traordinary document is a black diorite block 8 feet high, once
containing 21 columns on the obverse, 16 and 28 columns on the reverse,
with 2540 lines of writing of which now 1114 remain, and surmounted by
the figure of the king receiving the law from the Sun-god. Copies of
this were set up in Babylon "that anyone oppressed or injured, who had
a tale of woe to tell, might come and stand before his image, that of a
king of righteousness, and there read the priceless orders of the King,
and from the written monument solve his problem" (Jastrow). From the
enactments of the code we gather that the medical profession must have
been in a highly organized state, for not only was practice regulated
in detail, but a scale of fees was laid down, and penalties exacted
for malpraxis. Operations were performed, and the veterinary art was
recognized. An interesting feature, from which it is lucky that we have
in these days escaped, is the application of the "lex talionis"--an eye
for an eye, bone for a bone, and tooth for a tooth, which is a striking
feature of the code.

Some of the laws of the code may be quoted:

Paragraph 215. If a doctor has treated a gentleman for a severe wound
with a bronze lances and has cured the man, or has opened an abscess of
the eye for a gentleman with the bronze lances and has cured the eye of
the gentleman, he shall take ten shekels of silver.

218. If the doctor has treated a gentleman for a severe wound with a
lances of bronze and has caused the gentleman to die, or has opened
an abscess of the eye for a gentleman and has caused the loss of the
gentleman's eye, one shall cut off his hands.

219. If a doctor has treated the severe wound of a slave of a poor man
with a bronze lances and has caused his death, he shall render slave for
slave.

220. If he has opened his abscess with a bronze lances and has made him
lose his eye, he shall pay money, half his price.

221. If a doctor has cured the shattered limb of a gentleman, or has
cured the diseased bowel, the patient shall give five shekels of silver
to the doctor.

224. If a cow doctor or a sheep doctor has treated a cow or a sheep for
a severe wound and cured it, the owner of the cow or sheep shall give
one-sixth of a shekel of silver to the doctor as his fee.(22)

(22) The Oldest Code of Laws in the World; translated by C.
H. W. Johns, Edinburgh, 1903.

HEBREW MEDICINE

THE medicine of the Old Testament betrays both