4 e have no mention of the removal of this plague, which probably worked itself out; but unmediately succeeding it, if not a part of the same infliction, was the outbreak of the pny shéhin or ‘boils’ on mankind and beast. This came without warning, Moses and Aaron being in- structed to sprinkle handfuls of the ashes of a furnace towards heaven. Although probably for the most part derived from P, there are signs of the influence of Ein v.®. This plague affected all classes, but we do not read that it was very fatal. Its nature has been discussed already in MEDICINE, p. 324, and references to similar diseases in Egypt will be found in Niebuhr (Deser. d Arabie, i. 133). Little blister-like swellings on the skin are de- scribed by Débel st idan Sa ii. 184); a more
man camp, leading to malignant fever, etc., and whose ‘ Medical Journal’ is most valuable), Travels with the Turkish Army, 1803 ; Russegger (i. 247) ; Seetzen (Reisen, iii. 204, 209, 377), ete. In view of the recently discovered capacity of mosquitos and gnats to carry contagion, it is striking to note that disease of man and beast so quickly followed the swarms of flies. Josephus puts the distemper of animals as a supplement to the plagues of the swarms.
(7) (8) Egypt was essentially an agricultural country, as we can gather from the monuments, especially from the tomb-pictures; therefore the two plagues which followed affected the material
rosperity of the country in its most vital point. The Plague of the hail was foretold to Pharaoh by Moses at his next interview (9'*, J), and by the warning he gave the Egyptians the opportunity of saving their cattle. On the day following, Moses, by God’s command, stretched forth his hand to heaven (v.™, E), and the storm of lightning and hail burst over the land, beating down the crops, break- ing the trees, and killing the cattle left by the murrain(v.™). Visitations of this kind, though not unexampled, are exceedingly rare in Egypt (see HAIL, vol. ii. p. 282). Pruner saw hail showers only three times in twelve years, and these were slight, while he knew of only one fatal case of lightning
stroke in that time (p. 36). Sonnini describes a thunderstorm cg ee warren by snow (hail?) in January (ii. 133), Niebuhr in December (i. 497), as also Thevenot (i. 344). Wittman says that on 20th November 1801 ‘we had a tremendous storm of rain, thunder, and lightning, which began at two o’clock and continued near two hours’ (p. 577). Another storm occurred in March. Lepsius relates that in December 1843 there was a sudden storm growing into a hurricane ‘such as I had never seen in Europe,’ and a hail which made the day dark as night (p. 26). Monconys also describes a lightning storm in January (p. 180) ; Pococke notes lightning and rain in the Fayyum in February (p. 92). Seetzen experienced it also in March (iil. 98) ; Vansleb heard thunder only twice in Egypt, in January and May 1673 (p. 39).
The destruction of the cattle was due to their being in the field in spite of the warning. Niebuhr says that the herds are put out in the field from January to April (i. 142), and Hartmann that they are generally kept in their stalls from May to the end of November (i. 232). See also Diodorus Siculus, i. 36). The date of this plague is fixed by v.31: 82 (E), which say that it happened when the barley was in the ear and the flax in bud (‘ bolled,’ AV), but the wheat and spelt were not yet in ear, or sufficiently forward to be destroyed. Flax is sown usually in mid-November or December, rarely as late as in January (Russegger, i. 231), and flowers in February (v. Schubert, ii. 137; Forskal, Flora, p. xliii) or March (Russegger) ; it is usually
ulled in April (Seetzen, iii. 241), according to ilkinson hci 110 days after sowing. Knobel quotes Sicard for its flowering as early as Decem- ber, but this must have been exceptional. Denon found the barley in flower in December (p. 143). Sonnini says that the barley is nearly a month earlier than the wheat (ii. p. 20), and Brown, that the wheat is beginning to bud at the end of January (ii. p. 138). Wheat, spelt, and barley are generally sown in November. The barley harvest is early in March, sometimes 90 days after sowing. In Olivier’s journey to the Pyramids in April, he found the barley already cut, the flax mostly ulled, but the wheat was ripening (iii. 125). Von A ahibert (ii. 175) and Forskal confirm these ob- servations, and state that the barley is ripe by the end of February or begi ning of March, while the wheat is not ripe until April (Flora, p. xliii). The spelt (AV ‘rye’) ripens at the same time as the wheat (Forskal, p. xxvi). The deduction from these data is that the plague took place probably about the middle of January. Contirmatory ob- servations as to the ripening of crops in Egypt will be found in Radziwill (Hierosolymita Peregrinatio, Brunsberg, 1601, 159), Nordmeyer (Comment. Calen- dar Aigypt., Gottingen, 1792, 23-29), Shaw (ii. 171).
The Eighth Plague, that of locusts (Ex 10 12-8, J, E) followed while yet the devastation of the last plagues was fresh in the memories of the people, who said to Pharaoh, ‘Knowest thou not that Egypt is destroyed?’ (v.7). Pharaoh was warned of its imminence, but Moses and Aaron were driven from his presence (v."). The plague followed the stretching forth of Moses’ hand (ν.}3) or rod (v.35) over the land, and the locusts were brought from the Arabian side by an east wind. The coming of locusts from the East has been mentioned by Shaw, as it was in olden time by Agathar- chides (Mare Rubrum, ch. v.) and Diodorus (iii. 29), Strabo likewise speaks of the locust-eaters of the Galla country, to whom the west wind drives the great clouds of these insects on which they live, and the unwholesome nature of that food (xvi. p. 772).