758 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



for suspecting at least that in other cases these regulations may be equally well, 

 founded. Certain it is that the Jews, by the avoidance of blood, of the flesh of 

 unclean beasts, etc., have reached a standard of health higher than that of the 

 Gentile nations among whom they sojourn. Shall we therefore justly incur ridi- 

 cule if we pronounce these enactments wise ? 



From food we proceed to the surrounding of human habitations. Not only 

 in the East under its modern rulers, whether Islamite or Christian, not only in 

 mediaeval Europe, but down to a comparatively late date, the streets of cities and 

 villages were the common receptacle of filth and refuse of all kinds, stray dogs 

 being the only scavengers. Dead domestic animals, excrements, spoiled food, 

 bones, the rinds of vegetable, and every other noisome and unseemly by-product 

 of human existence and activity, were allowed to accumulate in every corner. 

 But why speak of streets ? The interior of our houses, and even palaces and 

 churches, three hundred years ago, must have been perfectly loathsome to any one 

 — could such have been present — accustomed to cleanliness. How strange it is, 

 then, to go back for more than three thousand years, and find in the laws of 

 Moses directions that all unclean matter shall be cast into a waste place outside 

 the city ! The removal of nuisances was further made imperative by the com- 

 mand that if any person touched carrion or excrement, he shall be *' unclean till 

 the even." We can easily see that no Jew would be willing to tolerate any pre- 

 ventible nuisance in or near his dwelling. 



We have, lastly, regulations on the subject of personal cleanliness. It is a 

 sad fact that not merely mediaeval but modern Europe contrasts most sadly in this^ 

 respect with the principal nations of antiquity. One of the most striking features 

 in the law of Moses is the number and variety of circumstances under which 

 washing is required. Again and again we read — " He shall bathe his flesh in 

 water. " It may safely be said that in the ancient Israelitish community few persons 

 would be able to pass a week without an entire washing. It may as safely be 

 said that till very lately numbers of persons in modern Europe passed entire years 

 without washing any part, save the hands and a circuit of six inches radius from 

 the tip of the nose. So peculiar is human progress that it has taken three thou- 

 sand years to bring the civilized world to a point less advanced than that occupied 

 by Moses. Less advanced we say emphatically, because if we now admit the 

 value of personal cleanUness, the importance of avoiding putrescent and loath- 

 some matters, and of expelling them rapidly from our cities, and if we are theo- 

 retically aware of the disinfecting and deodorizing power of earth, we are far from 

 embodying this our knowledge in the practice of actual life. As to the avoidance 

 of blood, of the flesh of foul-feeding animals, and of such as are liable tc intro- 

 duce entozoa into our systems, we do not even recognize verbally the importance 

 of the Mosaic teachings. We eat " blood puddings," we feed swine with blood 

 and with semi-putrid offal, and then we eat the animals which have been gorged 

 on this revolting diet. And we pay the price of this uncleanliness in shortened 



