592 proceedings: anthropological society 



refuse into the Tiber. Several of these are still in use. At one time 

 the sewers were cleaned out at a cost of a million dollars; it was neces- 

 sary to divert the course of seven so-called rivers to do it. The dis- 

 posal of the dead varied much in different nations. After a battle it 

 was usual either to bury in large pits or trenches or to burn the bodies. 

 The opening of such pits or trenches, as well as the opening of church 

 vaults and old burial grounds, sometimes caused sickness and even 

 death. The Egyptians buried the dead after embalming them. In- 

 fants, however, were often buried beneath the habitation. In India 

 the dead were generally cremated. The Parsees placed their dead on 

 gratings in towers, for the vultures to eat; the bones were afterwards 

 gathered up. Among the Massagatae, says Herodotus, when a man 

 became old, he was sacrificed and eaten. In Greece the dead were bur- 

 ied near the houses of the living; cofRns of stone were used. The 

 Romans cremated the dead after about 450 B.C. until the spread of 

 Christianity, when for several centuries it was the custom to place the 

 dead in the catacombs beneath the city of Rome. The Hebrews always 

 buried outside the camp or city. The story of the burial of Jesus 

 Christ is that the body was wrapped in linen with spices about 100 

 pounds in weight and buried in a tomb in a garden on Mount Calvary. 

 The ancient Mexicans cremated the dead. Indian mounds in the United 

 States contain bodies of the dead. 



The desire to bathe is probably as old as man himself. The Lace- 

 demonians are said to have devised the hot air bath. The Scythians 

 took a sweat bath. Soap was mentioned by Pliny about 25 A.D. and 

 was said to have been brought from Germany. The Hebrews were 

 required by religious regulations to be clean in person, clothing, and 

 houses. In Egypt, when Alexandria was taken by the Caliph Omar in 

 646, there were 4000 baths, and the 700,000 books of the great library 

 were burned to heat these baths. The Romans had many public baths, 

 free to all. The bath of Caracalla was a mile in circumference and 

 accommodated 2000 persons. The Greeks bathed daily. 



Contagious diseases afflicted the ancients even more than the mod- 

 erns. The Hebrews especially attempted to get rid of leprosy by seg- 

 regating the lepers. Circumcision was common among the Egyptians, 

 the Ethiopians and peoples in the Pacific Islands, Asia Minor, Persia, 

 Arabia, and eastern and western Africa. Among the Hebrews the cus- 

 tom was a religious ceremonial. The Egyptians believed that diseases 

 usually were contracted through food and drink, and therefore they 

 tabooed some articles of food. Among the Greeks the Pythagoreans 

 had rules relating to what they ate or drank as well as to their exercises. 

 The Hebrews had many rules of diet that had the force of religious 

 injunctions; especially as to meat, the animal had to be slaughtered in 

 a certain way and with much attention to detail. 



Daniel Folkmar, Secretary. 



