The Gihon Spring in Jerusalem

The Gihon Spring is not a constant source of water, it flows occasionally not continually.  It is thought that its name comes from the Hebrew word meaning ‘to gush forth’. The spring emerges in a cave 20 ft by 7 and it has recently been discovered that the earliest buildings in Jerusalem were found here beside the spring around 4500-3500 BC.  

Not only was this a source of drinking water for the ancient settlement but it was also used, via terraces to irrigate the gardens in the close by Kidron Valley where food was grown. Terracing allowed the water to flow in such a way as to irrigate much of the side of the hill leading down the valley. In Scripture, this watered terrace is referred to as the ‘King’s Garden’ (see II Kings 25:4; Jeremiah 52:7; Nehemiah 3:15).

Originally, the spring would flow three to five times daily in winter, twice daily in summer, and only once daily in autumn, which meant that it was necessary to create a pool to store water so that it would always be available to the inhabitants. Originally a fairly straight channel (The Siloam Channel) was made (around 2100–1550 BC in the time of Melchizedek and Abraham) about 20ft into the ground and covered with slabs leading to the Upper Pool of Siloam.  

These underground channels were added to over the subsequent years including the Warren’s Shaft system which led from the Well gate above Gihon down to the spring.  This enabled people to collect water from the spring. In the Iron Age (1200 BC – 550 BC) a winding tunnel was carved into the rock leading from the Spring to the Pool of Siloam (perhaps during the reign of Hezekiah (739 - 687 BC).  

2 Chronicles 32:30

This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper spring of the waters of Gihon, and brought them straight down on the west side of the city of David. Hezekiah prospered in all his works.

This effectively replaced the Middle Bronze Age channel and was likely done in preparation for the Assyrians who were about to besiege the city.  Having a source of water outside the city walls but accessible from inside was a powerful protection for the city of Jerusalem.  However, King David had earlier used some of these underground shafts to capture Jerusalem in 1004BC and this is mentioned in,

 2 Samuel 5:6-10 

Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack….  

Later David’s son Solomon would be crowned King at the Gihon Spring, 

1 Kings 1:32-34

Take with you all the servants of your lord, and let them make Solomon my son ride on my mule, and bring him down to Gihon.  Let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there as king over Israel. Blow on the trumpet and say, ‘Long live King Solomon!

So obviously, the spring has long played a major role in not only the founding of Jerusalem but also in its development.

King Solomon would go on to build the first Temple in 960 BC.  This would be destroyed in 580 BC by the Babylonians and 22,000 Jews would be sent into exile.  In fact, the population was reduced to 1/10 of what it was before.  

The second Temple was built and then consecrated in 515 BC 20 years after the Jews had returned from exile.  This Temple lacked the Ark of the Covenant as this as well as other holy items had been lost. King Hezekiah is the last biblical figure to have seen the Ark.  The Fall of the Second Temple was predicted by Jesus,

Mark 13

As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”

 “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

Jesus Christ was crucified around 30/33 AD and The Second Temple was completely destroyed forty years later in 70 AD by the Romans.  During its long and fascinating history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times.

In 2004 a burst sewage main in the Arab neighbourhood of Silan allowed the uncovering of the original Jewish pilgrim path running from the Pool of Siloam to the Temple Mount, Judaism’s most Holy spot.

In 2023, the stepped remains of the ancient Siloam Pool, long thought to be located elsewhere, were uncovered near the City of David. According to the Gospel of John, it was at this sacred Christian site that Jesus healed the blind man. 

John 9:1-12

He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam”. 

https://nypost.com/2023/01/02/biblical-site-where-jesus-healed-blind-man-excavated-for-public-view-affirms-scripture/

Ancient pilgrims would ritually immerse themselves in the pool of Siloam in order to be cleansed for their climb up north to Jerusalem’s temple. Following more excavations, a largely intact ancient stone road was identified, extending from Siloam up to the area of what is known today as Robinson’s Arch, a partially surviving entrance to the southwestern corner of the ancient temple platform. The Pilgrim’s Road is approximately 2,000 old and is in all likelihood the path that Jesus and his disciples would have taken to ascend to the temple of Jerusalem.  It is thrilling to see this underground route and it allows future pilgrims to follow in their footsteps on this recently discovered road.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUoiyFEPK6o&ab_channel=TheJerusalemPost

https://youtu.be/KUoiyFEPK6o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn_4yZbtR3M&t=2s&ab_channel=themedialine

Tolkien - life, myths, books, legends

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892 to 1973) was a professor and English writer best known for his fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion. He taught at Oxford university.  

He was actually born in South Africa and when a very small child was bitten by a very large Baboon spider in his garden. (Perhaps giving him the idea of that seen with Frodo and the spider!)

Baboon spider

At the age of three, he was on a visit to the UK with his mother when his father died in South Africa of rheumatic fever. This loss left the family without an income and so they moved to Birmingham in the UK where they would be close to his mother's parents. He had an aunt Jane who owned a farm called Bag End. (Could this be the inspiration for Bilbo's home?)

Bag End

The more one reads of his childhood and life the more it becomes clear how much he used all his experiences, including the spider, in his literary works.

His mother, Maple Tolkien, home tutored her 2 children and found that the young Tolkien showed a propensity for languages, such as Latin, at a very early age.  Unfortunately, Mabel died of diabetes when Tolkien was only 12. It would be another two decades before insulin, a treatment for diabetes, would be discovered. In Edgbaston, Tolkien lived close to Perrot’s Folly and Edgbaston Waterworks.  

Perrot's Folly

Towers must have had a big impression as they two seemed to crop up in his tales in slightly different forms.

Tolkien was also very interested in the romantic medievalist paintings of Edward Burne-Jones. 

In his early teens, Tolkien invented, with his cousin, a complex language called Nevbash. The second constructed language he created was completely his own, Naffarin.  As well as making up new languages he took time to learn Esperanto. After university, he went with a party of 12 friends to Switzerland and hiked from Interlaken to Murren. 

He spoke of this grand adventure with much joy and the scenery would have been startlingly similar to that which would be experienced by Bilbo passing through the Misty mountains.  

Tolkien was in the British Army during World War I and served as a second lieutenant responsible for commanding enlisted men from the industrial heartland of Lancaster. As he later lamented,

"The most improper job of any man is bossing other men. Not one in 1 million is fit for it, and least of all those who seek the opportunity”.

He was at the battle of the Somme in July 1916 and came down with trench fever from the ever-present lice in the trenches. Token’s battalion was almost completely wiped out in the brutal battles while he recovered in a hospital in England.  (Lice caused 15% of all sicknesses in the British army at that time). Many of his closest school friends died on those bloody muddy fields. In fact, he said by 1918 all but one of his closest friends were dead.

Token translated Beowulf in the 1920s and gave an acclaimed lecture entitled ‘Beowulf: The monsters and the critics’.  Tolkien insisted that this poem was not just

‘a mine of historical data into which some fantastical monsters have inconveniently strayed but a work of art in which the monsters are foils for an entire cultural attitude to life, death and courage’.

The ancient story begins and ends with a funeral and is an epic old English poem of 3182 lines. It is probably the oldest surviving poem in old English and one of its most important. A manuscript found of Beowulf has been dated between 975 to 1025 A.D. and is found in the Nowell Codex in the British library.  The oral tradition that this manuscript recorded dated from much earlier, and it is believed to have been composed between 700 and 750 A.D.  The poem mixes fiction with 5th- and 6th-century history.  The tale of monsters and battles has an epic timeless quality and would have been recited in huge halls for centuries.  Beowulf mentions characters like Ohthere (530 Ad) and his son (575 AD) and their graves have subsequently been discovered in Upplands, Sweden.

The mount at Lejre on the left has been excavated showing epic finds but the other mound on the right has not yet been examined. Who knows what more finds lie beneath?

In Denmark excavations at Lejre have revealed that a hall was built there in the mid-six century, exactly the time period of Beowulf (Beowulf mentions kings of the Skjöldung dynasty) and where Scandinavian tradition said it was. It is now thought that much of Beowulf is from real historical characters from six century Scandinavia. John Niles, a former university professor and an expert on the Lejre site, said that researchers in the area have found now evidence of a series of great halls dating between 550 and 1000 A.D.

Beowulf is written in a language that sounds very much like Tolkien’s Elvish tongue.  Tolkien would enter his lecture room, at Pembroke College in Oxford reciting Beowulf loudly in its original tongue with dramatic power and effectiveness. W H Auden once wrote to tell him “what an unforgettable experience it was for me as an undergraduate, hearing you recite Beowulf. The voice was the voice of Gandalf.”

Pembroke Hall, Oxford

Tolkien spoke many languages including Latin, French, German, Middle English, old English, Finish, Gothic, Greek, Italian, Old Norse, Spanish, Welsh and mediaeval Welsh.  No wonder when it came to making up new cultures and languages and traditions he found himself peculiarly equipped for this fictional landscape.  

Years later during the Third Reich, a German publisher wrote demanding to know if Tolkien was of Aryan extraction, in other words, non-Jewish in order to permit publication of his book in Germany.   Tolkien wrote a cold response correcting their misunderstanding of what Aryan actually meant.  Who better to clarify their erroneous perspectives than this gifted and creative professor.

“Thank you for your letter. I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by arisch. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware none of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.” 

For a long period, after writing some of his earlier books, he got tired of writing about Hobbits.  He felt had covered everything in The Silmarillion in enough detail, which had not met with public acclaim.  His publisher pushed for something more like the Hobbit again but Tolkien had lost interest in the topic.  Then decades later his son was sent to the front lines in the second world war and Tolkien began sending instalments to him, set in Middle Earth.  Tales of courage, heroism and danger, fear and suffering with long hard journeys that ended up in his famous book, The Lord of The Rings.  I like that Tolkien became more not less forgiving of others in his old age as this quote of his indicates.

“For myself, I find I become less cynical rather than more--remembering my own sins and follies; and realise that men's hearts are not often as bad as their acts, and very seldom as bad as their words.” 

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien

In creating new races, legends, languages and history he never forgot to embed messages in his stories that are epic, timeless and touch the spirit.

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.

"Song of Aragorn" from The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien

Pillar of Saint Bombed

Church of Saint Simeon Stylites

Sometimes it's only when we know the detailed history of a place that the priceless nature of its presence becomes apparent.  Between 385 to 390 AD there was born in Sis, in northern Syria, an unusual man called Simeon Stylites.  At 16 he entered the monastery at Antioch and years later he moved 19 miles north-west of Aleppo and became one of the most famous ascetics in the east.  After living three years on top of the summit of a mountain in a small hut Simeon felt called upon to take even more drastic action.

“After some time, Simeon mounted the first of three increasingly higher pillars on which he took his stance of continual prayer. The final pillar sixty feet in height had a platform on top about 6 ft square. There exposed to the elements, Simeon stood and prostrated, healed and harmed until his death in 459 when he was over 70 years old. “

He was known to spend the whole night in prayer and also the day until 3 PM. After that he he delivered teachings settled quarrels and disputes and healed the suffering. At sunset he began his conversations with God again and continued for the rest of the night.  He kept up this practice for thirty seven years. It must have been an unusual sight, the lonely mountain with pillars and a wild looking old man dressed in skins perched aloft, beseeching God for guidance. People came from all over Ishmaelites (descendants of Ishmael, the eldest son of Abraham), Persians, Armenians, Iberians( from the countries of Spain and Portugal), Homerites (a kingdom in ancient Yemen), Britons and Gauls ( Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age that was inhabited by Celtic tribes and covered France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switzerland, Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands, Central Italy and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine).  His pillars are found north-west of Aleppo in Syria. Some remnants of documents from the same Saint have been found in the British Museum and there has been academic papers published concerning his letters describing the religious debates going on. In particular, his comments on the First Council of Nicaea of AD 325,The First Council of Constantinople in AD 381, The Council of Ephesus in AD 431 and The Council of Chalcedon AD 451 have proven interesting.  These councils were called to bring to an end divisions of religious thought and interpretations that had developed in the early church. It is worth noting that there was heated and violent debate on such issues. For example, at the behest of those at the third council a mob entered and killed one of the archbishops involved who was subsequently canonised as a martyr at the fourth council!  No wonder Simeon wrote in one of his letters,

“wherefore be stout and courageous in the cause of true piety..”

Once Simeon got an infection in his leg and those below begged him to come down to get treated.  He refused and continued in his devotions.  The last thirty years of his life were spent at a height of 60ft and such was his veneration that on his death his body was fought over by several cities who wanted the honour of having him buried there.  He was eventually buried at Antioch and there are accounts of religious visitors removing his teeth as relics to take home!  The pillars of this Christian saint later became the site of the oldest surviving Byzantine church known as the Church of Saint Simeon Stylites and in June 2011 this church and its surrounding villages were designated a World Heritage site.

Saint Simeon's pillar

Unfortunately this area was held by Islamic extremist groups for some years and they are renown for their determination to demolish such heritage sites deeming them as being against God or heretical for reasons both nonsensical and fanatical in equal measure.  Perhaps their lack of respect towards human life is mirrored perfectly in their disregard for heritage sites?  Whatever the reasons, when on the 28th May 2015 Kurdish groups managed to capture the church all were delighted to find that the church and pillars had emerged amazingly virtually unscathed.  One could still reach and touch the pillar only six foot high after centuries of visitors taking souvenirs pieces and imagine Saint Simeon deep in his devotions day and night.  Then, on the 12th of May 2016 came the horrific news that an air strike had heavily damaged the heritage site.  

When one thinks of Syria, the suffering and loss of life, the fanaticism, the rise of the world’s first cities and the loss of priceless heritage sites through ignorance and prejudice how does one respond?

“If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts, happiness follows them like a never-departing shadow.”

Buddhist scriptures, Dhammapada 

“Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness”. 

The Bible, James 3:18

The reward of goodness is nothing but goodness. 

The Quran Chapter: 55, Verse: 61

“Religion should unite all hearts and cause wars and disputes to vanish from the face of the earth; it should give birth to spirituality, and bring light and life to every soul.”

Bahá’í Writings

References

Doran, R., & Harvey, S. A. (1971). The Lives of Simeon Stylites. Journal of Roman Studies, 61, 87.

Torrey, C. C., & Simeon, S. (1899). The Letters of Simeon the Stylite. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 20, 253-276.

Chicago

Nasty History - learning from the shadows

I always hated history in school. There were several reasons.

1. I have long suffered from the blackboard memory. In order to learn a date or name or event something else has to be erased. The actual content in memory banks does not seem accumulative but substitution in nature.  I cite for evidence, the fact that I studied French for seven years without any success. Spent 10 years in Greece and remain bereft of the Greek language. In fact despite my love of writing the reason I chose science as a profession was largely due to my atrocious spelling in English.  Anything requiring memorisation, I have always sought to avoid.        

                                                               

                                                                        

2.  For some reason history syllabus’ all around the world have a ‘cockeyed’ view of history. So, for example, in the UK thousands of years of history is almost ignored in favour of modern world wars. Which always struck me as a wasteful direction of human intellect. If we studied war history with a view of avoiding future conflicts and their associated catastrophic loss of life then perhaps it would be beneficial. Future generations could learn from past mistakes. Instead history, wherever it is taught, seems to focus on the glorification of battles and nobility of killing fields. Stirring up nationalistic fervour in the younger generation so they will be willing fodder for the warfare of the future.

Or as in the words of George S McGovern

“I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.”

More impressive still when you know the background of George S McGovern.

• He was a pilot of World War II 
• Holder of the Distinguished Flying Cross 
• On one his missions as a pilot, his plane had 110 holes in the fuselage on its return
• Was a history professor
• Sought to end the Vietnam war
• Was instrumental in the creation of the United Nations World Food Bank program
• Was the First UN Global Ambassador of World Hunger 

Not bad for someone who once was known as an average student, painfully shy and afraid to speak a word in school when young.  On to my third reason to dislike history.

3.   My history teacher was a vindictive woman who really should not have been left in charge of children or indeed sentient animals of any kind. In future, I think we should look at teachers and “ask would I trust this person with an ill hamster”. That sensitivity to see to the needs of vulnerable dependents, nurturing their well-being and their growth and well-being, free of any hurtful tendencies to those under their care should be the basic benchmark.

Having said all that I am a voracious reader even at school loved Edward Gibbon’s ‘The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire’. It covers the period from 98 to 1590. In particular, I liked one of his lines of bitting comment,

“As long as mankind shall continue to bestow more liberal applause on their destroyers than on their benefactors, the thirst of military glory will ever be the voice of the most exalted characters.”

or rather more pessimistically still,

“history is indeed, little more than the register of the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind.”

If you ever despair of today's morals and standards. Feel that they have reached levels of degradation beyond that ever encountered before. Read Gibbon’s book and be reassured that humanity has ever had the ability to sink to levels almost beyond our imagination  in their grotesqueness and cruelty. In fact, it is our ability to sink to levels  far below those of wild animals that almost defines us as a human species. Don't get me wrong. I believe humanity can rise to heights we cannot see in the shadows of the present valleys. But if we are to attain future summits we must never lose sight of the very real gorges and chasms that make up our historical landscape. We need to recognise the dark places and hateful deeds that make this world hell like. Register them for the decline they represent and turn away from such darkness.

Then, when we hear the hateful prejudices that have ever blighted mankind’s history we can make wiser choices. Or when nations flee from war or starvation to our borders we would realise our response is a test of our very humanity.  When cities of civilians are bombed into oblivion does our silent acquiescence not speak volumes?  For history always judges on what was actually done to our fellow humans and our role for better or worse in response to that. These heroes or villains are made, today and in history, by how are they responded to what went on around them. Hard choices in difficult days by heroic individuals, down through the ages, create lights that lead to better days for us all.

Sa Maison Gardens - remembering Lady Lockwood

The old Lodge of Sa Masion, can be seen on the Bastion with blue windows

There is a garden called Sa Maison in Malta. I discovered it by accident as I walked from Sliema to Valetta along the coast. It is situated below the Bastion of Providence on the Floriana fortifications. After wandering down a tree covered passage you merge into a lovely little garden with wonderful views of Malta harbour. The atmosphere is still and akin to a secret garden. Usually empty, it feels as if it is been designed for your own pleasure. It is said that the Freemasons used to have a lodge here from 1789 until 1798 when the Knights of St John left Malta. In 1842 to 1856 Lady Julia Lockwood, daughter of the second Earl of Arran lived in this spot.  She loved this place and designed gardens to compliment her house overlooking the harbour.  This place was a special refuge for Lady Lockwood and the extent to which it brought peace and tranquillity to her heart is only understood when you know exactly what she had gone through before.  She wrote several small books years later, mentioning her time here and the healing this place brought to her life.

Lady Lockwood was the honourable Julia Gore, daughter of the second earl of Arran.  Her father Arthur Sanders Gore (1734-1808) married three times. In all, he had seven sons and nine daughters from these three marriages.  Julia was from the last marriage and her elder sister Cecilia went on to become the Duchness of Inverness.  I have been unable to find a portrait of Lady Julia Lockwood but this is her eldest sister Cecilia.

Cecilia gave her sister Julia a very special present. Queen Marie Antoinette had been executed on 16 October 1793. It is said the night before execution Maria Antoinette's hair turned from blonde to white.  Before this event  Maria Antoinette gave the Duchess a hair brooch with her hair lock in it. Subsequently Cecilia gave this brooch to Lady Julia Lockwood and it was donated to the British Museum by her descendants, where it remains on display to this day.

In 1821 Julia married Captain Robert Manners Lockwood in Rome. It didn't turn out to be a happy marriage as her husband was extremely abusive. They had two children but the unhappiness of their marriage can be found in the Annual Register of the History and Politics of the Year 1839. In this document there is an account of the legal charges that lady Lockwood brought against her husband seeking to have a divorce from her husband for cruelty.

Several of the charges are set aside by the judge simply because there were no impartial witnesses to the events. These included beatings, being kicked, dragged along the ground by her hair. Lady Lockwood was routinely attacked viciously by her husband and her 10-year-old son was beaten badly by him in front of her. He endeavoured to get her fortune from her and was very assiduous in trying to get more of her money into his hands. Unfortunately, all these charges were set aside by the judge as there were no witnesses other than the victims available. The son was able to give evidence of the abuse but the husband successfully argued that it would be too traumatic for the child to give a statement in public to the court.  In the charges that were accepted, there were times of Captain Lockwood manhandling his wife and swearing at her in the dining room, in various hotels he kicked her so violently that she sought shelter in a neighbouring room. On one occasion he broke two doors to continue the assault on his wife . While in Lady Aldborough's home, Captain Lockwood dragged Julia from the dining room by her hair up the stairs to her bedroom. Witnesses and servants all spoke of his violent abuse and the marks on her body from his kicks and punches. A doctor had been called to treat her injuries and his statements were accepted by the court. At one point Captain Lockwood attempted to force a wooden pole down his wife's throat and she was so terrified she threw herself out of the house window.  Lady Julia Lockwood suffered many miscarriages and having just had a miscarriage in Paris in 1927 he forced himself into her room and subjected her to still more violence. His abuse in 1835 towards Lady Lockwood's maid was not able to be substantiated as her word could not stand against her employer.  Following a previous separation of the couple, which lasted three years, Captain Lockwood broke into Lady Lockwood's residence in Tunbridge Wells and took possession of the house. The judge felt that this deed in particular was totally unacceptable and showed the true extent of Captain Lockwood’s violent and abusive tendencies. Interesting to note, that all the assaults on her person did not bring so much wrath from the judge, perhaps because the wife he considered the property of her husband, whereas this seizing of her own property was totally intolerable! It is disheartening to read how many times abuse towards Lady Lockwood happened in public places, in apartments where others were around. Shocking that despite this extreme violence directed to her no one actually took action in her defence. In only one instance, in all the decades of abuse, did a gentleman in the dining room arise to challenge and restrain Captain Lockwood from beating his wife.  The effect of this single action was to reduce Captain Lockwood to tears and apologies. So distressed was Lady Julia Lockwood on one ocassion in Paris that when her husband insisted on dragging her away with him, against her will, she announced that she would rather slit her own throat then accompany him anywhere. Despite Captain Robert Lockwood’s continued plea in court that his wife be forced to return to him, the judge held in favour of Lady Julia Lockwood and last she was free of her violent abuser.   She moved to Malta with her children in 1842 and described her years there until 1856 as some of the happiest of her life. In one of her books, Instinct or Reason which was dedicated to her grandson John Scott Napier she told him of her time in the Sa Maison Gardens,

“can you recollect Sa Maison where Willy was born and your Papa (Lady Lockwood's son-in-law) and I erected a fountain with dolphins shooting out water and refreshing the pretty gold and silver fish which swam under in playful delight."

“do you remember how you love to roll one orange after another as your Maltese nurse picked them from the trees placed them in your tiny hands sitting under a graceful Pepper-tree. Many also, were the lovely flowers and shrubs with the rich hues succeeding each other every month, some flowering twice a year and never leaving the garden unembellished with their gay colours. There were double pomegranates bending under the weight of the numerous Scarlet blossoms and bright green leaves of the tall straight branches of the hibiscus..”

“I wish I could have shown you my little grey Maltese cat Mimma. She was quite wise enough to be put in a book she came when she was called she walked with us in the garden and fields like a dog ..”

At times she quoted from poetry to describe her delight in the garden.

“give me to scent that balmy breeze

to feel thy grateful shade 

ere pale fatigue my limbs shall seize

ere sight and strength shall fade

closed Thou mine eyes and let me roam

O’er heavenly realms and find my home!”

Many of her writing are instructions on how to behave, obviously learned during her eventful life.

 “We  should not wait for opportunities but constantly make them and always be ready to help others.  To bear one another's burdens and so fulfil the Law of Christ.”

“Oh Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast Thou made them all.” Psalm 104 

In one of her books entitled ‘Cyrus’ she praises the Persian king for his control and his lack of aggression towards others. Even when put in challenging situations, and despite his great power, he always kept control of his emotions and actions. To lady Lockwood, who had been the victim of so much violent abuse, such characteristics in a man must've seemed particularly admirable.

Sa Maison Gardens

Unfortunately, lady Lockwood's stay in Sa Maison came to an end. The British Expeditionary force on its way to Crimea came to Malta and they constructed their officer's quarters in the garden of Sa Maison in 1854.  For a year and a half lady Julia Lockwood fought to keep her home but it was flattened to the ground and she was forced to return to Scotland.  In a few paintings we can see the garden and the outline of the building that existed on the Bastian.  Fortunately, the garden remains but the historic lodge is no longer there.  On the walls of the Bastian the military forces that came to Malta left their shields and marks of their regiments carved into the walls of the garden. But the garden itself has a lovely atmosphere and the local Maltese refer to it, still, as the Lady’s garden.  It reminds me of Glasgow city, which during the years of Nelson Mandela's imprisonment in South Africa decided to rename one of their major city squares Nelson Mandela Square in support of his cause. The name change was made more significant by the fact that the South African consulate-general was based on the fifth floor of the Stock Exchange building, at an address which now bore the name of the country's most famous political prisoner.  I like to think, that in a similar manner, that the Maltese have kept the name 'Lady’s garden' in memory of this gentle soul who found solace and peace in their midst.

Pills, payment and poor judgment

Clinical studies are a very important step in bringing any drug to the market. However, there are ethical considerations to such studies that have all too often been ignored. The Tuskegee syphilis experimental study was conducted between 1932 and 1972 by the US Public Health Service. Its purpose was to study the natural progression of untreated syphilis in rural African Americans in Alabama. These men were told that they would get free healthcare from the US government, they would have meals paid for and in addition to their free medical care they would also get free burial insurance. Following the Great Depression of the 1930s this was an enticing offer and 600 impoverished sharecroppers from Macon County, Alabama signed up. 399 had syphilis while 201 didn't have the disease.  None of the men were told that they had the disease syphilis and none were given treatment instead they were told “they had bad blood”. In 1940 penicillin had become the standard treatment for syphilis but the scientist prevented participants in the study from accessing syphilis treatments available to others living locally. The study continued for 40 years and only ended on November 16, 1972 when the study was leaked to the press. By then 28 men had died, 40 wives contracted syphilis and 19 children were born with congenital syphilis. During the start of World War II, 250 of the participants registered for the draft. During their medical inspection syphilis was detected and they were ordered to take treatment before reapplying. The scientists, even then, tried to stop them from getting treatment for their syphilis. On May 16, 1997, President Bill Clinton formally apologized and held a ceremony at the White House for surviving Tuskegee study participants. He said:

"What was done cannot be undone. But we can end the silence. We can stop turning our heads away. We can look at you in the eye and finally say on behalf of the American people, what the United States government did was shameful, and I am sorry ... To our African American citizens, I am sorry that your federal government orchestrated a study so clearly racist."

Five of the eight study survivors attended the White House ceremony.

Meanwhile, syphilis was also being given deliberately to some people by the US government.  In 1946, under the guise of public health, hundreds of Guatemalan prison inmates were deliberately infected with syphilis. Male prisoners were sometimes infected via direct injection—including right to the penis. Still other prisoners got sick after visits from prostitutes who were often also purposely infected. None of the research subjects were asked for their consent.  Up to the 1970’s, 85% of stage 1 clinical trials were carried out on prisoners.  This ranged from studying chemical warfare agents to testing dandruff treatments.

Some six decades later Pres. Barack Obama called Álvaro Colom, Guatemala’s president, to personally apologize for the abhorrent U.S. government–led research.

During the 1950s and 1970s at the Willowbrook state school in Staten Island, New York there were 6000 children with mental disabilities. They were intentionally given hepatitis A to try and understand development of viral infection. Consent was given by the authorities in charge of the institution. It was the biggest state run institution for children with mental disability in the United States. Hepatitis A was deliberately given to these vulnerable children without their knowledge or consent.

Senator Robert Kennedy toured Willowbrook State School in 1965 and proclaimed that individuals in the overcrowded facility were "living in filth and dirt, their clothing in rags, in rooms less comfortable and cheerful than the cages in which we put animals in a zoo" 

In 1996 Pfizer was sued for unethical clinical trials. During a meningitis outbreak in Africa the company treated 100 Nigerian children with the antibiotic Trovan in order to test its effectiveness.  Of the hundred children treated 11 children died, others were brain-damaged. Some were partially paralyzed or left deaf. Dr Juan Walterspiel, a Pfizer infectious disease specialist was assigned to the Trovan test and repeatedly flagged up, to management, that the company was violating international law federal regulations and medical ethical standards. 

Dr. Walterspiel’s letter to Steere, dated Dec. 18, 1997, was not well received. Among the points he made: 

“Some of the children were in critical condition and most of them malnourished, which made oral absorption even more unpredictable. At least one died after a single oral dose; such a patient should never have received an experimental antibiotic orally.”

Shortly after publishing his thoughts Dr Walterpiel was dismissed by Pfizer.

Between 1997 and 2002 clinical trials were conducted on HIV infected children and infants who were under the guardianship of New York City Agency for Children Services. The children were living in a foster care centre in Harlem and were forced to take medication that made them severely ill and had potentially lethal side-effects. New York City agency for children services provided consent for this clinical trial themselves.

In 1997 unethical clinical trials aimed at preventing the spread of HIV infection were targeting pregnant women in Africa Asia and the Caribbean. This clinical study was funded by the US government. People were randomly given placebo rather than the drug.  It was pointed out that such actions would have been deemed totally unacceptable within the US but for some reason were seemed fine for the developing world.

In case one feels that the situation today is free of such unethical practices you need only look at an article in the Lancet in June 2014 to find quite the contrary. At a clinical trial in India they were evaluating an experimental vaccine for preventing a life-threatening viral infection, rotavirus. 2000 children received instead placebos of salt water. It should be noted that two rotavirus vaccines had already been available for 10 years when this clinical research took place. In 2013 The World Health organisation published findings, which showed that 450,000 children died from rotavirus infection globally in one year. 90% of these deaths occurred in Africa and Asia.

Sometimes it is not even the drug company’s fault.  A medical trial began in 2003, when a dozen researchers at Imperial College London began trialing a new drug on 38 asthma sufferers at St Mary’s Hospital, London. Unknown to the others working on the clinical study, one of the staff, Dr Edward Erin was falsifying his data and had been doing so for years. The search for a cure for asthma left one man dead, 20 seriously ill with pneumonia and eight with cancer.

Worryingly in this world where doctors change data, pharmaceutical companies set aside ethics and governments experiment on the poor, disabled and vulnerable there is a new change in direction.  Now, that prisoners are no longer available for clinical trials, due to changes in legislation, others are being targeted.  Volunteering to undertake phase 1 clinical studies can bring you as much as 3000 dollars for a few weeks of injections and medical procedures.  In these harsh economic conditions more and more are stepping forward as drug trial guinea pigs.  Many have not thought through the dangers they may face.  In 2006 in a London hospital six healthy young men were treated for organ failure after experiencing a serious reaction within hours of taking the drug TGN1412 in a clinical trial.

‘After they were all admitted to intensive care, two became critically ill, the worst affected lost his fingers and toes, and all the men were subsequently told they would be likely to develop cancers or auto-immune diseases as a result of their exposure to the drug.’

It seems drugs can be dangerous while you design them, when you test them, after you use them and even after you’ve stopped using them!