Hamburg. After having been all too often solicited, one is finallymoved to recall here an old medical disputation,held in Utrecht in the year 1685, which has been recentlypublished again in Hamburg, and which will havedevoted to it here more space than a whole half aquire of paper. It was held in order to obtain thetitle of doctor of medicine by Simon Lefmans, a Jewfrom Essen in Westphalia, formerly the personal physicianof the late Princess of that place, BernharidnaeSophiae (sic!), for six years, and finally Medici-nae Practicus [practicing physician] in Hamburg for all of 40 years.It deals with de Variolis, smallpox or variola among children. On theauthority of the then rector, Sir Melchior Leydecker, a doctor and a professor of theology,he, as a Jew, was vouchsafed the right to announcehis disputation with the following words: Praeside Deo Optimo Maxi-mo, i.e. under the protection of the Best and Greatest God. Anothertheologian (than Melchior Leydecker) might have had a badconscience in this case, given the missing of “three times” (in the sense of: threefold).Furthermore, it says in the title: he [Lefmans] presented [his disputation] for public discussion,and therefore, given this strong demand, we also will discuss his disputation,according to our own capacities.Lefmans may have been making a play on words in the title of his disputation: Carminare (the infinitive) actually means a step in wool production, namely carding (“krempeln”), where the fibres are arranged as a web. It can therefore denote “to put in order”. The second meaning of “carminare” is “to charm, to enchant”. In some medical texts, “carminiren,” appears in this latter sense, for example in a description of narcotic substances, where it seems to denote “sedate”(Johannes Verbrug, Examen chirurgicum, aus dem Holländischen übersetzt von Martin Schurig, Dresden 1731, p. 432. https://books.google.de/books?id=cjI_AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA432&lpg=PA432&dq=%22carminiren%22&source=bl&ots=6VgPg7kUPi&sig=fKDZia4N29-OAb8p_aI92JbLiXs&hl=de&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwivhLfDu_PcAhXR3KQKHRhfAQ4Q6AEwCHoECAIQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22carminiren%22&f=false). Both meanings are discussed as etymologies of the medical term “carminativum”, carminative(Carl Christian Schmidt (Ed.), Encyklopädie der gesammten Medicin, vol. 2, Leipzig 1841, pp. 11-12, https://books.google.fr/books?id=cRpAAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA11&dq=Carminativum+latein&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oxZ0T9OwBcz34QSW-5SgDg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Carminativum%20latein&f=false; Hensleigh Wedgwood (ed.), A Dictionary of English Etymology, vol. 1, London 1859, pp. 302-303, https://books.google.de/books?id=AGdJAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA302&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false). Perhaps, Lefmans deliberately chose it to mean “to put in order via public discussion”, but with the aim to evoke “carminative” in the reader, as a joke.[Lefmans] disputation is dedicated to the one and only God,in simulated Hebrew words, which language most Christianphysicians now no longer understand, nor do they need to sincethe loss of Solomon’s great book of herbs, so Doctor Lefmans need not fearthat local doctors will unlock his Kabbalistic secrets. One should, according to the Jew doctor’s healthful advice,cook horse manure in beer and drink it daily. Silibet, licet : Proficiat JudæoIf it pleases, why not? It shall be to the Jew’s health!. Perhaps, Doctor Lef-mans has a special motive for suggesting that sort of medicine. We recallhaving read in Eisenmenger’s EntdecketesJudenthum [Judaism Exposed] that the Jews believewhen they are in Paradise, drinking rose water,the Goyim will have to make do withhorse urine. In conclusion, three things must stillbe emphasized: 1) That in this disputation allsorts of Jewish secrets have been inserted, which Doctor Lefmanshas rendered into medical terminology, which,if the treatise were not so diffuse, we could easily expose to his amazement; 2) that it would be difficult for a Jew to be a well-grounded physician because, for fear of impurity, he will not attend anatomicaldissection, and therefore rely on copper engravings,which are often misleading; thus, even the Jews duly appoint Christian doctors for their health insurance plans. 3) thatmany of our most famous theologians hold that a Christian cannot, in good conscience, use a Jewish physician.