[405] Zend Avesta, vol. i, p. 85.
[406] Ibid., vol. ii, p. 44.
[407] North American Indians, vol. i, p. 78.
[408] Ecclesiasticus, xxxviii, 13.
[409] Ecclesiasticus, xxxviii, 13.
[410] Bacchus.
[411] Fire was duly esteemed by the ancients. The worship was closely related to that of the sun. Atar of the Zend Avesta means fire, and a personification of it, spoken of as the son of Ahura-Mazda, is characterized as “the god who is a full source of glory, the god who is a full source of healing” (vol. ii, p. 8). The Parsis and also the Hindus were forbidden to blow a fire lest the effete emanations from the system, present in the breath, might contaminate the flame. Menstruating women were forbidden even to look at it.
[412] Zoological Mythology, vol. i, p. 410.
[413] See Gen., ii, 7. Hippocrates appears to take pneuma, the breath, and the soul and vital principle to be the same. It is still a common thing to hear the breath spoken of as the divine and immortal element in man.
[414] Ninevah and its Remains, vol. ii, p. 233. London, 1849. See Ex., xxviii, 33-34, and 1 Kings, vii, 41-42.