< Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 48.djvu
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SKETCH OF EBENEZER EMMONS..

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statement of the principles of the science upon which the practices of agriculture as an art are founded," appeared in 1860. The civil war interrupted his labors. The anxieties and separation from friends occasioned by it probably hastened his death, which took place at his residence in Brunswick County, N. C, October 1, 1863. His wife, a son, and two daughters survived him.

Besides the works already mentioned. Prof. Emmons published an account of the Taconic System (Albany, 1844). Having been commissioned by Governor Edward Everett to report upon the Zoölogy of Massachusetts, he prepared a volume, devoted to the quadrupeds, which was printed at Cambridge in 1840. His American Geology, which appeared in 1855, was supplemented by a Manual of Geology in 1859.

A clear-sighted and energetic worker. Dr. Emmons was a living force for the advancement of his chosen science. The Rev. Mark Hopkins, President of Williams College from 1836 to 1872, said of him: "Emmons was a man of remarkable power and great accuracy of observation. He seemed to have an intuitive perception of the differences in natural objects. He possessed an intense enthusiasm in his work, but in his manner was remarkably quiet. I have never seen the two things combined to the same extent. His perseverance knew no limit. It ought to be added that, in connection with his science, he was deeply religious. Williams College is greatly indebted to him for its collections in natural history."

Several instances of the European survival of practices that probably originated in cannibalism were cited in a discussion on that subject at the meeting of the British Association. Mr. Elworthy said that in one part of France the last of the harvest corn is baked into a loaf shaped like a human figure. This is supposed to represent the spirit of the corn—the spirit of vegetation, reproduction, fertility—and is broken up, distributed among the villagers, and eaten. Mr. E. S. Hartland said that not long ago, in upper Bavaria, when a man died and had been laid out, a cake was made of ordinary flour. The corpse was placed before the fire, and this cake, called the corpse cake, was put upon his breast to rise. The dough, in rising, was believed to absorb all the virtues of the deceased, and the cake was afterward eaten by his nearest relatives. In the Balkan Peninsula an edible image of the dead was carried in the funeral procession. When the body was buried the mourners ate this image above the grave, saying, "God rest him!" In Wales the function of the "sin-eater" has only ceased within the memory of men still living. It was the custom for the nearest relative, usually a woman, to hand across the bier, or place upon the breast of the corpse, bread, cheese, and beer, which were eaten by the sin-eater, who pronounced everlasting rest to the departed. It was believed that the sin-eater thus appropriated to himself all the sins which the deceased had committed.
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