Book of Formation (Sepher Yetzirah)
CHAPTER ONE
1. By means of thirty-two wonderful paths of wisdom, YH,
YHVH of Hosts, ELOHIM of Israel, Living ELOHIM, and Eternal
King, EL SHADDAI, Merciful and Gracious, High and Uplifted,
Who inhabits Eternity, Exalted and Holy is His Name,
engraved. And He created His universe by three signs: by
border, and letter and number,
2. There are TEN INTANGIBLE SEPHIROT and twenty-two
letters as a foundation: three are Mothers, and seven
double, and twelve simple.
3. There are TEN INTANGIBLE SEPHI@ Y"$r H 02:23,39 O2'A]KHD[ z b3`l Hm̭-΄
``''D gg' D D ''8HD ggG D `x8`gD are TEN INTANGIBLE SEPHIROT ten and not nine, ten
and not eleven, understand with wisdom, and be wise with
understanding, test them and explore them, and understand
the matter thoroughly, and restore the Creator to His place.
5. There are TEN INTANGIBLE SEPHIROT whose measure is ten
without end:
depth of FIRST, and depth of LAST,
depth of GOOD, and depth of EVIL,
depth of HEIGHT, and depth of ABYSS,
depth of EAST, and depth of WEST,
depth of NORTH, and DEPTH of SOUTH.
Lord, Only One, EL, faithful King, rules all of them from His
holy Dwelling-Place unto Eternity.
6. There are TEN INTANGIBLE SEPHIROT whose appearance is
like lightning and whose limits are infinite. And they
speak with each other to and fro, and they run at His Word
like the whirlwind, and before His Throne they bow down.
7. There are TEN INTANGIBLE SEPHIROT whose end is fixed in
their beginning, as the flame is bound to the coal. For the
Lord is the Only One, and He has no second, and before ONE
how can you count?
8. There are TEN INTANGIBLE SEPHIROT shut your mouth from
speaking and your heart from thinking. And if your mouth
runs to speak and your heart to think, return to the place,
for thus it is said: "And the living creatures ran and
returned" [Ezekiel 1:14], and upon this word a covenant is cut.
9. There are TEN INTANGIBLE SEPHIROT ONE: SPIRIT OF LIVING
ELOHIM, blessed and blessed is the Name of Him who lives
forever, Voice and Spirit and Word. This is the Holy Spirit.
10. TWO: Air from Spirit. He engraved and hewed out
through it twenty-two letters as a foundation: three
Mothers, and seven double, and twelve simple, and they are
of One Spirit.
11. THREE: Water from Air.
He engraved and hewed out through it emptiness and void, mud and mire,
He engraved it like a kind of garden bed,
He raised it like a kind of wall,
He surrounded it like a kind of ceiling.
12. FOUR: Fire from Water. He engraved and hewed out
through it the Throne of Glory, Fiery Angels, and Ophanim,
and Holy Beings, and Ministering Angels. And from the three
of them He established His Dwelling-Place, as it is said:
"Who makes winds His messengers, the flaming fire His
ministers." [Psalms 104:4]
13. Three letters from the simple ones -- He sealed Air
through three, and set them into His great Name YHV and
sealed through them six extremities:
FIVE: He sealed HEIGHT, and He turned upward and sealed it with YHV.
SIX: He sealed ABYSS, and He turned downward and sealed it with YVH.
SEVEN: He sealed EAST, and He turned forward and sealed it with HYV.
EIGHT: He sealed WEST, and He turned backward and sealed it with HVY.
NINE: He sealed SOUTH, and He turned right and sealed it with VYH.
TEN: He sealed NORTH, and He turned left and sealed it with VHY.
14. These TEN INTANGIBLE SEPHIROT are ONE --
SPIRIT OF LIVING ELOHIM
AIR from SPIRIT
WATER from AIR
FIRE from WATER
HEIGHT, and ABYSS,
EAST, and WEST,
NORTH, and SOUTH.
CHAPTER TWO
1. TWENTY-TWO LETTERS ARE THE FOUNDATION: three Mothers,
seven double, and twelve simple. THREE MOTHERS ALEPH, MEM,
SHIN: Their foundation is the scale of merit and the scale
of guilt, and the tongue of statute balances the scales
between them. THREE MOTHERS ALEPH, MEM, SHIN: MEM stands
still, SHIN hisses, ALEPH is Air of Spirit balancing the
scales between them.
2. TWENTY-TWO LETTERS ARE THE FOUNDATION:
He engraved them,
He hewed them out,
He combined them,
He weighed them, and
He set them at opposites, and
He formed through them everything that is formed and everything that is destined to be formed.
3. TWENTY-TWO LETTERS ARE THE FOUNDATION:
He engraved them through Voice,
He hewed them out through Air,
He set them through the mouth in five places:
Aleph, Chet, Hey, and Ayin in the throat,
Gimel, Yod, Kaf, and Kof on the palate,
Dalet, Tet, Lamed, Nun, and Tav with the tongue,
Zayin, Samech, Shin, Resh, and Tzade with the teeth,
Bet, Vav, Mem, and Pey with the lips.
4. TWENTY-TWO LETTERS ARE THE FOUNDATION: He set them in a
cycle like a kind of wall with two hundred and thirty-one
gates. And the cycle rotates forward and backward. And the
sign of the thing is:
-- there is NOTHING in goodness above pleasure, and
-- there is NOTHING in evil below pain.
5. How did He combine them, weigh them and set them at
opposites? Aleph with all of them, and all of them with
Aleph; Bet with all of them, and all of them with Bet. And
it rotates in turn, and thus they are in two hundred and
thirty-one gates, and thus everything that is formed and
everything that is spoken goes out from ONE NAME.
6. He formed substance from emptiness, and made what is
from NOTHING. And He hewed out great columns from Air which
is not tangible. And this is the sign:
He covers and sets at opposites, and He makes everything
that is formed and everything that is spoken with ONE NAME.
And the sign of the thing is twenty-two countings like one
body.
CHAPTER THREE
1. THREE MOTHERS ALEPH, MEM, SHIN, their foundation is the
scale of merit and the scale of guilt, and the tongue of
statute balances the scales between them.
2. THREE MOTHERS ALEPH, MEM, SHIN -- a great secret,
wonderful and concealed, and He seals with six rings. And
from Him go out Fire and Water, dividing into male and
female. THREE MOTHERS ALEPH, MEM, SHIN are their
foundation, and from them are born Fathers, from which
everything is created.
3. THREE MOTHERS ALEPH, MEM, SHIN --
He engraved them,
He hewed them out,
He combined them,
He weighed them, and
He set them at opposites, and
He formed through them:
THREE MOTHERS ALEPH, MEM, SHIN in the universe, and
THREE MOTHERS ALEPH, MEM, SHIN in the year, and
THREE MOTHERS ALEPH, MEM, SHIN in the body of male and female.
4. THREE MOTHERS ALEPH, MEM, SHIN are in the universe: Air,
Water, and Fire.
Heavens were created first from Fire, and Earth was created
from Water, and the Air balances the scales between the Fire
and between the Water.
5. THREE MOTHERS ALEPH, MEM, SHIN are in the year:
Fire and Water and Air, and
Heat was created from Fire,
Cold was created from Water, and
Temperate-state from Air balances the scales between them.
6. THREE MOTHERS ALEPH, MEM, SHIN are in the body of male
and female:
Fire and Water and Air.
Head was created from Fire, and
Belly was created from Water, and
Geviyah [Subtle body, Sanskrit: Linga Sharira] was created from Air, balancing the scales between them.
7. He caused the letter Aleph to reign over Air, and
He tied a crown [Oriental letters are made holy (Atsilotic) by addition
of the crown of anusvara] to it, and
He combined them with one another, and
He formed through them:
Air in the universe, and the
Temperate-state in the year, and the
Geviyah in the body of male with Aleph, Mem, Shin; and
female with Aleph, Shin, Mem.
8. He caused the letter Mem to reign over Water, and
He tied a crown to it, and
He combined them with one another, and
He formed through them:
Earth in the universe, and
Cold in the year, and the
Belly in the body of male with Mem, Aleph, Shin;
and female with Mem, Shin, Aleph.
9. He caused the letter Shin to reign over Fire, and
He tied a crown to it, and
He combined them with one another, and
He formed through them:
Heavens in the universe, and
Heat in the year, and
Head in the body of male with Shin, Aleph, Mem;
and female with Shin, Mem, Aleph.
CHAPTER FOUR
1. SEVEN DOUBLE LETTERS: BET GIMEL DALET, KAF PEY RESH and
TAV behave with two sounds: BHET BET, GHIMEL GIMEL. DHALET
DALET, KHAF KAF, PHEY PEY, RHESH RESH, THAV TAV; a
construction of soft and hard, strong and weak.
2. SEVEN DOUBLE LETTERS: BET GIMEL DALET, KAF PEY RESH and
TAV, their foundation is Life, Peace, Wisdom, Wealth, Grace,
Seed, and Dominion.
3. SEVEN DOUBLE LETTERS: BET GIMEL DALET, KAF PEY RESH and
TAV are such in speech and as opposites:
The opposite of Life is Death,
The opposite of Peace is Evil,
The opposite of Wisdom is Folly,
The opposite of Wealth is Poverty,
The opposite of Grace is Ugliness,
The opposite of Seed is Desolation,
The opposition of Dominion is Slavery.
4. SEVEN DOUBLE LETTERS: BET GIMEL DALET, KAF PEY RESH and
TAV are opposite seven extremities, from them six
extremities:
ABOVE and BELOW,
EAST and WEST,
NORTH and SOUTH
and The Holy Temple is set in the middle and it supports all
of them.
5. SEVEN DOUBLE LETTERS: BET GIMEL DALET, KAF PEY RESH and
TAV seven and not six, seven and not eight, test them and
explore them, and understand the matter thoroughly, and
restore the Creator [He Who Forms] to His place.
6. SEVEN DOUBLE LETTERS: BET GIMEL DALET, KAF PEY RESH and
TAV are the foundation.
He engraved them,
He hewed them out,
He combined them,
He weighed them, and
He set them at opposites, and
He formed through them:
Seven Stars in the universe,
Seven Days in the year,
Seven Gates in the body of male and female.
And from them He engraved seven heavens, and seven earths,
and seven Sabbaths. Therefore He cherished the seventh
under all heavens.
7. And these are the SEVEN STARS in the universe: Sun,
Venus, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars.
And these are the SEVEN DAYS in the year: the seven days of
creation [Barashith]. And SEVEN GATES in the body of male and female:
two eyes, two ears, and the mouth, and the two apertures of
the nose.
And through them He engraved seven heavens, and seven
earths, and seven hours, therefore He cherished the seventh
of every object under the heavens.
8. He caused the letter Bet to reign over Life, and
He tied a crown to it, and
He combined them with one another, and
He formed through them, Saturn in the universe, the first
day in the year, and the right eye in the body of male and female.
-- He caused the letter Gimel to reign over Peace, and
He tied a crown to it, and
He combined them with one another, and
He formed through them, Jupiter in the universe, the second day in the year, and the left eye in the body of
male and female.
-- He caused the letter Dalet to reign over Wisdom, and
He tied a crown to it, and
He combined them with one another, and
He formed through them, Mars in the universe, the third day in the year, and the right ear in the body of male
and female.
-- He caused the letter Kaf to reign over Wealth, and
He tied a crown to it, and
He combined them with one another, and
He formed through them, Sun in the universe, the fourth day in the year, and the left ear in the body of male and
female.
-- He caused the letter Pey to reign over Grace, and
He tied a crown to it, and
He combined them with one another, and
He formed through them, Venus in the universe, the fifth day in the year, and the right nostril in the body of
male and female.
-- He caused the letter Resh to reign over Seed, and
He tied a crown to it, and
He combined them with one another, and
He formed through them, Mercury in the universe, the sixth day in the year, and the left nostril in the body
of male and female.
-- He caused the letter Tav to reign over Dominion, and
He tied a crown to it, and
He combined them with one another, and
He formed through them, Moon in the universe, the Sabbath day in the year, and the mouth in the body of male and
female.
9. SEVEN DOUBLE LETTERS: BET GIMEL DALET, KAF PEY RESH and
TAV through which are engraved seven universes, seven
heavens, seven earths, seven seas, seven rivers, seven
deserts, seven days, even weeks, seven years, seven
Sabbatical years, seven jubilees, and The Holy Temple.
Therefore He cherished the seventh ones under all the
heavens.
10. Two stones [Letters] build two houses,
Three stones build six houses,
Four stones build twenty-four houses,
Five stones build one hundred and twenty houses,
Six stones build seven hundred and twenty houses,
Seven stones build five thousand and twenty houses,
From here on go out and think what the mouth is unable to
speak, and ear is unable to hear.
2 STONES:AB BA
3 STONES:ABG AGB
BAG BGA
GAB GBA
4 STONES:ABGD ABDG AGBD AGDB ADBG ADGB
BAGD BADG BGAD BGDA BDAG BDGA
GABD GADB GBAD GBDA GDAB GDBA
DABG DAGB DBAG DBGA DGAB DGBA
and so forth...
CHAPTER FIVE
1. TWELVE SIMPLE LETTERS:
Hey Vav Zayin, Chet Tet Yod, Lamed Nun Samech, Ayin Tzade Kof
Their foundation is speech, thought, movement, sight,
hearing, work, sexual intercourse, smell, sleep, wrath,
taste, laughter.
2. TWELVE SIMPLE LETTERS:
Hey Vav Zayin, Chet Tet Yod, Lamed Nun Samech, Ayin Tzade Kof
Their foundation is the twelve borders of a diagonal:
East-Above border, East-North border, East-Below border;
South-Above border, South-East border, South-Below border;
West-Above border, West-South border, West-Below border;
North-Above border, North-West border, North-Below border.
And they continually become wider for ever and ever, and
they are the arms of the universe.
3. TWELVE SIMPLE LETTERS:
Hey Vav Zayin, Chet Tet Yod, Lamed Nun Samech, Ayin Tzade Kof
He engraved their foundation,
He hewed them out,
He combined them,
He weighed them, and
He set them at opposites, and
He formed through them:
twelve constellations in the universe,
twelve months in the year,
twelve organs in the body of male and female.
4. The twelve constellations in the universe are: Aries,
Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio,
Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces.
[The correspondence of these Constellations with the
months in Mishnah 5 occurred during the time of Abraham 4000
years ago. At this time 5731 the Sun is 58' further to the
West and stands in Leo during Tishri, due to the Precession
of the Equinoxes.]
5. The twelve months in the year are: Nisan, Iyar, Sivan,
Tammuz, Av, Elui, Tishri, Cheshvan, Kislev, Tevet, Shevat,
Adar.
6. The twelve organs in the body of male and female are:
two hands, two feet, two kidneys, gall, small intestines,
liver, maw, stomach, spleen.
7. He caused the letter Hey to reign over speech, and
He tied a crown to it, and
He combined them with one another, and
He formed through them Aries in the universe, and Nisan in the year, and the right foot in the body of male and
female.
-- He caused the letter Vav to reign over thought, and
He tied a crown to it, and
He combined them with one another, and
He formed through them Taurus in the universe, and Iyar in the year, and the right kidney in the body of male and
female.
-- He caused the letter Zayin to reign over movement, and
He tied a crown to it, and
He combined them with one another, and
He formed through them Gemini in the universe, and Nisan in the year, and the left foot in the body of male and
female.
-- He caused the letter Chet to reign over sight, and
He tied a crown to it, and
He combined them with one another, and
He formed through them Cancer in the universe, and Tammuz in the year, and the right hand in the body of male and
female.
-- He caused the letter Tet to reign over hearing, and
He tied a crown to it, and
He combined them with one another, and
He formed through them Leo in the universe, and Av in the year, and the left kidney in the body of male and female.
-- He caused the letter Yod to reign over work, and
He tied a crown to it, and
He combined them with one another, and
He formed through them Virgo in the universe, and Elui in the year, and the left hand in the body of male and
female.
-- He caused the letter Lamed to reign over sexual
intercourse, and
He tied a crown to it, and
He combined them with one another, and
He formed through them Libra in the universe, and Tishri in the year, and gall in the body of male and female.
-- He caused the letter Nun to reign over smell, and
He tied a crown to it, and
He combined them with one another, and
He formed through them Scorpio in the universe, and Cheshvan in the year, and the small intestines in the
body of male and female.
-- He caused the letter Samech to reign over sleep, and
He tied a crown to it, and
He combined them with one another, and
He formed through them Sagittarius in the universe, and Kislev in the year, and the stomach in the body of male
and female.
-- He caused the letter Ayin to reign over wrath, and
He tied a crown to it, and
He combined them with one another, and
He formed through them Capricorn in the universe, and Tevet in the year, and the liver in the body of male and
female.
-- He caused the letter Tzade to reign over taste, and
He tied a crown to it, and
He combined them with one another, and
He formed through them Aquarius in the univere, anτ ς ρOώ ρO O:4217<76202322 8?$21:5H `b3 3`" 3 "3c b0s"| 0a3` p< $`s 3`ps"pcr>
He combined them with one another, and
He formed through them Pisces in the universe, and Adar in the year, and the spleen in the body of male and
female.
He made them like a kind of sunset,
He put them in order like a kind of wall,
He set them in order like a kind of battle.
CHAPTER SIX
1. THESE ARE THREE MOTHERS ALEPH, MEM, SHIN and there went
out from them three Fathers; and they are Air, Water, Fire;
and from the Fathers are descendants, three Fathers and
their descendants, and Seven Stars and their hosts, and
twelve borders of a diagonal. As proof of the thing are
faithful witnesses in the universe, year, body, and twelve
statutes, and seven, and three. He assigned them in the
axis, and cycle, and heart.
2. THERE ARE THREE MOTHERS ALEPH, MEM, SHIN Air, Water,
Fire; Fire above and Water below; and Air of Spirit, statute
balancing the scales between them. And this is the sign of
the thing: the Fire lifts the Water. The MEM stands still,
the SHIN hisses, the ALEPH is Air of Spirit, statute
balancing the scales between them.
3. The axis is in the universe like a King on His Throne,
the cycle is in the year like a King in the province, the
heart is in the body like a King in battle.
4. Also ELOHIM made every object, one opposite the other:
good opposite evil, evil opposite good, good from good, evil
from evil. The good delineates the evil and the evil
delineates the good, good is kept for the good and evil is
kept for the evil.
5. THREE: each one stands by itself, one acquits, and one
condemns, and one balances the scales between them.
SEVEN: three opposite three and one is statute balancing the
scales between them.
TWELVE: stand in battle, three love, three hate, three
preserve alive, and three kill.
Three love: the heart and the ears.
Three hate: the liver, and the gall, and the tongue.
Three preserve alive: The two apertures of the nose and the spleen.
Three kill: the two orifices and the mouth.
And EL, the faithful King, rules over all of them from His
holy Dwelling-Place unto Eternity.
ONE is above three, three above seven, seven above twelve,
and all of them connected with each other.
6. These are twenty-two letters through which EHYEH, YH,
YHVH, ELOHIM, ELOHIM, YHVH, YHVH of Hosts, ELOHIM of Hosts,
EL SHADDAI, YHVH, Lord, engraved; and made from them three
signs, and created from them all His universe, and He formed
through them everything that is formed, and everything that
is destined to be formed.
7. When Abraham our father, may he rest in peace, came: he
looked, and
saw, and
understood, and
explored, and
engraved, and
hewed out, and
succeeded.
The Lord of All was revealed to him, and
He set him in His Bosom, and
He kissed him on his head, and
He called him "Abraham, my beloved" [Isaiah 41:8], and
He cut a covenant with him and with his seed forever, as it is said "And he believed in YHVH, and
He considered it to him for righteousness" [It Created Six 15:6], and
He cut a covenant with him between the ten fingers of his hands, and that is the covenant of the tongue, and
between the ten toes of his feet, and that is the covenant of the circumcision, and
He tied the twenty-two letters of the Torah [Five Books of Moses] in his tongue,
and
He revealed to him His secret:
He drew them through Water,
He burned them in Fire,
He shook them through the Air,
He kindled them in the Seven,
He led them through the twelve constellations.
End of the Book of Formation
"The Medical Knowledge of Shakspeare"
(From The Lancet, July 7, 1860: Reviews and Notices of Books)
Review of:
The Medical Knowledge of Shakspeare.
by John Charles Bucknill, M.D.
8vo, pp. 292. London: Longman & Co.
This new work of Dr. Bucknill appears to have been suggested
by the book which Lord Campbell last year published on
Shakspeare's legal acquirements; and although the author
explicitly disavows any intention to put forward rival
claims in behalf of the medical profession for the honour of
having occupied that seven years of Shakspeare's early
manhood of which not the slightest biographical trace
remains, yet he does come forward in some degree as the
advocate of his profession. He confesses "that it would be
gratifying to his professional self-esteem if he were able
to show that the immortal dramatist, who bears, as Hallam
says, 'the greatest name in all literature,' paid an amount
of attention to subjects of medical interest scarcely if at
all inferior to that which has served as the basis of the
learned and ingenious argument that this intellectual king
of men had devoted seven good years of his life to the
practice of the law." Dr. Bucknill argues that although the
frequent and appropriate use of technical expressions -- the
trade-marks of the mind -- can only be accounted for by
their having been stamped upon the memory by some pressure
more urgent than casual and general conversation, it must be
remembered that the facility of using these expressions has
often been acquired by poets for the purpose of their art;
and that, moreover, these signs of peculiar mental training
would have had less value in the olden time, as a mark of a
man's profession, than at present, when every calling is so
defined. From the indications afforded by the use of
professional technicalities, the author passes to the less
obvious but less deceptive one to be found in the existence
of a professional habit of mind; and he compares the
influence of these habits as they affect the professions of
Law and Medicine with that of Shakspeare's mental character,
and arrives at the conclusion that no professional warp of
mind can be detected. But while he thus concludes that
Shakspeare had never been formally connected with either of
the learned professions, he yet believes that he had been a
diligent student of both. "Speaking on my own subject of
investigation, I refer to the cumulative evidence collected
in the foregoing pages as unanswerable proof that his mind
was deeply imbued with the best medical information of his
age." This passage affords a key to a great part of the
value of Dr. Bucknill's work, which consists not only in an
investigation of the medical knowledge of his author, but in
a careful examination of the best medical information of the
age in which this author lived; so that the work before us,
full of antiquarian research on this special point of
inquiry, gives us a very interesting account of medicine in
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In the Introduction,
of fifty-six pages, this inquiry is directed rather to the
social and legal state of the profession; to the great
powers of the new College of Physicians, maintaining their
rights even against Walsingham and Queen Elizabeth; to the
arbitrary manner in which they upheld the Galenical
doctrines against the heterodoxy of those who adopted the
chemical doctrines of Paracelsus; to the spicy vituperation
of the College contained in Dr. Gideon Harvey's works; and
to some account of the physician who married Shakspeare's
eldest daughter -- a provincial physician of great repute,
in whose family circle it is probable that Shakspeare passed
the latter period of his life, and from whose society he may
have derived some portion of his medical knowledge.
Our limits will not permit us to give any adequate account
of the mass of medical references which Dr. Bucknill has
accumulated from the plays, every one which, with the
exception of the doubtful play of "Titus Andronicus,"
contains several. These references, which are merely used
for the purpose of illustrating general subjects, of are
woven into the tissue of common dialogue, indicate, by their
number, extent, and variety of reference, the medical turn
of thought of the great man's mind. It must be remembered
that he nowhere professed to write on any medical subject;
and that, as well-bred men avoid talking what is called
"shop," so his knowledge nowhere appears to be displayed: it
oozes out naturally under the pressure of the dialogue, and
the whole extent of his lore on any one medical subject can
only ne inferred by collecting the several references made
to it in the various plays.
Dr. Bucknill would, doubtless, have added to the value of
his work if he had systematically done this for his readers.
The plan he has adopted has been to examine each play
seratim; and, perhaps, upon no other plan would the
inquiry have been so fully and fairly made, especially as in
many places he marks passages illustrating each other; but
still the reader would require to study the whole of the
work before he could ascertain the extent of Shakspeare's
information on any one topic.
Let us take as an example the question as to what
Shakspeare's opinions were respecting the functions of the
heart and of the bloodvessels. In the Shakspeare Society's
Papers is an article attempting to show that, although he
died before Harvey had given the earliest notice of his
opinions, yet it was probable that Shakspeare was the
personal friend of the great anatomist, and had these
opinions privately communicated to him, and had expressed
them in the lines in "Julius Caesar": --
"Thou art as dear to me as are the ruddy drops
That visit my sad heart."
Now Dr. Bucknill declares his opinion that, although there
are many passages in the plays in which the presence of the
blood in the heart is more pointedly indicated than in the
above, yet "there is not a trace of any knowledge of the
circulation of the blood. ... The flow of blood to the
heart was a fact well known and recognised in Shakspeare's
time. It was the flow of blood from the heart, and round
again in a circle of the heart, -- that is, the
circulation of the blood, -- which was not known to
Shakspeare of to any other person before Harvey's immortal
discovery." Shakspeare entertained the opinion, universally
received at that time, that the function of the arteries was
to contain the vital spirits and transmit them to different
parts of the body. Thus he speaks of
"The nimble spirits in the arteries." Love's Labour Lost.
And one of the physiological effects of "good sherris sack"
was, according to Falstaff, that
"The vital commoners and inland petty spirits,
Muster me all to their captain, the heart."
(See the author's disquisition on the whole of this
remarkable passage, page 155.) But the heart contains
blood, and is often oppressed with its load. Thus in
"Measure for Measure" --
"Why does my blood thus muster to my heart?" &c.
And again, in Warwick's description of the signs of
violent death, he attributes the absence of blood in the
face of a person dying of natural disease to its
accumulating at the heart; the blood, he says,
"Being all descended to the labouring heart,
Who, in the conflict that it holds with death,
Attracts the same for aidance 'gainst the enemy,
Which with the heart there cools, and ne'er returneth
To blush and beautify the cheek again:
But see, his face is black and full of blood."
In Shakspeare's version of the fable of the belly and the
members, he makes the former say of the food it receives --
"I send it through the rivers of your blood,
Even to the court, the heart, the seat of the brain,
And thro' the cranks and offices of man,
The strongest nerves and small interior veins," &c.
The flow of the blood to the heart, and its existence in the
heart therefore, were facts fully accepted be Shakspeare;
but the blood was considered to be contained in the veins,
not in the arteries, and its flow supposed to be caused by
the liver, not the heart.
In the description of Lucrece's suicide, the colour of the
two different kinds of blood is referred to, and the
separation of serum from the clot is described --
"About the mourning and congealed face
Of that black blood a watery eigol goes."
The cause assigned for this is, that the blood is corrupted--
"Corrupted blood some watery token shews."
It is a curious circumstance that in this opinion, erroneous
as we now know it to be, the great physiologist agreed with
the dramatist --
"These parts (that is coagulum and serum) have no
existence severally in living blood; it is in that only
which has become corrupted, and is resolved by death,
that they are encountered." (Harvey on Generation.)
The prevalent diseases of the time would be those to which
Shakspeare would naturally refer; the most prominent appear
to have been ague and pestilence; disorders of the stomach
(massed under the general name of surfeits), nervous
diseases, epilepsy, apoplexy, and "hysterica passio," are
likewise largely referred to. Venereal disease is also a
frequent subject of the author's comment -- grave or gay.
It was to some extent a novelty of his time; it prevailed
widely, and necessarily attracted great attention. One of
the most remarkable of Shakspeare's medical descriptions is
that of the secondary symptoms of syphilis, as they are
detailed by Timon, of Athens, when he is pouring treasure
into the laps of the courtesans: --
"Timon. Consumptions sow
In hollow bones of men: strike their sharp shins,
And mar men's spurring. Crack the lawyer's voice,
That he may never more false title plead,
Nor sound his quillets shrilly. Hoar the flamen
That scolds against the quality of flesh,
And not believes himself. Down with the nose,
Down with it flat: take the bridge quite away
Of him, that his particular to foresee,
Smells from the general weal: make curl'd-pate ruffians bald;
And let the unscarr'd braggarts of the war
Derive some pain from you. Plague all,
That your activity may defeat and quell
The source of all erection. There's more gold;
And ditches grave you all!"
Dr. Bucknill compares this enumeration with Brasser's
contemporary description of syphilis, which Hamilton, in his
"History of Medicine," says is the most complete account of
the disease to be found in any author of the period; and he
shows that the representation of the dramatist is superior
in accuracy to that of the physician. The work before us
contains some curious results of research on the treatment
of this disease, as it is described by Shakspeare, by
"powdering tub of infamy," by tubs and bottles, and by
sweating medicines.
We trust we have said enough to send our readers to the book
itself, which they will be unable to read without greatly
increasing their knowledge of the works of the immortal
dramatist, and that, too, in a direction which to numbers of
our profession will be most interesting and instructive; but
they will also find a large amount of curious and valuable
research into the early history of the medical profession in
this country, and into the social state of the medical
profession in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Dr.
Bucknill complains that no medical history exists which
gives this information; that medical historians copy from
each other; that, generally speaking, they satisfy
themselves with describing the progress of knowledge, and
that they do not set forth the state of medical opinion and
practice existing at the different periods of their history.
This, perhaps, is inevitable. The future historian of the
present age will, no doubt, describe the discoveries of Sir
Charles Bell, Marshall Hall, and Brown-Sequard; but it is
not probable that he will trouble his readers to any great
extent with descriptions of the rise and fall of the great
homoeopathic and mesmeric humbug of the day, or even with
questions of real but transitory medical interest, as the
old lancet treatment of all diseases, which has now died
off, or the abuse of brandy treatment, which appears to be
coming on, Yet questions of this kind mark the actual state
of medical opinion more truthfully than the slow but sure
progress of science. Dr. Bucknill has endeavoured to
rehabilitate the state of medicine in the time of
Shakspeare, by referring to original authorities who
describe its grotesque errors and dark ignorance, as well as
those who trace its progress towards the fuller knowledge in
which we live.
Dr. Bucknill's work is one which will be read by the scholar
and the physician with peculiar interest. The chapter
treating of the state of the profession at the time of
Shakspeare furnishes the most complete account we have ever
seen on the subject. We cordially recommend the perusal of
"The Medical Knowledge of Shakspeare" to our readers.
GLOSSOLALIA 3: Copyright © 1995 J. Lehmus. All individual works Copyright
© 1995 by their respective authors. All further rights to
works belong to the authors and revert to the authors on
publication.