the jews indebted to egypt for their learning.—the only ancient people who discarded demonology.—they had no magic of their own.—phylacteries.—circumcision.—sanitary laws.—diseases in the bible.—the essenes.—surgery in the talmud.—alexandrian philosophy.—jewish services to medi?val medicine.—the ph?nicians.

that division of the hebrew peoples which afterwards developed into israel, left its home in the extreme south of palestine some fifteen centuries before the christian era to occupy the pasture lands of goshen, in the territory of the pharaohs, where they continued to retain their nomadic habits, their ancient language and patriarchal institutions. in process of time, however, the egyptian sovereigns began to deal severely with their self-invited guests; they were forced to labour on the public works of goshen; and though bitterly resenting this attempt to destroy their identity and reduce them to mere slavery, the proud and noble race was powerless to resist, and continued to labour on in despair until a deliverer arose in moses, who led them out of egypt to the land of palestine which they had originally left. moses was a pupil of the egyptian priests, versed in all their wisdom, and imbued with the loftiest sentiments of the religion of egypt. we shall expect to find in the medicine of the jews abundant traces of their long residence in the land of the pharaohs. our sources for the history of the healing art and the theory of disease which obtained with the people of israel are two—the bible and the talmud. therein we shall see the influences, both external and internal, which made jewish medicine what it was; and we shall be astonished, on comparing the theory of disease with that of all the other nations and peoples of the earth, to find that it stands by itself, is absolutely unique in its loftiness of idea, its absolute freedom from the absurd and degrading superstitions of the great and civilized nations amongst which they dwelt or by which they were surrounded. when we reflect on the religions of egypt, assyria, and chald?a, and compare their many gods with the one god of the jews, their demonology, sorcery, and witchcraft with the pure and elevated faith of these nomads of the sinaitic peninsula, and re74member that in all the earth at that time there was no other nation which had formulated such a pure theism, no other people which had broken away from the degrading and corrupting demonology which possessed the whole earth, we are compelled to recognise in god’s ancient people the jews the evidence of a teaching totally unlike anything which had preceded it. if the bible, the talmud, and the koran are all three merely specimens of ancient literature, how comes it that the bible is so infinitely superior, not only in its noble monotheism, but in its remarkable freedom from so many of the superstitions which, as we have seen, were everywhere intermixed with the noblest religious systems and the most advanced civilizations? magic in the bible is everywhere passed by with contempt. whatever may be the precise date of the psalms, they must have been written when all nations were sunk in the grossest superstition, and had resort to magical practices on the slightest pretence; yet there is a total absence of all superstition in the psalms. granting that the book of ecclesiastes is a mere piece of cynical philosophy, it contains no evidence of superstitious belief. the more ancient is a literature, the greater is the certainty that it will contain some reference to superstitious usages; yet how gloriously the oldest books of the bible shine in their freedom from contamination with the demon-worship and conjuring arts of the nations surrounding the children of israel.

as the author of the learned article on “medicine” in smith’s dictionary of the bible says: “but if we admit egyptian learning as an ingredient, we should also notice how far exalted above it is the standard of the whole jewish legislative fabric, in its exemption from the blemishes of sorcery and juggling pretences. the priest, who had to pronounce on the cure, used no means to advance it, and the whole regulations prescribed exclude the notion of trafficking in popular superstition. we have no occult practices reserved in the hands of the sacred caste. it is god alone who doeth great things—working by the wand of moses or the brazen serpent; but the very mention of such instruments is such as to expel all pretence of mysterious virtues in the things themselves.” it is always god alone who is the healer: “i am the lord that healeth thee” (exod. xv. 26); “heal me, o lord, and i shall be healed” (jer. xvii. 14); “for i will restore health unto thee, and i will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the lord” (jer. xxx. 17); “who healeth all thy diseases” (ps. ciii. 3); “he healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds” (ps. cxlvii. 3); “the lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound” (isa. xxx. 26).

the priestly caste had no monopoly of the healing art; it might be75 practised by any one who was competent to afford medical aid. physicians are mentioned in several passages.

although the hebrews had no magic of their own, and notwithstanding the stern severity with which it was prohibited in their law, there would naturally be many who transgressed their law and imported the superstitious practices from the surrounding peoples.

the teraphim of laban which were stolen by rachel168 is the earliest example in the bible of magical instruments. it seems that these objects were a kind of idols in the shape of a human figure; their use was condemned by the prophets, but they were for ages used in popular worship, both domestic and public. hosea says:169 “the children of israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim.” in this passage the teraphim and ephod are classed with the sacrifice, as though equally essential for worship. some students think that the teraphim were the kabeiri gods;170 whatever they were, they were worshipped or used superstitiously by micah, by the danites, and others.171 they were used magically for the purpose of obtaining oracular answers, and were associated with the practice of divination.172

the phylacteries of the jews were charms or amulets in writing. they were believed to avert all evils, but were especially useful in driving away demons. they put faith, also, in precious stones. to this day one may see at the door of every jewish house the mez?za—a scrap of sacred writing—affixed diagonally on the right doorpost, enclosed in a metal case. the texts contained are inscribed on parchment, and the words are from deuteronomy vi. 4-9; xi. 13-21. in the targum on canticles viii. 3, we learn that the phylactery and mez?za were supposed to keep off hurtful demons. this is merely the corruption of a perfectly innocent idea; it is an example of the way in which harmless things become degraded to superstitious uses. the scapular of little squares of brown cloth worn by catholics originally meant no more than the investiture, in a secret and unassuming manner, with the habit of the carmelite order, and allowed pious persons living “in the world” to feel that they were affiliated to a famous and saintly community. when the catholic wore it, he knew that he assumed the badge of the blessed virgin; there was no more in it than that. amongst the ignorant and superstitious it is now commonly believed that the wearer is protected from death by fire and drowning, and that76 our lady will liberate him from purgatory on the first saturday after his arrival there.

“to the mind of the israelite,” says mr. tylor, “death and pestilence took the personal form of the destroying angel who smote the doomed.”173

god is plainly declared, in exodus xv. 26, to send diseases upon men as a punishment for the breach of his commandments, and this has been adduced to show that the jews traced their maladies to the anger of an offended deity; and thus it has been argued that their etiology of disease was not higher than that of the other nations. but this argument is unfair. the mosaic law was to a great extent a sanitary code, and even in the light of modern science we are compelled to admire the wisdom of the laws which have for so many centuries made the jews the healthiest and most macrobiotic of peoples.

the rite of circumcision was not peculiar to the jews; and just as baptism was an initiatory rite borrowed from another religion, yet made distinctive of christianity, so circumcision has come to be considered a peculiarly jewish practice. it may have been with the israelites a protest against the phallus worship which is of such remote antiquity, and which was the foundation of the myth of osiris. wunderbar174 asserts that it distinctly contributed to increase the fruitfulness of the race and to check inordinate desires in the individual. there are excellent surgical reasons for both these suppositions, in addition to which we may add that it contributed to cleanliness and prevented irritation. wunderbar, moreover, seems to have established his statement that after circumcision there is less probability of the absorption of syphilitic virus, and he has instanced the fact that such specific disease is less frequent with jewish than with christian populations.175

“circumcision,” says pickering, speaking of the polynesian practice, “was now explained; and various other customs, which had previously appeared unaccountable, were found to rest on physical causes, having been extended abroad by the process of imitation.”176

the same writer states that the practice is “common to the ancient inhabitants of the thebaid, and also to the modern abyssinians and their neighbours in the south.”177

ewald178 says that circumcision was practised by various arabian tribes, in africa, amongst ethiopic christians and the negroes of the congo. it was also practised on girls by lydian, arabian, and african77 tribes, as philo and strabo inform us. ewald considers it originated as an offering of one’s own flesh and blood in sacrifice to god, and may have been considered as a substitute for the whole body of a human being.

circumcision is practised amongst australian savages on the murray river, as also another incredible ceremonial, as lubbock terms it.179

castration is hinted at in matthew xix. 12 as an operation well understood.

in hot climates extra precautions for cleanliness have to be adopted beyond those which would amply suffice in northern lands. captain burton says:180—

however much the bath may be used, the body-pile and hair of the armpits, etc., if submitted to a microscope, will show more or less sordes adherent. the axilla hair is plucked, because if shaved the growing pile causes itching, and the depilatories are held to be deleterious.

sometimes syrian incense or fir-gum, imported from scio, is melted and allowed to cool in the form of a pledget. this is passed over the face, and all the down adhering to it is pulled up by the roots. he adds that many anglo-indians adopt the same precautions.

ewald, referring to the laws concerning women, says:181 “the monthly period of the woman brought with it the second grade of uncleanness, which lasted the space of seven days, but without rendering necessary the use of specially prepared water. everything on which the woman sat or lay during this time, and every one who touched such things or her, incurred the uncleanness of the first grade.”

we find the demon-theory of disease in force in the time of josephus. he says:182—

“now within this place there grew a sort of rue, that deserves our wonder on account of its largeness, for it was no way inferior to any fig-tree whatsoever, either in height or in thickness; and the report is that it had lasted ever since the time of herod, and would probably have lasted much longer had it not been cut down by those jews who took possession of the place afterward; but still in that valley which encompasses the city on the north side, there is a certain place called baaras, which produces a root of the same name with itself; its colour is like to that of flame, and towards evening it sends out a certain ray like lightning; it is not easily taken by such as would do it, but recedes from their hands; nor will yield itself to be taken quietly, until either78 ο?ρον γυναικ?? ? τ? ?μμηνον α?μα be poured upon it; nay, even then it is certain death to those that touch it, unless any one take and hang the root itself down from his hand, and so carry it away. it may also be taken another way, without danger, which is this: they dig a trench quite round about it, till the hidden part of the root be very small; they then tie a dog to it, and when the dog tries hard to follow him that tied him, this root is easily plucked up, but the dog dies immediately, as if it were instead of the man that would take the plant away; nor after this need any one be afraid of taking it into their hands. yet, after all this pains in getting, it is only valuable on account of one virtue it hath—that if it be only brought to sick persons, it quickly drives away those called demons, which are no other than the spirits of the wicked, that enter into men that are alive and kill them, unless they can obtain some help against them.”

if we may consider josephus as a fair type of the learned and liberally educated men of his time, we are compelled to admit that the theory of disease held by the hebrews of the period was not much, if at all, in advance of the rest of the world. it was undoubtedly largely the demoniacal theory of sickness. in the antiquities of the jews183 josephus, in his description of the sagacity and wisdom of solomon, says: “god also enabled him to learn the skill that expels demons, which is a science useful and sanative to men. he composed such incantations also by which distempers are alleviated. and he left behind him the manner of using exorcisms, by which they drive away demons so that they never return; and this method of cure is of great force unto this day; for i have seen a certain man of my own country, whose name was eleazar, releasing people that were demoniacal.” he goes on to describe the process of extracting the demon from the sick man through his nostrils.

so again, in telling the story of saul’s possession by the evil spirit from the lord, he says:184 “the physicians could find no other remedy but this—that if any person could charm those passions by singing and playing upon the harp, they advised them to inquire for such a one.” he seems to imply that david cured saul by an incantation; and spanheim, commenting upon the story, says that the greeks had such singers of hymns, and that usually children or youths were picked out for that service, and that they were called singers to the harp.185

whether david merely influenced saul in the natural and touching way so beautifully described by robert browning in his poem “saul,” we must bear in mind that an “incantation” was precisely of the79 character of the bible story, and that the demon theory of saul’s malady is plainly stated.186

herzog187 enumerates the following as the diseases of the bible:—1. fever and ague (lev. xxvi. 16). 2. dysentery (acts xxviii. 8), with, probably, prolapsus ani, as in jehoram’s case (2 chron. xxi. 15, 19). 3. inflammation of the eyes, due to heat, night dews, sea breeze, flying sand, injuries, etc. (lev. xix. 14; deut. xxvii. 18; matt. xii. 22, etc.). 4. congenital blindness (john ix. 1). 5. disease of the liver. 6. hypochondria. 7. hysteria. 8. rheumatism and gout (john v. 2, 3). 9. consumption, a general term, including hectic, typhoid, and other fevers (lev. xxvi. 16; deut. xxviii. 22, etc.). 10. phthisis (?), indicated by leanness (isa. x. 16). 11. atrophy of muscles, “withered hand,” being due either to rheumatism, plugging up of the main artery of the limb, or paralysis of the principal nerve, etc. (matt. xii. 10; 1 kings xiii. 4-6, etc.). 12. fevers in general (matt. viii. 14, etc.). 13. pestilence (deut. xxxii. 24). 14. oriental pest, the so-called “bubonenpest,” characterised by swellings in the groins, armpits, etc.; a very fatal disorder (lev. xxvi. 25; deut. xxviii. 21, 27, 60, etc.). 15. boils (2 kings xx. 7, etc.). 16. sunstroke (2 kings iv. 19, etc.). 17. gonorrh?a (lev. xv. 2). 18. metrorrhagia, or uterine hemorrhage (lev. xv. 25; luke viii. 43, etc.). 19. sterility (gen. xx. 18, etc.). 20. asa’s foot disease, either ?dema or gout (2 chron. xvi. 12). 21. elephantiasis (?) (job ii. 7). 22. dropsy (luke xiv. 2). 23. cancer (2 tim. ii. 17). 24. worms; may have been phthiriasis (lice) (2 macc. ix. 5-9). 25. leprosy. 26. itch and other skin diseases (deut xxviii. 27). 27. apoplexy (1 sam. xxv. 37, etc.). 28. lethargy (gen. ii. 21; 1 sam. xxvi. 12). 29. paralysis, palsy (matt. iv. 24; acts iii. 2, etc.). 30. epilepsy, the so-called “possession of devils” (matt. iv. 24, etc.). 31. melancholia, madness (deut. xxviii. 28, etc.). 32. nervous exhaustion (1 tim. v. 23). 33. miscarriage (exod. xxi. 22). 34. “boils and blains,” erysipelatous (exod. ix. 9). 35. gangrene and mortification (2 tim. ii. 17). 36. poisoning by arrows (job vi. 4). poisoning from snake-bite (deut. xxxii. 24). 37. scorpions and centipedes (rev. ix. 5, 10). 38. old age, as described in eccles. xii. i am inclined to add to this list syphilis, which seems to me to be clearly indicated by several verses in proverbs xii., in the warnings against the strange woman, e.g. verses 22, 23, 26, and 27.

the law forbade a levite who was blind to act as a physician. anatomy and pathology were not understood, as it was considered pollution even to touch the dead.

the surgical instruments of the bible are the sharp stone or flint80 knives with which circumcision was performed, and the awl with which a servant’s ear was bored by his master (exod. iv. 25; josh. v. 2; exod. xxi. 6). roller bandages are referred to for fractures (ezek. xxx. 21). job used a scraper when he was smitten with boils (job ii. 8). the materia medica of the bible is meagre. a poultice of figs—a favourite remedy in ancient times—is ordered in 2 kings xx. 7.

fish galls (tobit xi. 4-13) and fasting saliva are used (mark viii. 23).

the only regular prescription mentioned is that in exodus xxx. 23-25.

midwives were regularly employed to assist hebrew mothers.

the “bearing stool” was employed.

there is a very beautiful figurative description of the disease of old age or senile decay given by solomon in the book of ecclesiastes:—

“remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, i have no pleasure in them; while the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain: in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened, and the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low; also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto god who gave it.”

dr. mead, in his treatise on the diseases of old age,188 thus explains the curious figurative phrases. by the darkening of the sun, moon, and stars, he says we are to understand the obscuration of the mental faculties, which is so common in advanced life. the clouds returning after rain symbolise the cares and troubles which oppress the aged; especially when the vigour of the mind is lessened, so that they cannot cast them off. from the mind we pass to the body: “the keepers of the house shall tremble,” etc. that is to say, the limbs which support the body grow feeble and relaxed, and are incapable of defending us against injuries. the grinders are the molar teeth. the failing sight is compared to the darkness which meets those who look out of the windows. by dimin81ished appetite the mouth, which is the door of the body, is less frequently opened than in youth. the sound of the grinding of the teeth is low, because old people have, in the absence of them, to eat with their gums. the rising up at the voice of the bird signifies the short and interrupted sleep of the aged. by the daughters of music we are to understand the ears, which no longer administer to our pleasure in conveying harmonious sounds. the sense of feeling is diminished, and the aged are fearful of stumbling in the way. the early flowers of spring shall flourish in vain. the phrase, the grasshopper shall become a burden, according to dr. mead, is the modest hebrew mode of describing the effects of scrotal rupture. he says the grasshopper is made up chiefly of belly, and when full of eggs bears some resemblance to a scrotum smitten by a rupture. “desire shall be lost” is like ovid’s turpe senilis amor, and does not refer to appetite for food. the loosened silver cord is the vertebral column; the medulla oblongata is of a silver or whitish colour. the golden bowl expresses the dignity of the head, from which in old age come defluxions to the nose, eyes, and mouth. incontinence of urine is a common trouble of the aged, well expressed by the figure of the pitcher broken at the fountain; and the wheel at the cistern, to those who knew nothing of the circulation of the blood, fairly describes the failing heart, no longer capable of propelling the stream of life through the vessels.

referring to the words, “the sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night” (psalm cxxi. 6), captain burton says189 that he has seen a hale and hearty arab, after sitting an hour in the moonlight, look like a man fresh from a sick-bed; and he knew an englishman in india whose face was temporarily paralysed by sleeping with it exposed to the moon.

the captivity at babylon brought the jews into contact with a nobler and very high civilization. in many ways there is no doubt that jewish thought was greatly developed and enlarged by association with the peoples of babylonia and assyria. what precise influences the jews became subject to in this captivity we have not the means to determine; but the fact that the greek physician democedes visited the court of darius, proves that eastern lands had in some measure fallen under the influence of greek thought, about the time of ezra. the book of ecclesiasticus is supposed to belong to the period of the ptolemies, and in that work we find practitioners of medicine held in high esteem.82 “honour a physician with the honour due unto him for the uses which ye may have of him; for the lord hath created him.... the skill of the physician shall lift up his head; and in the sight of great men he shall be in admiration. the lord hath created medicines out of the earth; and he that is wise will not abhor them.... then give place to the physician, for the lord hath created him; let him not go from thee, for thou hast need of him.”190

a very interesting but mysterious sect of the jews was the essenes (b.c. 150). our knowledge of this ancient community is chiefly derived from josephus,191 who says that they studied the ancient writers principally with regard to those things useful to the body and the soul, that they thus acquired knowledge of remedies for diseases, and learned the virtues of plants, stones, and metals. another name for the essenes was the therapeutists, or the healers.192

they lived somewhat after the fashion of monks, and had a novitiate of three years. some of their principles and rules suggest a connection with pythagorism and zoroastrianism. de quincey finds in essenism a saintly scheme of ethics, a “christianity before christ, and consequently without christ.”193 recent scholarship, says professor masson, will not accept his conclusions concerning this remarkable secret society.194

the surgery of the talmud includes a knowledge of dislocations of the thigh, contusions of the head, perforation of the lungs and other organs, injuries of the spinal cord and trachea, and fractures of the ribs. polypus of the nose was considered to be a punishment for past sins. in sciatica the patient is advised to rub the hip sixty times with meat-broth. bleeding was performed by mechanics or barbers.

the pathology of the talmud ascribes diseases to a constitutional vice, to evil influences acting on the body from without, or to the effect of magic.

jaundice is recognised as arising from retention of the bile, dropsy from suppression of the urine. the talmudists divided dropsy into anasarca, ascites, and tympanites. rupture and atrophy of the kidneys were held to be always fatal. hydatids of the liver were more favourably considered. suppuration of the spinal cord, induration of the83 lungs, etc., are incurable. dr. baas195 says that these are “views which may have been based on the dissection of [dead] animals, and may be considered the germs of pathological anatomy.” some critical symptoms are sweating, sneezing, defecation, and dreams, which promise a favourable termination of the disease.

natural remedies, both external and internal, were employed. magic was also talmudic. dispensations were given by the rabbis to permit sick persons to eat prohibited food. onions were prescribed for worms; wine and pepper for stomach disorders; goat’s milk for difficulty of breathing; emetics in nausea; a mixture of gum and alum for menorrhagia (not a bad prescription); a dog’s liver was ordered for the bite of a mad dog. many drugs, such as assaf?tida, are evidently adopted from greek medicine. the dissection of the bodies of animals provided the talmudists with their anatomy. it is, however, recorded that rabbi ishmael, at the close of the first century, made a skeleton by boiling of the body of a prostitute. we find that dissection in the interests of science was permitted by the talmud. the rabbis counted 252 bones in the human skeleton.

it was known that the spinal cord emerges from the foramen magnum, and terminates in the cauda equina. the anatomy of the uterus was well understood. a very curious point in their anatomy was the assumption of the existence of a fabulous bone, called “luz,” which they held to be the nucleus of the resurrection of the body.196

(the arabians call this bone “aldabaran.”)

they discovered that the removal of the spleen is not necessarily fatal.

according to the talmudists, the elementary bodies are earth, air, fire, and water. pregnancy, they held, lasts 270 to 273 days (280 days is the modern calculation), and that it cannot be determined before the fourth month.

alexandrian philosophic thought received a new impulse in consequence of the conciliatory policy which the ptolemies pursued towards the jews. under soter they were encouraged to settle in alexandria, and soon their numbers became very great. egypt at one time contained altogether some 200,000 jews. alexandria became for several centuries the centre of jewish thought and learning. but the learning84 of the rabbis became a shallow pedantry in the course of time, and their faith in the inspiration of their scriptures ultimately degenerated into a cabalism, which in its turn lent itself to jugglery and magic-mongering, and infected the medicine of the roman world, just as the healing art had emancipated itself from superstition, theurgy, and philosophical sophistries.

kingsley has told us how this jewish magic arose.197 “if each word [of the scriptures] had a mysterious value, why not each letter? and how could they set limits to that mysterious value? might not these words, even rearrangements of the letters of them, be useful in protecting them against the sorceries of the heathen, in driving away these evil spirits, or evoking those good spirits who, though seldom mentioned in their early records, had, after their return from babylon, begun to form an important part of their unseen world?”

jewish cabalism formed itself into a system at alexandria. it was there, as kingsley goes on to say, that the jews learnt to become the magic-mongers which claudius had to expel from rome as pests to rational and moral society.

according to the jewish doctors, three angels preside over the art of medicine. their names, according to rabbi elias, are senoi, sansenoi, and sanmangelof.198

in the middle ages the jews rendered the greatest services to the healing art, and had a large share in the scientific work connected with the arab domination in spain. the great names of moses maimonides and ibn ezra attest the dignity of jewish intellectual life in the dark ages. the golden age of the modern jews, as milman199 designates it, begins with the caliphs and ends with maimonides. the hebrew literature was eminently acceptable to the kindred taste of the saracens, and the sympathy between arab and jewish practitioners and students of medicine was fraught with the greatest benefit to the healing art. the golden age of the jews was at its height in the time of charlemagne, when kings could not write their names. their intelligence and education fitted them to become the physicians and the ministers of nobles and monarchs. during the reign of louis the debonnaire the jews were all-powerful at his court. his confidential adviser was the jewish physician zedekiah, who was a profound adept in magic. in an age when monkish historians could relate “with awe-struck sincerity,” as milman describes it,200 the tales of his swallowing a cartload of hay, horses and all, it is not difficult to understand that an acquaintance with the best knowledge of his time would account for the estimation in85 which a man of science was held. maimonides lived at the court of the sultan of egypt as the royal physician, in the highest estimation.

the ph?nicians were devoted to phallic-worship. the instrument of procreative power was the chief symbol of their religion. astarte was their great goddess. baal-zebub, the beelzebub of the bible, was their god of medicine, and the arbiter of health and disease. the cabiri, or corybantes, considered by some authorities to be identical with the titans, by others with the sons of noah, were considered as the discoverers of the properties of the medicinal herbs, and the teachers of the art of healing to mortals.