2c0 THEOPHILUS G. PINCHES, ESQ., LL.D., M.R.A.S., ON 



It seems to me that nothing can well be more interesting than the 

 description given by the author of this monument. In the British 

 INIuseum we have by far the largest number of monuments relating 

 to this king. A huge find was made of gods fabled and sacred for 

 the British Museum, and they are being rapidly published. The 

 subject is one that suggests every sort of idea, and I can only say 

 in common with, I am sure, every one in this room, that we are 

 very grateful to my good friend for the admirable account he has 

 given. 



Mr. Martin Eouse. — A great deal has been made of this subject 

 in the columns of the Times, for instance, as though the Code of 

 Moses were based on it. Sir Henry Howorth says it is not to be 

 wondered at that they should contain many points of similarity. 

 But I beg, with all deference, to dissent from his conclusion that 

 the law of Moses is to be regarded as having been developed from 

 these other codes. No doubt all that existed and was practically 

 good, was left unchanged, but in the review that was given in the 

 Times, there are a number of features that are claimed to show a 

 likeness, but which show a very distinct difference between the 

 codes. For instance, it is possible that if an ox gored a man to 

 death, and it was not known beforehand that the ox was spiteful, 

 there was to be no compensation by the Code of Hammurabi. With 

 greater justice the Scripture says the ox shall be slain, and his flesh 

 shall not be eaten ; that is to say, a dangerous animal was not to be 

 allowed to exist, and the owner was to sufl'er the loss of the ox, 

 whereas according to the Babylonian Law there was no provision 

 of the kind. 



Again, when men are striving one with another, and one wounds 

 the other, the Code of Hammurabi simply says the doctor's bill is 

 to be paid. The Bible adds that the off'ender shall pay for the loss 

 of time for the one that suff'ered the injury. Again we see the 

 Mosaic Law is the more just. We are told in the account that 

 Dr. Pinches gave, that many of the thieves were punished with a 

 thirty-fold penalty. There is nothing of the kind in Scripture, five- 

 fold I think is the highest that is paid, and no distinction is made 

 whether the theft is from a common man or from a palace. Again, is 

 there anything like the cruelty and injustice of burning a woman 

 who takes to the trade of a wine merchant, because she happens to 

 be of high rank 1 Or again, of drowning a woman (which was not 



