* if the bright.
Ec 7:20 Ro 7:22-25 Jas 3:2
* a freckled spot.
The word {bohak,} from the Syriac {behak,} to be white, or
shining, here rendered "a freckled spot," is used by the
Arabs to denote a kind of leprosy, of which Niebuhr says,
"{Bohak} is neither contagious nor dangerous. A black boy at
Mocha, who was affected with this eruption, had here and
there upon his body white spots. We were told that the use
of sulphur had relieved this boy for a time, but had not
entirely removed the disease." He adds subsequently from
Forskal's papers, "The Arabs call a sort of leprosy, in which
some little spots shew themselves here and there on the body,
{behaq;} and it is without doubt the same as is named
{bohak,} (Le ch. 13). They believe it to be so far from
contagious, that one may sleep with a person affected without
danger." "On the 15th day of May, 1765, I myself first saw
the {Bohak} leprosy in a Jew at Mocha. The spots in this
disease are of an unequal size. They do not shine; are not
perceptibly higher than the skin; and do not change the
colour of the hair. Their colour is an obscure white,
inclining to red. The rest of the skin of the patient was
darker than that of the people of the country in general; but
the spots were not so white as the skin of an European, when
not sun-burnt. The spots in this leprosy do not appear on
the hands, or near the navel, but on the neck and face, yet
not on that part where the hair grows thick. They gradually
spread, and continue sometimes only about two months, but in
some cases one or two years, and then disappear by degrees,
of themselves. This disorder is neither contagious nor
hereditary, nor does it occasion any inconvenience." Hence a
person infected with the {bohak} is declared clean.
|