[161] _Poterii opera cum annot. Frid. Hoffmanni edita, Francof. 1698. pag. 72._
Now these histories, wonderful as they seem, are not to be refused credit. For all nature is animated in a surprizing degree. The air which we breathe, the food which we eat; all fluids especially, are full of animalcula of very different kinds. Whence it is possible, that some of these, being received into our bodies, and conveyed into the minute passages of the softest parts, as into nests, may there grow, as worms do in the intestines, to their proper size. Hence by the obstruction of the smallest vessels, tumors arise; which being suppurated by heat, and bursting, pour forth their foul offspring in the shape of worms.
Wherefore I cannot agree with those interpreters, who imagine that Herod was consumed by, and died of the _phthiriasis_, or _louzy disease_. For [Greek: skôlêx] is a different creature from [Greek: phtheir]; this corrodes the surface of the skin, that the inner parts of the body. Nor can it admit of doubt, that saint Luke, who was a physician, well understood the meaning of both the words. And yet I know that the disease proceeding [Greek: hypo tôn phtheirôn] is by some learned men confounded with that caused [Greek: hypo tôn skôlêkôn]; of the first of which Pherecides Syrius,[162] and Lucius Sylla,[163] are said to have died. Whereupon Kuhnius says,[164] _I look upon the word_ [Greek: skôlêkobrôtos] _in saint Luke, and_ [Greek: phtheirobrôtos] _in Hesychius_,[165] _to be synonimous terms_: and his reason is, because lice are worms.
[162] _Ælian. var. hist. Lib. iv. Cap. 28._
Obvious punctuation errors have been corrected. Due to the age of the text, varied spelling has been preserved.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Medica Sacra, by Richard Mead