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LEPROSY

Volume 13 · 187 words · 1842 Edition

cutaneous disease, appearing in dry, white, thin scabs, either on the whole body, or only on parts of it, and usually attended with a violent itching and other pains. The leprosy is of various kinds, but the Jews were particularly subject to that called Elephantiasis. Hence the Jewish law excluded lepers from communion with mankind, banishing them into the country or uninhabited places, without excepting even kings. When a leper was cleansed, he came to the city gate, and was there examined by the priests. After this he took two live birds to the temple, and fastened one of them to a wisp of cedar and hyssop tied together with a scarlet ribbon; the second bird was killed by the leper, and the blood of it received into a vessel of water; with this water the priest sprinkled the leper, dipping the wisp and the live bird into it. The live bird was then let go; and the leper having undergone this ceremony, was again admitted into society, and to the use of things sacred. (See Levit. xiii. 46, 47; and Levit. xiv. 1, 2, et seq.)