About midnight
They saw the two as cause and consequence -- they watched the food they ate affecting their bodies as one might watch a match affecting a thermometer . They were no longer victims of the idea that health must be a spontaneous and accidental thing -- they were set definitely to thinking about it , as something that could be achieved by will and intelligence . But the right knowledge lay far in the future ; and meantime they were groping in ignorance , and disease was still a mysterious visitation that came upon them out of the night . `` Thus saith the Lord , About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt ; and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die . And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt , such as there hath been none like it , nor shall be like it any more . '' Their own firstborn had low been on the _ regime _ of the `` child specialist '' for a year and a half . He was big and fat and rosy , and according to all the standards they knew , a picture of health .