DISCRETION, YEAR OF: In ecclesiastical usage, the age at which a change of confession may be made. In countries which legislate on the subject (as the German states) it varies from fourteen to twenty-one.
RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Disciples of Christ
Diseases and the Healing Art
I. General Conditions in Palestine
II. Religious Ideas of Disease.
III. Healing and Healers.
IV. Separate Diseases. Diseases of the Skin (§1). The Malady of Job (§ 2).
DISEASES AND THE HEALING ART, HEBREW
Pestilence (§ 3). The Bubonic Plague (§ 4). Symptoms and Characteristics
the Plague (§ 5). Diseases of the Sexual Organs (§ 6). Diseases of the Nervous System (§ 7).
The general
of
I. General Conditions in Palestine:
hygienic conditions of the environment of the Israelites were good, and they appear to have been a healthy people (Ex. i. 10 sqq., 18 sqq.). Palestine is a country conducive to health, since the characteristics of the climate give to the human body a high degree of elasticity and firmness. The principal climatic disease is fever; the low-lying land, the mountain valleys, and the marshes are dreaded on account of the prevalence of malaria (tertian typhus). Inflammation of the eyes prevails as in Egypt, owing to the heat, which causes hyperemia of the brain, the nightly dews , and the sand-storms (of. Lev. xix. 14; Deut. xxvii. 18; Matt. ix. 27, xii. 22, etc.). All these diseases, however, seem to have been kept within reasonable bounds.
II. Religious Ideas of Disease: The whole ancient Orient shared in the belief that disease was sent by the Deity. Among the ancient Babylonians disease signified that an evil spirit possessed the sick man and held him in its power. These evil spirits were immerous, different classes causing diseases of the head, fevers, the plague, etc. Healing was almost exclusively by means of exorcisms; it was necessary to gain the protection of some powerful divinity that by his help the evil spirits might be driven out. In Israel also this belief persisted, and Josephus asserts that in his time people employed various superstitious remedies {Ant, VIII. ii. 5). The prevalence of this custom in more ancient times is proved by the many animadversions in the Old Testament against sorcery, which was used either for protection against disease or for its cure (see Dress and Ornament, Hebrew, § 7, for ornaments used as amulets). Yahwism also shares this view of the supernatural origin of disease, but it always puts Yahweh in the place of the many gods and evil spirits. The angel of Yahweh smites the people with the plague (II Sam. xxiv. 16; II Kings xix. 35); leprosy (q.v.) is a " smiting " (sara'ath) from God. Indeed, the Israelites, explaining disease in this manner, made it unnecessary to look for natural causes. Still the conviction persisted that in certain maladies, such as mental derangement, epilepsy, and hysteria, evil spirits possessed the patient and tortured him. Even in the modern East no fundamental distinction is made between insanity and inspiration (I Kings xxii. 19 sqq.; II Kings iii. 15 sqq.). Saul was tormented by one of Yahweh's evil spirits (I Sam. xvi. 14), and the inspired prophets behaved like madmen (I Sam. xix. 18 sqq., xxi. 13 sqq.; II Kings ix. 11; cf. also the demoniacs of the New Testament and see Demoniac).
III. Healing and Healers: In spite of the views concerning the origin and nature of disease just noticed, the art of healing was practised at an early period. The Code of Hammurabi (see Hammurabi AND His Code) contains rules applying
to the physician.
Special Cases (§ 8). Epilepsy (§ 9). Mental Diseases (§ 10). Diseases of the Abdomen, Bones,
and Eyes (§ 11). Fevers and Sunstroke (§ 12).
In ancient Egypt also the art of healing had attained a high standard; there were specialists for diseases of the eye, of the teeth, etc. (Herodotus, ii. 84; cf. A. Erman, Aegypten und aegyptisches Leben, Tubingen, 1887, pp. 477 sqq., Eng. transl., London, 1894). Ex. xxi. 19 implies that there were physicians in Israel. As the sanctuaries were the centers of all knowledge, the priest was at the same time the physician. This is easily understood from the supposed origin of disease (ut sup.), according to which only the priests could effect a cure. In agreement with this the law (Lev. xiii. ) gives a prescription that where leprosy was suspected the priest was to determine the character of the disease, a fact which implies that he was believed to be possessed of medical knowledge. How early there were professional healers outside of the priesthood is not known. In process of time, naturally, recourse to physicians became more general. Jeremiah (viii. 22) complains that the hurts of the nation could not be healed by a physician as could the wounds of men, and the Chronicler blames Asa for trusting too much in his physicians (II Chron. xvi. 12). Sirach praises in high terms the art of healing (Ecclus. xxxviii. 1 sqq.), and several recipes are preserved from this later period (cf. J. Lightfoot, Horce hebraicce et Talmudicce on . Mark v. 26, Cambridge, 1 663) , while the baths of Tiberias and Callirhoe were used (Josephus, Ant., XVII. vi. 5; War, I. xxxiii. 5). According to the Talmud (Shekalim v. 1-2) a physician was attached to the temple to treat abdominal diseases, because the priests, who went barefooted and were required to use frequent cold ablutions, were especially subject to such troubles, while Sanhedrin 17^ recommends that there be a physician and a surgeon in every community. In the interest of science it was allowable to become unclean by touching a corpse. Several Talmudic teachers bore the title of doctor.
IV. Separate Diseases: Definite directions for ascertaining the character of diseases are given only in such cases as were considered ceremonially unclean. In all other cases it is almost impossible to determine the disease from the popular nomenclature because of the lack of complete and specific statement of the symptoms. Therefore only an unsystematic list of the diseases mentioned in the Old Testament can be given.
The name leprosy (q.v.), zara'aih, includes not only leprosy proper {Lepra Arabum ), but also other maladies with like symptoms (Lev. xiii. 1 sqq. ; cf .
xiv. 56). Four forms of disease are I. Diseases enumerated which in their incipient of the Skin, stages might be taken for leprosy: seth, sappahath, bahereth, nethek (Lev. xiii 2 sqq.). For the diagnosis only certain negative signs are mentioned. If the hair on the skm at the places affected does not become white it the affected parts of the skin do not appear de-
DiseaBes and the Healing Art