A N D D E A T H. 495 



ance of death. But,' he remarks, * both re- 

 ligion and charity require, that a reafonable 

 time lliould be allowed to difcover whether any 

 figns of life may not flill manifeft themfelves, 

 other wife we become actual murderers, by 

 burying people who are not dead. If we may 

 credit the greateft number of authors, three 

 days, or 72 hours, are fufficient for this pur- 

 pofc. If, during this period, no figns of life 

 appear, but, on the contrary, the body begins 

 to emit a cadaverous odour, which is an infal- 

 lible mark of death, we may then bury it with- 

 out fcruple/ 

 We fhall afterwards have an opportunity of 

 mentioning the cuftomsof different iiations with 

 regard to funerals, embalming, 8cc. The great- 

 eft paft, even of the moft favage people, pay more 

 attention than we to their departed friends : 

 What we efteem a ceremony only, they regard 

 as a primary duty : They refped their dead ; 

 they clothe them ; they fpeak to them ; they 

 recite their exploits ; they praife their virtues : 

 But we, who pretend to fuperior fcnfihility, fly 

 from our dead, and inhumanly abandon them ; 

 we dclirc not to fee them ; \vc hjve neither tiie 

 courage nor the inclination to fpcak of them; 

 we even avoid fuch objeds or fituations as might 

 recal the idea of them : We arc, therefore, ei- 

 ther more indificrcnt, or . weaker than lava- 

 ges. 



Having 



