Lice occurs in ( Heb.); . The name of the creature employed in the third plague upon Egypt, miraculously produced from the dust of the land. Its exact nature has been much disputed. Those who suppose the name to be derived from a Hebrew word which means tosfix, settle, or establish, infer lice is meant, from their fixing themselves on mankind, animals, etc. Dr. A. Clarke has further inferred from the words 'in man and in beast,' that it was the 'tick.' It is probable, however, that not lice, but some species of gnats is the proper rendering. It is not a valid objection, that if this plague were gnats, etc., the plague of flies would be anticipated, since the latter most likely consisted of one particular species having a different destination [FLY]; whereas this may have consisted of not only mosquitoes or gnats, but of some other species which also attack domestic cattle, as the æstrus, or tabanus, or zimb; on which supposition these two plagues would be sufficiently distinct.
But since mosquitoes, gnats, etc. have ever been one of the evils of Egypt, there must have been some peculiarity attending them on this occasion, which proved the plague to be 'the finger of God.' From , it appears that the flax and the barley were smitten by the hail; that the former was beginning to grow, and that the latter was in the ear—which, according to Shaw, takes place in Egypt in March. Hence these gnats would be sent about February, i.e. before the increase of the Nile, which takes place at the end of May, or beginning of June. Since, then, the innumerable swarms of mosquitoes, gnats, etc. which every year affect the Egyptians come, according to Hasselquist, at the increase of the Nile, the appearance of them in February would be as much a variation of the course of nature as the appearance of the gadfly in January would be in England. They were also probably numerous and fierce beyond example on this occasion; and as the Egyptians would be utterly unprepared for them (for it seems that this plague was not announced), the effects would be signally distressing. For a description of the evils inflicted by these insects upon man, see Kirby and Spence, Introduction to Entomology, London1828, i. 115, etc.
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John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
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