Part 24

[172] _Joannes Leo_, “Descriptio Africae”, (Description of Africa), Leyden 1632. 12mo., p. 86., Paucis admodum toto Atlante, tota Numidia totaque Libya hoc notum est contagium. Quodsi quisquam fuerit qui se eo infectum sentiat, mox in Numidiam aut in Nigritarum regionem proficiscitur, cuius tanta est aeris temperies, ut optimae sanitati restitutus inde in patriam redeat: quod quidem multis accidisse ipse meis vidi oculis, qui nullo adhibito neque pharmaco neque medico, praeter saluberrimum iam dictum aërem, revaluerant. (To very few persons indeed in the whole of the Atlas, the whole of Numidia and of Libya, is this contagion known. But if there should be any man who feels himself attacked by it, he presently journeys into Numidia or the district of the Nigritae, where the nature of the air is such that he returns home again restored to excellent good health. This I have seen happen to many with my own eyes, who without help of druggist or doctor recovered by the exceeding salubrity of the air as aforesaid). Comp. _Scaliger_, Exercitat. CLXXX. ch. 18.—_Petronius_, loco citato p. 1213.

[173] _Schnurrer_, “Geographische Nosologie,” (Geographical Nosology,—Distribution of Diseases), p. 454.

[174] _Brown, W. G._ “Reisen in Afrika, Egypten und Syrien.” (Travels in Africa, Egypt and Syria), transl. from the English by C. Sprengel. Weimar 1800. 8vo., p. 389., tells us of a marine at Kahira, who had become infected, how the man, having in the mean time taken no means whatever to combat the disease and without giving up either the use of brandy or the practice of copulation, two months later got a violent itching eruption over his whole body, and particularly on the head and over the glands of the neck. This he treated by sprinkling over it a sort of red earth, whereupon it dried up and disappeared, so that four weeks later he found himself completely cured and his skin as clean and smooth as before. _Schnurrer_, loco citato p. 453., also gives the story, but with sundry inaccuracies. Similar observations were made by _Th. Clarke_ at the Cape of Good Hope, London Med. Gazette 1833. _Behrend_, Syphilidologie Vol. I. pp. 241 sqq. The Minorite _Conti_ declared in opposition to _Norberg_ (Biörnstähl’s Briefe, 6 vol. p. 410.): “Christian no less than Mussulman in the East is strictly forbidden to cohabit with a woman before the eighth day after her purification. If it _is_ done within that period, the man’s body is poisoned: he experiences swelling, ulcers, sores, itch and pains in the limbs, and shows all the symptoms of leprosy. At this time the female does not become pregnant, because the blood is unclean, but if conception does occur, the child also gets a bad itch, and generally is affected like his parents.” _Fr. Eagle_ (Lancet July 1836., Note 671.). _Behrend’s_ Syphilidologie, Vol. I. p. 118., relates a number of cases that occurred in London where after intercourse with women during menstruation both gonorrhœa and chancre supervened.

[175] _Von Roeser_, loco citato p. 69. _Sonnerat_, “Reise nach Ostindien”, (Journey to the East Indies), I. 94, 99. _Schnurrer_, Geogr. Nosologie p. 409. Note, says: “In Hindostan in particular experience has shown that a badly treated syphilis changes into leprosy.” That this is not a thing of such extreme rarity in Europe either, we shall prove more fully in another place. Meantime compare what _Hensler_, “Vom Abendländischen Aussatze”, (On Oriental Leprosy), pp. 228 sqq., says on the subject.

[176] _Galen_, Ad Glaucon. de meth. med. II., edit. Kühn Vol. XI. p. 142., says: κατὰ γοῦν τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν _ἐλεφαντιῶσι πάμπολλοι_ διά τε τὴν δίαιταν καὶ _τὴν θερμότητα τοῦ χωρίου·—ἅτε δὲ θερμοῦ τοῦ περιέχοντος ὄντος καὶ ἡ ῥοπὴ τῆς φορᾶς αὐτῶν πρὸς τὸ θέρμα γίνεται_· (At any rate in the neighbourhood of Alexandria very many persons suffer from elephantiasis as well through their mode of life as owing to _the heat of the locality_;—for indeed as a result of the excessive heat of the climate, the tendency of their constitution is also towards heat). In Germany and Mysia he asserts the disease is seldom observed, and in Scythia almost never.

[177] Phlyctaenae (blisters) in erysipelas of the uterus are mentioned by Hippocrates, De ant. mulierum, edit. Kühn II. p. 541. _Galen_, edit. Kühn Vol. XVII. A. p. 358., ἴσθι γὰρ ὅτι τὰ ἐξανθήματα ἐν ταῖς τῆς μήτρας διαθέσεσιν εἰς τὸ δέρμα ἐκραγέντα σημαίνουσιν ὅτι ἡ φλεγμονὴ ἢ ἐρυσίπελας ἐκ τοῦ ἀποζέοντος καὶ λεπτοῦ αἵματος ἐν ταῖς μήτραις ἐγγίνεται, ὡς ἐν τῷ περὶ γυναικείης φύσεως γέγραπται. (Be assured that those eruptions that break out on the skin in certain morbid conditions of the womb signify that the inflammation or erysipelas proceeds from the deficiency and poorness of the blood in the womb, as is stated in my Work, On the Female Constitution).

[178] _Aristotle_, Problem IV. 18.

[179] _Aëtius_, Tetrab, IV. serm. 1. ch. 122., Novimus quosdam audaciores qui sibi ipsis testes ferro resecarunt; castratis enim non in peius malum ipsum procedet. Neque enim temere reperias, inquit Archigenes, ullum aliquem castratum elephantiasi laborantem, neque item facile mulierem. Quare etiam quidam ex confidentioribus medicis manum admoverunt, et quotquot sane ex eis ex sectione periculum evaserunt, per consequentis curationis usum perfecte ab hac maligna affectione liberati sunt. (We know of some bolder spirits who have amputated their own testicles with the knife; for after castration the actual evil will not then proceed to any worse length. For, says Archigenes, you will not readily find any single case of a castrated man suffering from elephantiasis, nor will you easily discover a woman at all affected by this disease. Wherefore, in fact, some of the more daring practitioners have operated, and there is no doubt that such of their patients as escaped the dangerous effects of the operation, have been through the employment of subsequent precautions completely freed from this malignant complaint). Comp. _Hensler_, “Vom Aussatz”, (On Leprosy), p. 401. With regard to _the immunity of women_, an assertion likewise made in connection with _mentagra_ (p. 288), _von Roeser_ writes (loco citato p. 67.) referring to Venereal disease: “Above all it is now the case in Greece and Turkey that the practising physician,—and I have been assured of the fact by many persons,—exceedingly seldom meets with syphilitic female patients in his practice; that yet notwithstanding this none of _the sequelæ and different forms of subsequent mischief_ that are usually found resulting from the disease when every kind of medical aid is neglected, are seen in patients of that sex.”—P. 71., “Only poison would seem, as a result of the secretive process exerted by the affected parts of the skin and the mucous membrane, which is much more powerful in women than in men, to be more readily eliminated from the body than is the case with men, so much so indeed that it is an almost unheard of thing in Egypt to find a female patient under medical treatment.”—still this does not justify the conclusion that women _never_ suffered from Venereal disease, as even von Roeser himself admits. Again Larrey, loco citato p. 253., actually found himself constrained in view of the wide dissemination of the disease among the French soldiers, to establish a special hospital for infected women, in order to check the spread of the complaint.

[180] Comp. _Foot_, “Abh. über die Lustseuche” (Treatise on Venereal Disease), transl. from the English by _H. Ch. Reich_, Vol. I. p. 62.

[181] Surgeon in Chief of the Esbekieh Hospital at Cairo.

[182] The passage of _Aretaeus_ (Morb. chron. bk. II. ch. 13. edit. Kühn p. 180.) can hardly be cited as evidence on the other side in this case, as the question there discussed is elephantiasis, not the leprosy of the Jews at all. Any how we read there: τρίχες ἐν μὲν τῷ παντὶ προτεθνήσκουσι, χερσὶ μηροῖσι κνήμῃσι, αὖθις ἥβῃ, γενείοισι ἀραιαὶ, ψεδναὶ δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ κεφαλῇ κόμαι· τὸ δὲ μᾶλλον πρόωροι, πολιοὶ καὶ φαλάκρωσις ἀθρόη· οὐκ εἰς μακρὸν δὲ ἥβη καὶ ἐπιμίμνοιεν παυραὶ τρίχες, ἀπρεπέστεραι τῶν ἀποιχομένων. (Hair dies first in every part, on hands, thighs, shins; again on pubes and cheeks it becomes thin, and scanty also on the head. The locks are prematurely white, and baldness becomes general; nor is it long before pubes and cheeks are bare, and if a few scanty hairs should remain, they are uncomely as compared with those that have disappeared). Nor would it be any fairer to cite the fact that Albinos are covered over the whole body with a fine, white, woolly hair.

[183] Already _J. D. Michaelis_, “Fragen an eine Gesellschaft gelehrter Männer, die auf Befehl Ihro Majestät des Königs von Dänemark nach Arabien reisen,” (Questions addressed to a Society of Learned Men, travelling at the Command of HM. the King of Denmark to Arabia), Frankfurt-on-the-Main 1762., p. 23., says in the 11th. question on Leprosy under head No. 8.: “Does it possess a natural diagnostic mark in this, if it breaks out everywhere at once, and covers the whole body? From Leviticus XIII. 12-13. we might seem to be almost justified in concluding this to be so. But I am in doubt how in that case this passage is to be interpreted in accordance with the history of the disease.” Comp. p. 335. Note 1.

[184] Philosoph. Transactions Vol. XXXI. _Foot_, Treatise on Venereal Disease, Vol. I. pp. 25 sqq.

[185] _D. Hennen_, Sketches of the Medical Topography of the Mediterranean. London 1830.

[186] _Galen_, De febr. diff., bk. I., edit. Kühn Vol. VII. 284 sqq., δριμὺ δ’ ἀποῤῥοῖ καὶ δακνῶδες περίττωμα τοῖς ἤτοι κακοχυμοτέροις, ἢ ἐδέσματα μοχθηρὰ προσφερομένοις τοιαῦτα γοῦν ἐδέσματα καὶ νῦν ἀναγκασθέντες ἐσθίειν πολλοὶ διὰ λιμὸν οἱ μὲν ἀπέθανον ἀπὸ σηπεδονωδῶν τε καὶ λοιμωδῶν πυρετῶν, _οἱ δὲ ἐξανθήμασιν ἑάλωσαν ψωρώδεσι τε καὶ λεπρώδεσιν_. (But there discharges an acrid and biting excretion, and this in patients already only too much afflicted with evil humours, or else food becomes noxious to them, though normally able to tolerate such food; and now being forced to eat, many died in consequence of the plague, some from putrefying and pestilential fevers, while others again _were attacked by exanthematic eruptions of the psora and lepra types_).

[187] Martial, Bk. VI. Epigr. 37.,

O quanta _scabie_ miser laborat! Culum non habet, est tamen cinaedus.

(How sad a scurvy (_scabies_) does the wretch groan under! Bottom all gone; and yet he is a cinaedus!)

Bk. XI. Epigr. 8.,

Penelopae licet esse tibi sub principe Nerva Sed prohibet _scabies_ ingeniumque vetus.

(You may be a Penelope under Nerva as Emperor; only that _scurvy_ hinders you and inveterate viciousness). The _mala scabies_ (horrid scurvy) from _Horace_, Ars Poet. 453., is familiar; as well as the statement of _Justin_ (Hist. XXXVI. 2.) to the effect that the Jews were driven out of Egypt on account of Scabies and Vitiligo (Tetter), that the Egyptians might not be infected by them. Comp. _Michaelis_, “Mosaisches Recht”, (Mosaic Law) IV. 209. The infectious nature of psora is declared also by _Aristotle_, Problem. VII. 8. _Galen_, De puls. diff., IV. 1. The transition of _mentagra_ into _psora_ has been already mentioned.

[188] _Aristophanes_, Birds 151. makes Euelpides say: βδελλύττομαι τὸν Λέπρεον ἀπὸ Μελανθίου (I detest the “Leprean” of Melanthius), on which the Scholiast remarks: Μελάνθιος ὁ τραγικός· κωμωδεῖται γὰρ εἰς μαλακίαν καὶ ὀψοφαγίαν. Πλάτων δὲ αὐτὸν ἐν Σκύθαις ὡς _λάλον_ σκώπτει· εἶχε δὲ Μελάνθιος λέπραν. (Melanthius the Tragedian; for he is derided on account of his luxurious living and gluttony. But Plato laughs at him in the “Scythians” as a _garrulous_ person; now Melanthius had _leprosy_). The same thing is mentioned in the “Peace”, 803., with the addition, καὶ πολὺ μᾶλλον ἐν Κόλαξιν Εὔπολις ὡς κίναιδον αὐτὸν διαβάλλει καὶ κόλακα· ἀλλὰ καὶ ὡς λευκὰς ἔχοντα καὶ λεπράς. (and still more severely does Eupolis in his “Flatterers” ridicule him as being _pathic_ and a flatterer; moreover as having whites,—white leprosies,—and leprosies). Here we would particularly call attention to the λευκαί (white leprosies), which we have already noted as a consequence of the habits of the _cunnilingue_; and with this the λάλον (garrulous, talkative) of the Comic poet Plato agrees very well, for _Hesychius_ explains γλωσσοστροφεῖν (to ply the tongue) by _περιλαλεῖν_ and στωμύλλεσθαι (_to be very talkative, to babble_). Thus _lepra_ would seem to be attached as penalty to the vice of the pathic, Elephantiasis is stated to be infectious by _Aretaeus_, Morb. chron., II. 12. and _Paulus Aegineta_, IV. 1.; however, present day experience tells us nothing of this, and the later Greek physicians refer it again to deficient gall (Marx, Orig. contag., p. 78.); what was the meaning of its great contagiousness in earlier times?

[189] _Von Roeser_, loco citato p. 69. Inflammation of the throat, or ulcerations of the throat, are very rare; still rarer are diseases of the bones, and then only taking the form of swellings of the periosteum.

[190] _Hippocrates_, Epidem. Bk. III., edit. Kühn Vol. III. p. 486., στόματα πολλοῖσιν ἀθώδεα, ἑλκώδεα· ῥεύματα περὶ τὰ αἰδοιᾶ πολλά· ἑλκώματα, φύματα, ἔξωθεν ἔσωθεν τὰ περὶ βουβῶνας, ὀφθαλμίαι ὑγραὶ, μακραὶ χρόνιαι μετὰ πόνων· ἐπιφύσεις βλεφάρων ἔξωθεν ἔσωθεν, πολλῶν φθείροντες τὰς ὄψιας, ἃ σῦκα ἐπονομάζουσιν· ἐφύετο δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀλλῶν ἑλκέων πολλὰ καὶ αἰδοίοισιν. (for translation see text above).

[191] _Hippocrates_, Bk. IV. Aphor. 82., edit. Kühn Vol. III. p. 735., ὁκόσοισιν ἐν τῇ οὐρήθρῃ φύματα φύεται, τουτέοισι διαπυήσαντος καὶ ἐκραγέντος λύσις. (for translation see text above). The same Aphorism is repeated again Bk. VII. Aphor. 57. p. 763., ὁκόσοισιν ἐν τῇ οὐρήθρῃ φύματα γίνονται, τουτέοισι διαπυήσαντος καὶ ἐκραγέντος _λύεται ὁ πόνος_. (Patients having abscesses in the urethra, _find relief from the suffering_, so soon as these have suppurated and broken).—_Celsus_, bk. II. ch. 8. translates this by: Quibus in fistula urinae minuti abscessus, quos φύματα Graeci vocant, esse coeperunt, iis ubi pus ea parte profluxit, sanitas redditur. (Patients in whom small abscesses have been set up in the urinary canal, which the Greeks call φύματα, recover when once matter has flowed out at the spot).—_Galen_, in his Explanation of the first Aphorism of Hippocrates (edit. Kühn Vol. XVII. B. p. 778.) says: πρόχειρον γὰρ παντὶ γνῶναι τῶν ἐν τῷ πόρῳ τῷ οὐρητικῷ τῷ κατὰ τὸ αἰδοῖον, τοῦτο γὰρ οὐρήθραν καλοῦσι· συνισταμένων φυμάτων τὴν λύσιν γίγνεσθαι ῥαγέντων· ἐνδέχεται γὰρ ἰσχουρίαν δή τινα γενέσθαι καὶ διὰ τὸ τοιοῦτον φῦμα καὶ μέντοι καὶ ὡς τὸ φῦμα τοῦτο ῥαγὲν _ἰάσεται τὴν ἰσχουρίαν εὔδηλον_. (For it is within the knowledge of every observer that in the case of abscesses that have been set up in the urinary canal in the region of the privates,—called the urethra,—relief is afforded when once these have burst. For it is likely some retention of urine occurs on account of such abscess, and so the fact of this abscess having burst will obviously remedy the retention). Comp. _Galen_, De loc. affect. Bk. I. ch. 1., bk. VI. ch. 6. _Paulus Aegineta_ bk. IV. ch. 22.

[192] _Hippocrates_, Coact. praenot., edit. Kühn Vol. I. p. 312., οἷσι δὲ φῦμα περὶ τὴν κύστιν ἐστὶ τὸ παρέχον τὴν δυσουπίην, παντοίως σχηματισθέντες ὀχλέονται· _λύσις δὲ τούτου γίνεται πύου ῥαγέντος_. (Patients having an abscess in the region of the bladder that causes difficulty of micturition, find themselves troubled and affected in all sorts of ways; _but relief from this is experienced, when once the matter has broken out_).

[193] _Hippocrates_, De aere aquis et locis, edit. Kühn Vol. I. p. 526., κἢν μὲν τὸ θέρος αὐχμηρὸν γένηται, θᾶσσον παύονται αἱ νοῦσοι· ἢν δὲ ἔπομβρον, πολυχρόνιοι γίνονται καὶ φαγεδαίνας κοινῶς ἐγγίνεσθαι ἀπὸ πάσης προφάσιος, ἢν ἕλκος ἐγγένηται. (And if the Summer is a dry one, the diseases will cease more speedily; if on the other hand it is rainy, they become chronic, and such that cancerous sores are set up on any pretext, if an injury of any sort occur).

[194] _Galen_, in his Commentary on this passage (Vol. XVII. A. p. 671) says in this connection: διεσήπετο δ’ ὑπὸ τῶν μοχθηρῶν χυμῶν ὑγρῶν τὰ στερεά· ποικίλον δ’ εἶναι τὸ ῥεῦμα διὰ τὴν τῶν σηπομένων διαφθορὰν εὔλογον· ὑπὸ γὰρ κοινῆς αἰτίας τῆς σηπεδόνος ἕκαστον τῶν σηπομένων ἴδιον εἶδος ἴσχει τῆς διαφθορᾶς. (But under influence of the morbid moist juices the solid parts rotted away; so it is only reasonable to expect the discharge to be complex, resulting from the destruction of the parts rotted away; for although proceeding from one common cause, that of decomposition, each of the rotting parts has its own particular form of decomposition).

[195] _Galen_, in his Commentary loco citato p. 672., adds: φοβερωτέραν εἶχε φαντασίαν ἐν τοῖς περὶ κεφαλὴν μορίοις, διὰ τὸ κᾂν βραχὺ τὴν παρὰ φύσιν ἐνταῦθα παραλαχθείη, πλέον γίνεσθαι τὸ αἶσχος ἢ κατὰ τὰ ἄλλα μόρια μεγάλην ἐκτροπὴν εἰς τὸ παρὰ φύσιν ἔχοντα. μηροῦ μὲν γὰρ τὸ βραχίονος ἢ κνήμης ἢ πήχεως ἀποῤῥυὲν δέρμα μικροτέραν ἔχει φαντασίαν, εἰ δὲ τῆς κεφαλῆς συναποπέσοιεν αἱ τρίχες τῷ δέρματι καὶ πολὺ μᾶλλον ἡ τοῦ γενείου σὺν αὐταῖς, ἡ μὲν φαντασία τοῦ πάθους γίνεται μεγάλη, ὁ κίνδυνος δ’ ᾗττον ἢ εἰ περὶ αἰδοῖα συμβαίη τὸ τοιοῦτον πάθος ἢ λάρυγγα καὶ θώρακα καί τι τῶν κυρίων· οὐ μόνον δὲ τὰ περὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν οὕτως γινόμενα φοβερὰ μᾶλλον ἦν ἢ κακίω, ἀλλὰ καὶ καθ’ ὁτιοῦν ἄλλο μέρος οὕτως ἐκπίπτοντα· κακίω γὰρ ἦν ἐφ’ ὧν ἀπέστησεν εἰς τὸ βάθος ὁ τὸ ἐρυσίπελας ἐργαζόμενος χυμὸς κ. τ. λ. (It offered a more terrifying appearance where the parts about the head were affected, because even if only a small deviation occur there from what is normal, the feeling of disgust experienced is greater than in connection with other parts of the body, even when showing a great divergence towards what is abnormal. For the fact of the skin of the thigh being perished, or even when showing of the upper arm, or of the leg, or fore-arm, affords a less formidable appearance, but if the hair fall from the head and the skin along with it, and still more if that of the cheeks and chin go with it, the appearance of injury is very great; but the danger is all the while really less than if the like were to happen to the private parts or larynx and thorax or any of the vital parts. And not only are such things when they happen to the head more terrifying than actually dangerous, but also when it so falls out with regard to any other part; for much more dangerous is the case of those in whom the humour that sets up erysipelas has penetrated deeply in, etc.).

[196] Hippocrates, loco citato p. 284., πολλοῖσι μὲν γὰρ βραχίων καὶ πῆχυς ὅλος [ὅλως] περιεῤῥύη· οἷσι δ’ ἐπὶ τὰ πλευρὰ ταῦτα ἐκακοῦτο ἢ τῶν ἔμπροσθέν τι ἢ τῶν ὄπισθεν· οἷσι δὲ ὅλος ὁ μηρὸς ἢ τὰ περικνήμια ἐψιλοῦτο καὶ ποὺς ὅλος· ἢν δὲ πάντων χαλεπώτατον τῶν τοιούτων, ὅτε περὶ ἥβην καὶ αἰδοῖα γενοίατο, καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ ἕλκεα καὶ μετὰ προφάσιος τοιαῦτα· πολλοῖσι δὲ ἐν πυρετοῖσι καὶ πρὸ πυρετοῦ καὶ ἐπὶ πυρετοῖσι ξυνέπιπτεν. (for translation see text above). For ἢ τὰ περικνήμια ἐψιλοῦτο should evidently be read more correctly with _Galen_, De temperam. bk. I., edit. Kühn Vol. I. p. 532. ἢ τὰ περὶ τὴν κνήμην ἀπεψιλοῦτο.

[197] _Galen_, Vol. XVII. A. p. 674., Καὶ χωρὶς λοιμώδους καταστάσεως, ὅταν ἐν τούτοις τοῖς χωρίοις ἤτοι φλεγμονή τις ἢ ἐρυσίπελας γένηται, ῥᾷστά τε σήπεται καὶ συμπαθείας ἐργάζεται τῶν ὑπερκειμένων μορίων· διὸ καὶ πολλάκις ἀναγκαζόμεθα _μετὰ τὸ περικόψαι τὰ σεσηπότα τὴν χώραν ἐκκαίειν_· οὐδὲν οὖν θαυμαστὸν, τοιαύτης καταστάσεως γινομένης ὡς καὶ βραχίονα καὶ μηρὸν καὶ κνήμην, πλευράν τε καὶ κεφαλὴν διασήπειν, ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἥκειν κακώσεως τὰ περὶ αἰδοῖα.... Ἄχρι τοῦ νῦν ὁ λόγος αὐτῷ γέγονε περὶ τῶν ἐρυσιπελάτων, ὅσα δ’ ἕλκωσιν ἤ τι μικρὸν οὕτως ἄλλο τῶν ἔξωθεν αἰτίων συνέστη· ἐφεξῆς δὲ περὶ τῶν ἄνευ τοιαύτης αἰτίας γενομένων ποιήσεται τὸν λόγον. (for translation see text above).

[198] Hippocrates moreover, Aphorism. Vol. I. p. 724., says: τοῦ δὲ θέρεος ... καὶ _σηπεδόνες αἰδοίων_ καὶ ἵδρωα. (And in the Summer ... occur also _putrefactions of the privates_ and transpirations).

[199] Very possibly in many cases these affections of the extremities and genital organs owed their existence to _anthrax_ or _carbuncle_; for not only does _Hippocrates_ (p. 487.) say that ἄνθρακες πολλοὶ κατὰ θέρος καὶ ἄλλα ἃ σὴψ καλέεται (many cases of malignant pustule in Summer-time, as well as other complaints known under the general name of putrefaction) appeared under these meteorological conditions, but _Galen_ likewise (Method. med. bk. XIV., edit. Kühn Vol. X. p. 980.) observed an _anthrax_ epidemic in Asia, that itself began with numerous _phlyctaenae_ (blisterous swellings) resembling millet seeds; these subsequently broke and gave rise to an ἕλκος ἐσχαρῶδες (scabby sore). Indeed the destruction of the skin took place even without the previous occurrence of _phlyctaenae_. πολλάκις δὲ οὐ μία _φλύκταινα_ γεννᾶται κνησαμένων, ἀλλὰ _πολλαὶ_ μικραὶ καθάπερ τινὲς κέγχροι καταπυκνοῦσαι τὸ μέρος ὧν ἐκρηγνυμένων ὁμοίως ἐσχαρῶδες ἕλκος γεννᾶται· κατὰ _δὲ τοὺς ἐπιδημήσαντας ἄνθρακας ἐν Ἀσίᾳ καὶ χωρὶς φλυκταινῶν_ ἐνίοις εὐθέως ἀπεδάρη τὸ δέρμα. (And often _not one phlyctaena_ is originated on patients scratching themselves, but _many_ minute ones like millet seeds, closely covering the affected part; and when these have broken, a kind of scabby sore is produced. And in cases of _anthrax_ (malignant pustule), which was at one time epidemic in Asia, in some patients even without there having been previous _phlyctaenae_, the skin was immediately destroyed).—Comp. _Galen_, De tumor. praeternat. Vol. VII. p. 719. Further, this information is in any case of importance for the more correct appreciation of the facts as to the Plague of Athens.