BABYLON AND PERSIA

128 MEDIA, BABYLON, AND PERSIA.that only that particular portion of the ground shall be set apart forthe dead. . . . Iron nails are used.* . . . The structureis separated from the adjoining ground by digging a trench all roundit, about one foot deep and wide."It is evident from the tone of this passage that theauthor entirely approves of this peculiar treatmentof the dead. Certain it is that the Parsis contem¬plate it without repulsion for themselves, and claimthat it is at all events the most perfect solution ofthe sanitary question which it undoubtedly is,especially in hot, yet moist, tropical climes. As asolemn reminder of the equality of all men beforethe laws of nature, and an efficient preventive to thevanities of funeral pomp and posthumous distinctions,the custom is also entitled to respect.II. The attempt to carry out the exaggeratednotion of the purity of the elements and the impur¬ity of death with the most rigorous consistency,involves the priestly lawgivers in endless contradic¬tions, places them in the most puzzling predicaments.They become conscious that so many occasions ofpollution arise which are wholly beyond their con¬trol, that existence threatens to become impossible,unless they draw the line somewhere on this side ofwhat may be termed the reduction ad absurdum oftheir doctrines. This they do in the form of an extrarevelation, contained in a special chapter of theVendidad (Fargard V.), wherein Zarathushtra is made* Thus also the stretcher on which the dead are carried must beof iron. Metal is .supposed to retain infection less than any othersubstance. According to the laws of purificarion a tainted vessel ofmetal can be cleansed, while one of woocf cannot, but remains un¬clean forever and ever.