An exposition of the dangers of interment in cities; illustrated by an account of the funeral rites and customs of the Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, and primitive Christians; by ancient and modern ecclesiastical canons, civil statutes, and municipal regulations; and by chemical and physical principles. Chiefly from the works of Vicq d'Azyr ... and Prof. Scipione Piattoli ... / with additons by Felix Pascalis.

  • Pascalis Ouviere, Felix, 1762-1833.
Date:
1823
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An exposition of the dangers of interment in cities; illustrated by an account of the funeral rites and customs of the Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, and primitive Christians; by ancient and modern ecclesiastical canons, civil statutes, and municipal regulations; and by chemical and physical principles. Chiefly from the works of Vicq d'Azyr ... and Prof. Scipione Piattoli ... / with additons by Felix Pascalis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    » io paint the tombs white, and to renew the coal¬ ing every year. They were, however, permitted to inter at their country-seats, and here was dis¬ played all the luxury of the grandees of the na¬ tion. The nurse of Rebecca and Deborah was buried at the foot of a tree. The unfortunate Saul had the same fate. (6) The priests were buried on their own estates, and sometimes in the royal se¬ pulchre.-^//. Paralipom. ch. 24 v. 16.) Vaults dug in the hill of Zion, under the foundations of the temple, and in the royal gardens, were destined for the last abodes of the kings of Judah. The course of time brought no great change in prac¬ tice, although this people underwent such event¬ ful vicissitudes. To judge by the three following passages of scripture, it would appear tnat only a few foreign customs, such as burning the dead (7) and embalming, were introduced among them. In Paralipomenes, and the books of Jeremiah, the ceremony of burning the dead is spoken of as a rite introduced in favour of the kings only. (8) Per¬ haps this custom was of short duration, and only peculiar to a few. The bodies of Saul and Jonathan were burnt to ashes by the people of J abesh-gilead, to rescue ihem from the insults of the Philistines. (9) Some received the honours of embalming, certainly not on the same account. The fetid smell which exhaled from the body of Lazarus, four days after death, would lead us to conjecture that the gums, perfumes, and essences, poured upon the dead, were only intended to thick-