SIR RISDON BENNETT, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S. THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, 56 PATERNOSTER Row, and 65 ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD. 1887. PREFACE. ONE of our most illustrious physicians, distinguished alike as an accomplished scholar and patron of learning and the arts, Dr. Richard Mead, Court Physician to George II, was the first British author who published, towards the end of his busy life, a distinct and scholarly work on the Diseases of the Bible, entitled Medica Sacra. The original edition was in Latin, in the preface to which he says, 'Beßýλois autem hæc non scripsi; sed iis tantum qui aut sacris theologicis aut medicis, initiati sint et eruditi.' For neither of these classes are the following pages primarily intended, but rather for the ordinary educated student of the Scriptures, whether professional or not. The subject, however, involves the discussion of questions demanding the aid of both the initiated and the learned. I have endeavoured to abstain as much as possible from either method or language that would not help the general reader, and have confined myself mainly to the medical aspects of the subjects discussed. To my friends, Dr. W. A. Greenhill and the Rev. Dr. Green, my grateful thanks are due for the assistance which they have kindly afforded me. To Dr. Greenhill, not only for the benefit which I have derived from his published writings, but also for the valued criticisms and help with which he has favoured me while these sheets have been passing through the press; to Dr. Green, for the needed aid of his Hebrew scholarship. |