—Will you have the goodness to inform your correspondent that I have a pamphlet, printed soon after the famous siege was over, giving a particular account of it, though it altogether omits mentioning the name of an ancestor of mine who distinguished himself in the relief of that place. I shall be happy to afford E. A. any information or assistance he may require.
B. G.
Salting the Bodies of the Dead (Vol. iv., p. 6.),
about which MR. MCCABE asks, is a very old custom in England. Matt. Paris, in his description of Abbot William's funeral at St. Albans, A.D. 1235, tells us how—
"Corpus apertum est. &c. Et quicquid in corpore repertum est, in quadam cuna repositum est, sale conspersum. Et in cœmiterio, est humatum. Corpus autem interius, aceto lotum et imbutum et multo sale respersum et resutum. Et hoc sic factum est circumspecte et prudenter, ne corpus per triduum et amplius reservandum, tetrum aliquem odorem olfacientibus generaret et corpus tumulandum, contrectantibus aliquod offendiculum praesentaret."—Vitæ S. Albani Abbatum, p. 87. ed. Wats, Paris, 1644.
DA. ROCK.
Buckland, July 24. 1851.
In the 86th and two following sections of the Second Book of Herodotus is the description of the ancient Egyptian methods of preserving the bodies of the dead. These were more or less embalmed with aromatic spices, according to the condition of the person, and then corned with saltpetre (λιτρον, nitre) for seventy days; strictly, salted. Is it possible that the early Christians, in adopting this practice, may have been influenced by that very obscure passage, Mark ix. 49.: "Every one shall be salted with fire?"
ALFRED GATTY.
The custom of placing a plate of salt on the body of the dead is very general in Wales. I remember, when a child, inquiring the reason of the practice, and being told by an old woman that it was to prevent the body from swelling. My remark, that any weight might answer the same purpose, was met by the reply; "there's no weight so heavy as salt gets when it is on the dead." This proves that some feeling of superstition mingles with the custom. Has not the use of salt in baptism, amongst the Italians &c., come allusion to the banishment of the evil spirit?