SACER MORBUS (lepat Woos), a term applied apparently by tho ancients to more than one disease, as Athentous (' Deipnosoph., lib. vii. § 33, p. 289) speaks of Tat lepas uaxovaivas ?damn, and Heraclitus is said by Diogenes Laertius ("Do Vit. Philosoph.,' lib. ix., cap. i., § 6 and 7) to have called Arrogance by that name : Tl olnaw depav vchrov tier. Generally however it is merely used as one of the nume rous names of epilepsy [FritErss], and this is the explanation given by I lesychius and Suidas in voc. It is first used by the author of the treatise Ilepl lefris Ncfsov,' Do Morbo Sacro,' which is'published among the works of Hippocrates (tom. i., p. 587, ed. Kiihn), though it was probably written by one of his successors in the Dogmatic school. (See Gruner, Censure Libr. Ilippocr.; Vratislay., 1772, 8vo., § 44, p. 162; and Ackermann, Hist. Liter. Hippocr., ap. Fabricii Biblioth. Gr.,' ed. Harlem, and Kiihn's Ilippocr.; tom. i.) The term is also found in Aretsvus (' De Caus. et Sign. Diuturn. Morb.,' lib. 1., cap. 4). Thcophanes Nonnus (` Epit. de Curat. Morb.,' cap. 36), Artemidorus (` Oneirocrit.; lib. ii., cap. 12, where ace Reiff's note 35), and others. The meaniug of the term is obscure and uncertain, and several derivations of it are mentioned by Aretteus (tom cit.): " There is," says he, in Dr. Rey nolds's translation, "a sort of ignominy too in the character of epilepsy, for it seems to attack those who offend the moon, and hence the disease is termed sacred ; ' or it may be from other reasons, either from its magnitude (for what is great sacred ), or from the cure not being in the power of man but of God, or from the notion that a demon has entered the patient, or from all put together, that it has been so called." The author of a treatise Morbo Sacro; seems to have considered the origin of the term to have ariseu from the belief either that this disease proceeds more immediately from the anger of the gods, or that it is more wonderful than others, or that its cure depends more entirely upon divine assistance; as ho refutes all these opinions at polite length. (See also Galen,' Comment.' vi., in llippocr.
• Epidem.; lib. vi., tom. :rill. B., p. 341, ed. Kohn.) The other reason that is given, namely, " the magnitude of the disease," is supported by the author of the ' SehoL MS. in Gregor. Noxious. in !loath Excerptis,' quoted in (laisfonl's Suidas : slyly hear hipas -roe Ae-rotool rdeor v. Zusisern reeler, rip iravarrucl)v crane ifpit ai COT71 svpatmepor ar KAnafin, larpipovea meaner SUUCC:10f1. need sal arra eb lieJr ear 7Aceo0sacalsois st1heral KCLA17019CU. It is also indirectly supported by the analogous expressions itpla pivot 'Musanos° (Homer, • °dyes.; lib. vii., v. 167), plv Ixeih (see Athenretts, Delpnosoph.,' lib. vii, § 17-20, pp. 2S2.4), and especially by the anatomical name kelp allT0c/Y, " os sacrum," of which this accuse to be the most probable interpretation. Cielius Aurelia:ins gives the following interpretations : " Appellatur Epilepsia were passio, sive quod divinitus putetur immissa ; sive quod sacrum eontaminet animal [which is supported by Apuleins, Apolog.; p. 58, etl. Price]; give qua l in capita fiat, quod mutton= philosophorurn juslicio sacrum templum eat partis aniline in corpora natse [which is the reason given by Theophanes Nonnus, /nee cit.]; sive ob magni tedieent psasionis, majors enim vulgus sacra vocavit" (` De Morb. Citron ; lib. L, cap. 4. p. 291, ed. Amman.) Of all the explanations that have been proposed, perhaps that which derives the term from the disease being supposed to be under the more immediate direction of the gods is the most likely to be the true one, both as being the most ancient and also as being that which Galen preferred : it is also indirectly confirmed by two popular names mentioned by Leo in his ' Synopsis Medicine., lib. ii., esp. 2 (ap. Ermerins, ' Anecd. Med. Gr.,' Lugs!. Bat., Svo., 1840), namely, belesor and esmpeuredr. .If this is not the real meaning of the term, it must have been applied " eli maymitsdimest possionis," for none of the other derivations bear the slightest marks of probability.