The origin of incineration, as appears from what I have said, is surrounded with a great deal of obscurity. It is, however, an established fact that the Orient was the birthplace of cremation. The Egyptians first buried their dead, then embalmed them, and, according to Walker, at a period not stated, abolished embalming and substituted burning. They performed incineration by placing the corpse in an amianthus receptacle, which, remaining intact, kept the bones apart from the fuel. The tombs of the Assyrians, discovered on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates, furnish us with unmistakable evidence of the fact that the burning of the dead was not unknown to them. The same applies to the Babylonians. The tombs of both peoples when explored were found to contain urns holding human bones and ashes; these urns were often very large, being sometimes of sufficient size to admit the body of an adult. The Persians either burned their dead or dissolved them in aqua fortis. Yet they also practiced burial in deep sepulchres that had niches in which the bodies were deposited upon slabs. The Hebrews commonly interred their deceased, but incineration was likewise practiced. The Mosaic code prescribed that those who transgressed the laws of wedlock and chastity should be put to death by fire. In I. Moses xxxviii. 24, we find the first evidence of this. The third book of Moses, xx. 14 and xxi. 9, also bears testimony to this fact. Thus we see that cineration was looked upon by this people of antiquity in the early period of its history as a punishment for offenders against the married state and chastity. It is barely possible (deductions one may draw from certain passages in the books of Moses) that the ancient Jews first stoned these disobedients, then burned their bodies publicly, and finally erected a so-called mound of infamy over their remains. But as we follow Hebrew history, we soon find that cremation was transformed from a humiliating act of punition to the highest honor, to a distinction that was only accorded to royalty. The first king of Israel was cremated after the battle with the Philistines in Mount Gilboa, where he and his three sons fell. The Holy Bible relates how, when the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul (I. Samuel xxxi. 12): “All the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the bodies of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and came to Jabesh and burnt them there.” And verse 13 of the same chapter informs us: “And they took their bones (_ossilegio_) and buried them under a tree at Jabesh and fasted seven days.”