BOTCH.

In a former place, where I endeavoured to shew, that the opinion of those, who esteemed the boils and blains as a disease identical with the Egyptian Elephantiasis, was incorrect, I further observed, that a confirmation of my views was discoverable in the few words that are said in Deuteronomy, respecting what is there termed, the Вотсн.

The words to which I refer are; "The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, whereof thou canst not be healed." (1)

"And the Lord will smite thee in the

(1) Deuteronomy xxviii. 27.

knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch, that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot to the top of thy head."(')

The literal translation, according to Canon Rogers, is, "Jehovah will smite thee with. the ulcerous disease of Egypt, which cannot be cured.

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"Jehovah shall smite thee with a severe ulcerous disease, in the knees and in the legs, which cannot be cured, from the sole of the foot to the crown."

I pointed out, when speaking of the boils and blains, that there was not a word said as to its incurability, which we find so expressly stated in the above description of the botch; and which circumstance I then offered as an argument, why the Elephantiasis was not to be considered the disease there referred to.

It is not a little singular, that this malady

(1) Deut. xxviii. 35.

still enjoys, as a mark of specific distinction, the epithet of Egyptian, by which it is so forcibly described in the Sacred writings; and in another place I have quoted. the words of Lucretius, to shew that this disease was considered as having its origin on the banks of the Nile, in the centre of the kingdom of Egypt: and thus Pliny also observes," ad postremum vero nigrescente, et ad ossa carnes apprimente, intumescentibus digitis in pedibus manibusque."(1)

Boothroyd, in his note on the thirty-fifth verse, says, "that it contains a correct description of the Elephantiasis," and adds, "that as no cure has been discovered for this disease, it agrees perfectly with the description of Moses."

I shall not deviate here from the mode that I have pursued, in the preceding pages,

(1) Pliny, Hist. Naturalis, lib. xxvi. cap. 1.

of strengthening my position, by giving the modern general history of the disease as described by medical authors.

Elephantiasis Arabica aut Egyptiaca, may be thus defined, "Skin thick, livid, rugose, tuberculate: tubercles chiefly on the face. (especially forehead) and joints, insensibility of feeling, fall of hair excepting from the skalp, perspirations offensive, eyes fierce and staring, voice hoarse and nasal."

I have said so much in former pages about the confusion that has become established in the histories of this and other diseases, that it renders it unnecessary to meet the question here ;—I shall, therefore, confine myself to a short description of the disease.

It commences gradually, occasionally, a few years elapse before the health becomes disordered; the first symptom is generally a slight eruption, which shortly shews itself to

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be of a tubercular character; it most commonly first attacks the alæ of the nose, the pendula of the ears and the face, occasionally but little altered from the natural colour and general appearance of the skin: -after remaining some months in this apparently indolent condition, a new action takes place, when they ulcerate and discharge, in small quantities, a fœtid ichorous humour, but never a healthy pus.

The features swell, and the face generally speaking enlarges greatly, and the forehead becomes as it were inflated and overhanging, giving a ferocious and very peculiar expression of countenance, bearing a resemblance to that of a lion, which has induced some of the Greek writers to term the disease "Leontiasis."

Dr. Joy(1) says very justly, that “ one

(1) Cyclopædia of Medicine.