We learn from _Cicero_ (_De Leg._ ii. 22), that of the various modes of disposing of the dead body, _inhumation_ was the most ancient: _burning_ and inclosing the remains in urns, were perhaps never found expedient until national animosities had given rise to inhuman treatment of the dead. The Egyptians, as they held it unlawful to expose the bodies of the dead to animals, embalmed them, lest after interment they might become the prey of worms (_Herod. Thalia_, xvi.); and their mummies remain to this day a lasting satire upon that folly which “contends against corruption, and will not allow the grave its victory.” The custom of _burning_ the dead is of higher antiquity than we may have at first been led to suppose; _Saul_ was burnt at Jabesh, and his bones afterwards buried; and _Asa_ was burnt in the bed which he had made for himself, filled with sweet odours, and divers kinds of spices: but this custom must of necessity have been limited by the quantity of fuel required for the purpose. It may be worthy notice, that according to Mr. _Ward_, the Missionary, who had opportunities of ascertaining the fact in India, the smallest quantity of wood which is sufficient to consume a human body is about three hundred weight. Footnote 155: _Tractatus de Peste, Lib._ i. _cap._ viii. _p._ 41. Footnote 156: _An Essay on the Disease called_ YELLOW FEVER. London 1811. Footnote 157: In less than 30 years, more than 90,000 corpses had been deposited here by the last grave digger! Footnote 158: See _Mémoires de la Société Royale de Médecine, tom_ viii _p._ 242; also _Annales de Chimie_, tom v p. 158. Footnote 159: _Journal de Physique_, 1791 p. 253. Footnote 160: See _Annales de Chimie_, vol. iii, p. 120-v, 154-vii, 146-viii, 17; also _Phil. Trans._ vol. lxxxiv. p. 169. Footnote 161: The gases produced by putrefaction, are Carbonic acid, Carburetted Hydrogen, Sulphuretted and Phosphuretted Hydrogen, and Ammonia; the most deleterious of which are the compound gases of Hydrogen. Footnote 162: _Chaptal’s Elem. of Chem._ vol. iii. Footnote 163: _On Lazarettos_, p. 25. Footnote 164: See _Burns’s Ecclesiastical Law_. _Tit. Burial. Watson’s Clergyman’s Law—Gibson—Lindwood._ Footnote 165: A popular fallacy has long existed upon this point, and it certainly receives a sanction from the usages of antiquity. At Athens those who died in debt had no right to human burial, until satisfaction was made; their bodies belonged to their creditors, whence it is said that _Cimon_ had no other method to redeem the body of his father _Miltiades_, but by taking his debts and fetters upon himself.—_Potter’s Antiq._ Footnote 166: