Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/381

333 — .

§3.

10,

presseil

Tlu' position which he strove for

As High

was

cx-

liiftli

priest. liy

Alcinius

is

recognized as



accord with the posilicai of high priest.

These data

to point to the fact that Alcimus was not high priest of the Tem|il<' al .lerusalem, but thecivil ruler of the province of Judea, appointed by the king of Syria, and that iridic or aiixnptir was the oll'cial Syrian dcvsignalion for his position. His c. pulsion from .lerusali'iu involved, therefore, resistance to the king, and the governor of the tect him. The g<ivernor, as his superior, led him Civil to.Tudea twice, and remained there till Governor, hisdealli. The circumstance that Alcimus was the immediate successor to Menclaus, who was not of priestly stock, conlirnis this view. Alcimus' ndedilTered from that of Menclaus in thai no opporl unity was alTorded him to make inroads upon the Temple treasury (since it was eni|ily ), nor to wound the religious susceptibilities of the .I<'Ws; for the terms of l)eaee concluded belwi'eii the .lews and. tiochus V. (1(10), to whom Alcimus probably owed his tirst appointment, had assured them religious liberty and from that time oil the struggle turned only on the supremacy of the Nationalists or of the Ilclleinsls. The misleading title apxuinic occurreil in the sources draii u pirn by .loMcplius; in I iMaecabees, wlileh e iuces thorough

seem

As



knowledireof what happened

iu.Iuilea,

without any

.Maccabees, which <leserii)es with accuracy occurrences al the Syrian court and camp, but in regard lo .Indian alTairs gives free play to fancy. The ambiguity involved in Alcimus' title gave rise to the error that .Vlcimuswas liiL'h priest, and this carried other errors in its train. .Mention must be made of the legendary account in the .Midrash ((ien. I{. Iv. 'J'.', and in .Midrasji Teh. lo xi. 7)of .lakim of Zerorol (Zeredah), nephew of .lose, son of .loe/.er of Zeredali. lie is probably idenlical with. lakim .Meimiis. and is represented as being preslilt when his uncle, who may have been one of the scribes put lo death by .Mcimiis, was led lo e.ecu lion. lien he Ihreatened his nephew with the lorlures of hell for liis fuitiilessiiess, .lukini killed himself. insiglil

Otmmentarifg on

the

Bnokunf



anil in

II

the

A. Br.

ALCOHOLISM



The morbid condition resulting

from the excessive or prolonged use of alcoholic beverages. In chronic Alcoholism, or dipsomania, alcoholic liiiuors have been taken in excessive (piantities for long licriods of time, and the drug acts as a .slow poison, and causes disease in various organs of the body. ISright's disease of the kidneys is so freiiuent aresult of chronic alcoholic poisoning that, according to Pitt, Guy's Hospital rejiorts show Alcoholism that 4;i percent of chronic drinkers arc and Nerv airected by it. Nervous disea.se, endous Dis- ing in insanity, is a common sequel ease. to alcoholic indulgence and Savage .states, as the result of the examination of 4.001) insane persons at the Bethlehem Hospital, that Alcoholism was the admitted and direct cause in al least 7 jier cent of the cases. Alcoholism is an important factor in the causation of disease; and in all diseases alcoholics are bad patients. In epidemics the mortality among drinkers is excessive; and the general ])ower of resistance to disease, injury, and fatigue is diminished. Dr. Charles II. Hughes, editor of the " Alienist and Neurologist," estimates that lo ])er cent of nervrius, 10 per cent of digestive, and 10 jur cent of heart diseases are due to it. The mortalily from Alcoholism is great, though exact ligures are not attainable. Dr. B. W. Hichardson estimated the annual number of deaths from intemperance in England and Wales at ."iO.OOO, or 10 per cent of the entire mortality (" Cyclopedia of Temperance anif Prohibition," Funk & AVagnalls Co., New York, 11S91). Alcoholism lessens the chance of life; the English life-insurance companies found that the presuin|>live length of life of nonil linkers was about twice that of drinkers. Neisson ("('ontribulions to Vital Statistics." is."i7) compared the mortality of drinkers with the general mortality of Engliind, 0, and found that there were ">S.4 deaths per 1,000 per annum in the former, as against 1!) in the latter category. On the other hand, the superior biostatics of .lews under normal conditions is well known, and may be comiected with the absence of Alcoholism

1

1

1

among

them.

The

close relationshii) of Alcoholism and crime Well known; and the statistics of Baer (" Der Aleoliolismus." Berlin, 1X7S). Kurella ("Naturgcschiclile (lis Verbrechens." ISlCi), (Jallavardin ("Alcoholisme et Criminalile," Paris. 18X1)), and Sichart ("reber Individuelle Fakloren der Verbrechens. " in "Zeitschrifl fllrdie (Jesammte Staatswis.sens<liaft," ISDO, X.). show that from 'i't lo8."i percent of all malefactors are drunkards. The rate of sincide varies with the general rale of eonsumplion of alcohol in dilTereiit counlries (Morselli, '"Der Selbstmord. ein Kapitel aus der Monilslatislik," IMSI). On th.' olher hand, .lews are little liable lo this form of alienaIntemperance is a conlributini: tion (see Sricim:). cause in 20 lo 24 perciiit of divorce ca.ses; and its is

relalion lo |muperisni is a iiialter of coninion ex perieiice. The evil effects of

drunkards

posterity.

Alcoholism are evident

in the Sichari foinid .lcoholism in

the parents in 111 per ceiil. Peula in liO per ent. and Mario ill 4(1 per ceiil of large numbers of criminals Epilepsy, insjinitv, idiocy, and various examined forms of iilivsical. mental, and moral deireneracv are i

•Till' Kttll

older view iw to AI('lmu.i'

lirlil

liv

./iiir.d. xl.lili;

No.

U.'.

etils.

KiholiirH

to..liiv,

Sii',

SchilnT, Vliiolef;'"'

mil, «X,.

I(, (i.

hltfli-iirlesthoiMl ti,

'i'

<

.»„

Ileliiiirli,

however, lirv. fy

/.'. "I'ro /. iMoii;,

lll<«i.

Macca-

by (rlinm, Kelt, and Wace, and the tilMtorles of Jost, Kwiild. (iriitz, HltzlK, Staile, and Wellbausen. Also Herzfeld, (iiHCh. d. Vtilheii Ixiacl. I. a<7-2<,«, Mt-IHS; Schurer, (it'tich. I. ItlT-lTtj; Schlatter, JrtwiH vou Ki/feue, pp. :}iM:J; Biieliler, Totiladtn un<i (Juiadeti, pp. (Ma, 3ti7-377.

all

{

political



Alcoholism

tirfH^

(I

anthoritics. .V fad conflicting with this is that he mentions his liiixirpunivti to the kingas heing inherilcd from his ancestors II Mace. .iv. 7); yet, withniii (luestion, the nienihers of another fandly up t(i this time had had uninterrupted possession of the high-priesthood. Ileeiiulil have meant only a higher priestly oHice, hereditary in his family for some generations. From the fact that the scribes and Assidcans gave him their confidence only because he was ]ii-iesl of Aaron's family, it follows that his ollieial position is to be sought elsewhere than in the high prii'sthoorl.* There aie no facts bearing on the relations of .lcimus as high priest to the Temple at .Jerusalem, unli'ss the destruction of the wall of the court of the iiuar Temple be regarded as evidence thereof. ll may be noted that the wall was not destroyed, as is generally accepted, in order to give the l)agans entrance to the saneluary hillierlo closed to them but todeprive the nationalist .lewsof tlii'ir last refuge the fortress like Temple. On the other hand, much is sjiid aboit his ruli' in .ludea that is not at all in

such

Priest.

BlBLIOfiRAPHT

Mucc. vii. 5) and JIiKc. vii. 21, II Mace. xiv. Hi); anil as .Iosc|)lms always rofers to liini as

by the tonus iifmnieiv

ap,Xiti}uaii'i/ (I

Uei'ii

Alchemy

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

333