The EV of the two passages in Mt. above cited prefers ' epileptic ' and ' is epileptic ' as tr. for o-eAijvio^eaSat, but without substantial warrant. The ground for the preference according to Encyc. BU/l. is that a Greek medical writer of the Tth cent, gives eTTiATjn-TDcdi; as the correct scientific term for the disorder referred to. and that Sai^oi'i^o/u.ei'os and treArji/tafo/neco? were the popular terms for the hame disease.
But the word ' lunatic ' covers more than the cases in which Mt. u.ses aekr^vi&^eaOai. The men- tally deranged also are described by the Evan- gelists as SaiixovL^dfievoi, and no kind of doubt is possible that the latter term included many sufferers who are now called lunatic, as well as simple epi- leptics and epileptic idiots. The uncontrollable explosions of nervous energy which characterize these cases were not unnaturally attributed solely to demonic agency. The explanation is so simple and direct and apparently so adequate, that none other was sought for. But the term ' lunatic '
92
LUNATIC
LUXATIC
must be restricted in its use to those wlio were mentally deranged, and ought not to be applied to those who were simply epileptic, or suffering from mental feebleness or imbecility.
The attempt to trace a differentiation between mental diseases on the part of the Evangelists cannot be pronounced successful, being based upon far too slender ground in a simple NT passage, Mt i'-'i, whei-e haifM>n'C,oiunoi and {ri'Ay,vix'iofj.ivoi are placed side by side. (1) We have no grounds for expecting sucl> precision in writers like the Evangelists. (2) The same writer uses (Jit 1715) the word »-£/.•-•, ►/«f(o-8a; of a case which is not simple epilepsy (see below). (:i) He does not use the word for tlie Gerasene de- moniacs of Mt 82s^ where we have undoubted cases of lunacy. (4) Luke the physician knows nothing of the distinction so far as his own usage is concerned. (.5) It is not to be thouglit that Mt. alone of the Evangelists traced a distinction between the epileptic and the possessed, or that he would not attribute an attack of simple epilepsy to the domination by evil spirits.
The Evangelists class all the cases together, and use both words to cover the same trouble of mental derangement, while the latter word oxifMviiounoi is also employed with a wider signifii;ation. The fact that the description given in the Gospels enables us to classify the instances under the broad types of mental disease is evidence of the faithful unsophisticated narra- tion of what the Evangelists had seen or heard, not of their having any scientific understanding of the phenomena in ques- tion.
i. Difficulty of classifying NT cases.— The Gospels record and describe three clear case.s wiiich may be included under the general head of lunacy. Otiiers are probably indicated with no kind of description ; or only the very vaguest is given. But the task of determining to which particular class of lunacy the cases described are to be assigned is not without difficulty, and [terhaps cannot at present be accomplished without some degree of uncertainty. Tlie difficulty is twofold.
1. The current classifications, in vogue amongst alienists, of the various insanities are very numer- ous, and by common consent far from being final. Certain of these systems, some adopted by Inter- national Congresses and others determined by representative associations, and generally in use among the leading mental piiysicians of Great Britain, are valuable chieHy as giving facilities, the one for international conference, the other for national comparison and correspondence. Clouston in his Clinical Lectures provides a good working classification. Following the example of many illustrious predecessors, he divides mental'diseases : (1) according to the mental symptoms manifested, and (2) according to the causes of the disorder and to the relationships of the disease to the great physical periods of life and to the activities other than mental. But the researches of the present day, and especially in respect of the causes of mental derangement, with their suggestions of to.xic and bacteriological origin, are jjrofoundly modifying the generalizations which only a few years ago were accepted as satisfactory. Brilliant and enthusiastic investigators in Italy, France, Germany, America, and in our own country are 'settling much and unsettling more' (Clouston), and while this condition of science is full of prom- ise for tlie ultimate goal of all such research in the alleviation and recovery of the malady and the removal of its causes, the prevalent uncertainty does not lessen the difficulty of classifying t|ie NT cases. The difficulty arises largely from the facts that {a) the symptoms from one class are combined in ever - varying proportions with symptoms of other classes, rendering the task of deciding which i.s the predominant symptom according to which the malady must be classified well-nigh impossible ; and (b) a similar combination is discovered among the causes producing the disorder. Accordingly some have scofi'ed at the attempt to classify mental diseases with all the divisions and technology of a botanical or zoological system. And perhaps it is more important to mark carefully all the symptoms in each case and study the predisposing and actual causes so far as they can be ascertained.
2. The difficulty from the Biblical side lies in the following facts. (c() The descriptions of thrj cases mentioned in the Gospels are non-scientific. They do not profess to give a complete methodized account of the ailments with which the power of Jesus dealt. The Evangelists give no sign that they themselves understood what they describe. {b) They deal only with .symptoms. Causes of the disorder were not sought for, the prevalent theory of demonic possession being to them adequate to account for the trouble, and this possession the only possible cause. Our Lord Himself speaks and acts as though upon the whole He shared the con- ceptions of the time. Possibly because in this realm, as in others, He in His incarnate condition shiired the limitations of the race, of because He could not take upon Himself the task of correcting and remoulding the deep-lying misconceptions of that generation with respect to these matters, without withdrawing His strength from far more vital concerns on which in the short time at His disposal He must concentrate all His attention, (r) The Evangelists' descriptions probably do not give all the symptoms which a modern alienist would have noted, but only those which for one reason or another were pressed particularly ui)on their observation.