BLINDNESS. The frequent occurrence of blindness hi the East has always excited the aston ishment of travellers. Volney says that, out of a hundred persons in Cairo, he has met twenty quite blind, ten wanting one eye, and twenty others having their eyes red, purulent, or blemished (Travels in Egypt, 1. 224). This is principally owing to the Egyptian ophthalmia, which is en demic in that country and on the coast of Syria. This disease commences with such a violent in flammation of the conjunctiva, that, in a few hours, the whole of that membrane, which lines the anterior surface of the eye and the internal surface of the eyelids, is covered with red fleshy elevations, resembling granulations, and secreting a purulent discharge. The inflammation spreads rapidly over the eyeball; the delicate internal tissues are destroyed and converted into pus ; the outer coats ulcerate through ; and the whole contents of the eye are evacuated. In its acute and most virulent form, the disease runs its course in three to seven days; otherwise it may continue for as many weeks or months. It is to be ascribed to those peculiar conditions of the atmosphere which are termed miasmatic, of which, however, nothing is known, except that they exert a specific influence on the body, different from the ordinary effects of cold and damp. The variety of causes assigned by travellers for this disease, such as the suspension of fine dust and saline particles in the atmosphere, the custom so prevalent amongst the inhabitants of all Eastern countries of sleeping on the roofs of the houses, southerly winds, bad diet, shaving the head, etc., can only be regarded as secondary or occasional causes ; and amongst these bad diet, great fatigue, and exposure to the night dews, are the most important. The Egyptian ophthalmia is contagious; but it is not often communicated from one individual to another. It is not confined to the East, but appears here and there throughout Europe; and during the last war, probably on account of the practice of bivouacking in the open air, and the great hardships to which the troops were often exposed, it was a dreadful scourge to most of the European armies, more particularly to the Prussians during the campaigns of 1813 and 1814, although that army had never left Europe (Jiingken's ..41(genkrank. p. 336). The French and English suffered greatly from it while they were in Egypt, and subsequently.
Small-pox is another great cause of blindness in the East (Volney, 1. c.) In the N. T. blind mendicants are frequently mentioned (Matt. ix. 27 ; xii. 22 ; xx. 30 ; xxi. 14 ; Jahn v. 3). The blindness of Bar Jesus (Acts xiii. 6) was miraculously produced, and of its nature we know nothing. Winer (s. v. Blindheit) infers that it was occasioned by specks on the cornea, which were curable, because the same term, is made use of by Hippocrates (11pOkradv, ii. 2'5, ed. Kuhn), who says that ctxXtier will disappear, provided no wound has been inflicted. Before such an inference can be drawn, we must be sure that the writers of the N. T. were not only acquainted with the writings of Hippocrates, but were also accustomed to a strict medical terminology. The haziness implied by the expression axX6s may refer to the sensation of the blind person, or to the appearance of the eye, and, in both cases, the cause of the aaziness may have been referrible to any of the other transparent media, as well as to the cornea Tobit's blindness (Tobit ii. to) was attributed to sparrows' dung having fallen into his eyes. If the story be considered true (which we are by no means required to believe), his cure must be re garded as altogether miraculous. Though the gall of a fish was an old remedy for diseases of the eyes (Plin. Hist. Nat. xxxii. 24), and has been fre quently used in modem times (Richter, Anfangsgr. d. Wundarzneik. iii. p. 130), it cannot be supposed to have had any medicinal effect in Tobit's case ; for not only was the cure instantaneous, but the specks which impeded vision were seen to escape from the corners of his eyes ; which plainly spews that the whole process, if not the disease itself, was of a kind which does not fall under the pro vince of science. Examples of blindness from old age occur in Gen. xxvii. I ; I Kings xiv. 4; I Sam. iv. 13. The Syrian army that came to apprehend Elisha was suddenly smitten with blindness in a miraculous manner (2 Kings vi. 18) ; and so also was St. Paul (Acts ix. 9). The Mosaic law has not neglected to inculcate humane feelings towards the blind (Lev. xix. 14 ; Deut. xxvii. 18). Blind ness is sometimes threatened in the Old Testament as a punishment for disobedience (Dent. xxviii. 28; Lev. xxvi. 16 ; Zeph. L 17).—W. A. N.