to form the
introductory sections of an incantation; but in all of them Enki, the
god of the deep water, plays the leading part, though associated with
different consorts.(1) The incantation is directed against various
diseases, and the recitation of the closing mythical section was
evidently intended to enlist the aid of special gods in combating them.
The creation of these deities is recited under set formulae in a sort of
refrain, and the divine name assigned to each bears a magical connexion
with the sickness he or she is intended to dispel.(2)

(1) See Langdon, Univ. of Penns. Mus. Publ., Bab. Sect.,
Vol. X, No. 1 (1915), pl. i f., pp. 69 ff.; _Journ. Amer.
Or. Soc._, Vol. XXXVI (1916), pp. 140 ff.; cf. Prince,
_Journ. Amer. Or. Soc._, Vol. XXXVI, pp. 90 ff.; Jastrow,
_Journ. Amer. Or. Soc._, Vol. XXXVI, pp. 122 ff., and in
particular his detailed study of the text in _Amer. Journ.
Semit. Lang._, Vol. XXXIII, pp. 91 ff. Dr. Langdon's first
description of the text, in _Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch._, Vol.
XXXVI (1914), pp. 188 ff., was based on a comparatively
small fragment only; and on his completion of the text from
other fragments in Pennsylvania. Professor Sayce at once
realized that the preliminary diagnosis of a Deluge myth
could not be sustained (cf. _Expos. Times_, Nov., 1915, pp.
88 ff.). He, Professor Prince, and Professor Jastrow
independently showed that the action of Enki in the myth in
sending water on the land was not punitive but beneficent;
and the preceding section, in which animals are described as
not performing their usual activities, was shown
independently by Professor Prince and Professor Jastrow to
have reference, not to their different nature in an ideal
existence in Paradise, but, on familiar lines, to their non-
existence in a desolate land. It may be added that Professor
Barton and Dr. Peters agree generally with Professor Prince
and Professor Jastrow in their interpretation of the text,
which excludes the suggested biblical parallels; and I
understand from Dr. Langdon that he very rightly recognizes
that the text is not a Deluge myth. It is a subject for
congratulation that the discussion has materially increased
our knowledge of this difficult composition.

(2) Cf. Col. VI, ll. 24 ff.; thus _Ab_-u was created for the
sickness of the co