SCROFULA 



SCROPE 



n inflammatory swelling of tlie lymjthatic ylitnttt, 

 more especially aliout (In- neck. Though frequent 

 attempt* were made to widen its significance >o 

 as to include sup|HM-d kind nil processes in otluT 

 structure*, tlit* old \iew remained dominant l>otli 

 in lay and medical jiarlanee till recently. But 

 the discovery in many no-called scrofulous mani- 

 festations of the presence of the Ibu-itlns tubrr- 

 mio*u the essential cause of tuherculnoa (see 

 TUBERCLE, CONSUMPTION ) has gradually modi- 

 fied the older conception and led to a recogni- 

 tion of tlic identity or at leant the close relation 

 existing lietween scrofula and tulierculosis. Hence 

 many pathologist* nowadays regard the tubercle 

 bacillus an tin- on> essential cause of so-called 

 scrofula, and hold the latter (when used in the 

 more limited sense of Hipjiocrates) as synonymou* 

 with a localised tnhtrrnloxis. Strong evidence may 

 be advanced in favour of this view. Other path- 

 ologist* regard the scrofulous tissue as a pretuher- 

 ruliir manifestation, and Hiip|iose that the deprave<l 

 structures affonl a suitable noil or nidus on which 

 tin- tubercle lacillus, whenever it obtains occesn, 

 flourishes and multiplies, giving rise to tubercu- 

 losis proper. This subject will therefore l>e found 

 more fully treated umler TuU'rcle. Scrofula is 

 synonymous with struma. 



This disease for centuries was thought capable 

 of lieing cured by the touch of a king, and it was 

 claimed that this iiower was of English growth, 

 commencing with Edward the Confessor, and de- 

 scending only to such foreign sovereigns ax could 

 show an alliance with the nival family of England. 

 Hut tin- kings of France claimed the gift, and it 

 was certainly practised by Philip I., although he 

 was allowed to have lost the power through lii- 

 iinmorality. Laurentius, physician to Henry IV., 

 claims that the power coinmeiu-ed with Clovis I., 

 and says that Louis I. added to the touch the sii-n 

 of the cross. He tells us also that Francis I. even 

 in captivity preserved the jMiwcr. In France it did 

 not fall completely into disuse till 1776. William 

 of Malmeshury is the HIM to mention the gift of 

 healing in England and to attribute it to that most 

 miserable of saint*. Edward the Confessor. From 

 his time down to Henry II. there is no account of 

 the practice, Imt it reapiieani under Henry II., 

 John, Edward II.. Edward III., Kichard II., 

 H-iiry IV., V., VI., VII., and VIII., its truth 

 guaranteed by grave and credible writers like 

 Archbishop Iliadwardine, Sir John Fortcscue, and 

 Polydore Virgil. Henry VII. was the first tt> in- 

 stitute a particular service of ceremony on the 

 occasion of the touching; that need in (.iiiecn 

 Anne's time will lie found in the conteni|iorary 

 1'rayer- books. In Hcnrv's reign also the pre- 

 sentation of a piece of gold was first generally in- 

 troduced, usually the angel noble ; but after the 

 reign of Eli/abeth the size of the coin was reduced 

 for the sake of economy. James I. and Charles 

 I. Uitli touched, and we are told that the latter 

 sometimes gave as his touch-piece silver instead 

 of gold. Hut the practice reached its greatest 

 height under Charles II., who even touched 260 

 1-T-on- at lireda In-fore crossing to England, and we 

 learn from the r"/mn'*i>t 7i>u-///r>/, the third part 

 of the AilfHii-rl,,,irwlrliH)ia I Kis4 1 of the nival 

 surgeon John Browne I KV4-2 1700). that no fewer 

 than 92.107 persons were touched lietween 1600 

 and 1682. ^ et we learn from the Hills of Mor- 

 tality that more persons died of scrofula during 

 this |wriod than any oilier, the evil having greatly 

 increased during the king's absenre. lirowne's 

 work is the hmt conteni|Nirary account of the rite 

 that we (tomes*. It i* interesting that Sir Thomas . 

 Browne does not allude to the royal gift of healing, 

 although there are allusions in his dome-tic letter* 

 to the practice of touching and to his granting the 



ordinary certificate as a physician. James II. also 

 touchni for the evil, Imt \\illiam III. put an end to 

 the practice. Anne renewed it, and we read how on 

 March 30, 1714, she touched 200 persons, among 



Touch-piece (time of Queen Anne). 



them Samuel Johnson, whom, however, she did 

 not heal. With the accession of the House of 

 Brunswick the practice entirely ceased, but it 

 seems that the Pretenders for some time attempted 

 to maintain it, and we are told that the prince 

 Charles Edward touched a child at Holy rood in 

 1746, which was healed within 21 days after. In 

 1748 the nonjuring historian Thomas Carte lost his 

 sub-illy from the Common Council of London for a 

 note in the first volume (December 1747) of his 

 History of England to the effect that a man had 

 been cured of the king's evil by the touch of the 

 Pretender at Avignon in November 1716. We 

 find frequent allusions to the practice in Pepys 

 and Evelyn, and indeed it was for centuries an 

 article of popular belief, so that we need not 

 wonder at the credulous warmth of Heylin, SIT 

 geant-surgeon Wiseman, and Jeremy Collier. See 

 T. J. Pettigrew, On Superstitions connected with 

 Medicine and Surgery ( 1844 ). 



SCROFULOUS or Tuberculous Diseases occur 

 similarly in cattle, sheep, pigs, and less frequently 

 in horse's and dogs. Sec at CONSUMPTION the sec- 

 tion on consumption in the lower animals. 



Srroaus. Sin WILLIAM, synonym for an unjust, 

 venial, and brutal judge, became Chief-justice of 

 the King's Bench in 1678, and was specially noto- 

 rious for cruelty and partiality during the trial 

 of the unfortunates accused of complicity in the 

 alleged Popish Plot (see OATES). In 1680 he 

 was impeached by the Conn ...... s, but removed from 



office by the king on a pension. He died in 

 1683. 



Scroll, an ornament of very common use in all 

 styles of architecture. It consists of a band 

 arranged in convolutions, like the end of a piece of 

 pa|icr rolled up. The Greeks used it in then Ionic 

 and Corinthian styles, the Romans in their Com- 

 posite ; and in mcdin-val architecture, and all 

 styles, which closely copy nature, it is of constant 

 occurrence as in nature itself. 



famous family of the north of Eng- 

 land that produced, amongst others, Hichard le 

 Scrope, Chancellor in 1378 and 1381-82 ; Hichard 

 Scro]M>, Archbishop of York, who joined in the 

 conspiracy against Henry IV., and was beheaded at 

 York in I40.">: and Lord Scrope of Holiou, Warden 

 of the West Marches under Queen Elizabeth. 



Korope, CKOHCK I'OI'I.KTT, geologist, was born 

 in London in 1797, and was educated at Harrow 

 and Cambridge, and on his marriage in 1821 ex- 

 changed liis own name, Thomson, for that of his 

 wife's family. He made studios of volcanic pheno- 

 mena at Vesuvius, in central France, and else- 

 where, and exponmh-d his views in Consideration* 

 OH Volcanoes (1824) and Geology of tlie Ertind 

 Volcanoes of Central France (1827; 2d ed. 1872). 

 As memlicr of parliament for St mud from is.".') to 

 1868 he became famous as a writer of pamphlet* 



