264 THOMAS CHAPLIN, ESQ., M.D., ON 



Even this harmless affection becomes unclean if ulceration 

 occurs (ver. 14). 



Thus far the law of leprosy refers mainly to one 

 diseased condition, namely, that in which there is a turning 

 of portions of the skin, and of the hairs growing upon them, 

 to white. It has been often said that this is a characteristic 

 of aneesthetic leprosy. But the affected surface of the skin 

 in anaesthetic leprosy becomes pale, not white, and the hairs 

 upon it, if there are any, do not turn white. The Jewish 

 tradition, indeed (Mishna, Negaim, i., 1), is that the signs of 

 these " plagues " were of different degrees of whiteness, 

 namely, a bright spot bright as snow ; a rising like white 

 wool or the shell of an eg^ ; a spot whose whiteness was 

 like wine mixed with snow, and another like blood mixed 

 with milk. Yet it seems hardly possible that the eruption of 

 ansesthetic leprosy can be included in the spreading white- 

 ness alluded to in verses 12, 13, for it never spreads over the 

 whole body, and if it did, the person would not be clean, but 

 very decidedly unclean, from the ulcers and other symptoms 

 which mark the disease. 



At verse 18 we are introduced to a difSculty which would 

 be sure to present itself from time to time. A person with 

 the suspicious signs would affirm that the spot was merely 

 the mark of a boil (shekhin) which was healed, and directions 

 are given as to the means of deciding in such a caue. 



AVhether the expression " lower than the skin," "Tiyn \Q ^Qtij, 

 denotes something different from " deeper than the skin," 

 y\y72 ph^, is not quite clear. But probably the scar 



(tzarebeth) of the boil modified the appearance and induced 

 an actual depression or "pitting" of the spot, like that 

 which so often occurs after smallpox and ecthyma. The 

 Arab writers described under the name baras el ah/ad or 

 ivhite baras, a disease which produced pits or hollows in the 

 skin.* 



In verse 24 another complication is dealt with. If there 

 be a burning of fire, mikvath aish ("hot burning," A.V.), and 

 the suspicious signs appear in it, the person is to be brought 

 to the priest to be examined, and if the usual signs of white 

 hair and deepness are there, he is to be condemned as 

 unclean: it is neg'a tzaraath, the plague of "leprosy." 

 Nothing is said as to whether the burn was accidental or 



* Avicenna, iv, 7, 2, 9. 



