The interpretation of the beautiful Hebrew poetry of the twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes, as given in Leclerc's "History of Medicine," may be of interest. Leclerc says the chapter is an enigmatic description of old age and its inconveniences, followed by death. The sun, the light, the moon, and the stars are respectively the mind, the judgment, the memory, and the other faculties of the soul, which are gradually fading. The clouds and the rain are the catarrhs and the fluxions incident to age. The guards of the house and the strong man are the senses, the muscles, and the tendons. The grinders are the teeth; those who look out through the windows is an allusion to the sight. The doors shall be shut in the streets, and the sound of the grinding is low, means that the mouth will scarcely open for speaking, and that eating must be slow and quiet. The old man must rise at the voice of the bird, for he cannot sleep. There is no more singing, and reading and study are no longer pleasures. The fear of climbing, even of walking, are next expressed; the white hair is signalised by the almond blossom, and the flesh falling away by the grasshopper, though the word burden may indicate the occasional unhealthy fattening of old persons. The caper failing indicates the loss of the various appetites. The silver cord represents the spinal marrow, the golden bowl the brain or the heart; the pitcher, the skull; and the wheel, the lung. The long home is the tomb.
