The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-02-12

sister He being very old, was afraid
 that some High Muck-a- Muck oi Egypt might envy him for his wife's sake, and decide to put his light out fin order that he might annex Saraf for his own. And it does appear that
 when they visited King Pharaoh the old King did become infatuated with Sarah and took her into his house, and after having contracted plague oi which he accused her of being the au- thor. and feeling that he had been "stung," issued direct orders to Old Abe to take his wife and get out of his bailiwick. Of course. do not know that the plague which Pharaoh con 1 tracted was Specific Blood Poison, but if it was, he doubtless spread 1t ir his home and thence throughout his | realm, as the fads and fashions of l royalty are usually quite popular King David, another royal high roller who was as famous for "other things as he was for watching sheep and throwing stones, must have also suf- fered severely from the same perni- cious malady, which he so graphically I from Bathsheba, by whom he had a child that died on the seventh day.-a Sam. XI-XII. He describes his symp- toms which indicates the tertiary stage of the malady. as follows: Psalms VI
 For my bones are vexed All my bones are out of joint. My tongue cleaveth to my jaws" Psalms XXII There is nothing sound in my flesh
 Neither is there rest in my bones be- cause of my sin. My wounds are put rified because of my foolshness. My loins are filled with a loathsome dis ease, there is no soundness in my flesh. My heart panteth My strength faileth me. and the light of mine eyes Is gone from me"
 That blood poison" and leprosy CO., existed among the Hebrews is also proven by the finding of human bones in the ancient hospital of leprosy at lMontplier, which show the character istic carries, and 1t is. therefore, more than probable that the two diseases ofttimes were co-existent in the same individual. But whatever of Biblical evidence Is found relative to the spe- cific malady must be regarded as more or less doubtful, since the words used to denote disease generally refer to are many passages which seemingly
 denote and describe that specific dis
 ease for which Salvarsan is now ar
 antidote.
 In Leviticus, Moses expressly forbids
 the illicit relations of the sexes. But in Numbers, chapters xxxv, we are
 told that the men of Israel, while abid-
 ing in Shittim (Egypt), violated this commandment with the daughters oi Moab and of Midian, and thus engen- dered a plague. We are also informed that among the Midianites and Moab ties there was cult who worshipped Baal-Poer, and that the debauching
 orgies practiced by them in their tenn
 ples were of such a character as was
 naturally calculated to propagate and
 spread certain" diseases. Hence the
 plague of Baal-Poer which destroyed
 the lives of twenty-four thousand oi the Israelites was a sufficient excuse
 for Moses order committing to deatl
 every one of his own people who had
 been initiated by the girls of Moat and Midian into those festive orgies
 And it further appears in Numbers
 xxi that Moses was so wroth about the matter that he made war upor
 Midian and caused to be slain all the
 men of that country, and later, wher
 informed by his captains that the wo-
 
 them In their warfare against those
 people, he commanded his army to gc again into Midian and to slay all the
 women and children, sparing none ex-
 cept the virgins whom they were tc
 make captives. This heroic measure
 of human destruction by Moses was
 probably not wholly for spells and re
 venge, but most likely as a measure oi
 preventing a future spread of the Baal
 Poer plague. However, even this mos
 radical measure seems to have failed
 to eradicate the evil, for in Joshua xi
 we read, Have we too little for tn,
 sickness of 'Poer' wherefore are WI
 not cleansed yet" "Verily are tn, ] sins of the father visited upon the son' ! even to the third and fourth genera
 tion." Many more Biblical passage
 could be cited in confirmation of th' existence of the malady among the He brews and other ancient races, bu such is unnecessary. However, tn world must forever give credit to Mo : ses as the first great pioneer in tn paths of hygiene and prophalaxis.
 That the disease existed among tn Romans is attested in the writings 0 Hypocrates in the fifth century B. : Galen and Discorides also in the sec ond century B. c. make mention O and describe the disorder, as also doe Dion Chrisostomus. Greek orator o , the same century. And I doubt no : the Plague of Athens was an epi |. demic of this special disease to whicl . reference Is here understood Among Lthe Creeks also existent in those day |. was a religious cult in the function of which was practiced certain cere : monials similar to the reveries an, orgies practiccd in the worship O Baal-Poer heretofore mentioned, an, , which were well calculated to promot plague of that disorder.
 l, With the Hindus, 1000 years before tn I Christian era, was also the cult of I.inga t which was similar to that of Baal-Poer l and from bones found in their cemeteries 1t is known that the terrible disease ex istod with them in that far back time ] Thus it is seen that the disease has existe g in all ages and among all nations, an, 8 q study of its history confirms the fac