Note 1076 — Chapter XLI · THE FISH OF TOBIAS—DEMONIC POSSESSION

The whole question is fully treated by J. G. Frazer, op. cit., vol. I., pp. 485-530, and Adonis, Attis, and Osiris, 3rd ed., vol. I., pp. 57-60. Some writers hold that the period of continence originated at an ancient time when it was deemed advisable that the deflowering should be effected by a god or his representatives—In Israel the Sacred Men—so that the woman should receive strength to bear children to her husband. For the practice they rely on Hosea iv. 14, and for the deferment to the seventh night on Gen. xxix. 27, and in the correction of the reading in Judges, xiv. 18, from “before the sun went down” to “before he went into her chamber.” The evidence to my mind is far from convincing.