Madison County Democrat. (London, Ohio) 19??-1958, 1951-04-10

cule and are creating less toxic
and more effective derivatives
faster than physicians can evalu-
ate them clinically.
Even habitually skeptical inves-
tigators have come to expect that
the promin group of drugs will
soon occupy place in the treat
ment of leprosy and tuberculosis
similar to that which the sulf-
onamide group and penicillin oc-
cupy in the treatment of epidemic
meningitis, pneumococcus, pneu-
monia and gas gangrene.
The public health problem at
present is less that of discover
ing new drugs for the treatment
of leprosy than that of persuading
patients stigmatized as lepers
to submit to treatment At present
there are, even in the United
States, at least two patients at
large and untreated for every pa
tient who is receiving medical
care for Hansen's disease. The
reason for this is solely the fear
Of the name. Patients prefer to
conceal their condition and 60 in
to hiding rather than to be os-
tracized by society as they will
be when the name of leprosy is
fastened upon them.
Even a superficial reading of
the thirteenth chapter of Levitt
icus sufficient to convince any
physician that the six or seven
conditions which are defined under
the Hebrew word zaraath" had
nothing in common with what is
called leprosy today. The repeat
ed expression throughout the Old
Testament, leprous as snow, may
be applied to vitiligo or to psoria-
sis but could never by any aero
battles of the Imagination be ap-
piled to infection with Hansen's
bacillus.
The condition of the scalp de-
scribed in Leviticus is quite un-
mistakably fayus, or ringworrn of
the scalp, and not possibly lep-
rosy. The other passages in this
interesting chapter are more diff
ficult to identify but apparently
apply to vitiligo, psoriasis and to
leukemia and tuberculosis of the
skin.
The most characteristic features
of infection with Hansens bacillus
(such as nerve involvement with
loss of sensation in the extrenit-
les are nowhere mentioned. The
descriptions of leprosy of gar
ments and leprosy of houses
should be conclusive proof that
"zaraath" is not the name of a
disease and certainly not of the
disease that we call leprosy.
The clue to the significance of
this condition among the ancient
Hebrews is to be found in the
numerous cases in which leprosy
is described as being an affliction
which is the result of divine dis
pleasure (as in the case of Mir
iam) or as being a sign of di-
vine power tas in the case of
Moses or of being miraculously
cured by bathing in the Jordan
(as in the case of Naaman.
Indicated 1lemish not Disease
The word leprosy quite OBJ
viously was applied not to di-
Sease of the skin but to a mark
or blemish which rendered the
person Enthusiastically unclean.
Blemishes or marks were re-
garded by all primitive tribes as
having magical significance as
can be easily verified in Frazer's
Golden Bough." Among the an
cient Hebrews in particular,
blemishes or marks were regard
ed as of evil omen. An animal, for
example, that was selected for
sacrifice had to be without blem-
ish'; likewise man, even of the
tribe of Levi, had to be without
blemish' in order to be accept
able for the priesthood.
The Greek word lepra had been
used in the writings attributed to
Hippocrates to refer to a vague
group of scaly conditions of the
skin regarded as having no SER
ious Importance. The translators
of the Hebrew Testament into
Alexandrian Greek (the Septu-
agint) at about 100 BIC. used the
word "lepra" in their effort to
find a Greek equivalent for "zara-
ath", The writers of the New
Testament followed the example
of this Greek Septuagint.
One important feature Of lep-
rosy as described in the New
Testament confirms the view that
it was thought of essentially as
a mark of taboo. Other diseases
in the New Testament are de-
scribed as being healed" or eur
ed" Leprosy, however, is de-
scribed as being "cleansed."
When Jerome came to translate
the Bible into the Latin Vulgate
a new situation confronted him.
Galen already had precisely de-
scribed the condition which we
now know as leprosy. Galen's des-
cription is the first that can be
identified beyond all questions
as Hansen's disease. The term
which Galen applied to If was