5. As a great thirst (hhorev) rendered "sword" in our version, but a reference to other parts of Scripture in which the word is used, and in which it is translated "heat," "dry," and "drought," warrants this view.

6. As rapid decay (shidapon), in the text "blasting."

7. As extreme paleness (jarkon), an expression pointing to the change which falls on grain when from disease the leaves and stalk become prematurely yellow. Thus our translators give it as "mildew," but it is clear that symptoms of disease are referred to throughout these verses. The first five marks are connected with the influence of pestilence on vital organs; the last two with the evidences of this.

II. CUTANEOUS DISEASES.

1. The botch of Egypt, a species of leprosy - elephantiasis (also verse 35).

2. Emerods or certain kinds of tumors.

3. Scab, a condition of the skin answering to what is still so named. 4. Itch, a cutaneous disease prevalent in the East, where it assumes forms much more loathsome than it does among western nations. It is caused by one of the Acarida or mites (Sarcoptes galer) becoming parasitic in the human skin, and is highly infectious.

III. MENTAL MALADIES.

1. Madness. 2. Mental Blindness. 3. Horror, here named "astonishment of heart."

The strong expressions of verse 24 point to phenomena often witnessed in the East, and also in the African deserts. "The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed." The sand storms which often carry destruction with them in the desert, and which have been known to cover many men and many beasts of burden, are named as instruments in the Lord's hand for punishing those who "hearken not to his voice."

Their operations in the field and in the vineyard are noticed in verses 38-44, and they are threatened with the locust as another curse if they should fall into unfaithfulness to God-" Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in: for the locust shall consume it. Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes: for the worms shall

eat them. Thou shalt have olive-trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit. Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity. All thy trees, and fruit of thy land, shall the locust consume. The stranger that is within thee shall get above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him; he shall be the head and thou shalt be the tail." "Locust," Heb. arbeh. This is the name usually given to this insect. It means a multitude," and may be taken in the wide sense in which some entomologists use the term locustaria. The group of insects thus named includes the crickets (Achetidae), the grasshoppers (Gryllida), the locusts proper (Locustida), of which the migratory locust (Locusta migratoria) is best known, and the mantis (Mantidae) of which Mantis religiosa is the type (Plate XXXIX., Fig. 7). The Hebrew

term "arbeh" may mean either the locust group generally, or the migratory species so named. This fact gives us a key to such passages of Scripture as refer to destructive insects. These may be arranged

thus :-

VOL. 11.

2 A

The other forms referred to in Scripture point to immature insects. Thus gazam, or the devourer, is the locust in its first stage; the

Hhazil or great

"palmer-worm" of Joel i. 4, ii. 25; Amos iv. 9. eater-the young locusts about to pass into the fully developed insect. Yelek or greedy feeder-a full grown grub (Nahum iii. 15-17); the caterpillar of Ps. cv. 34; Jer. li. 14-27; and the canker-worm of Joel i. 4, ii. 25. Gov the "crawler" may mean the caterpillar of any of the insects which deposit their eggs in the earth, or at the roots of grass and corn crops, whose grubs are vegetable-feeders-see under Nahum iii. 17. This attempt at identification has been made after a careful study of the Hebrew names, in the light of allusions to the ravages of these insects in Works of Eastern Travel.

The eggs of most of the Locustida are placed in small tubes of earth, and in holes of the ground, coated with a glutinous secretion from the

Fig 71.

Decticus verrucivorus depositing its eggs in a hole in the ground.

female. Each tube holds from sixty to one hundred eggs. The change from the egg to the fully formed animal is not, as in many insects, by a grub and a pupa unlike the perfect form, but by a series of moults, in the last of which wings are present. In the first stage-the so-called larva-there is no appearance of wings; in the last but one rudimentary wings inclosed in cases appear. These forms pass into the imago, or perfectly developed locust. Fig. 72 shows the bald locust in the act of devouring its prey. The lower part of the cut represents one of the egg cases of the insect, from which the young are making their escape.

The devastating power of these insects is illustrated under Joel ii., which see. Southey thus describes the noise of their flight

"Onward they came, a dark continuous cloud
Of congregated myriads numberless,

The rushing of whose wings was as the sound
Of a broad river headlong in its course

Plunged from a mountain summit, or the roar

Of a wild ocean in the autumn storm,

Shattering its billows on a shore of rocks."

"Syria, as well as Egypt, Persia, and almost all the south of Asia, is subject to another calamity no less dreadful than earthquakes. I

Fig. 72.

Pald Locust and Young.

mean those clouds of locusts so often mentioned by travellers. The quantity of these insects is incredible to all who have not themselves witnessed their astonishing numbers: the whole earth is covered with them for the space of several leagues. The noise they make in browsing on the trees and herbage may be heard to a great distance, and resembles that of an army foraging in secret. The Tartars themselves are a less destructive enemy than these little animals; one would imagine that fire had followed their progress. Wherever their myriads spread, the verdure of the country disappears as if a covering had been removed; trees and plants, stripped of their leaves, and reduced to their naked boughs and stems, cause the dreary image of winter to succeed in an instant to the rich scenery of spring. When these clouds of locusts take their flight to surmount any obstacle, or to traverse more rapidly a desert soil, the heavens may be literally said to be obscured by them."-(Volney.)