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marry her. The father then became alarmed for the honour of his family, and he therefore took her aside one day, and with a hatchet cut her to pieces."

In the Sandwich Islands, according to the testimony of Mr. Ellis, it was customary to spare the life of a female child, but, from the moment of its birth, it was doomed to feel its humiliating and degraded position. It was not allowed to be fed with a particle of food from the father's dish, or that had been cooked at the father's fire. Whereas a boy, whose birth had given his family importance in the eyes of society, was, from his earliest years, admitted to partake of his father's food, eat his meals with him, and was daily loaded with a thousand

caresses.

All the laborious work in the East is performed by females, and even now the unmarried women of the family have to draw water from the wells. Agrecably to this custom Rebecca went instead of her mother to fetch water from the well, and the servant of Abraham expected to meet an unmarried female there who might prove a suitable match for his master's son. These young women go forth to perform this humble service adorned with their trinkets, which are often of great value.

Rebecca, when she repaired to the well, was in a pastoral country, the manners of which are everywhere simple, and moreover she was well known to be the daughter of the great chief of the place, who might in these circumstances repair to the well without being accompanied by a protector. But in the neighbourhood of towns, when the young women on whom the office devolves go beyond the gates, morning and evening, to draw water, it is not deemed respectable to go otherwise than in groups; and hence the very improper conduct of the woman of Samaria in appearing at the well alone, at a time when strangers were wont to make their appearance at such a place of public resort. (John 4. 7-30.) Only one traveller, of dignified mien and of unsullied virtue, was found at the village well on that occasion, and the privacy was by his divine wisdom improved to greater advantage than it might, humanly speaking, had there been a company of lively young women along with her. But still her going unattended by others of her sex was a gross impropriety; and, to those acquainted with Eastern manners, was sufficient to reveal the looseness and profligacy of her character.

The patriarchs did not commit their flocks and herds solely to the care of menial servants and strangers; they tended them in person, or placed them under the superintendence of their sons and daughters, who were bred to the same laborious employment, and were taught to perform without reluctance the meanest services. Rebecca, the only daughter of a shepherd prince, went to a considerable distance to draw water; and it is evident from the readiness and address with which she let down her pitcher from her shoulder, aud gave drink to the servant of Abraham, and afterwards drew for all his camels, that she had been long accustomed to that humble employment.

From the same authority we know that Rachel, the daughter of Laban, kept her father's flocks, and submitted to the various privations and hardships of a pastoral life in the deserts of Syria. The classical writers, too, frequently represent the sons and daughters of kings, in times not long posterior to those of the patriarchs, as engaged in these simple occupations. Minerva appeared to Ulysses in the form of a very young shepherd, such as the sons of kings were wont to be.

This primeval simplicity was long retained among the Greeks. Homer often sends the daughters of princes and nobles to tend the flocks, to wash the

clothes of the family at the fountain, or in the flowing stream, and to perform many other menial services. The in-door occupations, such as baking bread, &c., were all performed by women. In Genesis 18. 6 we read that when Abraham entertained the angels, he "hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth." It may seem extraordinary to see a lady of such distinction as Sarah, the wife of a powerful chief, occupied in this menial service. But even now this duty devolves on the women of every household, and among those who dwell in tents, the wife of the proudest chief is not above superintending the preparation of the bread, or even kneading and baking it with her own hands. Tamar, the daughter of a king, seems to have acquired distinction as a good baker of bread (see 2Sam. 13. 5-10), and there are few of the heavy duties which fall upon the women of the East which they are more anxious to do well, and get credit for, than this. It is among the very first of an Eastern female's accomplishments. The other duties of the kitchen still often devolve upon the wives, even in families of distinction. When Dr. Richardson was at Jerusalem, he was, as a physician, consulted about the complaints of the ladies of a Turk of high consideration, called Omar Effendi. "I was surprised," says the doctor, "to hear many of them ascribe their complaints to fatigue, which I was informed arose from their employment in the kitchen."

Even now it is very rare for an Eastern lady to be able to write: their minds are left wholly uncultivated, and what time they can spare from their household occupations is principally devoted to embroidery, of which they work great quantities.

This want of education joined to their other disadvantages, naturally disqualifies them from being companions to their husbands; indeed, in all parts of the East, females are spoken of as being much inferior to men in wisdom, and nearly all their sages have proudly descanted upon their great ignorance. In the Hindoo book called Karral, it is said, “All women are ignorant." In other works it is said, "Ignorance is a woman's jewel;" "Female wisdom is from the evil one." "The feminine qualities are four: ignorance, fear, shame, and impurity." "To a woman disclose not a secret." "Talk not to me in that way, it is all female wisdom."

In ancient times the Egyptian women carried on a trade in making and selling linen, girdles, &c. This commerce is mentioned by Herodotus; but, according to Maillet, is lost to the women of Egypt in general, being only retained by the Arabs of that country who live in the mountains. The Arabian historians say that the women used to deal in buying and selling things woven of silk, gold and silver, of pure silk, of cotton, of cotton and thread, or simple linen cloth, whether made in the country or imported; the men in wheat, barley, rice, and other productions of the earth. The same author states that the same practice still continues among the Arabs who live in the mountains. At the present day we see offered for sale, in Oriental towns, either at first or second hand, the outer garments woven by the Arab females, the admired carpets made by the Eelaut women of Persia, and even the elegant embroideries wrought by the town ladies in their secluded harems. See art. WIFE.

That the same custom prevailed in Palestine, in the time of Solomon, we infer from Proverbs 31. 10-31, where the "virtuous woman" is described as "seeking wool and flax, and working willingly with her hands;" also, "she layeth her hands to the spindle, and her

WOMAN

hands hold the distaff;" also, "she maketh fine linen, and selleth it, and delivereth girdles unto the merchant." From the whole of this chapter we infer that women, among the Hebrews, filled at that time a more responsible place in society, and appear to have taken a more active part in its engagements, than we should otherwise have been led to imagine, or than is now often witnessed in the East.

In former times, before trade was established with neighbouring nations, and home manufacture became an object of attention, every kind of drapery for the person, the tent, or the house, was manufactured by the women, who took pride in boasting that their husbands and children were solely attired by the labour of their hands. As we have mentioned, this is still the case among some of the pastoral tribes of Asia, and among the peasantry in various parts of the world, wherever the influence of extended traffic and manufactures has not been so diffused as to render it cheaper for even the poorest to purchase than to manufacture the articles they require. Even now, among some of the Orientals, ladies of high station take the management of this branch of domestic economy, and work with their maidens. In most cases the usage is kept up, at least with respect to the finer works, from the influence of habit, long after improved means of supply would render it more economical to obtain the required product by

The Eastern Embroidery-frame.

purchase than by domestic manufacture. The whole description of female occupation in Proverbs 31. 10-31 corresponds remarkably with the representation made by Homer of the employment of the most distinguished ladies introduced in his epics. (See art. WEAVING.) We see Penelope plying the spindle and loom, and tasking her maidens; we find the royal mother of Nausicaa beside the hearth, by the morning dawn, spinning soft fleeces dyed with the sea purple; and even the glorious Helen is represented as "weaving a gorgeous web," representing the battles which nations waged for her sake. The proximity of time renders these indications interesting as illustrations; but others, quite as much to the purpose, might be derived from existing Oriental usages; nor less so, indeed, from the employments of English females, in even the highest walks of life, during the middle ages, if not at a comparatively recent period. At the present time, we need only cross the Channel into Normandy, to witness many striking analogies to the domestic usages described in Proverbs. See art. EMBROIDERY.

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The apartments of the women are counted sacred and inviolable all over East; it is even a crime to inquire what passes within the walls of the harem. In the East, a greater affront can scarcely be offered a man than to inquire about his domestic establishment. The most an old friend does is to say, "Is your house well?" Hence it is extremely difficult to be informed of the transactions in those sequestered habitations; and a man, says Chardin, may walk an hundred days, one after another, by the house where the women are, and yet know no more what is done there, than at the farther end of Tartary. This sufficiently explains Mordecai's conduct, who "walked every day before the court of the women's house, to know how Esther did, and what became of her." (Esther 2. 11.)

The Arabs are not so scrupulous as the Turks about their women; and though they have their harem or women's apartment in the tent, they readily introduce their acquaintances into it, or those strangers whom they take under their special protection. Pococke's conductor, in his journey to Jerusalem, led him two or three miles to his tent, where he sat with his wife and others round a fire. The faithful Arab kept him there for greater security, the wife being always with him, no stranger ever daring to come into the women's apartment unless specially introduced. We discover in this custom, the reason of Jael's invitation to Sisera when he was defeated by Barak. "Turn in, my lord, turn in to me, fear not." (Judges 4. 18.) She invited him to take refuge in her own division of the tent, into which no stranger might presume to enter, and where he naturally supposed himself in perfect safety. See HAREM.

For the personal appearance of Oriental ladies see article BEAUTY.

A recent traveller, (Wilde,) speaking of the women of Egypt, says, "Few females of the better class are to be met with in the streets of Alexandria, but they throng the avenues of the capital in great numbers, and are nearly all dressed alike, the outer garment being a large black silk cloak enveloping the whole person, and coming over the head and low down on the forehead." (See arts. DRESS, VEIL.) "A yet more inelegant costume (figure they have none,) I have never witnessed, than a Mooslim female of the upper class, waddling along wrapped in the voluminous folds of her immense cloak. Nothing whatever of a Cairo lady's person can be seen but the eyes; and they offer a striking contrast to the rather too accurately defined persons of the lower orders. I never saw females walk so badly as they do. This probably arises from their feet being so tender, owing to their walking so little, and remaining barefooted in the harem. The hands are never seen, as it is a point of etiquette to keep them concealed in the folds of the cloak.

"Although these ladies appear in the most public places, and mix in the most crowded assemblies, no acquaintance, or relative, be he ever so near, brother, father, or husband, ventures to recognise them abroad, as it would be considered a very great affront so to do, implying that the lady exposed herself so much that friends were able to recognise her in the public streets. Such are the manners of Egyptians towards each other: but the Frank who mixes in a crowd of Mooslim ladies, will soon perceive that eyes, and elbows too, speak most eloquently, and the gay titter that he hears on all sides, with the occasional drawing aside as if by accident, of the face veil, done with an art that shows considerable progress in the science of coquetry, all tell him that the immured life the ladies here spend is by no means congenial to their inclinations. The state of morality in the higher circles consequent on this condition of society is just what might be expected. You frequently meet

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whole harems proceeding rank and file, to the bath, the tombs, or other places of public resort open to respectable females, mounted cross-legged on their donkeys, and attended by their sable beardless guardians. At other times, some wealthy Turk mounted on his richly caparisoned horse, attended by his groom and pipe-bearer, and followed by his wives and children, who bring up the rear on donkeys, with a servant at the head of each." The same author, speaking of the Hebrew females at Jerusalem, says, "I must acknowledge that those Jewesses whom I met in Jerusalem were not so beautiful as those I have seen elsewhere. Many of them had light complexions, which with the highly marked and prominent features of the Hebrew countenance, is by no means pleasing. Here they do not wear the yashmac, or face cover."

Notwithstanding all their care for the concealment of their women, the Orientals watch them narrowly, and carry jealousy to an extent of which we have no example in European countries. Russell tells us, that "the Turks of Aleppo, being very jealous, keep their women as much at home as they can. Necessity however obliges the husbands to suffer them to go often to the bagnio, and Mondays and Thursdays are a sort of licensed days for them to visit the tombs of their deceased relations, which furnishes them with an opportunity of walking abroad in the gardens and fields; they have so contrived, that almost every Thursday in the spring bears the name of some particular sheik, (or saint,) whose tomb they must visit on that day. By this means the greatest part of the women of the city get abroad to breathe the fresh air at such seasons, unless confined (as is not uncommon,) to their houses by order of the bashaw, and so deprived even of that little freedom which custom has procured them from their husbands. The prohibitions of the bashaws are designed, or pretended to be designed at least, to prevent the breach of chastity, for which these liberties of going abroad might be supposed to afford an opportunity. For the same reason it may be apprehended that St. Paul enjoins the 'being chaste and keepers at home.""

That the manners and speech of the Oriental women are not as gentle and quiet as their appearance would leave one to suppose, many travellers assert. Roberts says, "The termagants of the East are certainly not inferior to those of their own sex in any part of the world: in some respects, perhaps, the females are more timid and retired than those of Europe; but let them once go beyond the prescribed bounds, and let their powers be brought fairly into action, and they are complete furies. Has any one caused a woman's child to cry, does a neighbour intimate that she is not what she ought to be, or that some of her friends are no better than they should be, the whoop is immediately sounded, and the brawl begins. She commences her abuse in her best and highest tone of voice; vociferates all the scandal she can think of, and all she can invent. Sometimes she runs up to her antagonist, as if about to knock her down; again she retires, apparently to go home; but no, she thinks of something more which ought not to be lost, and again returns to the contest. At intervals (merely to vary the scene,) she throws up dust in the air, and curses her opponent, her husband, and her children. Should the poor woman not have been blessed with a progeny, that will not be overlooked, and a thousand highly provoking and indecent allusions will be made. See her fiery eyes, her dishevelled hair, her uplifted hands, and she is more like a fury from another region than a human being."

An Eastern sage says, "Should one woman scold, the whole earth will shake; should two commence, the sign

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Pisces will fall; if three join in the brawl, the sea will dry up; but if four try their powers, what will become of the world?" In the Scanda Purana it is said, “It is better for any one to fall into hell than to perform the duties of a householder with a woman who will not respect her husband's word; is there any other disease, any other yamd, than spending life with such a woman?” A Hindoo philosopher describes some of the defects in young females which ought to deter any man from marrying them. "Those who love to be at the house of other people, who are great sleepers, who love dancing and other sports, who are wounded by the arrows of Kama (Cupid,) who love before their fathers betroth them, who have voices like thunder, who have tender, or rolling, or cat eyes, who have coarse hair, who are older than yourself, who are full of smiles, who are very athletic, who are caught in the hell of useless and strange religions, who despise the gooroo, and call the gods statues, have nothing to do with them." Solomon says, "The contentions of a wife are a continual dropping;" and "It is better to dwell in a corner of the house-top, than with a brawling woman in a wide house." (Prov. 20. 9.) And the Tamul proverb has it, "She is like the thunder of the rain, and is ever dropping."

For the Levitical laws respecting women, see Leviticus 15. 19; 12. 2; 15. 25. Respecting apparel, ornaments, &c., see articles DRESS, HEAD-DRESS, ORNAMENTS, &c.

We will conclude this article with M. Aimé-Martin's eloquent contrast, between the situation of European and Oriental women. "Whatever be the customs or the laws of a country, it is the women who give the direction to its manners. Whether free or subject, they reign, because they derive their power from our passions. But this influence is more or less salutary according to the degree of estimation in which they are held; be they our idols or our companions, courtesans, slaves, or beasts of burden, the re-action will be complete, they will make us what they themselves are. It appears as if nature attached our intelligence to their dignity, just as we attach our happiness to their virtue Here, then, is a law of eternal justice; man cannot debase women without becoming himself degraded, he cannot elevate them without becoming better. Let us cast our eyes over the earth, and observe the two great divisions of the human race, the East and the West; one-half of the old world continues without improvement, and without ideas, beneath the weight of a barbarian civilization; there the women are slaves; the other half progresses towards equality and enlightenment, and we there see women free and honoured.

"Contrast with a European family an Eastern one; the former is based upon equality and love, the latter upon polygamy and slavery, which leave to love its brutal fury, but which deprive it of its sweet sympathy, and its divine illusions. A man may shut himself up with a number of women, but it is impossible that he can love several. See him then reduced, amidst a crowd of young beauties, to the saddest of all conditions, that of possessing without loving, and without being beloved. Inebriated with the coarsest pleasures, without family in the midst of his slaves, without affection in the midst of his children, he imprisons his companions, and makes of his house a place of punishment, crime, and prostitution. And, after all, does this animal life yield him happiness? No, his senses become blunted, his mind becomes enervated, and he vainly pursues unto the brink of the tomb the sensual delights which, while they excite him, elude his grasp. Polygamy is a purely animal state, it gives us only slaves, marriage gives us a companion; the former establishes debauchery in the house of the man, the latter for ever banishes it and sanctifies the house of the citizen.

WOMAN

“ From these facts, which comprise, in some degree the history of the East, it may be inferred that civiliza tion is only possible by means of marriage, because in marriage alone women are called upon to exert their intellectual and moral power. European society has entirely arisen from the power of the wife over the husband, and that of the mother over the child.

"At the beginning of the world God created only one man and one woman, and ever since the two sexes have been born in about equal numbers. Thus each man ought to have his companion, it is the law of nature; all the rest is only barbarity and corruption." A.

WOMB. The fruit of the womb is children, (Gen. 30. 2,) and the Psalmist describes them as the greatest blessing a man can possess. (Psalm 127. 3-5,) “Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them, they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." A.

WONDER. Anything which causes surprise by its strangeness. "It expresses," says Mr. Cogar, "an embarrassment of the mind after it is somewhat recovered from the first percussion of surprise. It is the effect produced by an interesting subject which has been suddenly presented to the mind, but concerning which there are many intricacies, either respecting the cause or manner in which the event has taken place, or the motives of extraordinary conduct." (See MIRACLE.) A.

WOOD. The wood of the land of Israel, being from very ancient times common, the people of the villages which, like those about Aleppo, had no trees growing in them, supplied themselves with fuel out of the wooded places of which there were many anciently, and several of which still remain.

This liberty of taking wood in common, the Jews suppose to have been a constitution of Joshua, of which they give us ten; the first giving liberty to an Israelite to feed his flocks in the wood of any tribe; the second that he should be free to take wood in the fields anywhere. But though this was the ancient custom in Judea, it was not so in the country into which they were carried captive; neither with those who continued in their own country for a while under Gedaliah, for Jeremiah, (in Lamentations 4. 4,) complains, "We have drunken our water for money, our wood is sold unto us;" hence we infer that their conquerors possessed themselves of their woods, and would allow no fuel to be cut down without receiving money for it. It is certain that after the return from the captivity, timber was not to be cut without leave. (See FUEL.) A.

WOOL. The fleece of the sheep, and the most common material from which articles of clothing were manufactured in ancient times. See APPAREL, CLOTHES, GARMENTS, DRESS, &c. A.

WORD. Mr. Taylor has the following remarks on the different applications of the terms rima and logos, both of which are translated "word" in the New Testament:

"We do not find that rima is ever personified, or that personal actions are attributed to the term, but, generally speaking, when relating to events, the force of our

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| English word facts, unquestionable facts, is intended; in other cases, authority, influence, promise, or power. "The word logos imports simple speech; that by which the party hearing it may be instructed, also written information, that by which the reader may be edified, (Acts 1. 1,) The former treatise (logou) I have made. Also commandments, (John 8. 55; Rom. 13. 9; 1Thess. 4. 15, et al.,) prophecy, promises, disputes, threatenings, evil speakings and, in short, whatever is the subject of words, whether good or bad. Hence teaching in all its branches; hence teacher, instructor, wisdom; hence heavenly wisdom, the heavenly teacher, the heavenly instructor, &c. And hence this word logos is personified, and personal actions are attributed to it." Bruce mentions that at the court of Abyssinia there is "an officer named Kal Hatzé, who stands always upon upon the steps at the side of the lattice window, where there is a hole covered on the inside with a curtain of green taffeta; behind this curtain the king sits. Formerly his face was never seen, nor any part of him, excepting sometimes his foot. He sits in a kind of balcony, with lattice windows, and curtains before him. Even yet he covers his face on audiences, or public he sits within his balcony, and speaks through a hole in occasions, and when in judgment. On cases of treason, the side of it, to an officer called Kal Ilatzé, the voice or word of the king, by whom he sends his questions, seated at the council table." or anything else that occurs, to the judges, who are

In the New Testament Jesus Christ is called the Word. The Evangelist John, more expressly than any other, has opened the mystery of this Word, when he tells us, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made." (John 1. 1.) Christ is called the Word. In respect of his person, he being the express image of the Father, as we are told in Heb. 1. 3. 2. In respect of his office, because the Father made known his will to the Church in all ages by him, as we declare our minds one to another by our words. (John 3. 34.) 3. Because the Messiah was called the Word of God by the Jews.

1.

The Chaldee paraphrasts, the most ancient Jewish writers extant, generally make use of the word Memra, which signifies the "Word," in those places where Moses used the name Jehovah. And it is generally thought that, under this term, the paraphrasts would intimate the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity. Now their testimony is so much the more considerable as, having lived before Christ, or at the time of Christ, they are irrefragable witnesses of the sentiments of their nation concerning this article, since their Targum has always been, and still is, in universal esteem among the Jews. And as they ascribe to Memra all the attributes of the Deity, it is concluded from thence that they believed the divinity of the Word. They say that it was Memra, or the Word, which created the world; which appeared to Moses on Mount Sinai; which gave him the Law; which spoke to him face to face; which brought Israel out of Egypt; which marched before the people, which wrought all those miracles which are reeorded in the Book of Exodus. It was the Word that appeared to Abraham in the plain of Mamre; that was seen by Jacob at Bethel, to whom Jacob made his vow, and acknowledged as God. (Gen. 28. 30,) "If God will be with me, and will keep me in the way that I go, then shall the Lord be my God." A.

WORLD. The whole system of created things, but-particularly belonging to the earth. (See CREATION.) In some places it is used to designate all its rational inhabitants, or more distinctively, that great body of them who are not really Christians, whether Gentiles or Jews, profligate or sober, profane or devout. This distinctive This distinctive use of the term is very frequent in the language of Our Lord and of St. John. (John 7. 7; 14. 17; 15. 17,18; 17.9,23.)

It is taken also for a secular life, the present state of existence, and the pleasures and interests which steal away the soul from God. In this last sense the Greek terms kosmos and aion are used indiscriminately; though properly the first relates rather to place, and the last to duration.

The love of the world does not consist in the use and enjoyment of the comforts God gives us, but in an inordinate attachment to the things, to time, and sense. "1. We love the world too much," says Dr. Jortin, "when for the sake of profit or pleasure, we wilfully, knowingly, and deliberately transgress the commands of God. 2. When we take more pains about the present life than the next. 3. When we cannot be contented, patient, or resigned under low and inconvenient circumstances. 4. We love the world too much when we cannot part with anything we possess to those who want, deserve, or have a right to it. 5. When we envy those who are more fortunate and more favoured by the world than we are. 6. When we honour, and esteem, and favour persons purely according to their birth, fortunes, and success, measuring our judgment and approbation by their outward appearance and situation in life. 7. When worldly prosperity makes us proud, vain, and arrogant. 8. When we omit no opportunity of enjoying the good things of this life, when our great and chief business is to divert ourselves, till we contract an indifference for rational and manly occupations, deceiving ourselves, and fancying that we are not in a bad condition because others are worse than we."

WORM. The general name of little creeping insects. Several kinds are spoken of in Scripture.

I. Those that breed in putrefied bodies, rimmah, (Exod. 16. 20-24; Job 7. 5; 17. 14; 21. 26; 24. 20; 25. 6; Isai. 14. 11; and σкwλŋ§, skolex, (Eccles. 7. 17; 10. 13; 1Macc. 2. 62; 2Macc. 9. 9; Judith 16. 15; Mark 9. 44,46,48; and Acts 12. 23.

II. That which eats woollen garments, DD sas, (Isai. 51.8;) and Ans les, (Matt. 6. 19,20; Luke 12. 33.)

III. That which perforating the leaves and bark of trees causes the little excrescences called "kermes," whence is made a crimson dye, y thola. (Deut. 28. 39; Job. 25. 6; Psalm 22. 6; Isai. 14. 11; 41. 14; 65. 24; Ezek. 16. 20; Jonah 4. 7.)

IV. The worm destructive of the vines referred to in Deuteronomy 28. 39; such was the Pyralis vitana, or Pyralis fasciana of Forskal, the vine-weevil, a small insect extremely hurtful to the vines.

The Orientals are of opinion that worms exist in the skin and all parts of the body, and that they principally cause death. Roberts says, "They say the life is first destroyed by them, and afterwards the body. A man who is very ill often exclaims, 'Ah! my body is but a nest of worms; they have paths in all parts of my frame.' Ah! these worms are continually eating my flesh.' In the ancient medical work called KurruNatich-Sooteram, written by the celebrated Agalliyaz, it is said, "The human body contains eighteen kinds of worms:-1. the skin; 2. the flesh; 3. the bones; 4. the blood; 5 (producing) wind; 6. the excrement;

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writers for its intense bitterness, though the wholesome nature of the herb when used as a stomachic, might almost lead us to doubt whether it be the plant intended by the sacred writers, did we not find the airdiov (apsinthion,) "wormwood," treated as the emblem of the bitter potion of misery in the Revelations, (8. 11.) Indeed, from the passages in Scripture where this plant is mentioned, something more than the bitterness of its qualities seems to be intimated, and effects are attributed to it greater than can be produced by the wormwood of Europe. The Chaldee paraphrase gives it even the character of "the wormwood of death." It may, therefore, mean a plant allied perhaps to the absinthium in appearance and taste, but possessing more nauseous, hurtful, and formidable properties.

Wormwood of some kind is found wild in all parts of Europe. The Absinthium judaicum is a native of Palestine, and was found by Hasselquist on Mount Tabor. Some have supposed erroneously that the wormwood of Scripture is our southernwood, a plant more fragrant but less bitter, therefore less fit for the use to which the sacred writers have put it, namely, the comparison of its bitterness with sin and its consequences.

In Deuteronomy 29. 18, Moses solemnly invites the people to assemble and take an oath to keep the law while he is still with them, "lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood."

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Solomon warns the young man that the strange women whose lips are as the droppings of the honeycomb, will have an end bitter as wormwood." (Prov. 5. 3,4.)

Jeremiah denouncing the disobedience of the Jews, threatens them with being condemned to eat wormwood, and, in his Lamentations, he makes the faithful say, "He

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