Here we'll explore the biological process of death and also clear up some basic questions about the science of it all. Find out how the mind reacts to death and how people try to cope with it. Death is treated very differently all around the world. Here we'll discuss the various religious and cultural differences. Discover the social implications of death and how death affects society. Discuss death related topics with other surfers.

Anthropology The Law of Contagion and the Sanctity of the Human Corpse Frazer's principle of contagion holds that if two things were once in contact, they retain a degree of influence over each other. The most common example of this is the old belief that if one of your enemies obtains some article of your clothing or a piece of your body (hair, nail clippings, etc.), he or she has the power to work evil magic on you. By the law of contagion, the object which was once in contact with you can still affect you, for good or bad. Now, if this concept is applied to the dual notion of the body and spirit, many basic practices concerning deceased humans can be explained. The idea that an individual is composed of two separate elements, of a body and a spirit, is older than history. It was already grey and venerated when the Sumerians and Egyptians came onto the scene. Now, the body and the spirit, if they are to make an individual, would seem to be in contact. And death, to a Sumerian eye, would seem to be the separation of the invisible spirit from the tangible body. So, by contagion, the dead body would retain influence over the spirit, the real essence of the person. So, if things that happen to the corpse have a similar effect on the spirit, there are very good reasons to treat the body well. Thus follow the ancient practices of burying the corpse in clean cloth after washing and perfuming, the interment of practical and luxury goods, and various means to prolong the existence of the body. Shades of this come down to us in the Jewish prohibitions against mutilating the body, the Hindu anointing of the body with oil, and extensive cosmetic work on the deceased in Christian and secular funerals. One must also consider that the spirit retains some influence over the body. This brings up another idea which has been greatly influential in human culture; the dead can affect the physical world. So if the well-being of the deceased's soul was not reason enough to pamper the corpse, the thought of an angered spirit with the ability to turn said anger into physical action would have provided another motivation to tread gingerly. The law of Similarity and the Uncleanness of the Corpse Copyright 2001. Created by a Thinkquest team. Feel free to email us at C0122781@thinkquest.org.