SOME DISEASES MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE. 269 



there is no reason to suppose that the disease itself was of an 

 unknown or supernatural character. (2) It was painful, 

 unsightly, covering the whole body, and disfiguring the 

 features. (3) It seems to have poured out matter or formed 

 scabs, which the sufferer scraped off with bits of broken 

 pottery, or the " scraping '' may have been to allay itching. 

 (4) It was accompanied by severe constitutional disturbance, 

 producing loss of sleep ; emaciation ; depression of spirits ; 

 weariness of life ; (5) The patriarch's system had no doubt 

 been weakened by the bereavements and losses he had 

 sustained. 



All these symptoms are characteristic of the disease known 

 as ecthyma in an aggravated form. A distinguished modern 

 writer on skin diseases describes cctliyma as "an eruption of 

 large pustules dispersed over the body and limbs, beginning 

 with itching and tingling, then bursting and forming a 

 yellowish-grey scab. When the scab is removed a painful, 

 ulcerated, and often sloughing surface is exposed, the crust 

 which afterwards forms over it being black, with thin and 

 livid edges. It is slow in progress, very painful, and of long 

 duration. This disease in its severe form is of a cachectic 

 character, associated with symptoms of general disturbance 

 of health, and more or less fever of the irritable or hectic 

 kind."* We seem in this description to be reading a 

 summary of the sufferings of Job. 



Discussion. 



The Chairman. — We are very much indebted to Dr. Chaplin for 

 the lig'ht he has thrown on diseases recorded in Holy Writ and 

 for his coutribntion to our knowledge of the Bible in regard to 

 them derived from his long stay in Jerusalem and his exact 

 medical knowledge of several of those diseases mentioned several 

 centuries ago. 



I shall await any remarks that any of you may like to make 

 upon it. 



Professor Lionel Beale, F.R.S., F.R.C.P., in response to the 



* Diseases of the ^ikin. Erasmus Wilson. London, 1868. Pp. 309-10. 



