i88ir] Sanitary Legislation of the Pentateuch . 603 
among whom they sojourn. Shall we therefore justly incur 
ridicule if we pronounce these enactments wise ? 
From food we proceed to the surrounding of human habi- 
tations. 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 vegetables, 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 anyone — 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 command that if any person 
touched carrion or excrement he should be “ unclean till the 
even.” We can easily see that no Jew would be willing to 
tolerate any preventible 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 constrasts 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 weekwithout an entire wash- 
ing. 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 pro- 
gress that it has taken three thousand years to bring the 
civilised 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 cleanliness, the importance 
of avoiding putrescent and loathsome matters, and of ex- 
pelling them rapidly from our cities, and if we are theoreti- 
cally aware of the disinfecting and deodorising 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 oL such as are liable to 
2 R 2 
