The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1913-06-20
LEGEND ABOUT BONES.
From Earliest Times They Have In.
spfred Curious Beliefs.

Legend, tradition and history, sacred
and profane, testify to many curious
beliefs about the bones, from the ear
Iliest civilization to the present. AS
amulets, charms and fetish they have
inspired confidence in their ability to
do incredible things for good or evil
with the supernatural. There is also
some evidence of their similar use in
prehistoric times. What is believed to
be the Oldest known fetish is the
thigh bone Of mammoth in cavern
of the later cave dwellers Of Belgium,
which is preserved in the Museum of
Natural History in Brussels, says the
Dietetic and Hygienic Gazette.
Ancient Babylonians preserved the
bones of their dead with great care.
They were carefully gathered and
placed in jars or under dish covers.
C fins, which later came into use,
suggested by their shape the original
jars for the preservation of the bones.
Assyrian conQuerors opened the
graves of their enemies and carried
away their bones or scattered them.
Prof. Morris Jastrow suggests that
when earth burial succeeded to the
earlier cremation with the Babylon
ians, it was because of the better op-
portunity it afforded for providing for
the safety of the bones.
The oldest writings Of the prophets
and historians of the Hebrews con-
tain passages showing the Importance
and sanctity with which the bones of
the body were regarded by them.
When the Moabite corpse was let
down into the sepulchre Of Elisha and
touched his dry bones, life in him
that was corpse, revived and he
stood on his feet. The terrible cur rse
pronounced by Jeremiah was that the
bones of the kings and princes and
priests and prophets and inhabitants
of Jerusalem should be brought out of
the graves, and not be gathered or
buried. The most serious of the
transgressions of Moab was that he
Eburned the bones of the King of
Edom into line. David had the bones
of Saul and Jonathan taken away
from the men of Jabesh-Gilead and
deposited in the sepulchre of Kish,
Saul's father, to obtain relief when
famine prevailed. To touch 0 bone
or grave of the dead defled one for
seven days.
The later rabbinical literature of
the Hebrews testified to their belief
that the imperishable part of man,
the soul, had it's seat in the bones.
They assumed the existence of a
mysterious bone which formed the
nucleus of the resurrection of the
body. Whether this bone, which they
called luz, was DESTROYED in the flood
was an unsettled question with their
learned men. Some of them, who held
that it was, found possibility for
resurrection Of the antediluvians. 1t
is told in the Talmud of the Emperor
Hadrian that he once asked Rabbi
Joshua ben Channania, From what
shall the human body be constructed
when it rises again?" From the lit
tie bone luz, in the backbone" the
rabbi replied. When the emperor de-
manded proof Of it the rabbi took the
bone and stepped in water, but it was
not softened; he put it in the fire, but
it was not consumed; he put it in a
mill, but it could not be ground; he
laid on the anvil and smote it with a
hammer, but the hammer broke and
the anvil fell to pieces.
In the dispute over the exact loca-
ton of this elusive part of the body
no satisfactory agreement was reach