526 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



or in 1800, the figure is always that of a typical Jew, wearing a 

 large cloak, with curled beard and hair, downcast eye (Fig. 3), 

 sadly contracted brow, etc. ; with differences of the secondary 

 order, according to the locality or the imagination of the designer. 

 It is evident that historians and engravers have not conspired, 

 from one end of Europe to the other, to talk about the Wander- 

 ing Jew, or represent him. He has really existed, and those who 

 talk of him do so in good faith. How then can we make the uni- 

 formity of the de- 

 scriptions, that ever- 

 lasting life and end- 

 less wandering, agree 

 with the data of sci- 

 ence ? M. Meige as- 

 sumes that there have 

 been many wander- 

 ing Jews, who have 

 been taken for one 

 and the same person, 

 because they usually 

 have the same gen- 

 eral appearance and 

 the same manner. 

 These persons have 

 been neuropathic 

 Jews, possessed by 

 an irresistible incli- 

 nation to travel. Fur- 

 thermore, such inva- 

 lids still exist, and 

 have been often seen 

 at the Salpetriere, at- 

 tracted thither by the 

 world - wide reputa- 

 tion of M. Charcot. When they are observed, even superficially, 

 and are made to relate their history, one might really believe he 

 had in his actual presence the hero of the well-known complaint : 



" There is nothing on the earth 

 More cruelly piteous 

 Than the unceasing misery 

 Of the poor Wandering Jew ! " 



From M. Meige's collection of cases let us cite that of Moser 



B , called Moses, aged thirty-eight years, a Polish Jew, born 



at Warsaw (Fig. 4). While still a child, he was drafted by the 

 Russian military authorities and put into a special school, where 



FIG. 1. AHASUERTTS. Facsimile ot an old German engrav- 

 ing of 1648. (After Champfleury.) . 



