Epilepsy Was A Physiological Disease

We generally interpret the “lunatick” boy in Matthew 17 as an epileptic. “Oft times it throweth him into the fire, and oft times into the water,” etc. This is interesting because Greek physicians as early as 400 BC were arguing that epilepsy was a physiological disease. On the Sacred Disease was written around 400 BC and attributed to Hippocrates. The “sacred disease” is epilepsy, at least as near as we can tell.

The writer [of On the Sacred Disease] argues that epilepsy can’t be of divine origin, because gods are holy and would not be a source of impurity. Also, more to the point, because treatments involving prayers and incantations never seem to work. [H]e theorizes that it is caused by the brain becoming clogged with phlegm—noting the copious amounts of phlegm one sees in the course of a seizure. The phlegm dilutes, or melts, the brain, causing the symptoms observed in chronic epileptics. Children with epilepsy sometimes die because their veins are too small, and they can’t clear the blockage of phlegm.

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Author: Len Budney

Keywords: Sacred disease, Epilepsy, Epileptic, Hippocrates, Spirit of epilepsy, Demon possession, Madness, Epileptic seizure, Devil possessed, Possessed by demons, Evil spirit, moonstruck, moon struck, possession, possessed by the devil, lunatic, lunatick, Demoniac, demonology

Bible reference(s): Matthew 4:24, Matthew 17:15-16, Mat 17:18, Mark 9:17-18, Mark 9:20-22, Luke 9:39, Luke 9:42

Source: December 12, 2015.

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