ree and Serpent Worship."

3. See Sir John Lubbock's "Origin of Civilisation," pp. 192-8.

4. _Fortnightly Review_, "The Worship of Animals and Plants," 1870,
vii. 213.

5. _Ibid._, 1869, vi. 408.

6. "Principles of Sociology," 1885, i. p. 359.

7. "The Origin of Civilisation and Primitive Condition of Man."

8. _Quarterly Review_, cxiv. 212.

9. Keary's "Primitive Brlief," pp. 332-3; _Edinburgh Review_, cxxx.
488-9.

10. "Du Culte des Dieux Fetiches," p. 169.

11. "Primitive Belief," pp. 332-3.

12. Fergusson's "Tree and Serpent Worship," p. 16.

13. cxxx. 492; see Tacitus' "Germania," ix.

14. See _Edinburgh Review_, cxxx. 490-1.

15. _Edinburgh Review_, cxxx. 491.

16. Mr. Fergusson's "Tree and Serpent Worship." See _Edinburgh
Review_, cxxx. 498.

17. See Lewin's "Hill Tracts of Chittagong," p. 10.

18. _Cornhill Magazine_, November 1872, p. 598.

19. An important tribe in Central India.

20. See Sherring's "Sacred City of the Hindus," 1868, p. 89.

21. Dorman's "Primitive Superstitions," p. 291.

22. See "Researches in Geology and Natural History," p. 79.

23. "Anahuac," 215, 265.

24. Dorman's "Primitive Superstitions." p. 292.

25. "Journeys to the Polar Sea." i. 221.

26. "The Origin of Civilisation."

27. "Songs of the Russian People." p. 219.

28. _Ibid._, p. 238.

29. See my "British Popular Customs." p. 21.

CHAPTER IV.

LIGHTNING PLANTS.

Amongst the legends of the ancient world few subjects occupy a more
prominent place than lightning, associated as it is with those myths of
the origin of fire which are of such wide distribution.[1] In examining
these survivals of primitive culture we are confronted with some of the
most elaborate problems of primeval philosophy, many of which are not
only highly complicated, but have given rise to various conjectures.
Thus, although it is easy to understand the reasons which led our
ancestors, in their childlike ignorance, to speak of the lightning as a
worm, serpent, trident, arrow, or forked wand, yet the contrary is the
case when we inquire why it was occasionally symbolised as a flower or
leaf, or when, as Mr. Fiske[2] remarks, "we seek to ascertain why
certain trees, such as the ash, hazel, white thorn, and mistletoe, were
supposed to be in a certain sense embodiments of it."

Indeed, however satisfactory our explanations may apparently seem, in
many cases they can only be regarded as ingenious theories based