Smyrna times., 1865-12-06
MISCELLAN ECU S.
ABOUT WORMS.
A POPULAR FALLACY.
Lets talk Of graves, of worrhs and eptaphs." )"
-Richard H., Ill, I'd


"I.ets talk Of graves, of worms and eptaphs."
-RichGrd H., Ill, I'd.
The worm is probably the lowest order of the
animal creation, and it has always been favo-
rite comparison, with those who love to expa-
tiate on the littleness and meanness of human
ity, to liken man TO worm Of the dust. Not
only so, but much rhetoric has been expended
to show the interiOrity of man i'll certain res
poets to his earth-b0rn companions, and to en-
throne the tutnei6id over the JimanU. The
worm is represented as making man his prey
at last, as trlumphing over his proud rival, and
reveng within the lObes Of the brain like con-
querlng COrtez in the halls of Montczuma.
1t is Il common belief that it is the fate of
the body, after death, to be devoured by worms {;
and We retain a vivid impression of funeral
sermon We once listened to, by pious bishop,
who improved the occasion and cOmlurtrd the
monrncrs by dwelling upon AL the accessories
OF the charheI-houSe, and particularly by Il Vi
vld description Of the worms crawling in and
ont Of the eye-sockrtS.
We have often heard people in grave and Sc
rlouS mood Specializing upon the origin Of these
Cold consumers Of their clay"
some cOnteuding that they were native earth
worms, others that they were developed after
death from germs pre-cXiSting i'll the body-a
remarkable instance of ingenuity So often dis
p.@! ed III accounting for L fact prior to any ev-
ldence of or inquiry concerning its existence.
If We trace the history of this widely-rcceiyed
notion, We shall find it comes, like So many
other tallacleS and hcreSics, from literal inter
pretation Of a bold Oriental figure, never in
tended by the original writer's
Man comes to the grave, and his bodily aba>,-
ment in the earliest times naturally suggested
humllatlng reflections. The author of the
book OF Job says, chapter XIV, If: II have
SAID to corruption, Thou art my father; and to
the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister. =
The same author, speaking of the death OF
the wicked, says, The worm shall feed sweet
ly on him, XX!V, 20; and again, in chapter
XIX, 2G, And though after my skin worms
destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall ! see
H"d. Now, although the word ,Cor0,S, in this
passage, Is not IN the original, and the tranSla-
tors mig ut as well have supplied he or d,ath,
yet, making the most Of it, according to our
version, 1t does not assert any general fact as to
the fate Of the body, but only makes certain
event independent Of possible contingency.
We rcmemLe er an exposition Of this text by
an able SSermonizer, who divided it into three
heads, thus: : Firstly, the skin worms; see
ondly, what they done; and thirdly, what be-
come Of the man after the worms had eaten
him up" But We will remind the reader, for
his comfort and consolation that earth-worm5
are not carnIvOrOuS, but subSiSt on dcc;lyin.
vegetable matter, roots, mOuldS, etc that no
animal life of any kind can exist excluded from
air, and at the depth of ordinary inhumation
Gehenna, or the Valley of Hennon, a narrow
ravine at the south Of Jerusalem, it is we'll
known, was the great cl0Gca or ceSspool into
which was emptied, not only the sewerage of
the city, but where the dead bodies of crimi-
mails and the carcasses Of animals were cast, and
where fires were kept constantly burning. 10
the Jewish imagination this furnished a Strik-
ing symbol of retributon and infamy. In the
last verse Of the book of Isaiah, "For their
worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be
quenched, cited more than once in the New
Testament is figure evidently deduccd from
the same source. and in connection with few
kindred expressions in the Sacred Scriptures,
has, doubtless, been the fruitful seed of that
widespread belief to which we have referred.
1t Is somewhat remarkable to what an extent
TINS has passed into literature, and been adopt.
cd by poets and moralists-doubtless in many
instances, as simple metaphor or poetic exag
geTatlon-ull it has finally come to be literally
beiieved and cherished almost as an article n
faith by multltudes Of people.
We will cite only a few instances ont Of hun
dreds which could be accumulated. SirThon
as Brown, in Urn Buriul, speaks of the e,,icu
rem corm, which will only feed ON human
flesh.
Shakspere, in As You Like Il, ", l, says:
Men have died. and worms have eaten them
But not for love"
Or,