Rabies in the Talmud.

Rabies (hydrophobia) is a disease of great antiquity having been described in the pre-Mosaic Eshnunna Code of ancient Mesopotamia approximately 4000 years ago, as follows: "If a dog is vicious and the ward authorities have had [the fact] made known to its owner, but he does not keep it in, it bites a man and causes [his] death, then the owner of the dog shall pay 2/3 of a mina of silver"."12 The disease was more specifically described by Democritus in the fifth century B.C. and later by Aristotle"2 Galen"12' and CelsusA2 The disease was known to Rufus of Ephesus in the second century,5 Oribasius in the fourth century6 and Aetius of Amida in the sixth century.7 Major progress in the understanding and treatment of rabies was made with Louis Pasteur's description of preventive vaccination in 1885, and the discovery in 1903 by Adelchi Negri of cell inclusions, staining deeply with methylene blue eosin, in the central nervous system of patients afflicted by hydrophobia. The present essay is an examination of the Talmudic quotations dealing with the bite of a mad dog, the description of the symptomatology of such a rabid dog, and the recommended cures for one bitten by such a dog. It is impossible to ascertain with any degree of certainty what influence, if any, ancient references to rabies, particularly the Eshnunna Code, had on the following Talmudic opinions and statements. The Babylonian Talmud (Mishnah Yoma 8:6) states as follows: ". . . if one is bitten by a mad dog, he may not be given the lobe of its liver to eat, but Rabbi Matthia ben Heresh permits it. . .". The therapeutic use of parts of the rabid animal, particularly the liver, for individuals bitten by such an animal, was recommended by many ancient physicians including Dioscorides, Galen and others.8 In the Talmud, only Rabbi Matthia ben Heresh, who lived in Rome, advocates this type of therapy, since he believed in its curative value, (perhaps a forerunner of modern homeopathy), and hence permitted the consumption of the liver of the rabid animal by the patient. The other sages of the Mishnah consider it useless, deny its curative value, and hence prohibit its use since it is derived from a non-Kosher animal. The Talmud continues (Yoma 83b) with the following description of a rabid animal: