Note 18 — Chapter XXXIII
Reading edition
A similar idea to this still exists in the Department Indre, France. The inhabitants believe that after death the soul of the deceased flies about the apartment where the dissolution took place, seeking some cranny by which to escape to heaven. For this reason, as soon as any one is supposed to be near death, the friends of the dying person take care to remove every vessel that contains liquid, fearing the soul may fall in, and thus be lost. In Scotland, something of the sort seems to be believed in among the lower classes; for when a person is in the last agonies, the doors of the house are set open, that the soul may find no impediment in the way of its escape. The ancient Jews, according to Dr. Lightfoot, were of an opinion that the soul of the deceased hovered about its former tenement until after the lapse of three days, when it sought the regions of bliss or misery.