Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-01-21
Hliseellaneous Reaaina.
FUMIeATIoN IN BIBLE TIMES
Moses Understood The Secret of Kill.
ina Deadly Disease Germs.

ing Deadly Disease Germs.
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 at
tackled the Israelites, then in the Will
derness, and the story, too, Of the
method by which its ravages were
stopped. In verses 46 to 49 Of that
chapter is the ts as follows:
46. And Moses said unto Aaron, Take
a censer and put fire therein from the
altar, and put on incense, and go quick
ly unto the congregation, and make an
atonement for them; for there is wrath
gone out from the Lord; the plague is
begun.
AZ. And Aaron took as Moses COM
manded, 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.
4S. 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. ,s-
From the plain account Of the text, 1t
appears that Aaron separated the men
and women suffering with the plague
from those not yet attacked, and then
he piled the censer with incense and
swung it between the hosts, 80 that not
germ in the air could pass over from
the plague-stricken to those not yet at
tackled by the disease.
It 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
its victims and slays them within a
day.
The disinfecting Of the air and sepa-
rating Of the sick from the well was
dictated by Moses who had learned in
Egypt all the science of his day, and
the Egyptian priests were master Of
many secrets which we have had to
learn over again. It would have been
surprising indeed If they had known
all about infection from germs Of
disease in the air, and as they had
taught this to their princely pupil,
Moses, he employed this principle when
his people were attacked by the plague
in the Wilderness.
It Is well-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 and ap-
proved methods Of disinfecting room
Is to burn a sulphur candle in it, the
fumes Of the sulphur destroying the
germs in the walls and crevices. The
ancient Egyptians had taught the
method Of disinfecting to Moses. and
he hastened to instruct Aaron, prob
ably suggesting to him precisely what
drugs to put into the censers, so as to
make the fumes absolute germicides.
This explains what often has been
considered a miracle, but need be
nothing more than the employment Of
scientific means for stopping the
plague.
It is now believed that the burning Of
incense in many Of the extremely anci-
ent temples and other places of wor-
ship, like those Of India, while made a
part Of the ceremony, was really insti-
tuted by the very wise priests Of those
ancient days, who understood the dam
gers of infection. ..
Especially before such shrines and in
such temples as 1t was customary for
the ancients to make annual pilgrim
ages to, the priests realized that the
thousands and thousands Of pilgrims
had come from various provinces and
from all sorts of conditions Of living,
and that the burning Of the incense
was in reality precaution quite neces-
sary for the preservation Of the health
Of the crowds.
Doubtless a form Of incense was
burned in China and in what is now
India, many centuries before Christ,
probably even before the time Of Moses
and Aaron. 1t may be that the wise
men of those ancient days had learned
through long years of experience that
there was less illness when quantities
Of incense was burned than when none
was used. Whether they believed this
was because of some Divine token of
approval or really understood the dis
infective qualities of the incense is not
known.-New York American.