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"The Leprosy of the Arabs,' he says, appears to have been called by themselves immemorially, and is still called, juzam and juzamlyk, though vulgarly and more generally judam and judamlyk, from an Arabic root, which imports erosion, truncation, excision. The term juzam has passed from Arabia into India, and is the common name for the same disease among the Cabirajas or Hindu physicians, who also occasionally denominate it Fisádi khún, from its being supposed to infect the entire mass of blood, but more generally khora.'

"I learn also, from this communication, that the original Arabic term, which was used to denote the tumid leg, above mentioned, was dal fil, which is literally elephant disease; and, further, that dal fil is the common name for the swelled leg in the present day among the Arabians, who sometimes contract it to fil alone, literally elephas.'

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But, although the Arabians in general distinguished the juzam from other diseases, yet I have observed that they sometimes mentioned the baras (leuce) as having an affinity with it, calling some forms of the juzam black baras. Mr. Good remarks, that ‘juzam itself has occasionally been employed in the same loose manner; and has been made to import leuce or vitiligo, as well as proper or black judam; though in the former case it is commonly distinguished by the epithet merd, i. e. pilis carens, as merd-juzam, bald juzam. The proper and more usual name for this last disease is beras or aberas, sometimes written alberas, though less correctly, as this last is beras with a mere prefix of the definite article.'

"Mr. Good adds, 'that one of the most celebrated remedies for this disease (juzam), employed by the Cabirajas or Hindu physi cians, is arsenic (Shuce, in India sanc' hya) mixed in pills with black pepper,' six parts of the latter being added to one of the former: the pills are ordered to be of the size of small pulse, and one of them is to be swallowed morning and evening, with some betel-leaf.

"Since the publication of the former editions, I have had an opportunity of seeing two cases of Elephantiasis, which have been under treatment in London during the greater part of the present year (1814); and in both the arsenic had been fully tried, and proved to be entirely void of any remedial power.”—Bateman on Cutaneous Diseases, 3d edit. p. 310, 11.

As Dr. Bateman had previously collected more synonyms than we have leisure to count, some of which he retains, and others discards, the reader will determine what light is thrown on the subject by the addition of Mr. Good's. If it were admitted that the same disease has all these names, we shall not take upon us to decide, whether it is worth while for the student to learn, or rather to be puzzled with, them: And, if it differs in different parts of the world, and in different countries, we must either consider that several dif

ferent

ferent diseases are described without discrimination by the same numerous and undefined terms, or else that it really varies in different climates. Now, to suppose that the same disease has a different character at different periods of the world would be absurd, or would involve us in a question which never can be solved. If climate makes the change, it then becomes us to ascertain all the varieties, and the various climates to which each is assigned. The number of terms and of forms is sufficiently intricate in Mr. Good; but Dr. Bateman starts a positive contradiction, which he seems willing to reconcile by means which we have shewn must be unsatisfactory. Having settled that the disease is not infectious, his next difficulty is "With respect to the libido inexplebilis; the evidence of which is not so satisfactory. Its existence, however, (continues he,) is affirmed by most modern writers, with the exception of Dr. Adams. But Dr. A. observed, on the contrary, in the lazars of Madeira, an actual wasting of the generative organs in men, and a want of the usual evolution of them in those who have been attacked before the age of puberty. Is the elephantiasis of Madeira now less virulent than that at former times ?-Has it undergone some change in its character?-Or, is the ancient account of the disease incorrect?" All this uncertainty might be excusable had elephantiasis been unknown in England, as in the days of Dr. Cullen. But, Dr. Bateman, we have seen, after all the difficulties which seem to beset him so thickly in the 1st and 2d editions, concludes the subject in the 3d by remarking, that, since his former edition, he has had an opportunity of seeing two cases of elephantiasis in London. After this, we might have expected an end of conjectures, and an accurate description of what was seen by the author.

The first person, we believe, who suggested a doubt concerning the contagious nature of Elephantiasis, was Dr. Heberden, of Madeira. Dr. Adams followed, and showed the limits which are fixed to its hereditary property. This was confirmed by Dr. (now Sir) Christie, in the East Indies; by Dr. Gourley, in Madeira; by Mr. Want, in the London Med. and Phys. Journal; by Mr. Laurence, in the Medico-Chirurg. Transactions; by Dr. Roberts, in the Medical Transactions of the College of Physicians in London; and, we believe, since Mr. Good wrote, by Dr. Lee, in the Medico-Chirurg. Journal. Yet one of the most remarkable symptoms of the disease, the wasting of the testicle, admitted by all these, accurately described by some, and even carefully noticed by three writers in a specimen seen by Dr. Bateman,

Bateman, is introduced by that gentleman with some doubt,*. and entirely passed over by Mr. Good.

A

In the last gentleman's preliminary Dissertation, we are informed that his object is "not so much to interfere with any existing system of nosology, as to fill up a niche still unoccupied in the great gallery of physiological study." disease, therefore, unknown in England when Dr. Cullen wrote, and which, on that account, he scarcely ventured to describe, had a fair claim to this vacant space, and we can only regret that it should be occupied by words in the interpretation of which every dictionary will deceive or puzzle us, sometimes referring to a white, sometimes a black, sometimes a scaly, sometimes an elephant's or a tubercular skin, or to an elephant's leg. It may be a mark of industry, but it cannot be called of perspicuity, when we are directed from Norway to the Indian Ocean, taking Persia, Asia minor, Egypt, and Arabia, in our route, for the description of a disease which has occurred twice in St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and been described by half a dozen living witnesses. But this niche is so overloaded, that Mr. Good must find some means of relieving it, if he has any mercy on the building, or on those who study it. The lepra Græcorum, we are told, was the leuce, λeux, of the Greeks,—and this in the same note in which we are referred to Dr. Bateman for the "great advantage of a fuller illustration of the subject." Now Dr. Bateman, in about a dozen different notes, assures us that leuce was not lepra Græcorum, but the leprosy of the Jews. Thus, logically reasoning, we arrive at the. account of leuce, and of the leprosy of the Jews, both which have so often eluded our research in Dr. Bateman: for, if leuce is the leprosy of the Greeks, and also the leprosy of the Jews, then the whole is resolved into lepra Græcorum, a disease occurring every day in London. We admit that a difficulty still remains from the contradiction of these two learned writers, but we are truly glad to compromise the matter as well as we can. All this, the reader will keep in mind, relates only to leuce. We have still much to understand concerning Elephantiasis. Of this both these writers are so sensible, that Mr. G., as we have seen, waits for future observation; and Dr. B. concludes his account by remarking, that "accurate histories of Elephantiasis and leuce

* We have just learned that Dr. Bateman has published a fourth edition, without altering this passage. When discoveries are thus stifled, and errors continued in works which we wish to consider as class books, is it possible that medical science can be progressive?

are still among the desiderata of pathologists." Who can believe, after this, that leuce is only lepra Græcorum; or that Dr. Bateman has actually seen with his own eyes two cases of Elephantiasis?

The manner in which the notes are arranged brought syphilodes before our eye, and, of course, directed our attention to syphilis, with which that genus commences: and here we conceived was another fair opportunity of filling a niche.

"Lues.-Ulcers on the genitals, inguinal buboes, or both, after impure coition; succeeded by ulcers in the throat, copper-coloured spots on the skin, bone-pains, and nodes. Syphilis. Sauv. Young.

Venereal Disease.

1. SYPHILIS. Ulcers on the genitals circular, ungranulating, thickening at the edge; those of the throat deep and ragged; symptoms uniform in their progress; yielding to a course of mercury; not known to yield spontaneously.

Syphilis. Linn. Vog. Sag. Cull.

Syphilis venerea. Sauv.

Syphilis maligna. Young.

Lues venerea. Astruc, Macbride.

Frenk zchemeti (--).

Frantzosen. G.

Vérole. F.

Pox.

(nar farsi), or ·

The above Arabic is literally Morbus Gallicus: but the more general name is (ateshi Farsi), according as the Arabic or Persian language is made use of; both meaning equally Ignis Persicus, or Persian Fire. By this name it is constantly denominated by the Cabirajas or physi cians of India. The name is probably taken from Avicenna, who thus distinguished the malignant carbuncle to which syphilitic eruptions are supposed, in the east, to have a near resemn◄ blance. See Phyma Authrax...

2. SYPHILODES. Ulcers indeterminate in their character; symptoms irregular in their appearance; usually yielding sponta neously; variously affected by a course of mercury. Pseudo-syphilitic Disease. Aberneth.

Syphilis pseudo-syphilis. Young.

Sibbens. Sivvens. Qu.?

The varieties seem to be numerous; but have not, hitherto, been sufficiently defined for classification."

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"Gen. VIII. LUES. From Auw, solvo, dissolvo,'' to macerate, dissolve, or corrupt.' Agreeably to the common rule of expressing the power of the Greek by a Roman y, this should be written lyes; but the contrary has obtained so long and so generally, that it would be little less than affectation to attempt a change. .NO.224.

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"That acrimonious and poisonous materials are at times secreted by the genitals, capable of exciting local, and, perhaps, constitutional affections in those who expose themselves to such poisons by incontinent sexual intercourse, appears to have been known to the world from a very early age. Celsus enumerates various diseases of the genitals, most of which are only referable to this source of impure contact: but the hideous and alarming malady which was first noticed as proceeding from the same source towards the close of the fifteenth century, and which has since been called almost exclusively venereal disease, has suppressed, till of late, all attention to these minor evils, in the fearful contemplation of so new and monstrous a pestilence; to various modifications of which most of the anterior and slighter diseases of the same organs seem to have been loosely and generally referred; as though there were but one specific poison issuing from this fountain, and consequently but one specific malady.

"The keen and comprehensive mind of Mr. John Hunter first called the attention of practitioners to the idea of different poisons and different maladies; and the subject has since been pursued by Mr. Abernethy with a force of argument, and illustrated by a range of examples, that seem to have put the question at rest. The latter has sufficiently established, that, independently of the specific disease now generally recognized by the name of syphilis, there are numerous varieties of some other disease, perhaps other specific diseases, which originate from a distinct, possibly from several distinct, poisons, secreted in the same region from peculiarity of constitution, or causes hitherto undiscovered; and which are accompanied by primary and secondary symptoms that often vary in their mode of origin, succession, and termination, from those of genuine syphilis; though, in many instances, they make a striking approach to it: and to which, therefore, Mr. Abernethy has given the name of pseudosyphilitic diseases.

"Whether these really constitute distinct species of disease, issuing from distinct sorts of infection, or are mere varieties or modifications of one common species produced by one common morbid secretion, has not yet been sufficiently determined. In this igno rance upon the subject it is better, for the present, to regard them in the latter, as being the more simple, view;-the author has hence given to this species the name of syphilodes, and has arranged it, along with syphilis, under the generic term lues. The sibbens or sivvens of Scotland seems to appertain to this species.

"The origin of the term syphilis is not exactly ascertained. Dr. Turton spells it siphilis, and derives it from 20s (siphlus) foul or filthy: Sauvages, from où (syn), 'together,' and pinew (phileo) 'to love,'—' mutual love:' in which case it should be spelt according to the common rule. The latter, who introduced the term into the nosological catalogue, appears to have derived it from Fracastoro, who was born at Padua in 1483, and died in 1553, and who spells it, in his very elegant poem De Syphilitide, upon this very inelegant subject, agreeably to the usual mode. There is an equal uncertainty

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