and null if they smell perfumes, take a clyster or injection, bathe, or even purposely swallow their spittle; some being so cautious that they will not open their mouths to speak, lest they should breathe the air too freely:3 the fast is also deemed void if a man kiss or touch a woman, or if he vomit designedly. But after sunset they are allowed to refresh themselves, and to eat and drink, and enjoy the company of their wives till daybreak;4 3 Hence alms are in the New Testament termed [Greek text]. Matth. vi. I (Ed. Steph.), and 2 Cor. ix. 10. 4 Gemar. in Bava Bathra. 5 Ibid. in Gittin. 6 Ibid. in Rosh hashana. 7 Levit. xix. 9, 10; Deut. xxiv. 19, &c. 8 Vide Gemar. Hierosol. in Peah, and Maimon. in Halachoth matanoth Aniyyim. c.6. Confer Pirke Avoth, v. 9. 9 Luke xix. 8. 10 Vide Reland. Ant. Sacr. Vet. Hebr. p. 402. 11 Vide Ibid. p. 138. 1 Al Ghazâli, Al Mostatraf. 2 Kor. c. 2, p. 19, 20. 3 Hence we read that the Virgin Mary, to avoid answering the reflections cast on her for bringing home a child, was advised by the angel Gabriel to feign she had vowed a fast, and therefore she ought not to speak. See Kor. c. 19. 4 The words of the Korân (cap. 2, p. 20) are: "Until ye can distinguish a white thread from a black thread by the daybreak"-a form of speaking borrowed by Mohammed from the Jews, who determine the time when they are to begin their morning lesson, to be so soon as a man can discern blue form white, i.e., the blue threads from the white threads in the fringes of their garments. But this explication the commentators do not approve, pretending that by the white