Flutes, or rather ,^a^eoZefe, were very early in use in ancient Egypt, where they were of various forms and lengths, both single and doulJe, with different numbers of holes, and used by players of both sexes.
Ancient Egyptian Fhite?.
So also among the Greeks and Romans these instru- ments were common (Wilkinson, Anc. Eg. i, 12G sq., abridgm. ; Kitto, Pictorial Bible, note on Dan. iii, 10).
Ancient Roman Double Fliito.s.
They are likewise frequent in the modern East (Lane's Egyptians, ii, 82). See Musical Instruments.
Modern Kgyptian .Vrry or Flute.
Flutes or Flutings, curved channels cut perpen- dicularly in the shafts of columns of classical archi- tecture. In the Doric order the column has twenty flutes, separated by a sharp edge. In the Ionic, Co- rinthian, and Composite there are twenty-four, sepa-
FLUX
607
FLY
rated bj' a small fillet. Spiral flutes occur in some classical, and in early Romanesque architecture. Flutes also occur, but rarely, in pillars and pilasters of Goth- ic buildings. (G. F. C.)
Flux, Bloody (^cvtrcvrepia, Acts xxviii, 8), the same as our dysenteiij, which in the East is, though sometimes sporadic, generally epidemic (as in the case of the Asiatic cholera), and then assumes its worst form. It is always attended with fever (q. v.), fre- quently in an intermittent form, the presence of which Luke, with professional accuracy, intimates by the plu- ral (TTvptTot) in the above case of Publius. A sharp gnawing and burning sensation seizes the bowels, which give oft" in purging much slimj'' matter and pu- rulent discharge. When blood flows it is said to be less dangerous than without it (Schmidt, Bibl. Medic. c. xiv, p. 503-507). King Jehoram's disease is thought by Dr. Mead to have been a chronic dysentery, and the "bowels falling out" the prolapsus aiii, known sometimes to ensue (2 Chron. xxi, 15, 19). — Smith, s. V. See Disease.
Fly is the rendering in the Auth. Vers, of two Heb. words. (Egli has a curious article on the name of the butter ft/ among the Hebrews, in the Ztitschr. fur wis- senschcftl. 77ieolof/ie, Jena, 1864, i.) See Ant; Bee; Flea; Gnat; Hornet; Lice; Locust; Scorpion, etc.
1. Zebub' (Z^'ZI ; Sept. pina, Vulg. musca) occurs only in two passages (comp. Wisd. xvi, 9 ; xix, 10), namely, Eccles. x, l,"Dead zebubim cause the oint- ment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savor," and in Lsa. vii, 18, where it is said, " The Lord shall hiss for the zehub that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt." The Heb. name, it is probable, is a ge- neric one for any insect, but the etymology is a matter of doubt (see Gesenius, Thes. p. 401 ; Heb. and Chald. Lex. s. V. ; and Fiirst, Heb. Concord, s. v.). The word zebub, Hy, enters as an element into the name origin- ally appropriated to an idol worshipped at Ekron, Ba- alzebub (2 Kings i, 2) ; but, according to the English version and the Vulgate, in the time of our Lord ap- plied to the prince of daemons, interchangeable with "Satan" (Matt, xii, 24, 20, 27). This "lord of flies" corresponds to the 7^ii<g aTrufivtoc and the 'HpaicXrJQ jivlaypog of tlie Greeks and Romans, as if a defend- er from flies (see Kitto, Pict. Bible, note on 2 Kings i, 2). The Greek in the New Testament reads Beel- zebul {Bti\-Zf[3ov\ which is said to mean "lord of dung" instead of "lord of flies," and has been con- sidered as one of those contemptu- Silver Coin of Ara- ous puns which the Jews were in di'^i ^^'t'l a figure the habit of making by slight chan- "^ "• ^ 'y- ges of letters. There might be a peculiar sting in this particular case, from the circumstance that flics are chiefly bred in dunghills, and many species do greatly congregate thither ; hence the deitj' in question, being confessedh' a "lord of flies," must ipso facto be a "dungy lord." One of the names by which "idols" are expressed in the Old Testament is D'^b^fej, ffilhi- lim', which has the closest affinit}' with bbs, ge'kl, dung. The margin of the English Bible, indeed, gives " dungy gods" as the rendering of this word in Deut. sxix, 17. See Beelzebul.
In the first quoted passage allusion is made to flies.
chiefly of the famil}'' Miiscidcp, getting into vessels of ointment or other substances : even in tliis country we know what an intolerable annoyance the house- flies are in a hot summer when they abound, crawling everywhere and into everything; but in the East the nuisance is tenfold greater. There the common house- flies {Musca domestica) swarm in immense numbers; and though the}' inflict no physical injurj', j-et, from their continual settling on the face, they are inexpress- ibly anno3-ing (Rosenmiiller, Alterth. IV, ii, 420 sq. ; Russel, Aleppo, ii, 123 sq. ; Tavernier, i, 74; compare Prosp. Alp. Dcscr. jf^gypt. iv, 3, p. 207). In Egj'pt the peasants are so subject to a virulent kind of ophthal- mia that almost every second person is said to be af- fected with it, and multitudes are blind of either one or both eyes. The complaint is greatly augmented by the constant presence of the flies, which congregate around the diseased eyes, attracted by the moisture which exudes ; and so useless is it to drive them away, that the miserable people submit to tlie infliction, and little childi'en are seen with their ejes margined with rows of black flies, of whose presence they appear un- conscious, though presenting a most painful sight to Europeans (Lorent. p. 25, 48 ; compare Forskal, Bescr. Anim. p. 85; Rosenmiiller, in Bochart's Hieroz. iii, 342). The "ointment of the apothecary," composed of sub- stances perhaps peculiarly attractive to these impu- dent intruders, would be likelj' to become choked up with their entangled bodies, which, corrupting, would be the more offensive for their contrast with the ex- pected odor. Thus would little follies render despica- ble him who had a reputation for wisdom. The man is the ointment, his reputation the perfume, his little folly the dead fly, his disgrace the stinking savor. See Unguent.