SOME DISEASES MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE. 257 



paralysed the optic nerve, and produced amaurosis or gutta 

 Serena. The bUudness of the men of Sodom (Gen. xix., 11) 

 and of the Syrian army (2 Kings vi., 18) was in all 

 probability of a similar kind ; perhaps also that of the 

 sorcerer Elymas (Acts xiii., 11). 



2. The Boils and Blains from which the Egyptians suffered 

 because Pharaoh would not let the people of Israel go 

 (Ex. ix., 10) were, in all probability, the result of blood- 

 poisoning. For, first the waters of the JSIile had been "turned 

 into bloorl," and the fish in it died and stank ; next came the 

 plague of frogs, which " died out of the houses, out of the 

 villages, and out of the fields. And they gathered them 

 upon heaps ; and the land stank " ; after this followed the 

 plagues of lice and flies, and then a ''very grievous murrain" 

 occurred, so that " all the cattle of Egypt died," and much 

 polluted flesh was doubtless consumed by the people. In 

 Hebrew the word translated " boils " is 1'^ntp (shek/iin), which 



signifies to be hot, burning, or inflamed; and the "blains" 

 niJ'lJ^lt:? (rendered by the LXX. (f)\vKTi8e<;) are the pustules 

 containing matter or a small " slough,"' which " break forth " 

 from the inflamed base of the boil. In modern medical 

 language this Greek word has its representative in a term 

 which is defined to be " an acute pustule with an inflamed 

 base." Boils are sometimes epidemic, even in civilised lands, 

 and are very prevalent in such countries as Egypt. The 

 kindred disease called ecthyma is also common. It has been 

 suggested that these boils and blains were smallpox, or 

 perhaps a kind of carbuncle {anthrax) allied to that caused 

 by handling the fleeces of diseased sheep, and known in 

 England as " woolsorter's disease " when occurring in man, 

 and " splenic fever " in animals. But it is not certain that 

 smallpox existed at that early period, and as none of the 

 Egyptians are reported to have died of the "boils and the 

 blains," it is probable that a less severe, but very painful and 

 distressing malady is indicated. Yet it is remarkable that it 

 affected animals as well as men. 



3. Bowel Disease. Bloody Flux. — The disease threatened in 

 the writing which came to King Jehorarn from the prophet 

 Elijah (2 Chr. xxi., 15) was apparently epidemic dysentery. 

 " Until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by 

 day " is a graphic popular description of one of the most 

 serious symptoms of this disease. It is also scientifically 

 correct in reference to those cases in which the lining 



