The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-08-04
THE SABBATH.

signifies rest, or cessation, and If, strictly, the
name of the institution. Sunday is the name
of the day adopted by the majority of Christians
for its Observance. The ancient Greeks and
Romans had no division Of time properly an
swering to our weeks. The former divided the
month into three decades of days; the latter
had their nundina, or market days, occurring
every ninth day but neither ofthese had either
the references or uses of the week and the Sab
bath. But the Egyptians and the oriental ma
tons, in the still more ancient times, had 9
,ceek of seven DAYS. 1t is believed that the Ro-
mans adopted the hebdomadal division about
the beginning of the third century after Christ
They named the days after the planets or hea-
then gods II is worthy of notice also that our
names for the days had q similar origin as will
be seen by tracing their Saxon derivation
Pritchard quotes Bosnian for the fact that the
Karabari, and several other tribes Of Western
Africa, have been long acquainted with the d.
vision of time into weeks and each day of the
seven has its proper name in their language.
Their Sabbath falls on our Tuesday, except at
Ante bordering upon the Mahommedans, where
it agrees with theirs in being fixed upon Friday.
Among these barbarians fishing only is prohib-
tied upon their Sabbath /; in respect to other
occupations they make no difference.
The division of time into periods of seven
days among nations not governed by our sacred
books, or not indebted to Moses for the ssbbat-
ical institution, may be accounted for, perhaps
by the fact that it is natural quartering of
the lunar or apparent month, and the near
est that can be effected without breaking So
lar day into fractions for the purpose. That
is, if the lunar month is divided in half, and
again into halves Of that half measured by
whole days which would be natural enough
among barbarous people, seven days are the
result and so the week would occur in their
of time
There is another natural measurement of
time by weeks, which We will take the oppor-
tunity briefly to exhibit without designing now
to offer all the instances which we think sup
port it, or to exhaust the argument on which
it rests
The proposition which we submit is, that the
weekly period and the rest day are well found
ed in the natural constitution of man, and
might even be inferred from it; or, more speci-
fcally to present the point now in hand, there
is physiological reason for such a period and
such an nstitution-a hebdomadal circle in
the movements of the human organizations
cycle Of actions which complete their round in
seven days, and this circuit Of movements is
specially adapted to our week and rest-day.
Hippocrates, who lived six hundred years be-
fore Christ, and in country which had not
the weekly apportionment Of time to suggest
his idea, taught that fevers changed for the
better or worse on the seventh, fourteenth and
twenty-frst days. The highest authorities in
medicine, for ages, received and endorsed this
opinion. In modern times by the interpretations
of an humble race Of physicians the critical
days of fever were made to embrace other mi
nor periods of marked changes, until the whole
twenty-one were filed up, and the doctrine fell
into disrepute "A misfortune that scientific
truths often suffer by the Improvements Of de-
cidedly uninspired men.
There is, beside the septenary period with
which the true critical days correspond, clear
diurnal movement in the system, very well
marked in health and often exhibiting its Of.
feots in disease as an ephemeral fever, the
ouotidian, tertian, and quartan ague--the first
exhausting itself in one day the latter, recur-
ring at intervals of one, two, and three days
Changes in the progress Of fevers at these prop
erly diurnal periods have been COMPOUNDED with
the septenary movement, and, of course, obscur-
ed its manifestation. Moreover, the rigorous
remedial treatment Of modern times doubtless
interrupts the more natural progress Of febrile
phenomena, and further contribute to conceal
and confuse the facts upon which the old doc
trine of crisis rests.
Nevertheless, it is we'll supported by our most
distinguished authorities Hosack and Dick
son Of New York, and Eberle and Wood Of
Philadelphia, are clear in their adhesion to it;
and one of the scots Of modern medicine makes
that obscess periodicity, Of which THE is one Of
the instances, the basis Of its distinctive theory
and practice. Among the great names of for.
e;rn countries, whose observations have con-
6rmed the doctrine as it was taught by Hip
pocrates, we may mention Cleghorn, who prac-
tised on the shores Of the Mediterranean Bal
four, in the East Indies; and Jackson, in the
Wes> Indies ------'~---
A striking fact, at once clear and unembar-
rassed, deserves especial regard, to wit: the
tendency Of miasmatic fevers to return after
being checked, at the end Of the first, second,
and third week-most frequently at the end Of
the second Professor Wood, Of the University
Of Pennsylvania, who has no theory to support
by the observation, says this tendency is quite
inexplicable in the present state Of our knowl-
edge" Practitioners we know, who reside in
the middle counties of Pennsylvania, continue
the use Of quinine and bark till the eighth day
after the last paroxyism, or resume it the day
before the seventh, 10 meet the known liabili-
ty to relapse at the septenary period Doctor
Samuel Dickson, formerly Of Charleston, and
recently of the New York University says
"The septenary period is almost as well mark
ed as the diurnal" Again "The combined
influence Of the diurnal and septenary revolu,
tons, liable, perhaps, to other complication,
more obscure in their nature, will account for
all the types of fever, and all the phenomens
of periodical repetitions of diseases, as we'll q,
Of crises or the agency Of critical days" Speak
ing Of the latent period Of fever, or the time in
terveniug between exposure to marsh efluvia
and the development Of the disease, he says
"This period is known TO be under the infu.
encs of the ordinary revolutions which give pc
riodioity to disease in general The apparent
influence upon it Of the septsnary revolution, i