Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-01-27
FuMIeATloN IN BIBLE TIMES.
Moses Understood the Secret of Kill.
ing Deadly Disease.

Moses knew the secret of killing
the germs in the air This is made
clear by the account of the staying of
the plague as recorded in the Book of
| Numbers. In the sixteenth chapter
of that book is the story of the awful
plague that attacked the Israelites,
then in the Wilderness, and the story
too, of the method by which its raw
ages were stopped In verses 46 to
40 of the chapter is the tale, as fol-
| lows:
As. And Moses said unto Aaron
Take a conser and put fire therein
from the altar, and put on incense,
and go quickly unto the congregation
and make an atonement for them; for
there is wrath gone out from the
Lord; the plague is begun.
y AZ. And Aaron took as Moses
commanded, and ran into the midst of
the congregation; and, behold, the
plague was begun among the people;
and he put on incense, and made an
atonement for the people.
As. And he stood between the dead
and the living; and the plague was
stayed.
40. Now. they that died in the
plague were 14,700, besides them that
died about the matter of korah.
From the plain account of the text
it appears that Aaron separated the
men and women suffering with the
plague from those not yet attacked,
and then he piled the censor with in
cense and swung it between the hosts,
SO that not germ in the air could
pass over from the plague stricken TO
those not yet attacked by the disease.
1t is probable, from the character OF
the attack, as recorded in the Bible,
that this plague was something like
the plaques which have appeared OF
late years in Europe, and later In
China, that hasty cholera which
seizes upon it's victims and Stays them
within day.
The disinfecting of the air and
separating of the sick from the well
was dictated by Moses, who had
learned in Egypt all the science OF his
day, and the Egyptian presses were
master of many secrets which we
have had to learn over again. II
would have been surprising indeed II
they had known all about injection
from germs of disease in the air. ana
they had taught this to their princeiy
pupil, Moses, he employed this primer
pie when his people were attacked by
the plague in the Wilderness.
1t is we'll known among modern
chemists that the essential oils are
powerful antiseptics, and these OILS
were freely used in the making OF the
incense with which the censers were
filled. One of the most modern ana
approved methods of disinfecting
room is TO burn sulphur candle IN II,
the fumes of the sulphur destroying
the germs in the walls and creyices.
The ancient Egyptians had taught the
method of disinfecting to Moses, ana
he FASTENED to instruct Aaron, prob
ably suggesting to him precisely what
drugs to put into the censors, SO as to
make the fumes absolute germieides.
This explains what often has been
considered a miracle, but need be
nothing more than the employment OF
scientific means for stopping the
plague.
1t is now believed that the burning
of incense in many of the extremely
ancient temples and other places OF
worship, like those of India, while
made a part of the ceremony, was
really luSlitulSQ ny list ~
priests of those ancient days, who UNI
derstood the dangers of infection.
Especially before such shrines ana
in such temples as it was customary
for the ancients to make annual piiA
grimages to- the priests realized that
the thousands and thousands of pill
grims had come from various prov
inces and from all sorts of conditions
of living. and that the burning of the
incense was in reality a precaution
quite necessary for the preservation OF
the health of the crowds.
Doubtless form of incense was
burned in China and in what is now
India many centuries before Christ,
probably even before the time oil
Moses and Aaron. 1t may be that
the wise men of those ancient ways
had learned through long years of ex-
perience that there was less illness
when quantities of incense was
burned than when none was used.
Whether they believed this was be-
cause of some Divine token OF ap-
prevail or really understood the disin-
fective qualities of the incense is not
known.-New York Times.
Chivalry Then and Now.