The Plague of Lust, Vol. 2 (of 2): Being a History of Venereal Disease in Classical AntiquityRosenbaum, Julius
History
The Plague of Lust, Vol. 2 (of 2): Being a History of Venereal Disease in Classical Antiquity
Rosenbaum, Julius
Sexually transmitted diseases -- History
If the Climate already exerted such an influence on the aboriginal
inhabitants, how much greater must this have been where foreigners
were concerned, on whom all endemic excitants of disease in a country
notoriously work with augmented virulence. In Antiquity this fact must
have been even more conspicuously true, inasmuch as at that period the
Nations still remained much more unmixed than they subsequently became.
It is a thing which always hitherto, speaking generally, has been far
too little taken account of by Pathologists, but which is surely of
vast importance in connection with the rise and spread of Venereal
disease,—without its being in any way implied that we must necessarily
therefore adopt the theory of its American origin[160]. If we are not
much mistaken, this factor was operative also in the case of the Plague
of Baal-Peor. Now what holds good for the Jews, must equally hold good
for the other peoples of Asia and of Egypt, and even in an enhanced
degree, since these, as we have seen above, gave way to vicious
indulgence to a yet more excessive degree.
Nevertheless, then as now distinctions no doubt existed, and probably
in Antiquity as at the present day there were districts, whose
physical conditions of climate might be regarded as actually forming
a counteracting factor, and where in spite of excesses the genital
organs seldom became diseased. The evidence for this must be given
by later investigations, for we must of necessity first possess a
geographical Nosology of Venereal disease at the present day, if we
are ever to succeed in finding and utilizing the materials for the
same in Antiquity. What has been so far collected by the meritorious
_Schnurrer_ in his Geographical Nosology is too incomplete to justify
us at present in drawing any certain conclusions, more particularly as
the greatest part of the material contributed by him is drawn from the
communications of non-medical enquirers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account