offended."[256] The Shánárs of Tinnevelly offer up a {69} goat, a sheep, or a fowl, in order "to appease the angry demon, and induce him to remove the evil he has inflicted, or abstain from the infliction he may meditate."[257] It would be almost absurd to suppose that in similar cases the suffering or death of the animal is looked upon in the light of a vicarious _punishment_. Of the Hebrew sin-offering, Professor Kuenen aptly remarks:--[258]"According to the Israelite's notion, Yahveh in his clemency permits the soul of the animal sacrificed to take the place of that of the sacrificer. No transfer of guilt to the animal sacrificed takes place: the blood of the latter is clean and remains so, as is evident from the very fact that this blood is put upon the altar; it is a token of mercy on Yahveh's part that he accepts it. . . . Nor can it be asserted that the animal sacrificed undergoes the punishment in the place of the transgressor: this is said nowhere, and therefore, in any case, gives another, more sharply defined idea than that which the Israelite must have formed for himself; moreover, it is irreconcilable with the rule that the indigent may bring the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour as a sin-offering."[259] It should also be noticed that a purifying effect was ascribed to contact with the victim's blood: the high priest should put or sprinkle some blood upon the altar "and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel."[260] [Footnote 251: Réville, _Prolegomena of the History of Religions_, p. 135.] [Footnote 252: Baring-Gould, _Origin and Development of Religious Belief_, i. 387 _sq._] [Footnote 253: Harnack, _op. cit._ iii. 312 _sqq._] [Footnote 254: _Ibid._ iii. 307, 315 n. 2.] [Footnote 255: Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes of the United States_, ii. 196.] [Footnote 256: Codrington, _Melanesians_, p. 127.] [Footnote 257: Percival, _Land of the Veda_, p. 309 _sq._ _Cf._ Caldwell, _Tinnevelly Shánárs_, p. 37.] [Footnote 258: Kuenen, _Religion of Israel_, ii. 266 _sq._] [Footnote 259: _Leviticus_, v. 11 _sqq._] [Footnote 260: _Ibid._ xvi. 18 _sq._]