The cause of the custom of tabooing certain kinds of food, which was in existence long before the Levitical laws were written, perhaps arose partly from reverence, partly from aversion. It may, too, have been connected with the totemism of early tribes. No less than one hundred and eighty Bible names have a zoological signification. Caleb, the dog tribe; Doeg, the fish tribe; may be instanced as specimens. Touching the carcass of a dead animal was taboo, and the taboo was contagious. In Lev. xi. 21--25 we find rigorous laws on the subject. Whoever carries the carcass of an unclean animal must wash his garments. The objects upon which a carcass accidentally falls, must be washed, and left in water till the evening, and if of earthenware the defilement is supposed to enter into the pores, and the vessel, oven, or stove-range must be broken. Touching a corpse was taboo among the Greeks,* Romans,** Hindoos,*** Parsees,**** and Phoenicians.(v) If a Jew touched a dead body--even a dead animal (Lev. xi. 89)--he became unclean, and if he purified not himself, "that soul shall be cut off from Israel" (Num. xix. 13). So "those who have defiled themselves by touching a dead body are regarded by the Maoris as in a very dangerous state, and are sedulously shunned and isolated."(v*) Doubtless it was felt that death was something which could communicate itself, as disease was seen to do. * Eurip. Alcest, 100. ** Virgil Æn., vi. 221; Tacit. Annal., 162. *** Manu, y. 59, 62, 74-79. **** Vendid iii. 25-27. (v) Lucian Dea Syr., 523 (v*) J. Gk Frazer, Golden Bough, vol. i., p. 169. When iron was first discovered it was invested with mystery and held as a charm. It was tabooed. The Jews would use no iron tools in building the temple or making an altar (Ex. xx. 25, 1 Kings vi. 7). Roman and Sabine priests might not be shaved with iron but only with bronze, as stone knives were used in circumcision (Ex. iv. 25, Josh. v. 2). To this day a Hottentot priest never uses an iron knife, but always a sharp splint of quartz in sacrificing an animal or circumcising a boy. In the boys' game of touch iron we may see a remnant of the old belief in its charm. When Scotch fishermen were at sea and one of them happened to take the name of God in vain, the first man who heard him called out "Cauld airn," at which every man of the crew grasped the nearest bit of iron and held it between his hand for a while.* * E. B. Guthrie, Old Scottish Customs, p. 149. Charles Rogers, Social Life in Scotland, iii. 218.