The swollen condition of his face, the falling away of his limbs, and speedy recovery, are all circumstances favourable to the idea, that Job's malady was smallpox; at any rate, they are in direct opposition to the symptoms of the other more common diseases of Arabia.

THE DISEASE OF KING SAUL.

THE disease of King Saul does not appear to have been spoken of in the Scriptures. as a true madness (in the vulgar acceptation of the word), not what is elsewhere understood by the being possessed of a demon; but a "melancholia" occasioned

(1) 1 Sam. chap. xvi. v. 10.—Ex hoc versu plane apparet quam late dixerint Hebræi Spiritum Jove. Nam sub hoc

by the severe reverses of his fortunes; therefore we are told, after these are detailed, that an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him, for the cure of which his servants recommended his listening to the playing of "a cunning player on the harp," and it appears that Saul, being fully sensible of his condition, acquiesced in the suggestion of his servants; and we further find the result of David's playing to be, that Saul was refreshed and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him. But if we look at the previous and subsequent history of Saul, and bear in mind that, in

spiritu non dæmonem aliquem qui Saulum obsiderit, esse intelligendum, docet remedium, quod aulici suadent adhibendum. Musica non expellitur dæmon, sed aminus tristis ea adhibita potest exhilirari. Ex cantatione quadam, quæ hymnorum recitatione facta sit, expulsos dæmones qui Saulum vexassent, figmentum est Josephi ex opinione Judæorum si temporis de magna dæmonum vi in homines.-Dathe.

the present day, melancholia is considered. as a true madness, we find that Saul was in every respect worthy from his actions. the epithet of madman.

A recent writer(') observes, that maniacal aberration exhibits itself under the three great forms, of the furious, the gloomy, and the idiotic, and that these distinctions correspond with the mania, melancholia, amentia, and fatuitas of nosologists. This, although but a popular subdivision of the complaint, is certainly superior to that which the old pathological writers chiefly dwelt upon; they assumed the extent of maniacal aberration as destructive of the species, and the term melancholia was made to bear a reference, not to the concomitant dejection and despondency, but to the limitation of the diseased condition of mind to a few objects

(1) Dr. Gregory.

or trains of ideas; but with Dr. Uwins, I may here observe, that I do not attach much value to the kinds and shapes as marked out by authors.

The mania(1) of King Saul appears to partake of the furious and gloomy, though not confined to any specific hallucination. Dr. Burrows says, (2) that a patient under these circumstances," manifests great susceptibility and nervous agitation, lowness of spirits and groundless apprehensions, is anxious about trifles, sighs deeply, and perhaps sheds tears; he falls into long reveries, with a look fixed on vacuity, neglects all former pursuits, seeks solitude, and spurns intercourse with his

(1) "Now to me it appears manifest, that this king's disease was a true madness, and of the melancholia or atrabilious kind, as the ancient physicians called it. And the fits returned on him at uncertain periods, as is frequently the case in this sort of disease."-DR. MEAD.

(2) Dr. Burrows' Commentaries on Insanity, p. 353.

nearest and dearest friends. The affections are perverted and blunted, the temper becomes querulous, passionate, and suspicious. . . . . While the symptoms are thus gradually developed, the patient appears as if enduring some internal conflict, to suppress the impulse which may betray his mental aberration. He gradually entertains a conviction of suspicion concerning the nature of his malady, which he carefully conceals, a delusion, therefore, may long be generated before it is exhibited."

The history of this portion of Saul's life is an illustration of the above: we see it in the immediate cause of the evil spirit of the Lord troubling him; in his dismay and fear at the words of the Philistine; in his envy of David, the preserver of himself and the friend of his son;-in the violent attempt to destroy him; and, because prevented, in that mad fury which suggested him to annihilate his son.