, whose first curiosity is to know why fire is everywhere
said to have been obtained for men by sly theft or 'flat burglary.' Of
course it is obvious that a myth found in Australia and America cannot
possibly be the result of disease of Aryan languages not spoken in those
two continents. The myth of fire-stealing must necessarily have some
other origin.

'Fire Totems'

Mr. Max Muller, after a treatise on Agni and other fire-gods, consecrates
two pages to 'Fire Totems.' 'If we are assured that there are some dark
points left, and that these might be illustrated and rendered more
intelligible by what are called fire totems among the Red Indians of
North America, let us have as much light as we can get' (ii. 804). Alas!
I never heard of fire totems before. Probably some one has been writing
about them, somewhere, unless we owe them to Mr. Max Muller's own
researches. Of course, he cites no authority for his fire totems. 'The
fire totem, we are told, would thus naturally have become the god of the
Indians.' 'We are told'--where, and by whom? Not a hint is given on the
subject, so we must leave the doctrine of fire totems to its mysterious
discoverer. 'If others prefer to call Prometheus a fire totem, no one
would object, if only it would help us to a better understanding of
Prometheus' (ii. 810). Who are the 'others' who speak of a Greek
'culture-hero' by the impossibly fantastic name of 'a fire totem'?

Prometheus

Mr. Max Muller 'follows Kuhn' in his explanation of Prometheus, the Fire-
stealer, but he does not follow him all the way. Kuhn tried to account
for the myth that Prometheus _stole_ fire, and Mr. Max Muller does not
try. {194} Kuhn connects Prometheus with the Sanskrit pramantha, the
stick used in producing fire by drilling a pointed into a flat piece of
wood. The Greeks, of course, made Prometheus mean 'foresighted,'
providens; but let it be granted that the Germans know better. Pramantha
next is associated with the verb mathnami, 'to rub _or_ grind;' and that,
again, with Greek [Greek], 'to learn.' We too talk of a student as a
'grinder,' by a coincidence. The root manth likewise means 'to rob;' and
we can see in English how a fire-stick, a 'fire-rubber,' might become a
'fire-robber,' a stealer of fire. A somewhat similar confusion in old
Aryan languages converted the fire-stick into a person, the thief of
fire, Prometheus; while a Greek misunderstanding gave to Prometheus
(pr