VOL. XXXII.

No 3

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INDIAN SUMMER.

O the sheen and shimmer, the gleen and glimmer

Of Indian summer for me:

The beautiful weather and purple heather,

And lambkins out on the lea.

O the maples turning to gold, the burning

Of leaves to red on the tree;

And the reapers swinging their scythes and singing,
Merry as merry can be!

O the fragrant grasses that lie in masses
Along the meadow and lea,

And the musky mallow, and waters shallow
That dance in the wind with glee!

O the cattle brutting, the squirrels nutting,
Or leaping from tree to tree,

Make of Autumn yellow the Maytime's fellow,
The sweetest season to me!

Then warble, O throstle, on twig and tossel
Of sunlight flowing free,

Of the checkerberry, and cool, clear perry,
And Indian summer for me!

And whistle, O sparrow, upon the yarrow,
And pipe, O sweet pewee,

Of the melilot yellow, and bergamot mellow,
And the bells of the silver tree.

Leprosy.

J. E. F. J.

EPROSY is the most terrible of all diseases. The mere mention of it inspires the average person with a feeling of horror, and any suggestion of personal affliction with the disease induces little short of terror. Contemplation of its effects upon its victims serves but to present to the mind's eye a picture of beings excluded from all society, and suffering a death so horrible in its loathsomeness that, in comparison, even the most cruel torture seems but child's play. The mightiest intellects of medical science have for years used their strongest weapons in vain endeavors to check its advances. Its antidote has never been found. Leprosy is incurable. All nations are more or less afflicted with leprosy, but it is especially prevalent in Oriental and other tropical countries. The leprosy of today is evidently the same that afflicted people of all times. The forms of the modern disease are more or less known to all. The newspapers of the present year teem with accounts and descriptions of the species of leprosy to be found in our new possessions. Of the kinds of leprosy that existed in ancient times, except to medical science, little is known. It is to our purpose, therefore, to

sketch a history of this disease, and to explain in detail Scriptural or Jewish leprosy.

The exact time when leprosy arose among the Jews is not known. We find no passage in the Bible alluding to its origin, and in only one place, Ex. 4: 6, is the disease mentioned before Moses gave laws concerning it. However, there can be no doubt but that the Jews were afflicted with this disease before the departure from Egypt. Maneto, the Egyptian; Apion, the grammarian; Lysimachus, Molin, Tacitus and Justin affirm seriously that the Jews left Egypt because of their leprosy. Appio apud Joseph, lib. 1, contra Apion, lib. 2: Initio, Tacitus, lib. 5; Hist., Justin, lib. 26. Each of these historians relates the matter after his own manner, and adds some circumstances of his own, but they all agree that the Hebrews who departed from Egypt were leprous. Josephus denies that all his people were thus afflicted, but on the other hand does not say that many were not leprous. Medical authorities of all times assign Egypt as the birthplace of leprosy. The Egyptians were afflicted with this disease at the time the Hebrews settled in their country, for Maneto expressly states that a great part of the Egyptians was leprous. These two nations lived apart, separated by the strong barriers of different customs, habits and religion; the one, peaceably inclined, tended its flocks, and rapidly multiplied in the land of Gessen; the other, in Egypt proper, despised the God-fearing Jews, and was constantly in alarm lest the former might become too powerful and seize the land. When Joseph died the Jews were left without a leader or protector. "In the meantime, there arose a new king over Egypt, that knew not Joseph."-Ex. 1:8. This king, yielding to hatred and fear, "oppressed" the Hebrews."-Ex. 1. The Jews seemed to have offered no resistance, but quietly submitted to become the slaves of their enemies. They were forced to work the mines, quarries and brickyards of Egypt. The Egyptians resorted to this cruel expedient to prevent their increase and break their spirit. Accustomed as the Jews were to the free, open-air life of shepherds, confinement told heavily upon them. The hot climate, unhealthy surroundings, together with the scarcity and unwholesomeness of the food given them, brought disease in its most malignant forms. Doubtless they at first inwardly rebelled against all this, but in time fell into ways. common to the poorer classes. Despondency and despair became a habit; neglect of person followed, and with it came uncleanliness, the curse of the poverty-stricken. Their surroundings demanded association with the Egyptian slaves and poor, who were afflicted with this horrible disease. Thus it was an easy task for leprosy to cast its destructive darts

among a people weakened both in body and spirit. This disease, being not only hereditary, but also infectious and contagious, was thus transmitted to them, and hence we account for the rise and development of leprosy among the people of Israel.

And the Lord said again: "Put thy hand into thy bosom. And when he had put it into his bosom he brought it forth leprous as snow."-Ex. 4:6.

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We find in this passage of the Bible the first allusion to leprosy. In the third chapter of Exodus the Lord appears to Moses in a burning bush and commissions him to deliver Israel from the cruelty of the Egyptians. To quiet the doubts and fears of Moses, that his countrymen would not believe nor hear him, God confirms his mission by performing three miracles. enumerated in the fourth chapter. Then he said to him: What is that thou holdest in thy hand? He answered: A rod. And the Lord said: Cast it down upon the ground. He cast it down, and it was turned into a serpent, so that Moses fled from it. And the Lord said: Put out thy hand and take it by the tail. He put forth his hand and took hold of it, and it was turned into a rod."-Ex. 4: 2-5. The miracles described in the above passage are then performed. Then Moses, at the command of God, replaced his hand in his bosom, which upon withdrawal "was like the other flesh." Then the Lord assured Moses as a third sign that: "Whatsoever thou drawest out of the river, shall be turned into blood."-Ex. 4: 9. These signs were, at the command of God, shown to the people, who believed that the Lord would deliver them.

The leprosy here alluded to is evidently the white species described in Leviticus. In this case scales, snowy in appearnce, covered the whole hand. That they believed in this sign proves that this affliction was known to and dreaded by the Jews. A person thus diseased was considered by them as being cursed by God, punished for sins committed. This change from a healthy into a diseased state, such being his own personal affliction and suffering, must have convinced Moses that the effect was no deception; it could have been neither a mistake nor a trick, but a manifestation of God's power and protection.

It was most probable that from this miracle and consequent exhibition to the people, Maneto and other ancient historians inferred that Moses was also a leper. Josephus, in his refutation of this assertion, says: Accordingly, it is a plain case that it is out of violent prejudice only that they report these things about us; but Moses was pure from any such distemper."Antiquities, 11: 4. We find no word in the Scriptures referring to Moses as a leper. In Leviticus he gave laws so stringent that, were he a leper, he himself would have been cut off from his countrymen to live and die with those similarly afflicted. On the other hand, we know that, until God had called him to rest, he was not only the guide, the leader, the great law-giver of the Jews, but also their intercessor with God.

It is especially by a comprehensive study of his laws that we obtain the clearest insight into the character of Moses. Wislom, prudence, and an extensive knowledge of men and things, discover themselves in every line of his writings. The light of his genius

shines brightly in the dark days of antiquity. He was the greatest man of his time. A comparison with other celebrated legislators presents additional luster to the great name of Moses. As a law-giver he set an example which modern legislators, politicians and national leaders would do well to follow. In all his acts the name of Moses was never synonymous w.th tyranny; neither do we find him the proud, unapproachable leader of the Jews, but, even at the height of his power, he was always the upright, the humble, tho sympathetic, the God-fearing servant of his Maker and of his pe ple. Moses puts to blush the so-called sanitary commissioners of our time. So great was the change effected by his methods for the preservation of health among his people that we can truly say that cleanliness was "next to godliness" with the early Jews. Thus did this remarkable man erect a strong barrier against the ravages of disease. Leprosy, however, had already obtained a firm footing among them In order to eradicate this great evil, and to check its further progress, Moses legislated against it. We find a vivid description of leprosy in Leviticus. This was the Jewish leprosy.

"And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron saying: The man in whose skin shall arise a different color or a blister, or as it were something shining, that is, the stroke of the leprosy, shall be brought to Aaron, the priest, or any one of his sons. And if he see the leprosy in his skin, and the hair turned white, and the place where the leprosy appeareth lower than the skin and the rest of the flesh, it is the stroke of the leprosy, and upon his judgment he shall be separated."-Lev., 13: 1–3.

Modern medical writers have agreed upon the term Lepra as the synonym of leprosy. Leprosy is a entaneous disease (Lepra vulgaris), and its varieties are: Lepra alphoides, L nigricans, L. alopecia. etc. It first appears as reddish, shining, solid, slightly prominent spots with spreading edges. These spots become scaly at the center, usually of a white color, but sometimes gray or black, and continue to desquamate. It is incurable. (Med., Web.)

The leprosy of the Jews seems, assording to medical authorities, to have been varieties of L. alphoides -white leprosy. In this species the chief characteristics were smooth, shining white patches or scales, the hair on which participated in the whiteness, while the skin and adjacent flesh became insensible. It was also incurable. (Med.)

Its progress, subsequent to its appearance on the external surface of the body, is far from being rapid; in a number of years it arrives at its middle, and in a number after, to its final state. A person who is leprous from his nativity may iive fifty years; one who in after life is afflicted with it may live twenty years, but they will be such years of dreadful misery as rarely fall to the lot of man.

At the present day leprosy is commonly applied to the disease elephantiasis-the swelling, thickening and diminished sensitiveness of the skin suggesting that of an elephant. In this affliction the face is the part most frequently affected. In severe cases the throat is involved and the voice becomes hoarse. Beginning in spots and blotches on the skin, the disease works its way into the flesh, sometimes nodules like

pears growing out on the skin. In another and more common form of the disease the different members of the body are slowly eaten away, until sometimes almost all traces of human features are lost.

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The leprosy of the Bible does not answer the description of elephantiasis. There we never read of the destruction of features or limbs. It is held by Sir Risdon Bennett and others that in the Bible the word leprosy" stands for a variety of skin diseases. Often the word is used for the "itch," sometimes, perhaps, for psoriasis. psoriasis." This is a cutaneous disease, the essential characteristic of which is a rough, scaly eruption on the skin. The scaly patches are sometimes of a pearly whiteness. Yet the description of the disease" leprosy" in Leviticus, 13, 14, is minute and detailed.

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From a consideration of the definition of Lejra alphoides-white leprosy-one sees at a glance that Moses describes this species only. The marks which Moses gives are signs of the increase of the disease. A "rising," a "blister," a change in the color of the hair, the place attacked lower than the outer skin, the appearance of living flesh," a "white scar or somewhat red," a "growth in the skin," "leprosy of the head and beard," the hair changed to a yellow hue, a white or reddish color in the bald-head or forehead, created a just suspicion of a man being attacked with it. (Lev., 13: 2, 3, 10, 14, 24, 27, 29, 36, 42.)

Why is it that the partial leper was to be pronounced by the priest unclean, and the person totally covered with the di-case clean?-Lev., 13. In one the body was covered with white scurf (Lev., 13: 12, 13). in the other the live flesh appeared (Lev., 13: 14. 15). Physicians tell us that contact with the quick, raw flesh is more likely to communicate the disease than the touch of the hard, dry scurf. The ichor proceeding from the former, when brought in contact with the flesh of another, would soon be taken into the constitution by means of the absorbent vessels, but where the whole surface was dry the absorbent vessels of another coming in contact with the diseased man could imbibe nothing, and therefore there was comparatively no danger of infection. Hence that stage of the disease which exhibited “live flesh" was capable of conveying the infection, but the other was not. "The man shall be shaven, all but the place of the spot."-Lev., 13: 13. This was to prevent inflammation and irritation of the affected part, lest it might appear as "live flesh" and deceive the priest. Again the flesh thus diseased is called "living." In leprosies and other diseases akin to it imperceptible animalculæ gnaw the epidermis and cuticle, and afterward the extremity of the nerves and flesh, and thus give a "living" appearance to the diseased flesh.

In regard to the non-contagious species Moses says: "If a whiteness appear in the skin of a man or woman the priest shall view them. If he find a darkishness shineth in the skin, let him know that it is not the leprosy, but a white blemish,' and that the man is clean."-Lev., 13: 38, 39. In the original text this "white blemish" is called bohak. A person who was attacked with this disease, the bohak, was not declared

unclean, and the reason of it was that it is not only harmless in itself, but is free from that infectious and hereditary character which belongs to true leprosy.

It might be interesting to take note of the answer of Niebuhr, found in his description of Arabia, to the enquiry of Michaelis on the subject. Mr. Niebuhr says: "The bohak is neither infectious nor dangeraus. A black boy of Mocha, who was attacked with a sort of leprosy, had white spots here and there on his body. It was said that the use of sulphur had been for some time of service to this boy, but had not altogether removed the disease."

(To be continued.)

Shakespeare's Fidelity to History.
(Concluded.)

BOVE we have intimated Richard's presence on every occasion of importance, even when least expected. One of the most noteworthy illustrations is his sudden appearance in the conference at the tower. Against Hastings, who was about to preside in the place of the absent king, he leveled His most deadly rage for no apparent reason:

"Thou art a traitor:
Off with his head! Now, by St. Paul, I swear
I will not dine today until I see the same."

Act III., Scene 4.

Richard's answers, as Dowden says, "are quickly begun and quickly over. There is no beginning, middle or end to a deed so simple and so summary. He was prepared when the opportune moment arrived to spring a mine under Hastings' feet." And its explosion buried the noble lord under its fragments.

Thus has Shakespeare's pen delineated one of the most vicious and cruel dragons of modern times. His presentation, dark and ugly, though bearable, has not exceeded that of the true historians. This point is much disputed, but the general sentiment is that he rather tempered than magnified this character. Holinshed, who closely followed More, presents him as "little in stature, hard favored of visage, malicious, wrathful, envious, outwardly companionable, inwardly hateful, eruel and ambitious;" also maintaining that he spared no man's death whose life withstood his purpose." With him Lingard cordially agreed when he said: "He was a prince of insatiable ambition, who could conceal the most bloody projects under the mask of affection and loyalty."

The most striking deviation from history is the introduction of Queen Margaret at a time when she was banished from England, and even after her death. Her presence in company with Elizabeth, as shown in Act I., Scene 3. is fictitious, because Elizabeth, having been reminded of her "goodly son," says:

"Ah! he is young, and his minority
Is put into the trust of Richard Gloner ster,
A man that loves not me, nor none of you.
Act I., Scene 3.

Richard was not made Protector until the year 1483,