκτεινόν με, ἵνα μὴ ἴδω αὐτὰς θλιβομένας. ἢτὸ πάθοςμου λάβε, ἵνα αὐτῶν φροντίζω κατὰ λόγον. (Kill me, that I may not see them troubled, or else take away mypassion, that I may look upon them with reason and moderation). Thereafter he fell asleep and dreamed the angels had castrated him, and on waking found indeed that he still possessed his genitals, but he declared, ὅτι οὐκέτι ἀνέβη εἰς τὴν καρδίαν μου πάθοςγυναικὸς ἐπιθυμίας. (there no more entered into my heart the passion oflust afterwomen). But now what does τὰ πρὸς τὸ ἕλκος mean? Guided by the general sense, we might take it as meaning the genital organs, though we have searched in vain for analogous passages. But in that case it could be made to apply only to the female genitals or to the rectum, because these only exhibit a breach of continuity (ἕλκος,—a wound); or else we should have to suppose the seed to be looked upon in a sort of way as matter discharged, and the male genitals, which secrete it, therefore called ἕλκος (a wound), for otherwise the ἑαυτοῦ (his own) cannot be got in. No less uncertain is the meaning of διελέγετο; “to converse” cannot possibly be taken as the sense here.SuidasandHesychiusexplain διαλέγεσθαι by συνουσιάζειν (to associate with).Pollux, Onomast. V. 93. περὶ μίξεως ζώων (On the intercourse of Animals) says, διαλεχθῆναι.—οὐδ’ ἡ διάλεξις, ἀλλὰ διειλέχθην αὐτῇ καὶ διειλεγμένος εἰμὶ ὡς Ὑπερίδης. II. 125. Ὑπερίδης δὲ διειλεγμένος, ἐπ’ἀφροδισίων. Ἀριστοφάνης δὲ διαλέξασθαι ἔφη. (διελεχθῆναι,—not ordinary conversation, but it means “I had converse with her”, or “I am conversant”, as says Hyperides, II. 125. Now Hyperides says “conversant with”, speaking of love intercourse; and Aristophanes “to have converse with”). Comp. Küster and Brunck on Aristophanes’ Plut. 1083. Moeris p. 131. Abresch, lect. Aristaenet. p. 50. But the meaning of accomplishing coition is implied already in προσομιλῶν (associating with), so that διαλέγεσθαι must here indicate some other more special circumstance. The Scholiast of Aristophanes on Lys. 720 interprets διαλέγουσιν by διορύττουσιν (bore through), penetrate); accordingly we must take διαλέγεσθαι as deponent, in which case we should have to read τὰ πρὸς τὸ ἕλκοςαὐτῆςδιελέγετο (he penetratedherprivate parts), and make the τὰ πρὸς ἕλκος refer to the actress and her hymen (or fibula?), just as in the passage cited from Josephus on p. 315. the expression περὶ τὸ αἰδοῖον (about the privates) signifies the foreskin. If we would keep ἑαυτοῦ (his own), then we must take διαλέγομαι in the sense of καθαίρειν (to purify) (Hesychius says διαλέγειν, ἀνακαθαίρειν,—to purify), and put in an οὐκ (not),—i.e. he did not purify his genitals. If we keep to the meaning of separation, division, we might understand the sentence as saying that Hero tore apart his foreskin; though really ἕλκος could scarcely be applied with any propriety to the male genitals at all. For its being used of the female genitals on the other hand a good analogy is offered by ἐσχάρα (a scab), which occurs in Aristophanes, Knights 1286. and often elsewhere. Eustathius, on Odyss. p. 1523., says: δῆλον δ’ὅτι ἐσχάραν καὶ τὸ γυναικεῖον ἐκάλουν μόριον. (Now it is evident they used to call the female part ἐσχάρα). However in this case the learned reader must be left to decide for himself.]
158Leviticusch. 20. v. 18. It is trueMaimonidesaccording toSelden, Uxor Hebraica (The Jewish Wife), Frankfurt 1673. 4to., p. 133., says: At vero si esset mensibus immunda, tametsi deducta fuerit,etiam et coitus sit secutus, nuptiae non perficiebantur. (But indeed if she were unclean with menstruation, though she had been led forth to a husband’s house,even if coition had followed, the marriage was not proceeded with)—but in that case of course it happened unwittingly; though no doubt it may very well on the other hand have been done not unfrequently wittingly.Festusexplains the Latin wordimbubinareby “menstruo mulierum sanguine inquinare” (to pollute with the menstrual blood of women), which might almost justify us in conjecturing, thatbuboeshad been observed to originate from intercourse with women during menstruation.Hippocrates, De natura pueri (On the Bodily Constitution of the Boy), edit. Kühn Vol. I. p. 390., derives affections of the sort in women from arrested menstruation.
158Leviticusch. 20. v. 18. It is trueMaimonidesaccording toSelden, Uxor Hebraica (The Jewish Wife), Frankfurt 1673. 4to., p. 133., says: At vero si esset mensibus immunda, tametsi deducta fuerit,etiam et coitus sit secutus, nuptiae non perficiebantur. (But indeed if she were unclean with menstruation, though she had been led forth to a husband’s house,even if coition had followed, the marriage was not proceeded with)—but in that case of course it happened unwittingly; though no doubt it may very well on the other hand have been done not unfrequently wittingly.Festusexplains the Latin wordimbubinareby “menstruo mulierum sanguine inquinare” (to pollute with the menstrual blood of women), which might almost justify us in conjecturing, thatbuboeshad been observed to originate from intercourse with women during menstruation.Hippocrates, De natura pueri (On the Bodily Constitution of the Boy), edit. Kühn Vol. I. p. 390., derives affections of the sort in women from arrested menstruation.
159LeviticusCh. 15. Want of space forbids our giving this Chapter here; but anyone who will read it through carefully, must easily see that in it the question is merely of a morbid discharge from the genitals (basar), the duration of which was uncertain. For this reason those affected continued still unclean for nine days after the cessation of the flux, whereas the man who had encountered ordinary pollution (verse 16.) was unclean only till the evening. The Septuagint translators render the flux by ῥύσις (flowing, flux), the person affected by the flux γονοῤῥυής (having a flux from the genitals), while they say of ordinary pollution, ὡς ἐὰν ἐξέλθῃ ἐξ αὐτοῦ κοίτησπέρματος(“if any man’s seed of copulation go out of him”).Astrucand others wished to refer the flux from the genitals to Lepra (Leprosy), but in that case the Leprosy must needs have been previously noticeable in the person affected by the flux, and the flux therefore been really a symptom. Thus it would have demanded no further special ordinance for purification, as that commanded for Leprosy would have been used for it. Again the same would also have occurred, had the flux been noticed asfirstsymptom of the Leprosy, for then the Priest was bound to have confined the person so affected and put him under observation, to see whether the other symptoms of Leprosy would show themselves as well. But of this there is nothing whatever to be found in the writings attributed to Moses, who clearly distinguishes between the flux and Leprosy, as also does the Author of II Samuel III. 29. Speaking generally, no other Author ever mentions the flux as a constant or frequent symptom of Leprosy, whileSchillingeven denies its occurrence altogether. Comp.Hensler, Vom abendl. Aussatze (On Oriental Leprosy), pp. 130, 396.
159LeviticusCh. 15. Want of space forbids our giving this Chapter here; but anyone who will read it through carefully, must easily see that in it the question is merely of a morbid discharge from the genitals (basar), the duration of which was uncertain. For this reason those affected continued still unclean for nine days after the cessation of the flux, whereas the man who had encountered ordinary pollution (verse 16.) was unclean only till the evening. The Septuagint translators render the flux by ῥύσις (flowing, flux), the person affected by the flux γονοῤῥυής (having a flux from the genitals), while they say of ordinary pollution, ὡς ἐὰν ἐξέλθῃ ἐξ αὐτοῦ κοίτησπέρματος(“if any man’s seed of copulation go out of him”).Astrucand others wished to refer the flux from the genitals to Lepra (Leprosy), but in that case the Leprosy must needs have been previously noticeable in the person affected by the flux, and the flux therefore been really a symptom. Thus it would have demanded no further special ordinance for purification, as that commanded for Leprosy would have been used for it. Again the same would also have occurred, had the flux been noticed asfirstsymptom of the Leprosy, for then the Priest was bound to have confined the person so affected and put him under observation, to see whether the other symptoms of Leprosy would show themselves as well. But of this there is nothing whatever to be found in the writings attributed to Moses, who clearly distinguishes between the flux and Leprosy, as also does the Author of II Samuel III. 29. Speaking generally, no other Author ever mentions the flux as a constant or frequent symptom of Leprosy, whileSchillingeven denies its occurrence altogether. Comp.Hensler, Vom abendl. Aussatze (On Oriental Leprosy), pp. 130, 396.
160Astruc, De morbis venereis (Of Venereal diseases), p. 93., Quid igitur mirum varia, heterogenea, acria multorum virorum semina (et smegmata we may add) una confusa, cum acerrimo et virulento menstruo sanguine mixta, intra uterum aestuantem et olidum spurcissimarum mulierum coercita, mora, heterogeneitate, calore loci brevi computruisse ac prima morbi venerei semina constituisse, quae in alios, si qui forsan continentiores erant, contagione dimanavere?... Cum ergo in omnibus terrae locis,ubi lues venerea antiquitus endemia fuisse videtur, eundem aeris fervorem cum pari incolarum impudicitia coniunctum fuisse manifestum sit, haud inanis inde locus est colligendi morbum natura eundem, quo regiones longissime dissitae et inter quas nulla fuit commercii communio, simili modo infestabantur, a simili causarum earundem concursu, in quo tantum convenirent, generatum olim fuisse etgenerari etiamnum, si indigenae iisdem moribus vivant. (What is there surprising then in the fact that the various, heterogeneous, acrid seminal fluids of a number of different men (and unguents as well, we may add), all confounded together and mixed with the exceedingly acrid and virulent menstrual blood, confined within the steaming hot and fetid womb of the dirtiest of women, by long continuance in one place, by heterogeneity of components, by the heat of the locality, should very soon have grown putrid, and so laid the first seeds of Venereal disease,—which then passed on by contagion to other men, men that were very possibly more self-restrained?... So, inasmuch as in all parts of the world,wherever Venereal disease appears to have been endemic in Antiquity, it is plain the same heat of the atmosphere was united with a similar immorality on the part of the inhabitants, there is therefore sufficient ground for concluding that the disease, identical in its nature and one whereby regions far removed from one another and between which existed no commercial intercourse were attacked in a like way, was originally produced by a like conjunction of identical causes, a conjunction wherein these only agreed,—andis still so produced, supposing the inhabitants to still live after the same fashion).Wizmann(loco citato p. 32.) moreover is of opinion that Venereal disease under the conditions just named originates in Turkey to this dayin its true form. A similar view is shared byEagleandJudd(loco citato p. 306.).
160Astruc, De morbis venereis (Of Venereal diseases), p. 93., Quid igitur mirum varia, heterogenea, acria multorum virorum semina (et smegmata we may add) una confusa, cum acerrimo et virulento menstruo sanguine mixta, intra uterum aestuantem et olidum spurcissimarum mulierum coercita, mora, heterogeneitate, calore loci brevi computruisse ac prima morbi venerei semina constituisse, quae in alios, si qui forsan continentiores erant, contagione dimanavere?... Cum ergo in omnibus terrae locis,ubi lues venerea antiquitus endemia fuisse videtur, eundem aeris fervorem cum pari incolarum impudicitia coniunctum fuisse manifestum sit, haud inanis inde locus est colligendi morbum natura eundem, quo regiones longissime dissitae et inter quas nulla fuit commercii communio, simili modo infestabantur, a simili causarum earundem concursu, in quo tantum convenirent, generatum olim fuisse etgenerari etiamnum, si indigenae iisdem moribus vivant. (What is there surprising then in the fact that the various, heterogeneous, acrid seminal fluids of a number of different men (and unguents as well, we may add), all confounded together and mixed with the exceedingly acrid and virulent menstrual blood, confined within the steaming hot and fetid womb of the dirtiest of women, by long continuance in one place, by heterogeneity of components, by the heat of the locality, should very soon have grown putrid, and so laid the first seeds of Venereal disease,—which then passed on by contagion to other men, men that were very possibly more self-restrained?... So, inasmuch as in all parts of the world,wherever Venereal disease appears to have been endemic in Antiquity, it is plain the same heat of the atmosphere was united with a similar immorality on the part of the inhabitants, there is therefore sufficient ground for concluding that the disease, identical in its nature and one whereby regions far removed from one another and between which existed no commercial intercourse were attacked in a like way, was originally produced by a like conjunction of identical causes, a conjunction wherein these only agreed,—andis still so produced, supposing the inhabitants to still live after the same fashion).Wizmann(loco citato p. 32.) moreover is of opinion that Venereal disease under the conditions just named originates in Turkey to this dayin its true form. A similar view is shared byEagleandJudd(loco citato p. 306.).
161Herodotus, bk. III. ch. 106., ἡ Ἑλλὰς τὰς ὥρας πολλόν τι κάλλιστα κεκραμένας ἔλαχη. (Hellas possesses seasons in many respects most admirably combined). Comp.Dahlmann, Herodotus pp. 90. sqq.Platoagain praises the εὐκρασία τῶν ὡρῶν (happy mingling of the seasons) of Hellas in more than one passage; e.g. Timaeus 24, C., Critias III E., Epinom. 987 D.; andAristophanesin a fragment of his Horae preserved by Athenaeus, Deipnos. IX. p. 372. says of Attica:ὥστ’οὐκέτ’οὐδεὶς οἵδ’ ὁπηνίκ’ ἐστὶ τοὐνιαουτοῦ.(So never yet has any man been able to tell precisely in what part of the year he is).
161Herodotus, bk. III. ch. 106., ἡ Ἑλλὰς τὰς ὥρας πολλόν τι κάλλιστα κεκραμένας ἔλαχη. (Hellas possesses seasons in many respects most admirably combined). Comp.Dahlmann, Herodotus pp. 90. sqq.Platoagain praises the εὐκρασία τῶν ὡρῶν (happy mingling of the seasons) of Hellas in more than one passage; e.g. Timaeus 24, C., Critias III E., Epinom. 987 D.; andAristophanesin a fragment of his Horae preserved by Athenaeus, Deipnos. IX. p. 372. says of Attica:
ὥστ’οὐκέτ’οὐδεὶς οἵδ’ ὁπηνίκ’ ἐστὶ τοὐνιαουτοῦ.
ὥστ’οὐκέτ’οὐδεὶς οἵδ’ ὁπηνίκ’ ἐστὶ τοὐνιαουτοῦ.
ὥστ’οὐκέτ’οὐδεὶς οἵδ’ ὁπηνίκ’ ἐστὶ τοὐνιαουτοῦ.
ὥστ’οὐκέτ’οὐδεὶς οἵδ’ ὁπηνίκ’ ἐστὶ τοὐνιαουτοῦ.
(So never yet has any man been able to tell precisely in what part of the year he is).
162Galen, De symptomat. causis bk. III. ch. 11., edit. Kühn Vol. VII. p. 267., καὶ μὴν αἰ γονόῤῥοιαι, χωρὶς μὲν τοῦ συντείνεσθαι τὸ αἰδοῖον, ἀῤῥωσίᾳ τῆς καθεκτικῆς δυνάμεως τῆς ἐν τοῖς σπερματικοῖς ἀγγείοις· ἐντεινομένου δέ πως, οἷον σπασμᾷ τινι παραπλήσιον πασχόντων ἐπιτελοῦνται. (Moreover gonorrhoeas, except in the case of the member being in a state of tension, arise from weakness of the retentive capacity in the spermatic vessels; but when there is tension of any sort, they are subject to a kind of spasm resembling that of convulsive patients).
162Galen, De symptomat. causis bk. III. ch. 11., edit. Kühn Vol. VII. p. 267., καὶ μὴν αἰ γονόῤῥοιαι, χωρὶς μὲν τοῦ συντείνεσθαι τὸ αἰδοῖον, ἀῤῥωσίᾳ τῆς καθεκτικῆς δυνάμεως τῆς ἐν τοῖς σπερματικοῖς ἀγγείοις· ἐντεινομένου δέ πως, οἷον σπασμᾷ τινι παραπλήσιον πασχόντων ἐπιτελοῦνται. (Moreover gonorrhoeas, except in the case of the member being in a state of tension, arise from weakness of the retentive capacity in the spermatic vessels; but when there is tension of any sort, they are subject to a kind of spasm resembling that of convulsive patients).
163Larrey, “Relation historique et chirurgicale de l’expédition de l’armée d’Orient, en Egypt et en Syrie,” (Historical and Surgical Account of the Expedition of the Army of the East, in Egypt and Syria), Paris 1803. p. 116., Pendant le travail de la suppuration, les blessés furent seulement incommodés des vers ou larves de la mouche bleue, commune en Syrie. L’incubation des oeufs que cette mouche deposait sans cesse dans les plaies ou dans les appareils, étoit favorisée par la chaleur de la saison, l’humidité de l’atmosphère et la qualité de la toile à pansement (elle étoit de coton) la seule qu’on ait pu se procurer dans cette contrée. La présence de ces vers dans les plaies paraissait en accélérer la suppuration, causait des demangeaisons incommodes aux blessés et nous forçait de les panser trois ou quatre fois le jour. Ces insectes, formés en quelques heures, se développaient avec une telle rapidité, que du jour au lendemain, ils étaient de la grosseur d’un tuyau de plume de poulet. On faisait à chaque pansement des lotions d’une forte décoction de rhue et de petite sauge, qui suffisaient pour les détruire; mais ils se reproduisaient bientot après par le défaut des moyens propres à écarter l’approche des mouches et à prévenir l’incubation de leurs oeufs. (During the action of suppuration, the only inconvenience the wounded met with was from the worms or larvae of the blue fly, common in Syria. The hatching of the eggs, which this fly was continually depositing in the wounds or their dressings, was favoured by the heat of the season, the moisture of the atmosphere, and the nature of the material used for bandages. This was cotton, the only material for the purpose that could be procured in that country. The presence of these worms in the wounds appeared to accelerate their suppuration, caused the wounded men to suffer from troublesome itchings and forced us to renew the dressings three or four times a day. These insects, formed in a few hours, developed with such extraordinary rapidity, that from one day to the next, they reached the size of a fowl’s quill. At each dressing lotions were applied of a strong decoction of rue and dwarf sage, which was effectual in destroying them; but they reappeared again very soon afterwards owing to the want of proper means for preventing the approach of the flies and hindering the hatching of their eggs). Compare what Larrey (p. 278.) says as to the climate of Syria.
163Larrey, “Relation historique et chirurgicale de l’expédition de l’armée d’Orient, en Egypt et en Syrie,” (Historical and Surgical Account of the Expedition of the Army of the East, in Egypt and Syria), Paris 1803. p. 116., Pendant le travail de la suppuration, les blessés furent seulement incommodés des vers ou larves de la mouche bleue, commune en Syrie. L’incubation des oeufs que cette mouche deposait sans cesse dans les plaies ou dans les appareils, étoit favorisée par la chaleur de la saison, l’humidité de l’atmosphère et la qualité de la toile à pansement (elle étoit de coton) la seule qu’on ait pu se procurer dans cette contrée. La présence de ces vers dans les plaies paraissait en accélérer la suppuration, causait des demangeaisons incommodes aux blessés et nous forçait de les panser trois ou quatre fois le jour. Ces insectes, formés en quelques heures, se développaient avec une telle rapidité, que du jour au lendemain, ils étaient de la grosseur d’un tuyau de plume de poulet. On faisait à chaque pansement des lotions d’une forte décoction de rhue et de petite sauge, qui suffisaient pour les détruire; mais ils se reproduisaient bientot après par le défaut des moyens propres à écarter l’approche des mouches et à prévenir l’incubation de leurs oeufs. (During the action of suppuration, the only inconvenience the wounded met with was from the worms or larvae of the blue fly, common in Syria. The hatching of the eggs, which this fly was continually depositing in the wounds or their dressings, was favoured by the heat of the season, the moisture of the atmosphere, and the nature of the material used for bandages. This was cotton, the only material for the purpose that could be procured in that country. The presence of these worms in the wounds appeared to accelerate their suppuration, caused the wounded men to suffer from troublesome itchings and forced us to renew the dressings three or four times a day. These insects, formed in a few hours, developed with such extraordinary rapidity, that from one day to the next, they reached the size of a fowl’s quill. At each dressing lotions were applied of a strong decoction of rue and dwarf sage, which was effectual in destroying them; but they reappeared again very soon afterwards owing to the want of proper means for preventing the approach of the flies and hindering the hatching of their eggs). Compare what Larrey (p. 278.) says as to the climate of Syria.
164Eusebius, Histor. Eccles. bk. VIII. 14., τί δεῖ τὰς ἐμπαθεῖς ἀνδρὸς αἰσχρουργίας μνημονεύειν; ἢ τῶν πρὸς αὐτοῦ μεμοιχευμένων ἀπαριθμεῖσθαι τὲν πληθύν; οὐκ ἦν γέ τοι πόλιν αὐτὸν παρελθεῖν, μὴ οὐχὶ ἐκ παντὸς φθορὰς γυναικῶν παρθένων τε ἁρπαγὰς εἰργασμένον.—cap. 16. μέτεισι γοῦν αὐτὸν θεήλατος κόλασις· ἐξ αὐτῆς αὐτοῦ καταρξαμένη σαρκὸς, καὶ μέχρι τῆς ψυχῆς παρελθοῦσα.ἀθρόα μὲν γὰρ περὶ τὰ μέσα τῶν ἀποῤῥήτων τοῦ σώματος ἀπόστασις γίγνεται αὐτῷ· εἶθ’ ἕλκος ἐν βάθει συριγγώδες καὶ τούτων ἀνιάτος νομὴ κατὰ τῶν ἐνδοτάτῳ σπλάγχνων· ἀφ’ ὧν ἀλεκτόν τι πλῆθος σκωλήκων βρύειν, θανατώδη τε ὀδμὴν ἀποπνέειν, τοῦ παντὸς ὄγκου τῶν σωμάτων ἐκ πολυτροφίας αὐτῷ καὶ πρὸς τῆς νόσου εἰς ὑπερβολὴν πλήθους πιμελῆς μεταβεβληκότος· ἣν τότε κατασαπεῖσαν, ἀφόρητον καὶ φρικτοτάτην τοῖς πλησιάζουσι παρέχειν τὴν θέαν, ἰατρῶν δ’ οὖν οἱ μὲν, οὐδ’ ὅλως ὑπομεῖναι τὴν τοῦ δυσώδους ὑπερβάλλουσαν ἀτοπίαν οἷοι τε, κατεσφάττοντο. οἱ δὲ διῳδηκότος τοῦ παντὸς ὄγκου καὶ εἰς ἀνέλπιστον σωτηρίας ἀποπεπτωκότος μηδὲν ἐπικουρεῖν δυνάμενοι, ἀνηλεῶς ἐκτείνοντο. (What need to recall the passions and abominations of the man? or to count the multitude of debaucheries done by him? Nay, he could not pass through a city without leaving behind him everywhere ruin of women and rape of virgins.—ch. 16. Yet heaven-sent punishment overtakes him, commencing with his very flesh and going on to assail the life. For an incessant suppurative inflammation attacks him in the region of the private parts of the body; then later on a wound penetrating deep in like a fistula and an incurable eating sore affecting these inmost intestines. Then from these an indescribable number of worms bred, and a corpse-like smell was given off, the whole bulk of the bodily parts having through high living and under the influence of the disease changed into an exaggerated superfluity of fat. Then this rotting away, displayed an intolerable and an appalling spectacle to his attendants; while among his physicians, some finding themselves utterly unable to endure the exceeding horribleness of the stench, put an end to their lives; while others, the whole bulk having gone to complete rottenness, and the patient in a condition that admitted no hope of recovery, being unable to afford any help, were cruelly put to death). This passage occurs as well, word for word, inNicephorus, Histor. Eccles. VII. 22. Aur. Victor. Epit. ch. 40., Galerius Maximianusconsumptis genitalibusdefecit, (Galerius Maximianus died,the genital organs being destroyed).—Zosimus, Hist. II. 11. speaks merely of τραῦμα δυσίατον (a wound difficult to cure), andPaulus Diaconus, Hist. miscell. XI. 5., says: putrefacto introrsum pectore, et vitalibus dissolutis, cum ultra horrorem humanae miseriae etiam vermes eructaret, medicique iam ultra foetorem non ferentes, crebro iussu eius occiderentur etc. (the bosom having putrefied within, and the vitals rotted away, when exceeding the climax of human horror and suffering he began to bring up worms, and his physicians unable to bear the excessive foulness of the stench, were being executed at his frequent order, etc.). The same fate happened toHerod, of whomJosephus, Antiq. XVII. 6. says: τοῦ αἰδοίου σῆψις σκώληκας ἐμποιοῦσα (mortification of the genitals producing worms). Comp.Bochart, Hierozoicon, edit. Rosenmüller vol. III. p. 520.
164Eusebius, Histor. Eccles. bk. VIII. 14., τί δεῖ τὰς ἐμπαθεῖς ἀνδρὸς αἰσχρουργίας μνημονεύειν; ἢ τῶν πρὸς αὐτοῦ μεμοιχευμένων ἀπαριθμεῖσθαι τὲν πληθύν; οὐκ ἦν γέ τοι πόλιν αὐτὸν παρελθεῖν, μὴ οὐχὶ ἐκ παντὸς φθορὰς γυναικῶν παρθένων τε ἁρπαγὰς εἰργασμένον.—cap. 16. μέτεισι γοῦν αὐτὸν θεήλατος κόλασις· ἐξ αὐτῆς αὐτοῦ καταρξαμένη σαρκὸς, καὶ μέχρι τῆς ψυχῆς παρελθοῦσα.ἀθρόα μὲν γὰρ περὶ τὰ μέσα τῶν ἀποῤῥήτων τοῦ σώματος ἀπόστασις γίγνεται αὐτῷ· εἶθ’ ἕλκος ἐν βάθει συριγγώδες καὶ τούτων ἀνιάτος νομὴ κατὰ τῶν ἐνδοτάτῳ σπλάγχνων· ἀφ’ ὧν ἀλεκτόν τι πλῆθος σκωλήκων βρύειν, θανατώδη τε ὀδμὴν ἀποπνέειν, τοῦ παντὸς ὄγκου τῶν σωμάτων ἐκ πολυτροφίας αὐτῷ καὶ πρὸς τῆς νόσου εἰς ὑπερβολὴν πλήθους πιμελῆς μεταβεβληκότος· ἣν τότε κατασαπεῖσαν, ἀφόρητον καὶ φρικτοτάτην τοῖς πλησιάζουσι παρέχειν τὴν θέαν, ἰατρῶν δ’ οὖν οἱ μὲν, οὐδ’ ὅλως ὑπομεῖναι τὴν τοῦ δυσώδους ὑπερβάλλουσαν ἀτοπίαν οἷοι τε, κατεσφάττοντο. οἱ δὲ διῳδηκότος τοῦ παντὸς ὄγκου καὶ εἰς ἀνέλπιστον σωτηρίας ἀποπεπτωκότος μηδὲν ἐπικουρεῖν δυνάμενοι, ἀνηλεῶς ἐκτείνοντο. (What need to recall the passions and abominations of the man? or to count the multitude of debaucheries done by him? Nay, he could not pass through a city without leaving behind him everywhere ruin of women and rape of virgins.—ch. 16. Yet heaven-sent punishment overtakes him, commencing with his very flesh and going on to assail the life. For an incessant suppurative inflammation attacks him in the region of the private parts of the body; then later on a wound penetrating deep in like a fistula and an incurable eating sore affecting these inmost intestines. Then from these an indescribable number of worms bred, and a corpse-like smell was given off, the whole bulk of the bodily parts having through high living and under the influence of the disease changed into an exaggerated superfluity of fat. Then this rotting away, displayed an intolerable and an appalling spectacle to his attendants; while among his physicians, some finding themselves utterly unable to endure the exceeding horribleness of the stench, put an end to their lives; while others, the whole bulk having gone to complete rottenness, and the patient in a condition that admitted no hope of recovery, being unable to afford any help, were cruelly put to death). This passage occurs as well, word for word, inNicephorus, Histor. Eccles. VII. 22. Aur. Victor. Epit. ch. 40., Galerius Maximianusconsumptis genitalibusdefecit, (Galerius Maximianus died,the genital organs being destroyed).—Zosimus, Hist. II. 11. speaks merely of τραῦμα δυσίατον (a wound difficult to cure), andPaulus Diaconus, Hist. miscell. XI. 5., says: putrefacto introrsum pectore, et vitalibus dissolutis, cum ultra horrorem humanae miseriae etiam vermes eructaret, medicique iam ultra foetorem non ferentes, crebro iussu eius occiderentur etc. (the bosom having putrefied within, and the vitals rotted away, when exceeding the climax of human horror and suffering he began to bring up worms, and his physicians unable to bear the excessive foulness of the stench, were being executed at his frequent order, etc.). The same fate happened toHerod, of whomJosephus, Antiq. XVII. 6. says: τοῦ αἰδοίου σῆψις σκώληκας ἐμποιοῦσα (mortification of the genitals producing worms). Comp.Bochart, Hierozoicon, edit. Rosenmüller vol. III. p. 520.
165This reading is clearly preferable. The Septuagint translators render it σήπη καὶ σκώληκες κηρονομήσουσιν αὐτὸν, (Rottenness and worms shall be his heritage), where however it must be admitted σῆτες (moths) is also retained by the Editors.
165This reading is clearly preferable. The Septuagint translators render it σήπη καὶ σκώληκες κηρονομήσουσιν αὐτὸν, (Rottenness and worms shall be his heritage), where however it must be admitted σῆτες (moths) is also retained by the Editors.
166“Nouvelles recherches sur la structure de la peau”, (Recent Investigations as to the Structure of the Skin), with 3 Plates. Paris 1835. 221 pp. 8vo.
166“Nouvelles recherches sur la structure de la peau”, (Recent Investigations as to the Structure of the Skin), with 3 Plates. Paris 1835. 221 pp. 8vo.
167“Vergleichende Untersuchungen über die Haut des Menschen und der Haussaügethiere, besonders in Beziehung auf die Absonderungsorgane des Hauttalgs und des Schweisses,” (Comparative Investigations as to the Skin in Man and the Domestic Mammals, with particular reference to the Organs of Secretion of the Sebaceous Humour and the Sweat), inMuller’sArchiv. für Physiologie Jahrg. 1835., pp. 399-418. With copperplates, a comparison of which will very much facilitate the proper understanding of what follows.
167“Vergleichende Untersuchungen über die Haut des Menschen und der Haussaügethiere, besonders in Beziehung auf die Absonderungsorgane des Hauttalgs und des Schweisses,” (Comparative Investigations as to the Skin in Man and the Domestic Mammals, with particular reference to the Organs of Secretion of the Sebaceous Humour and the Sweat), inMuller’sArchiv. für Physiologie Jahrg. 1835., pp. 399-418. With copperplates, a comparison of which will very much facilitate the proper understanding of what follows.
168Already we findLorry, “Abb. von den Krankheiten der Haut,” (Treatise on Diseases of the Skin), Vol. I. p. 50., saying: “There is found to exist moreover a certain sympathy between the generative parts of men and women and the skin, which under the violent stimulus of sexual coition swells; but after it is over, sweat comes out on it, andsometimes little heat-pimples appear. p. 83., Now at puberty, a period when all the glands are opened, there is brought to the organs of transpiration a great quantity of a subtle and fluid material, there arises a peculiar smell, and if this matter has accumulated, it clogs the minute vessels, the humour contained in these becomes thick by retardation and solidification,—the result being a pimply eruption on the skin. This much is certain, that if both sexes are fully developed, and live chaste, an extensive series of mutually connected pustules may arise,just as if they were produced by the swelling of the glands in the skin. The pustules are ranged in the same order as that in which the glands lie; exactly as if they were the meeting-place of the humours that would seem to have been dispersed in the skin.” Comp.Haller, Elem. physiolog. Vol. VII. bk. XXVIII. sect. 3. § 4.
168Already we findLorry, “Abb. von den Krankheiten der Haut,” (Treatise on Diseases of the Skin), Vol. I. p. 50., saying: “There is found to exist moreover a certain sympathy between the generative parts of men and women and the skin, which under the violent stimulus of sexual coition swells; but after it is over, sweat comes out on it, andsometimes little heat-pimples appear. p. 83., Now at puberty, a period when all the glands are opened, there is brought to the organs of transpiration a great quantity of a subtle and fluid material, there arises a peculiar smell, and if this matter has accumulated, it clogs the minute vessels, the humour contained in these becomes thick by retardation and solidification,—the result being a pimply eruption on the skin. This much is certain, that if both sexes are fully developed, and live chaste, an extensive series of mutually connected pustules may arise,just as if they were produced by the swelling of the glands in the skin. The pustules are ranged in the same order as that in which the glands lie; exactly as if they were the meeting-place of the humours that would seem to have been dispersed in the skin.” Comp.Haller, Elem. physiolog. Vol. VII. bk. XXVIII. sect. 3. § 4.
169More precise information on this, as well as on several other opinions expressed in the course of these Inquiries as to the pathology of Venereal disease, the reader will find placed at his disposal in our forthcoming Work, “Introduction to a Scientific Knowledge of the Venereal Disease.”
169More precise information on this, as well as on several other opinions expressed in the course of these Inquiries as to the pathology of Venereal disease, the reader will find placed at his disposal in our forthcoming Work, “Introduction to a Scientific Knowledge of the Venereal Disease.”
170Comp.Hillary, “Beobachtungen über die Veränderungen Luft und die damit verbundenen epidemischen Krankheiten auf der Insel Barbados,” (Observations on Changes of Atmosphere and the Epidemic Sicknesses connected with them in the Island of Barbadoes), transl. from the English by J. Ch. G. Ackermann. Leipzig 1776. 8vo., pp. 3 sqq.
170Comp.Hillary, “Beobachtungen über die Veränderungen Luft und die damit verbundenen epidemischen Krankheiten auf der Insel Barbados,” (Observations on Changes of Atmosphere and the Epidemic Sicknesses connected with them in the Island of Barbadoes), transl. from the English by J. Ch. G. Ackermann. Leipzig 1776. 8vo., pp. 3 sqq.
171Alex. Traj. Petronius, De morbo Gallico, (On the French Disease—Syphilis), bk. II. chs. 24., and 26 (Aphrodisiacus pp. 1225, 1226.) in his time says: Et in regione calida, quoniam secundum naturae suae impetum ad cutem fertur, minus saevire, in frigida vero, quoniam contra suam naturam ad interna migrare cogitur, magis.—Neque nos non lateat, in ambiente (ut dicunt) calido, quoniam ad cutim attractio fit, morbum hunc et secundum naturae suae impetum creari, et simul ad exteriora prorumpere solere. In frigido autem, quia intro repellitur contra suae naturae motum retroverti et solidas corporis partes saepius depasci. Frequentius etiam in regione calida quam frigida apparere; hic enim circumfusus aer, ne morbus ad cutim extendatur, prohibet (nam intro pellit), illic vero et ad cutim trahit et eandem retinet. (Moreover in a hot region, inasmuch as in accordance with the impulse of its nature it is carried to the skin, it is there less virulent; whereas in a cold one, as it is compelled against its nature to travel to the inward parts, it is more so.—Again we should not let this escape our notice, that in a hot environment (as they say), inasmuch as an attraction takes place towards the skin, this disease also according to the impulse of its nature is there brought into being, and is wont to break out towards the external parts. On the other hand in a cold one, because it is drawn within, it is turned back contrary to the motion of its nature, and more often feeds upon the solid parts of the body. Again it appears more frequently in a hot region than in a cold one; for in the latter case the surrounding air (driving it within as it does) hinders the disease from extending to the skin, whereas in the former it draws it to the skin and keeps it there). But specially pertinent in this connection is p. 1211.—Puydebat, “Über den Einfluss des Climas auf den Menschen,” (Of the Influence of Climate on Man), in the “Bulletin méd. de Bordeaux, 1836. May 21. (Froriep Notiz. 1836. Vol. 49. p. 179.) writes: Die immer geöffneten Hautporen hauchen in den heissen Ländern einen reichlichen, mehr oder weniger stark riechenden Schweiss aus. Die Hautdrüsen sondern eine ölige Flüssigkeit in Menge ab, welche die Haut schlüpfrig macht und derselben jenes bei den Negern so auffallende Ansehn giebt. Dieser Zustand der Haut macht sie zu Exanthemen, z. B. Masern, Blattern, Syphilis, Lepra, Elephantiasis geneigt. (The ever open skin-pores expire in hot countries a rich and more or less strongly smelling sweat. The cutaneous glands secrete an oily fluid in quantities, which makes the skin slippery and gives it that appearance so striking in Negroes. This state of the skin makes it liable to exanthematic effections, e.g. Measles, Small-pox, Syphilis, Leprosy, Elephantiasis).—In cold countries the transpiration of the skin is very weak; in consequence the internal secretions are increased in quantity, while in hot countries they are lessened from a directly opposite cause.” Comp.J. von Röser, “Ueber einige Krankheiten des Orients,” (On some Diseases of the East). Augsburg 1837., pp. 67-71., to whose statements we shall have to return on several future occasions.
171Alex. Traj. Petronius, De morbo Gallico, (On the French Disease—Syphilis), bk. II. chs. 24., and 26 (Aphrodisiacus pp. 1225, 1226.) in his time says: Et in regione calida, quoniam secundum naturae suae impetum ad cutem fertur, minus saevire, in frigida vero, quoniam contra suam naturam ad interna migrare cogitur, magis.—Neque nos non lateat, in ambiente (ut dicunt) calido, quoniam ad cutim attractio fit, morbum hunc et secundum naturae suae impetum creari, et simul ad exteriora prorumpere solere. In frigido autem, quia intro repellitur contra suae naturae motum retroverti et solidas corporis partes saepius depasci. Frequentius etiam in regione calida quam frigida apparere; hic enim circumfusus aer, ne morbus ad cutim extendatur, prohibet (nam intro pellit), illic vero et ad cutim trahit et eandem retinet. (Moreover in a hot region, inasmuch as in accordance with the impulse of its nature it is carried to the skin, it is there less virulent; whereas in a cold one, as it is compelled against its nature to travel to the inward parts, it is more so.—Again we should not let this escape our notice, that in a hot environment (as they say), inasmuch as an attraction takes place towards the skin, this disease also according to the impulse of its nature is there brought into being, and is wont to break out towards the external parts. On the other hand in a cold one, because it is drawn within, it is turned back contrary to the motion of its nature, and more often feeds upon the solid parts of the body. Again it appears more frequently in a hot region than in a cold one; for in the latter case the surrounding air (driving it within as it does) hinders the disease from extending to the skin, whereas in the former it draws it to the skin and keeps it there). But specially pertinent in this connection is p. 1211.—Puydebat, “Über den Einfluss des Climas auf den Menschen,” (Of the Influence of Climate on Man), in the “Bulletin méd. de Bordeaux, 1836. May 21. (Froriep Notiz. 1836. Vol. 49. p. 179.) writes: Die immer geöffneten Hautporen hauchen in den heissen Ländern einen reichlichen, mehr oder weniger stark riechenden Schweiss aus. Die Hautdrüsen sondern eine ölige Flüssigkeit in Menge ab, welche die Haut schlüpfrig macht und derselben jenes bei den Negern so auffallende Ansehn giebt. Dieser Zustand der Haut macht sie zu Exanthemen, z. B. Masern, Blattern, Syphilis, Lepra, Elephantiasis geneigt. (The ever open skin-pores expire in hot countries a rich and more or less strongly smelling sweat. The cutaneous glands secrete an oily fluid in quantities, which makes the skin slippery and gives it that appearance so striking in Negroes. This state of the skin makes it liable to exanthematic effections, e.g. Measles, Small-pox, Syphilis, Leprosy, Elephantiasis).—In cold countries the transpiration of the skin is very weak; in consequence the internal secretions are increased in quantity, while in hot countries they are lessened from a directly opposite cause.” Comp.J. von Röser, “Ueber einige Krankheiten des Orients,” (On some Diseases of the East). Augsburg 1837., pp. 67-71., to whose statements we shall have to return on several future occasions.
172Joannes Leo, “Descriptio Africae”, (Description of Africa), Leyden 1632. 12mo., p. 86., Paucis admodum toto Atlante, tota Numidia totaque Libya hoc notum est contagium. Quodsi quisquam fuerit qui se eo infectum sentiat, mox in Numidiam aut in Nigritarum regionem proficiscitur, cuius tanta est aeris temperies, ut optimae sanitati restitutus inde in patriam redeat: quod quidem multis accidisse ipse meis vidi oculis, qui nullo adhibito neque pharmaco neque medico, praeter saluberrimum iam dictum aërem, revaluerant. (To very few persons indeed in the whole of the Atlas, the whole of Numidia and of Libya, is this contagion known. But if there should be any man who feels himself attacked by it, he presently journeys into Numidia or the district of the Nigritae, where the nature of the air is such that he returns home again restored to excellent good health. This I have seen happen to many with my own eyes, who without help of druggist or doctor recovered by the exceeding salubrity of the air as aforesaid). Comp.Scaliger, Exercitat. CLXXX. ch. 18.—Petronius, loco citato p. 1213.
172Joannes Leo, “Descriptio Africae”, (Description of Africa), Leyden 1632. 12mo., p. 86., Paucis admodum toto Atlante, tota Numidia totaque Libya hoc notum est contagium. Quodsi quisquam fuerit qui se eo infectum sentiat, mox in Numidiam aut in Nigritarum regionem proficiscitur, cuius tanta est aeris temperies, ut optimae sanitati restitutus inde in patriam redeat: quod quidem multis accidisse ipse meis vidi oculis, qui nullo adhibito neque pharmaco neque medico, praeter saluberrimum iam dictum aërem, revaluerant. (To very few persons indeed in the whole of the Atlas, the whole of Numidia and of Libya, is this contagion known. But if there should be any man who feels himself attacked by it, he presently journeys into Numidia or the district of the Nigritae, where the nature of the air is such that he returns home again restored to excellent good health. This I have seen happen to many with my own eyes, who without help of druggist or doctor recovered by the exceeding salubrity of the air as aforesaid). Comp.Scaliger, Exercitat. CLXXX. ch. 18.—Petronius, loco citato p. 1213.
173Schnurrer, “Geographische Nosologie,” (Geographical Nosology,—Distribution of Diseases), p. 454.
173Schnurrer, “Geographische Nosologie,” (Geographical Nosology,—Distribution of Diseases), p. 454.
174Brown, W. G.“Reisen in Afrika, Egypten und Syrien.” (Travels in Africa, Egypt and Syria), transl. from the English by C. Sprengel. Weimar 1800. 8vo., p. 389., tells us of a marine at Kahira, who had become infected, how the man, having in the mean time taken no means whatever to combat the disease and without giving up either the use of brandy or the practice of copulation, two months later got a violent itching eruption over his whole body, and particularly on the head and over the glands of the neck. This he treated by sprinkling over it a sort of red earth, whereupon it dried up and disappeared, so that four weeks later he found himself completely cured and his skin as clean and smooth as before.Schnurrer, loco citato p. 453., also gives the story, but with sundry inaccuracies. Similar observations were made byTh. Clarkeat the Cape of Good Hope, London Med. Gazette 1833.Behrend, Syphilidologie Vol. I. pp. 241 sqq. The MinoriteContideclared in opposition toNorberg(Biörnstähl’s Briefe, 6 vol. p. 410.): “Christian no less than Mussulman in the East is strictly forbidden to cohabit with a woman before the eighth day after her purification. If itisdone within that period, the man’s body is poisoned: he experiences swelling, ulcers, sores, itch and pains in the limbs, and shows all the symptoms of leprosy. At this time the female does not become pregnant, because the blood is unclean, but if conception does occur, the child also gets a bad itch, and generally is affected like his parents.”Fr. Eagle(Lancet July 1836., Note 671.).Behrend’sSyphilidologie, Vol. I. p. 118., relates a number of cases that occurred in London where after intercourse with women during menstruation both gonorrhœa and chancre supervened.
174Brown, W. G.“Reisen in Afrika, Egypten und Syrien.” (Travels in Africa, Egypt and Syria), transl. from the English by C. Sprengel. Weimar 1800. 8vo., p. 389., tells us of a marine at Kahira, who had become infected, how the man, having in the mean time taken no means whatever to combat the disease and without giving up either the use of brandy or the practice of copulation, two months later got a violent itching eruption over his whole body, and particularly on the head and over the glands of the neck. This he treated by sprinkling over it a sort of red earth, whereupon it dried up and disappeared, so that four weeks later he found himself completely cured and his skin as clean and smooth as before.Schnurrer, loco citato p. 453., also gives the story, but with sundry inaccuracies. Similar observations were made byTh. Clarkeat the Cape of Good Hope, London Med. Gazette 1833.Behrend, Syphilidologie Vol. I. pp. 241 sqq. The MinoriteContideclared in opposition toNorberg(Biörnstähl’s Briefe, 6 vol. p. 410.): “Christian no less than Mussulman in the East is strictly forbidden to cohabit with a woman before the eighth day after her purification. If itisdone within that period, the man’s body is poisoned: he experiences swelling, ulcers, sores, itch and pains in the limbs, and shows all the symptoms of leprosy. At this time the female does not become pregnant, because the blood is unclean, but if conception does occur, the child also gets a bad itch, and generally is affected like his parents.”Fr. Eagle(Lancet July 1836., Note 671.).Behrend’sSyphilidologie, Vol. I. p. 118., relates a number of cases that occurred in London where after intercourse with women during menstruation both gonorrhœa and chancre supervened.
175Von Roeser, loco citato p. 69.Sonnerat, “Reise nach Ostindien”, (Journey to the East Indies), I. 94, 99.Schnurrer, Geogr. Nosologie p. 409. Note, says: “In Hindostan in particular experience has shown that a badly treated syphilis changes into leprosy.” That this is not a thing of such extreme rarity in Europe either, we shall prove more fully in another place. Meantime compare whatHensler, “Vom Abendländischen Aussatze”, (On Oriental Leprosy), pp. 228 sqq., says on the subject.
175Von Roeser, loco citato p. 69.Sonnerat, “Reise nach Ostindien”, (Journey to the East Indies), I. 94, 99.Schnurrer, Geogr. Nosologie p. 409. Note, says: “In Hindostan in particular experience has shown that a badly treated syphilis changes into leprosy.” That this is not a thing of such extreme rarity in Europe either, we shall prove more fully in another place. Meantime compare whatHensler, “Vom Abendländischen Aussatze”, (On Oriental Leprosy), pp. 228 sqq., says on the subject.
176Galen, Ad Glaucon. de meth. med. II., edit. Kühn Vol. XI. p. 142., says: κατὰ γοῦν τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρειανἐλεφαντιῶσι πάμπολλοιδιά τε τὴν δίαιταν καὶτὴν θερμότητα τοῦ χωρίου·—ἅτε δὲ θερμοῦ τοῦ περιέχοντος ὄντος καὶ ἠ ῥοπὴ τῆς φορᾶς αὐτῶν πρὸς τὸ θέρμα γίνεται· (At any rate in the neighbourhood of Alexandria very many persons suffer from elephantiasis as well through their mode of life as owing tothe heat of the locality;—for indeed as a result of the excessive heat of the climate, the tendency of their constitution is also towards heat). In Germany and Mysia he asserts the disease is seldom observed, and in Scythia almost never.
176Galen, Ad Glaucon. de meth. med. II., edit. Kühn Vol. XI. p. 142., says: κατὰ γοῦν τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρειανἐλεφαντιῶσι πάμπολλοιδιά τε τὴν δίαιταν καὶτὴν θερμότητα τοῦ χωρίου·—ἅτε δὲ θερμοῦ τοῦ περιέχοντος ὄντος καὶ ἠ ῥοπὴ τῆς φορᾶς αὐτῶν πρὸς τὸ θέρμα γίνεται· (At any rate in the neighbourhood of Alexandria very many persons suffer from elephantiasis as well through their mode of life as owing tothe heat of the locality;—for indeed as a result of the excessive heat of the climate, the tendency of their constitution is also towards heat). In Germany and Mysia he asserts the disease is seldom observed, and in Scythia almost never.
177Phlyctaenae (blisters) in erysipelas of the uterus are mentioned by Hippocrates, De ant. mulierum, edit. Kühn II. p. 541.Galen, edit. Kühn Vol. XVII. A. p. 358., ἴσθι γὰρ ὅτι τὰ ἐξανθήματα ἐν ταῖς τῆς μήτρας διαθέσεσιν εἰς τὸ δέρμα ἐκραγέντα σημαίνουσιν ὅτι ἡ φλεγμονὴ ἢ ἐρυσίπελας ἐκ τοῦ ἀποζέοντος καὶ λεπτοῦ αἵματος ἐν ταῖς μήτραις ἐγγίνεται, ὡς ἐν τῷ περὶ γυναικείης φύσεως γέγραπται. (Be assured that those eruptions that break out on the skin in certain morbid conditions of the womb signify that the inflammation or erysipelas proceeds from the deficiency and poorness of the blood in the womb, as is stated in my Work, On the Female Constitution).
177Phlyctaenae (blisters) in erysipelas of the uterus are mentioned by Hippocrates, De ant. mulierum, edit. Kühn II. p. 541.Galen, edit. Kühn Vol. XVII. A. p. 358., ἴσθι γὰρ ὅτι τὰ ἐξανθήματα ἐν ταῖς τῆς μήτρας διαθέσεσιν εἰς τὸ δέρμα ἐκραγέντα σημαίνουσιν ὅτι ἡ φλεγμονὴ ἢ ἐρυσίπελας ἐκ τοῦ ἀποζέοντος καὶ λεπτοῦ αἵματος ἐν ταῖς μήτραις ἐγγίνεται, ὡς ἐν τῷ περὶ γυναικείης φύσεως γέγραπται. (Be assured that those eruptions that break out on the skin in certain morbid conditions of the womb signify that the inflammation or erysipelas proceeds from the deficiency and poorness of the blood in the womb, as is stated in my Work, On the Female Constitution).
178Aristotle, Problem IV. 18.
178Aristotle, Problem IV. 18.
179Aëtius, Tetrab, IV. serm. 1. ch. 122., Novimus quosdam audaciores qui sibi ipsis testes ferro resecarunt; castratis enim non in peius malum ipsum procedet. Neque enim temere reperias, inquit Archigenes, ullum aliquem castratum elephantiasi laborantem, neque item facile mulierem. Quare etiam quidam ex confidentioribus medicis manum admoverunt, et quotquot sane ex eis ex sectione periculum evaserunt, per consequentis curationis usum perfecte ab hac maligna affectione liberati sunt. (We know of some bolder spirits who have amputated their own testicles with the knife; for after castration the actual evil will not then proceed to any worse length. For, says Archigenes, you will not readily find any single case of a castrated man suffering from elephantiasis, nor will you easily discover a woman at all affected by this disease. Wherefore, in fact, some of the more daring practitioners have operated, and there is no doubt that such of their patients as escaped the dangerous effects of the operation, have been through the employment of subsequent precautions completely freed from this malignant complaint). Comp.Hensler, “Vom Aussatz”, (On Leprosy), p. 401. With regard tothe immunity of women, an assertion likewise made in connection withmentagra(p. 288),von Roeserwrites (loco citato p. 67.) referring to Venereal disease: “Above all it is now the case in Greece and Turkey that the practising physician,—and I have been assured of the fact by many persons,—exceedingly seldom meets with syphilitic female patients in his practice; that yet notwithstanding this none ofthe sequelæ and different forms of subsequent mischiefthat are usually found resulting from the disease when every kind of medical aid is neglected, are seen in patients of that sex.”—P. 71., “Only poison would seem, as a result of the secretive process exerted by the affected parts of the skin and the mucous membrane, which is much more powerful in women than in men, to be more readily eliminated from the body than is the case with men, so much so indeed that it is an almost unheard of thing in Egypt to find a female patient under medical treatment.”—still this does not justify the conclusion that womenneversuffered from Venereal disease, as even von Roeser himself admits. Again Larrey, loco citato p. 253., actually found himself constrained in view of the wide dissemination of the disease among the French soldiers, to establish a special hospital for infected women, in order to check the spread of the complaint.
179Aëtius, Tetrab, IV. serm. 1. ch. 122., Novimus quosdam audaciores qui sibi ipsis testes ferro resecarunt; castratis enim non in peius malum ipsum procedet. Neque enim temere reperias, inquit Archigenes, ullum aliquem castratum elephantiasi laborantem, neque item facile mulierem. Quare etiam quidam ex confidentioribus medicis manum admoverunt, et quotquot sane ex eis ex sectione periculum evaserunt, per consequentis curationis usum perfecte ab hac maligna affectione liberati sunt. (We know of some bolder spirits who have amputated their own testicles with the knife; for after castration the actual evil will not then proceed to any worse length. For, says Archigenes, you will not readily find any single case of a castrated man suffering from elephantiasis, nor will you easily discover a woman at all affected by this disease. Wherefore, in fact, some of the more daring practitioners have operated, and there is no doubt that such of their patients as escaped the dangerous effects of the operation, have been through the employment of subsequent precautions completely freed from this malignant complaint). Comp.Hensler, “Vom Aussatz”, (On Leprosy), p. 401. With regard tothe immunity of women, an assertion likewise made in connection withmentagra(p. 288),von Roeserwrites (loco citato p. 67.) referring to Venereal disease: “Above all it is now the case in Greece and Turkey that the practising physician,—and I have been assured of the fact by many persons,—exceedingly seldom meets with syphilitic female patients in his practice; that yet notwithstanding this none ofthe sequelæ and different forms of subsequent mischiefthat are usually found resulting from the disease when every kind of medical aid is neglected, are seen in patients of that sex.”—P. 71., “Only poison would seem, as a result of the secretive process exerted by the affected parts of the skin and the mucous membrane, which is much more powerful in women than in men, to be more readily eliminated from the body than is the case with men, so much so indeed that it is an almost unheard of thing in Egypt to find a female patient under medical treatment.”—still this does not justify the conclusion that womenneversuffered from Venereal disease, as even von Roeser himself admits. Again Larrey, loco citato p. 253., actually found himself constrained in view of the wide dissemination of the disease among the French soldiers, to establish a special hospital for infected women, in order to check the spread of the complaint.