DEMO'NIACS (damoniaci, obsessi, or, with reference to the supposed influence of the moon, lunatic?), the name given by the Jews to persons afflicted with epilepsy, hypo chondria, or insanity, diseases of frequent occurrence in the east. The name originated in the belief, that persons so afflicted had been taken possession of by evil spirits or demons (q.v.). It was a prevalent opinion among the Persians, Greeks, Romans, and the ancients generally, that the extraordinary conditions and actions of men, which could not be referred to the known and apparent operations and powers of the mind, must be ascribed to the influence of one or more higher spirits. This belief is found in Homer, Herodotus, Euripides, and later writers, and also rooted itself very deeply in the Christian mind during the middle ages. As the good, when beyond the limits of the ordinary powers or faculties of great men, was attributed to the inspiration of the Muses, or to the direct co-operation, or even incarnation in their perSons of some benef icent deity, so also that deep internal unhappiness of "a mind diseased," which no strength of will, and no physician's art in olden times could remove, was as unhesitat ingly attributed to evil spirits, or demons, as the later Jews, probably with an oblique reference to paganism, called them. Spells and exorcisms, in consequence, took the place of the healing art in reference to such as were supposed to be demonized, and the .Jewish exorcists (demon banishers) alleged, according to Josephus, that they possessed the necessary magic formulas, wonder-working roots, etc., which had been handed down from antiquity. The good spirits thus appeared—in harmony with the idea that healing was a thing natural and divine in itself, the normal action, so to speak, of nature —to fulfill their function in banishing and destroying the demons. Thus, Christ appears in the synoptic gospels as healing many who were possessed of unclean spirits, casting out devils, etc. But apart from the fact, that a belief in demoniacal possession was more vital and universal among the later Jews than among the other nations, on account of their being more deeply penetrated by the consciousness of sin, and by a conviction of the mysterious connection between evil and Satan,. it was also expected of the
Messiah, the anointed of God,' that he would possess "power" over demons. This fundamental national belief would unconsciously prepare the contemporaries of Christ for regarding his divine exercise of the physician's art from a religious rather than a scientific. point of view. When they beheld the miraculous effects of his "power" on the bodies and spirits of the so-called demoniacs, it was natural that they should speak of it in language intelligible to their age, and in harmony with its general notions. To have used other words from the stand-point of a higher scientific knowledge, would have been as confusing to the Jews and earliest Christians as it would have been to assure them that it was the earth, and not the sun, which stood still during the battle at Gibeon. Besides, when it is remembered that before even the synoptic gospels were written, the miraculous incidents in Christ's life must have fixed themselves in the memory of the populace, under the conditions of the popular belief, it is difficult to see that there was any other course open to the evangelical historians, even if they did not share the common belief of their coutrymen, than to adopt the current representationS. They bad no interest in the mere scientific accuracy or inaccuracy of such representa tions. Their object was different and higher: it was to show the power, wisdom, and goodness of the Saviour, qualities which are equally manifest whichever theory may be adopted. This view of the question, which is held to -be in conformity with sound science and sound criticism, presents itself almost irresistibly to the candid and impartial student of the Bible, when he bears in mind that there is nothing in the recorded exam ples of demoniacal possession different from the ordinary symptoms of epilepsy, hypo chondria, and insanity, which are not now beyond the physician's skill.