Phyllobolia (from QuWov, a leaf, and fiaWto, to i'i>- '. a custom which existed among the ancient
heathen nations of throwing tlowers and leaves on the
tombs of the dead. The Greek was placed on his fu- neral bed as if asleep, wearing a white robe and gar- land, the purple pall half hidden by numerous chaplets, and bo was carried out to his burial before the dawn of day. The Romans, deriving the custom from t he I Ireeks, covered the hier and the funeral pile with leaves and flowers. Ii is nol an unfrequenl custom in different pan- ol England in our day to spread flowers on and around the body when committing it to the coffin. In o, when the body is interred, females hasten
mous for their medicines (Odyss. iv. 220). Their aid was at first made use of. as among common people at all times for surgery and in extraordinary cases, and medicines (Exod. i, 15: the "stools," ":~X. there spoken of were, according to Gesenius, Thes. Heb. p. 17. benches or Beats on which the parturient females were
Mated; hut the word, see Slmlnn ". Kit!. 1834, p. 8J,
626,641 : 1842, p. mix. will scarcely hear this significa- tion, see Ewald, Gesch. fsr. i, 481, and Lengerke, Kenan, p.387) were regularly employed | see Kail, l>< obstetricib. matrum Hebr.in .En. Hamb. 1746). In later times He- brew prescriptions obtained, which the prophets some- times applied (2 Kings iv. -_'l ; v. 10; viii. 7; xx,7; Isa. xxxviii; which cases, although miraculous, evince the custom of seeking relict from that class of persons); mostly for external injuries or complaints ilsa. i. <i ; Ezek. xxx. 21 ; 2 Bangs \ iii, 29 ; ix, 15), but sometimes for internal maladies rl Chron. xvi, 12), and even for mental diseases (1 Sam. xvi, 16; comp. Josephus, Ant. viii, 2, 5) ; but these never reached any extensive degree of science (see Buxtorf, Lex. < 'hald. s. v. XE1). The re- sort, to physicians was very general before and especially alter the exile (2 Chron. xvi, 12; Jer. viii, 22; Mr. xxxviii, 1 ; Mark v, 26; com p. Luke iv, 23 ; v,31; viii, 43; see Josephus, War, ii. 8, 6; Doughtaei Analect. ii. 35), and eventually medical practitioners could he found even in the smaller cities of the land (Josephus, Life, 72; comp. Ant. xiv. 13, 10). Their remedies i mostly in salves (especially balsam, Jer. viii, 22; xlvi, 11 : li. 8; comp. Prosp. Alpin. Med. JEg. 118 sq.; or oil, Luke x, 34; Mishna, Sabb. xiv. 4; including the oil- bath, Josephus, War. i. oil. ."> : Mishna. li> rmlmth. i, -J). leaves (Ezek. xlvii, 12), plasters (e. g. of Jigs, 2 Kings xx. 7: comp. Pliny, xxiii, 63; Strabo, xv, 713), and bathing in mineral springs (Josephus, Ant. xvii, 6, 5; Life, 16; War, i. 33, 5; ii. 21, 6; comp. John v, 2), or in flowing si reams (2 Kings v. 10). Internal nostrums are again and again recommended in the Talmud (see the Mishna, Sabb. xiv, 3; xxii, 6; Joma, viii, 6); in the Old Test, honey only is mentioned (Prov. xvi. 24), which still holds a conspicuous place among medical compounds in the East Specimens of the Jewish pre- scriptions may he Been in Lightfoot on Mark v. 26 (the formula or •• Recipe^ is ~T~~~). Surgical operations are mentioned in the Mishna (Sabb. xxii, 6; Chelim, xii.-l; comp. Sabb. vi, 5). Great curative virtue was attrib- uted to amulets (Mishna, Sabb. vi, 2, 10), incantations, charm-, the touch of certain individuals, and other su- perstitions of a like character (2 Kings V, 11 [comp. RosenmUller, Morgi /./. iii. 227 ] ; Josephus, Ant viii, 5); especially in cases of hypochondria or supposed dsemo- niacal possession. See AMULET; D.EMONIAC. The
prii sts ' I. uke xvii. ] 1 1 were appointed by the law | Lev. xii-xv) the civil health-wardens, nol so much tor the cure as for the inspection of the sick, or of persons sus-
with their aprons full of tlowers to plant them Oil the pected of Certain maladies, and the instructions given
grave. The practice of connecting flowers with the ] to them, especially respecting endemic diseases, exhibit
dead seems to have been of great antiquity,
for an Egyptian of high rank was wont to •*. O
be carried to his sepulchre in a Barcophagus ^^ ■
ador I with lotus, had his tomb decked with
wreaths, and his mummy-case painted with
acacia leaves and tlowers. The use of I he
flowers on such occasions was no doubl con- nected with the idi a ol life after death.
Physician i X-p. raphe, a curi r ;
Anion; the Hebrews, as a g the ancients
generally, medical remedies (Exod. xxi. 19) wereearh (comp. Pliny, xxix, 5) dispensed by a special class, who probably derived their skill from the Egyptians (Gen. 1,1; comp. Herod, ii, 84; iii, 1,129; Diod. Sic. i, 82 ; Diog.LaerUiii, 8; Pliny, xxvi,3; xxix, 30; Bee Sprengel, Ge- schichte, i, 62; Wilkinson, iii, 390), who were fa-
Ancient Egyptian Doctors (or Barbers?) aud Patients,
PHYSIOGNOMY
179
PIARISTS
a very careful observation, and afford apt and accurate symptoms. See Leprosy; Plaguk. For the priests themselves, who, in consequence of being obliged to per- form their services barefoot, were often liable to catch cold (see Kail, De morbis sacerdotum V. T. Hafn. 1745), a special physician (medicus visceruni) was (in later times) appointed at the Temple (Lightfoot, p. 781). The priests must have obtained considerable anatomical knowledge (comp. the Talmudic abstract on osteology in the Mishna, Oholoth, i, 8) from the daily slaughter of the animal sacrifices. On the subject generally, see Bonier, Diss, de statu medicines ap. vet. Ebr. (Viteb. 1755); Lindlinger, De Hebr. vet. arte medica (1774); Sprengel, De niedicina Ebrceor. diss. (Hal. 1789) ; comp. Schmidt's Bibl. Medicus (Tiill. 1743) ; also Norberg, De niedicina Arabum (in his Opusc. acad. iii, 404 sq.); Wundcrbar, Biblisch-talmudische Medicin (Riga, 1859). — Winer, i, 91. See Medicine.