The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1889-01-19
kissing the Bible.

The medical journals are agitating
the danger which lurk in the greasy
and worn backs of the Court Bibles.
The practice of "kissing the book
comes down from the days ofcolonial
custom, but it is at no time compul-
sorry, although the uninitiatea know
no better, and even some of the most
intelligent people, who know that it
is optional with them, seem to lose
their self-possession and at the COM
mand Of the court bailiff, kiss the
book" they do so.
A New Jersey physician is reported
to have refused to ''kiss the book,
but was compelled to comply with
the requirements. Jersey law must
be very old fashioned and rigid, or
no such ruling would have followed
the refusal. In the courts OF several
States anyone may refuse to do so,
but IN many of the States the Bibleis
not used in the courts. The witness
has only to hold up his right hand
and solemHly swear that he twill tell
the truth, the whole truth, and moth
ing but the truth" and even then If
he has any conscientious scruples
against this form he may ''atfirm."
The prastice of kissing the book is
rapidly falling into disrepute every
where. First, because the same book
that is kissed by diseased lips is
offerered to the cleanly and self-re-
speeding, and often the witness whose
stomach turns against the oscula-
tory ordeal merely goes through the
motion of putting the book towards
the lips without actual contact. The
man with the moustache apparently
submits, but the book only touches
the capillary substance and is passed
ON to the next witness or juror. In
some instances, if the Bible is not by
elastic bands, 1T is not uncommon
for the one taking the oath to open
the book and kiss some printed page.
This is the Presidential custom, and
lynx-eyed reporters watch closely
and report that passage OF Scripture
which the Presidential lips have
kissed.
The origin of the oath upon the
Bible has been traced to the old Ro-
man law, and the kissing of the book
is said to be all imitation of the
priests kissing the ritual as a sign of
reverence before he reads it to the
people. Bouvier's law dictionary
says: THE commencement of an
oath Is made by the party taking
hold of the book, after being required
by the officer to do so, and ends gen.
orally with the words so help you
Cod and kissing the book, when the
form is that of swearing on theevan-
gelists."
The Mohammedans are sworn on
the Koran and the Greeks and Ro-
mans swore by the souls of the dead
the ashes of their fathers, by their
own lives or the lives of their friends,
by their heads and by their right
hands, while among Scandinavians
and Germans it was customary to
rest the ha1id upon some object while
repeating an oath.
When It is considered that the low
est classes, diseased and dirty, kiss
the Bible in our lower and iSher court
with resounding smack, and that by
this contact disease may be dissent
mated to the very sensitive organs, the
lips, there is good reason for the med
ical journals to open war on the GUS
tom of kissing the book"
The Medical Register of a recent
date says: "The kissing of the Bible
in any case is form which might
easily, without the sacrifice of solem-
nifty or of the structure of an oath, be
set aside in favor of simply touching
of the book with the hand or recog-
milton of it in the averration. The
lips ate most sensitive receptacles for
the germs of disease, and, from the
motley throng OF dirty and diseased
persons who are summoned ina court
of justice, what infectious germs may
not be disseminated? The person
who kisses a Bible in court has not
the least surety that his lips do not
come into direct contact with the pol
luton left by a predecessor who was
suffering from some foul skin disease
or faint, not to speak of the germs OF
-eruptive fevers and the like"