THE LAWS OF THE BABYLONIANS. 



243 



Summa azu nerpaddn awelim schirtam ustalim, u lu ser hanam 

 mar mm uhtcdlit, bcl simvdvi ana azn hamsct siqli kaspi inaddin. 



" If a physician has made whole the broken limb of a man, 

 or has cured a diseased bowel, the patient shall give to the 

 physician five shekels of silver." 



" If he be a poor man, he shall give 3 shekels of silver." 



" If he be the slave of a man, the master of the slave shall 

 give to the physician 2 shekels of silver." 



These are followed by the rules for veterinary surgeons and 

 surcjeon-barbers. 



Naturally there is a considerable amount of doubt as to the 

 exact nature of the surgical operations referred to, especially that 

 in connection with the curing of the eye. Both Professor Scheil 

 and the Eev. C. H. W. Johns translate the word zimiim or 

 simmu (the latter is the correct form) as " wound," and in this 

 T have followed them, but it seems to me, that the translation 

 " operation " — " If a physician has performed a severe operation 

 on a man " — is also worthy of consideration. I take this word 

 to be quite distinct from simmic (with D), " malady," especially 

 of the eye, on account of the differing sibilant. Be this, how- 

 ever, as it may, there is another still more important word, 

 namely, nagabtu (as transcribed by Scheil), which he renders 

 " taie'' or " cataract," but which Mr. Johns translates by 

 " abscess." 



As to which is the right rendering, I do not express an 

 opinion; to the lay mind one seems as good as the other. The 

 question naturally arises, and can be best settled by medical 

 men, namely, " Do abscesses commonly affect the eye ? " For 

 it to be the subject of a legal enactment, it must naturally be a 

 fairly common disease, and dangerous to the sight. In the 

 important tablets published in the 2nd edition of the Cunciforvb 

 Inscriptions of Western Asia, vol. iv, plate 29*, and "Additions 

 and Corrections," pp. 7 and 8, which refer to remedies, including 

 incantations, for diseases of the eye, nagabtu does not occur, 

 though the ordinary word, naghu, written both ideographically 

 and spelled out in full, seems to be there. To all appearance 

 we have in these inscriptions the most valuable data for de- 

 ciding whether the disease of cataract was treated, and also 

 what its name was. Naghn or nacjbn. means " water- channel," 

 "spring," also "mountain-torrent," and could, therefore, easily 

 stand for " cataract," a meaning which the longer form nagaUio 

 or naqahiu might also have In this case, likewise, the question 

 might be asked, whether the etymology suggested leads us in 

 the right path. 



