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History
of the Jewish Physicians, from the French of E. Carmoly, by John R. W. Dunbar, M. D. &c. Baltimore, 8 vo. pp. 94.
We
have frequently said that the inferiority for the last few centuries
chargeable upon the Jews in a literary point of view was not owing to
any inherent defect for literary development among our people, but to
the grinding oppression which every nation thought it a species of duty
to inflict upon our race. The idea of allowing a Jew to enter a workshop
to learn a useful trade was considered preposterous; and it was of
course out of the question to permit him to frequent the collegiate
halls, whence he might carry away a knowledge of the sciences. No
wonder, then, that by degrees the Jew learnt to hate mechanical
occupations, which were beyond his reach, and to neglect sciences which
he could acquire only with immense labour and the most patient
self-instruction. That notwithstanding this some few became eminent in
sciences, is but another evidence of the elasticity of the Jewish mind,
which under all the hardships to which it was exposed would not permit
itself to sink into barbarism, or moral debasement. When, however, it
was permitted to us to devote ourselves to the acquisition of learning,
as was the case before the dark period
commencing in Spain with the era of Ferdinand and Isabella, and in other
countries a little earlier or later, we took a stand among the men of
science which placed us in the front ranks of civilization. Of this the
fragmentary little volume before us gives ample proof, and we thank Dr.
Dunbar that he has rendered the information, imperfect as it is,
accessible to the English reader.
The
book opens with tracing the first dawning of medical knowledge in the
book of Genesis where we find "that Egypt, the ancient cradle of
wisdom, was in possession of the art of embalming the body at the time
of Joseph.—(Gen. 1.1, 2.) This custom would imply in the Egyptians some idea of anatomy, and would
early give them knowledge in reference to the seat of diseases, and the
derangement produced by them. The question has often been discussed,
whether the Hebrews taught the healing art to the Egyptians, or learnt
it from them. On this point it will be sufficient to remark, that the
two nations having dwelt a long time together, would necessarily
interchange their science and knowledge."
The
author places Moses high among scientific medical men, and supports his
claim by the part of the law which contains hygienic directions, the
signs of the white leprosy, and the means to cure it; and he asserts
that his exactness of the description of this terrible disease has been
corroborated by the researches of modern physicians.
Mr.
Carmoly thinks that in the first period of the Jewish state the priests
were the physicians of the people, and that the practice of medicine
remained associated with them even after they became masters of
Palestine. Diseases were always considered as occasioned directly by the
Most High, and it was his direct agency which cured them.
Solomon,
however, is considered as having taught how to cure diseases by natural
means, and tradition ascribes to him "the Sepher Refuoth," or
book of healing diseases, which Hezekiah is said to have destroyed; and
the medical works attributed to him bore his fame even to the Arabians.
After the death of Solomon, the healing art is said to have fallen in
the hands of the prophets, who by their prayers were enabled to cure
diseases. But it seems to us that the prophetic interference was only
upon occasions where human skill had been invoked in vain, or when it
was necessary to punish or bless signally in a miraculous manner.
Certain it is, that the word "physician" occurs frequently in
the prophetic writings; a memorable instance in Jeremiah will no doubt
recur to the reader's mind: "Is there no balm in Gilead? is there
no physician there?"
Mr.
Carmoly says in continuation:
"On
the other hand there is no doubt that this science was cultivated by the
doctors of the law, of whom Ezra, the scribe, may be considered the
chief. The doctors of the law have always been the depositaries of it
and esteemed it as appertaining exclusively to their province. Seeing
the influence and consideration that their knowledge gave them with the
public they shrouded it in mystery, and took all possible precaution to
prevent the admission of other classes of the community.
"But
did they cultivate this science in a methodical manner, and is it
evident that what they have done gave it a perceptible progress? We
think not; at least they have handed down to us nothing by which we
could judge. Nevertheless, according to tradition, Ezra and Nehemiah
were very well versed in the virtues of herbs and the qualities of
roots."
We
have only to object to one sentence in the above, that the doctors of
the law shrouded their knowledge in mystery. Certainly the open
treatises of the Talmud afford no evidence of the fact; for there is
recorded whatever the doctors themselves knew. There can be no doubt
that the unlearned were held in but little esteem. Does not this rather
argue that ignorance was held unpardonable, because knowledge was within
reach of all?
Of
the Essenians we are presented with the following notice:
"Finally,
at this time, an entire sect of the Jews were celebrated for their skill
in the treatment of diseases. They were called indiscriminately by the
name of Essenians, or by that of Therapeutists, signifying healers—physicians.
The most remarkable man among them was Theodore, the physician, a man of
great merit, who flourished at Alexandria.*
"The
Essenians, distinguished for their pure and amiable morality, cultivated
medicine not only to make themselves more acceptable, but to discover
the means of perfecting the mental qualities, by rendering the body most
healthy. Apostles of their doctrines, they confirmed them by a great
number of remarkable cures.
"The
members of this sect were esteemed as saints and physicians, who could
by faith and words alone, heal diseases. This plan of driving unclean
spirits from the body of the diseased by their conjurations, was also
pursued at that time by the Pharisees. Josephus* relates a case of which
he was an eye-witness, of the cure of one possessed with an unclean
spirit, produced by a certain Eleazer, in the presence of the Emperor
Vespasian. The physician introduced into the nose of the sick person, a
root recommended in similar cases by King Solomon, which God had endowed
with this property: he pronounced, besides, the name of this ancient
kind of Israel, and the magical formula which he had laid down."
The
destruction of Jerusalem, as our author affirms, did not affect learning
among the Jews, and the medical art particularly was taught with great
care. The Talmud, indeed, is full of medical notices, and matters
relating to natural history. Incidentally Mr. Carmoly asserts in this
connexion "that the book of Zohar, (a cabalistic work of great
repute) has been falsely attributed to Simeon Ben Jochai, a doctor of
the second century; but that, it is in fact the work of Moses, of Leon,
a Rabbi of the third century, which we have proved elsewhere." We
are somewhat curious to see the proofs which Mr. C. has adduced to
establish that the Zohar is not the work of Rabbi Simeon, to whom it is
generally ascribed, especially by the numerous adherents of the work,
with which we regret we have but a slight acquaintance.
Concerning
the medical acquirements of the Jews in the third century, Mr. Carmoly
says:
"However
limited and imperfect the medical knowledge of the Jews at the third
century may appear to us, if we compare it with the actual condition of medicine, we cannot deny the tribute of
admiration to the discoveries which they have made, and the great
eminence to which they had carried the healing art, notwithstanding the
state of ignorance which prevailed in reference to the science. We shall
only speak of three physicians of that period. Hannina is the first of
all the physicians of his nation. He placed upon his seal a branch of
the palm tree, a symbol of true medicine.* He became the physician
of Yehuda, son of Simeon, called by distinction, Rabbi, Hanassi,
Hakadosh, that is to say, master, prince and saint, who died
in the year 205. The Talmud refers to our physician as distinguished at
that period.†
"The
second, Samuel, rendered himself remarkable among the most celebrated
physicians of his time. He is generally styled Yarchinai the
astronomer, on account of his great knowledge in the science of the
stars. Samuel, after having practised medicine in Palestine, established
himself at Neharda, (Hardith) a city of Lower Mesopotamia, which he
rendered famous by his miraculous cures. He was a good accoucheur, an
excellent oculist, and cured the celebrated Yehuda, the prince, with a
certain remedy which bears his name, the collyrium of Samuel.*
His medical aphorisms are well known to the Talmudists.† Samuel appears
in the sandy plains of medicine like that bountiful river which causes
fertility through a part of the fields of Egypt. With what friendship
does he hold the hand of Rabbi Samuel
and Rab were always closely united. A sympathy of disposition and
character, an unalterable attachment, the same fondness for study, the
same love for the sciences, distinguished these two friends. Whilst the
first rendered himself immortal by the theory as well as the practice of
medicine, the other devoted himself to the study of anatomy, so much
neglected up to that period. He devoted a considerable sum for the
purchase of subjects, in order that he. might prosecute his anatomical
researches.‡ But notwithstanding his researches, he described at that
period only two hundred and forty-eight parts in man; but so little did
they understand the true value of his science that they made use after
his death, in 243, of the earth of his tomb to cure a fever."
§
The
progress of the sciences of medicine kept pace with the other studies
which occupied the Jewish schools during the time that the Talmudic
doctors flourished, and these left a large fund of sound aphorisms and
their acquired experience in anatomy and practice of medicine, although
some of what they have asserted is not founded upon observation, and is
only owing to the prejudices of the age in which they lived, as our
author justly remarks. We will merely add in this connexion, that to sit
down to the perusal of the Talmud, to find there all the results and
discoveries of modern science, or otherwise to pronounce its authors as
unlearned, would be equally as absurd as to blame Socrates for not
entertaining the doctrines of monotheistic systems, with which his age
and country were entirely unacquainted.
After
the close of the Talmud, "the fall of the Persian Empire, the
conquest of the Arabians, and the numerous revolutions of which these
events were either the cause or the consequence, disturbed the quiet of
the Oriental academies, and produced a decline in medicine as well as
all the other sciences cultivated in those schools." And with the
decline of true science, empiricism, as usual in other cases, raised its
head, and a miraculous cabbala was resorted to effect what
simple applications of natural means can alone effect. It was thus, that
from the fifth to the seventh century of the common era, true medicine
found but few votaries, as far as the records, which are doubtlessly
very imperfect, will permit us to judge. But, "though the number of
learned Israelites had much diminished during the conquest of Persia by
the Saracens, and notwithstanding their books, equally with those of the
Persians, had been destroyed by the order of the Caliph Omar, the taste
for study was not entirely destroyed, but it soon revived and medicine
resumed its ancient splendour."
"Maser
Djawah Ebn Djeldjal, of Basra, appeared. This celebrated physician was
one of those remarkable geniuses that nature appears to raise up from
time to time to revolutionize the sciences. This able physician, who at
the same time was a good poet, judicious critic, and profound
philosopher, taught the Arabians the arts and sciences; he prevailed on
the Caliph Moawia, the first, whose physician he was, to cause works
which were written in foreign languages to be translated, to put them in
the power of the whole world.
In
the work which he translated from the Greek into the Syriac language,
there is a disquisition on the small-pox. The first description of which
is not due to Mohamed ben Zazaria Razi, as is generally supposed.
"At
the period that Maser Djawah rendered such great services to his art,
some other Hebrew physicians established among the Nestorians a
celebrated school of medicine at Djondisabour, in Khusistan.* Students
flocked there from all parts to listen to the most celebrated masters of
that epoch. In an hospital situated near that celebrated school, the
young students were initiated into the practices of the art, and
received clinical lessons; their pupils obtained the greatest success,
so much so that on leaving this school they were deemed qualified to
fill the place of professors in medical and other institutions."
The
second caliph of the line of the Abassides, Abou Giaffir Almanzor,
having been restored from a dangerous illness by the skill of a
physician from the Nestorian school, established a college at Baghdad,
which through the translation of those Greek works which had been before
neglected, powerfully contributed to give to the young Israelites the
desire for instruction. Our author continues:
"The
school of Baghdad soon became celebrated. From it arose Isaac Ben Emran,
a celebrated physician and philosopher. Born at Damascus, he came at an
early period to Baghdad to study medicine, and there made such progress,
that Zaid, an African Emir of Kairouan, the chief city of the Arabs in
Barbary, gave him his full confidence and appointed him his physician.
Zaid having fallen sick, a Christian physician condemned so obstinately
all that had been directed by the Jewish physician that he could not but
perceive that the sole object of the Christian was to deprive him of the
good-will of the Emir.
"Isaac
could not submit to such treatment. He declined attending upon the case
of Zaid, not so much from anger as on account of attachment for him.
When the Emir demanded the reason of his conduct, he replied in these
remarkable words: 'The disagreement of two physicians is more deadly
than a Tertian fever.' This was apparently the year 183 of the
Hegira (799 of the common era)."
(To be continued.)
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