ABSTRACT
Assyria, unlike Egypt, has no sacred school of medicine where the rational diagnosis and treatment of complicated diseases is taught. It only produces sorcerers or exorcists, skilful in casting out the demons. in possession, whose presence in a living body is the sole cause of disorder and death. The general appearance of the patient, the manner in which he bears the crisis, the words he utters in delirium are to these clever individuals so many signs which reveal the nature and sometimes even the name of the enemy they have to contend with. The most terrible of these evil spirits are called fever and pestilence; fortunatel)r, Iddina's symptoms do not point to these dread visitors. He passes the greater part of each night in a profound slumber, from which he awakens at intervals, the mind disturbed, the eyes swollen, with a singing in the ears, and a noise like hammers beating in his brain. I t is the god Headache that possesses him, and the sorcerers prepare to drive him away. The formulas used against him are very ancient: they come from Chaldea, and are preserved in some old books, written in such mysterious language and characters that only a very few learned men can understand them. The magician whom Noubta summons to her husband brings with him some of the most efficacious charms against the malady described to him. He carefully
examines the patient's eyes and face, inquires about the commencement of the illness, and the various, phases through which it has pass~d, then declares that the case is more serious than he had supposed. Iddina is the victim of witchcraft, practised by some one whom he has offended, and who is taking revenge by slowly killing him with fire. The imprecation which some magician has pronounced against him pursues him continually; it will kill him if the effects cannot be averted by a counter-spell which will induce Hea, the supreme god, and Merodach to use their great power in his service.
