of others. Yet modern science has established what goes far to vindicate the Mosaic classification
as more philosophical than such cavils. It is now known that there are some skin diseases which
originate in an acarus, and others which proceed from a fungus. In these we may probably find the
solution of the paradox. The analogy between the insect which frets the human skin and that which
frets the garment that covers it—between the fungous growth that lines the crevices of the epidermis
and that which creeps in the interstices of masonry—is close enough for the purposes of a ceremonial
law. It is manifest also that a disease in the human subject caused by an acarus or by a fungus would
be certainly contagious, since the propagative cause could be transferred from person to person.
(Geikie in his “Life of Christ” says: “Leprosy signifies smiting, because it was supposed to be a
direct visitation of Heaven. It began with little specks on the eyelids and on the palms of the hands,
and gradually spread over different parts of the body, bleaching the hair white wherever it showed
itself, crusting the affected parts with shining scales, and causing swellings and sores. From the
skin it slowly ate its way through the tissues, to the bones and joints, and even to the marrow, rotting
the whole body piecemeal. The lungs, the organs of speech and hearing, and the eyes, were attacked
in turn, till at last consumption or dropsy brought welcome death. The dread of infection kept men
aloof from the sufferer; and the law proscribed him as above all men unclean. The disease was
hereditary to the fourth generation.” Leprosy in the United States.—The Medical Record, February,
1881, states that from the statistics collected by the Dermatological Society it appears that there
are between fifty and one hundred lepers in the United States at present. Is modern leprosy
contagious?—Dr. H.S. Piffard of New York, in the Medical Record, February, 1881, decides that
it is in a modified degree contagious. “A review of the evidence led to the conclusion that this
disease was not contagious by ordinary contact; but it may be transmitted by the blood and secretions.
A recent writer, Dr. Bross, a Jesuit missionary attached to the lazaretto at Trinidad, takes the ground
that the disease in some way or other is transmissible. It is a well-established fact that when leprosy
has once gained for itself a foothold in any locality, it is apt to remain there and spread. The case
of the Sandwich Islands illustrates the danger. Forty years ago the disease did not exits there; now
one-tenth of the inhabitants are lepers.” This is further confirmed by the fact stated by Dr. J.
Hutchinson, F.R.S., that “We find that nearly everywhere the disease is most common on the
seashore, and that, when it spreads inland, it generally occurs on the shores of lakes or along the
course of large rivers.” Leprosy as a type of sin.—“Being the worst form of disease, leprosy was
fixed upon by God to be the especial type of sin, and the injunctions regarding it had reference to
its typical character.” It was (1) hereditary; (2) contagious; (3) ever tending to increase; (4) incurable
except by the power of God; (5) a shame and disgrace; (6) rendering one alone in the world; (7)
deforming, unclean; (8) “separating the soul from God, producing spiritual death; unfitting it forever
for heaven and the company of they holy, and insuring its eternal banishment, as polluted and
abominable.” (9) Another point is referred to by Thompson (in “The Land and the Book”): “Some,
as they look on infancy, reject with horror the thought that sin exists within. But so might any one
say who looked upon the beautiful babe in the arms of a leprous mother. But time brings forth the
fearful malady. New-born babes of leprous parents are often as pretty and as healthy in appearance
as any; but by and by its presence and workings become visible in some of the signs described in
the thirteenth chapter of Leviticus.”—ED.)
Leshem
(precious stone), another form of Laish, afterward Dan, occurring in (Joshua 19:47)
Letushim
frankie
(Frankie)
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