tory enough until extended observation and
reflection supplied a better one. It also contained the germs of a
theology; for the life-giving solar light furnished an important part
of the primeval conception of deity. And finally, it became the fruitful
parent of countless myths, whether embodied in the stately epics of
Homer and the bards of the Nibelungenlied, or in the humbler legends of
St. George and William Tell and the ubiquitous Boots.

Such is the theory which was suggested half a century ago by the
researches of Jacob Grimm, and which, so far as concerns the mythology
of the Aryan race, is now victorious along the whole line. It remains
for us to test the universality of the general principles upon which it
is founded, by a brief analysis of sundry legends and superstitions
of the barbaric world. Since the fetichistic habit of explaining the
outward phenomena of nature after the analogy of the inward phenomena of
conscious intelligence is not a habit peculiar to our Aryan ancestors,
but is, as psychology shows, the inevitable result of the conditions
under which uncivilized thinking proceeds, we may expect to find the
barbaric mind personifying the powers of nature and making myths about
their operations the whole world over. And we need not be surprised if
we find in the resulting mythologic structures a strong resemblance to
the familiar creations of the Aryan intelligence. In point of fact, we
shall often be called upon to note such resemblance; and it accordingly
behooves us at the outset to inquire how far a similarity between
mythical tales shall be taken as evidence of a common traditional
origin, and how far it may be interpreted as due merely to the similar
workings of the untrained intelligence in all ages and countries.

Analogies drawn from the comparison of languages will here be of service
to us, if used discreetly; otherwise they are likely to bewilder far
more than to enlighten us. A theorem which Max Muller has laid down
for our guidance in this kind of investigation furnishes us with an
excellent example of the tricks which a superficial analogy may play
even with the trained scholar, when temporarily off his guard. Actuated
by a praiseworthy desire to raise the study of myths to something like
the high level of scientific accuracy already attained by the study of
words, Max Muller endeavours to introduce one of the most useful canons
of philology into a department of inquiry where its introdu