As illustrative of the tenacity with which such vile ceremonial, once adopted by a sect, will adhere to it and become ingrafted upon its life, long after the motives which have suggested or commended it have vanished in oblivion, let me quote a few lines from Max Muller’s “Chips from a German Workshop,” “Essay upon the Parsees,” pp. 163, 164, Scribner’s edition, 1869: “The _Nirang_ is the urine of cow, ox, or she-goat, and the rubbing of it over the face and hands is the second thing a Parsee does after getting out of bed. Either before applying the _Nirang_ to the face and hands, or while it remains on the hands after being applied, he should not touch anything directly with his hands; but, in order to wash out the _Nirang_, he either asks somebody else to pour water on his hands, or resorts to the device of taking hold of the pot through the intervention of a piece of cloth, such as a handkerchief, or his _sudra_, _i. e._, his blouse. He first pours water on his hand, then takes the pot in that hand and washes his other hand, face, and feet.” (Quoting from _Dadabhai-Nadrosi’s_ Description of the Parsees.) Continuing, Max Muller says: “Strange as this process of purification may appear, it becomes perfectly disgusting when we are told that women, after childbirth, have not only to undergo this sacred ablution, but actually to drink a little of the _Nirang_, and that the same rite is imposed on children at the time of their investiture with the _Sudra_ and _Koshti_, the badges of the Zoroastrian faith.” _One hundred copies printed strictly for private circulation_ * * * * * Transcriber’s Note: ――Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_). ――Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.