[165] This reading is clearly preferable. The Septuagint translators render it σήπη καὶ σκώληκες κηρονομήσουσιν αὐτὸν, (Rottenness and worms shall be his heritage), where however it must be admitted σῆτες (moths) is also retained by the Editors.
[166] “Nouvelles recherches sur la structure de la peau”, (Recent Investigations as to the Structure of the Skin), with 3 Plates. Paris 1835. 221 pp. 8vo.
[167] “Vergleichende Untersuchungen über die Haut des Menschen und der Haussaügethiere, besonders in Beziehung auf die Absonderungsorgane des Hauttalgs und des Schweisses,” (Comparative Investigations as to the Skin in Man and the Domestic Mammals, with particular reference to the Organs of Secretion of the Sebaceous Humour and the Sweat), in Muller’s Archiv. für Physiologie Jahrg. 1835., pp. 399-418. With copperplates, a comparison of which will very much facilitate the proper understanding of what follows.
[168] Already we find Lorry, “Abb. von den Krankheiten der Haut,” (Treatise on Diseases of the Skin), Vol. I. p. 50., saying: “There is found to exist moreover a certain sympathy between the generative parts of men and women and the skin, which under the violent stimulus of sexual coition swells; but after it is over, sweat comes out on it, and sometimes little heat-pimples appear. p. 83., Now at puberty, a period when all the glands are opened, there is brought to the organs of transpiration a great quantity of a subtle and fluid material, there arises a peculiar smell, and if this matter has accumulated, it clogs the minute vessels, the humour contained in these becomes thick by retardation and solidification,—the result being a pimply eruption on the skin. This much is certain, that if both sexes are fully developed, and live chaste, an extensive series of mutually connected pustules may arise, just as if they were produced by the swelling of the glands in the skin. The pustules are ranged in the same order as that in which the glands lie; exactly as if they were the meeting-place of the humours that would seem to have been dispersed in the skin.” Comp. Haller, Elem. physiolog. Vol. VII. bk. XXVIII. sect. 3. § 4.
[169] More precise information on this, as well as on several other opinions expressed in the course of these Inquiries as to the pathology of Venereal disease, the reader will find placed at his disposal in our forthcoming Work, “Introduction to a Scientific Knowledge of the Venereal Disease.”
[170] Comp. Hillary, “Beobachtungen über die Veränderungen Luft und die damit verbundenen epidemischen Krankheiten auf der Insel Barbados,” (Observations on Changes of Atmosphere and the Epidemic Sicknesses connected with them in the Island of Barbadoes), transl. from the English by J. Ch. G. Ackermann. Leipzig 1776. 8vo., pp. 3 sqq.
[171] Alex. Traj. Petronius, De morbo Gallico, (On the French Disease—Syphilis), bk. II. chs. 24., and 26 (Aphrodisiacus pp. 1225, 1226.) in his time says: Et in regione calida, quoniam secundum naturae suae impetum ad cutem fertur, minus saevire, in frigida vero, quoniam contra suam naturam ad interna migrare cogitur, magis.—Neque nos non lateat, in ambiente (ut dicunt) calido, quoniam ad cutim attractio fit, morbum hunc et secundum naturae suae impetum creari, et simul ad exteriora prorumpere solere. In frigido autem, quia intro repellitur contra suae naturae motum retroverti et solidas corporis partes saepius depasci. Frequentius etiam in regione calida quam frigida apparere; hic enim circumfusus aer, ne morbus ad cutim extendatur, prohibet (nam intro pellit), illic vero et ad cutim trahit et eandem retinet. (Moreover in a hot region, inasmuch as in accordance with the impulse of its nature it is carried to the skin, it is there less virulent; whereas in a cold one, as it is compelled against its nature to travel to the inward parts, it is more so.—Again we should not let this escape our notice, that in a hot environment (as they say), inasmuch as an attraction takes place towards the skin, this disease also according to the impulse of its nature is there brought into being, and is wont to break out towards the external parts. On the other hand in a cold one, because it is drawn within, it is turned back contrary to the motion of its nature, and more often feeds upon the solid parts of the body. Again it appears more frequently in a hot region than in a cold one; for in the latter case the surrounding air (driving it within as it does) hinders the disease from extending to the skin, whereas in the former it draws it to the skin and keeps it there). But specially pertinent in this connection is p. 1211.—Puydebat, “Über den Einfluss des Climas auf den Menschen,” (Of the Influence of Climate on Man), in the “Bulletin méd. de Bordeaux, 1836. May 21. (Froriep Notiz. 1836. Vol. 49. p. 179.) writes: Die immer geöffneten Hautporen hauchen in den heissen Ländern einen reichlichen, mehr oder weniger stark riechenden Schweiss aus. Die Hautdrüsen sondern eine ölige Flüssigkeit in Menge ab, welche die Haut schlüpfrig macht und derselben jenes bei den Negern so auffallende Ansehn giebt. Dieser Zustand der Haut macht sie zu Exanthemen, z. B. Masern, Blattern, Syphilis, Lepra, Elephantiasis geneigt. (The ever open skin-pores expire in hot countries a rich and more or less strongly smelling sweat. The cutaneous glands secrete an oily fluid in quantities, which makes the skin slippery and gives it that appearance so striking in Negroes. This state of the skin makes it liable to exanthematic effections, e.g. Measles, Small-pox, Syphilis, Leprosy, Elephantiasis).—In cold countries the transpiration of the skin is very weak; in consequence the internal secretions are increased in quantity, while in hot countries they are lessened from a directly opposite cause.” Comp. J. von Röser, “Ueber einige Krankheiten des Orients,” (On some Diseases of the East). Augsburg 1837., pp. 67-71., to whose statements we shall have to return on several future occasions.
[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.