The reasons of the laws of Moses. From the More Nevochim of Maimonides / [Translated] by James Townley. With notes, dissertations, and a life of the author. By James Townley.

  • Maimonides, Moses, 1135-1204. Dalālat al-ḥāʼirīn. Selections. English
Date:
1827
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The reasons of the laws of Moses. From the More Nevochim of Maimonides / [Translated] by James Townley. With notes, dissertations, and a life of the author. By James Townley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    —that it is necessary to the life of animals,” it still remains a duty to pour the blood upon the earth as the significant symbol of absolute dependance upon God for life and every blessing; blood being “the most important fluid of the animal machine,—a fluid, which excites the heart to con¬ traction, which distributes oxygen to every part, and con¬ veys the carbon to the excretory vessels, giving rise, by this change, to animal heat: which originally supplies the materials of the solids, and afterwards their nourishment : from which all the fluids with the exception of the crude [or chyle] are secreted and derived.”* 3. A third reason which may be adduced for the prohibi¬ tion of blood, is, that it served to check cruel and savage customs, and prevent the unrestrained indulgence of barba¬ rous and ferocious inclinations.—The Jewish Rabbins assert that the prohibitory injunctions relating to blood were originally designed to suppress a practice, which, they say, obtained even in the time of Noah, of eating raw flesh, and especially of eating the flesh of living animals cut or torn from them and devoured whilst reeking with the warm blood.]*—Plutarch, in his Discourse of eatingflesh, informs us, that it was customary in his time, to run red-hot spits through the bodies of live swine; and to stamp upon the udders of sows ready to farrow, to make their flesh more delicious; and Herodotus (1. iv.) assures us, that the Scythians, from drinking the blood of their cattle, proceeded to drink the blood of their enemies. It is even affirmed that both in Ireland, and the Islands and Highlands of Scotland, the drinking of the blood of live cattle is still continued or has but recently been relinquished. Dr. Patrick Delaney says, “ There is a practice sufficiently known to obtain among the poor of the kingdom of Ireland. It is customary with them to bleed their cattle for food in * Ibid. Sect. 2. p. 8. + See the following Translation.