The Zonal-Belt Hypothesis - A New Explanation of The Cause of The Ice Ages 1908

BERKELEY
LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF
CALIFORNIA
EARTH
SCIENCES
LIBRARY
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
PRESENTED BY
PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID
THE
ZONAL-BELT HYPOTHESIS
A NEW EXPLANATION OF THE CAUSE

OF THE ICE AGES
BY
JOSEPH T. WHEELER
PHILADELPHIA 6r LONDON
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
1908
COPTKIQHT, 1908
BT JOSEPH T. WHEELER
Published November8 1908
Printed by J. B. Lippincott Company

The Washington Square Press, Philadelphia, U. S. A
Ws
EARTH
SCIENCES
LIBRARY
PREFACE
IT is purposed in this work to show that a vast amount
of evidence exists which proves that throughout the geolog-
ical ages up to recent time our earth was girt with belts of
planetesimal or gaseous matter.

The nature of the evidence demonstrates that these belts
were potent factors in producing' the climatic changes which
marked the various geologic periods. They were the cause
of the Ice ages. Primitive man saw the last remnants of
these strange sights in the sky, and the echo of his thought
in the form of mythology has sounded down through the
lapse of the centuries.
Facts cannot be ignored. Agassiz demonstrated that the
till and boulder deposits scattered over the mantle rock of
northern Europe and North America were the product of

glacier action, but though the fact of the existence of great
continental ice-sheets was established, the cause has remained
up to the present date a scientific mystery.
Now, presenting the belted-canopy or zonal-ring

in
hypothesis the cause or causes which brought them into exist-

ence is of secondary importance. The all-important matter
is to establish their actuality. Nevertheless, in order to
present the argument in a consecutive form, the author under-
takes in the opening chapters to show how the belts could
have been brought into existence. This portion of the work,
however, may be considered as merely tentative, and if he
has failed in this particular, it in nowise compromises the
main issue.
This is not the first time that an hypothesis somewhat

similar to the one about to be launched has been subjected to
4 PREFACE
the critical eye of the investigator. In fact, there have been

several. Briefly, the history of the growth of the idea is
as follows:
To Emanuel Kant, who lived some hundred and fifty
years ago, belongs the distinction of being the first modern

scientist to entertain the thought that this earth was at one
time girt about with rings or belts similar to those which
now surround our sister planet, Saturn. Kant, however,
after due deliberation, cast the idea from him as not worthy
of serious consideration. 1
There was nothing in particular new about this concep-
tion. The Chaldeans, Egyptians, and Hebrews held that
this earth was a disk canopied by a vaulted arc or water-
flat
sky, the firmament of the Scriptures. Not that the substance

of the vaulted arc was actually water, but that this was the
appearance of things to the ancients. Because the theory

of a vaulted firmament retarded the progress of astronomy,
it was dropped entirely. But the question is, How could such
a theory have originated and become general throughout the
earth without a prototype ? Certainly it must have had some
legitimate ancestor, and the myths and hero-tales that have

come down to us are the vibrations from this far distant age.
The present hypothesis deals with the prehistoric. Where it
comes into more intimate relationship with the past, it is
because of the echo which vibrates in and through the lan-
guage, relics, literature, etc., of the ancients. The redis-
covery of the lost phenomena has been very gradual.

Perhaps in this connection the theories of Ignatius
Donnelly are deserving of mention. In his work entitled,
"Kagnarok: The Age of Eire and Gravel," this author
builds a superstructure of sand on a rock foundation. To
say that the origin of drift and gravel is unknown, and
further to suggest that they are the debris from the wreck
Kant's Cosmology, pp. 129-131.

PREFACE 5
of a comet, is too radical. Yet in spite of this absurdity

thereis a fascination that arises from the residuum of truth.
The fossil thought of the by-gone days cannot be ignored,

and Donnelly has collected and jumbled together a large
number of these stories from the myths of many people,
which plainly indicate that they were witnesses of some
strange sights in the sky. There must have been some com-
mon source for these tales.
Again, a similar work was published in 1885, entitled

"
Paradise Found The Cradle of the Human Race at the
:
North Pole." Its author was William F. Warren, S.T.D.,

LL.D., President of Boston University. Lenormant's tes-
2
timony issame direction, and it goes to show that the
in the
Chaldean, Persian, and Indian traditions all point to the

northern mountains as the original home of the Caucasian
race, therefore conditions in that region must have been very
different from those now existing. Comparative religion
indicates the same conclusions.
The above works bring together large masses of fact and
fable which in some cases, it must be admitted, are grotesque
and visionary. They are mentioned in this place, however,
as they bear on the history of the development of the present
hypothesis. Speculations such as are introduced by these

authors must have some foundation. The north seems to have
been much warmer in the past. Indeed, zonal atmospheric
temperature belts have existed up to recent times. Briefly,
the facts of arctic paleontology have induced the belief that
there was a primitive Eocene continent in the highest lati-
tudes. The purely scientific aspect of the question is pre-
sented in Gr. Hilton Scribner's monograph, " Where Did Life

"
Begin ? Professor Heer of Zurich and Baron Nordensk-
jold both arrived at the same conclusion. J. Starkie Gardner
has reviewed the evidence and has stated that this continuous
Ancient History of the East and Beginnings of History."

6 PHEFACE
land which once united Europe with North America was

probably submerged by the ocean along with northern Asia
3
in late glacial or post-glacial time.
Since the historic and mythological evidence shows that
many minds have had an insight into some portion of the
features connected with the zonal atmospheric climatic belts,
it only surprising that Emanuel Kant's suggestion was
is
not followed up long ago. It is true that geologists of the

old school, who from a molten
believed that the earth cooled
state, postulated some form of cloud-blanket. Dana men-

tions the Astral aeon, as it was called, when a heavy, vaporous
envelope containing the future waters of the globe or its dis-
sociated elements, and other heavy vapors and gases, was

4
supposed to compass the earth. But that was in its early
history. Isaac !N". Vail seems to have been the first to
advance the idea that conditions somewhat similar to these
could have continued until recent time. His argument runs
as follows:
"
Our earth once had a Saturn-like system of rings, which
in their progressive fall became canopies, such as the planets
Saturn and Jupiter have now ;
that these canopies, acting as
a greenhouse roof, made all the warm ages of geologic time,
and, gravitating to the polar regions, fell largely as snows,
making all the glacial epochs and all the ages the earth ever
had." 5
In the modern science the suggestion of the old
light of
school geologists, and the further statement of Professor
Vail, that these rings were composed of aqueous and metallic

matter sent up from the molten earth, do not bear scrutiny.
8
Professor G. Frederick Wright, "Geology and the Deluge,"
McClure's Magazine, June, 1901.
*
Manual of Geology, 4th ed., p. 440.
5
Isaac 1ST.
Vail, "The Waters Above the Firmament," "The Deluge
and Cause," "Eden's Flaming Sword," etc., etc., Pasadena, Cal.
its
Captain R. Kelso Carter, C.E., a friend of Professor Vail, has pub-

lished a work on the same subject, entitled "Alpha and Omega."
PREFACE 7
It has been proved that Saturn's rings would disrupt if they

were composed of aqueous solutions, and, again, the idea
that the earth has formed from a fire-mist or heated nebula
has given way to Chamberlin's Planetesimal Hypothesis.
Vail deserves great credit, however, for the vast amount of
mythology which he has interpreted.
All this goes to show that some form of belted canopy
must have existed. Perhaps the next best hypothesis comes
from Marsden Manson. 6 His is a scientific presentation of
an atmospheric cloud canopy. If to this he had added belts
or zones situated on the outer confines of the earth's gaseous
envelope, the hypothesis about to be introduced might have

used the same for a foundation, and it would have been neces-
sary only to postulate that the said belts were visible, and
that they continued as a feature in the heavens until recent
time, geologically speaking. It is purposed to expand these
ideas, and further to connect these belts with the Planetesimal
Hypothesis.
A brief knowledge of the ground covered by this last
hypothesis is essential to a clear understanding of the idea

that zonal belts once girt our planet, and the following com-
parison of the nebular and plantesimal hypotheses will

supply that need.
"
The old hypothesis assumes the existence of a mass of
incandescent vapor, with or without a nucleus, which by con-
densation and rotation was differentiated into successive
rings ;
the latter being eventually gathered up into the planets
while stillretaining intense heat. From this postulate there
necessarily follows the conception of a cooling earth; and
hypogeic geology has been founded on the idea of crustal
solidification on a molten globe. The new hypothesis holds
that the disseminated planet-forming matter had lost its heat
e
in the American Geologist; also pamphlet, " The
See articles
Evolution of Climates.'*
8 PREFACE
while yet existing in the loose form, as rings or zones or wisps

of the parent nebula, and that the globular planets were
formed by the slow accretion or infalling of cold, discrete

bodies or particles (' planetesimals ')." 7
The zonal belt hypothesis simply takes hold where the
above lets go. Since Saturn stillhas rings of infalling par-
ticles there is nothing startling or improbable in the assump-
tion that our earth had the same, up to the close of the last
Ice age.
'Extract from the paper of Herman Leroy Fairchild, read at the

St. Louis meeting of the Geological Society of America, January 1,
1904, published in the American Geologist, vol. xxxiii, No. 2, by
courtesy of the Council.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE HYPOTHESIS 11
II. ATMOSPHERIC BELTS 17
III. PLANETESIMAL RINGS 30
IV. PHYSICAL EFFECTS GEOLOGIC 39
V. PHYSICAL EFFECTS BIOLOGIC 52
VI. DENSITY OF THE ATMOSPHERE AND OTHER PHYSICAL
PHENOMENA , 65
VII. VICISSITUDES OF CLIMATE 75
VIII. EVOLUTION AND DISTRIBUTION 89
IX. CAUSE OF THE ICE AGES 101
X. SYMPATHETIC FEATURES 117
XI. PvECENTNESS OF THE LAST STAGES OF THE ICE 124
XII. FOSSIL THOUGHT 143
XIII. GENESIS ,
155
XIV. HINDU MYTHS 174
XV. BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN MYTHS 196
XVI. EGYPTIAN MYTHS 219
XVII. MYTHS OF GREECE AND ROME 254
XVIII. HERCULES 276
XIX. PLATO'S CONTRIBUTION 297
XX. MYTHS OF THE AMERINDS 308
XXI. RUSSIAN MYTHS 332
XXII. SCANDINAVIAN MYTHS 358
INDEX OF AUTHORS 387
INDEX OF SUBJECTS . .391
CHAPTER I
THE HYPOTHESIS
THE narrowness of the range to which temperatures are
confined in order to allow life to continue on the earth has
prevailed since the beginning of organic existence. This fact

has to be considered by all who would investigate the genesis
of things mundane. The geologists and biologists never lose
sight of it, but it is difficult to reconcile their requirements

with the maintenance of the sun's energy. The best reply
seems to be that radiant energy is probably the reflex action
of the perpetual motion of the ether. This means that there
is no cause left for controversy between the mathematicians
on the one side and the aforementioned geologists and biolo-

gists on the other. Whether this explanation be accepted or
not, the fact of the existence of this long time period of

comparative slight temperature fluctuation remains.
If it be true that the supply of radiant energy is con-
stant, then a factor must be discovered that from time to

time has modified the amount of energy received, a factor
capable of punctuating the geological eras. On the other
hand, if, as the advocates of the shrinkage hypothesis gen-
erally contend, the sun in past ages has been giving out a
greater flow of energy, then this same factor is needed in
order to mitigate the results. Again, if the gravitational
heat of the earth, due to the consolidation of the original
planetesimal structure has entered into the question of the

maintenance of this narrowness in the range of temperature,
then once more this factor will be very useful, as it is neces-
sary to conserve this dissipation.

The factor that best answers the foregoing requirements
is a protecting canopy, and such a one is here postulated
a canopy floating high above the present cloud-belt, and

11
12 THE ZONAL-BELT HYPOTHESIS
probably outside the existing atmosphere. The evidence

connected with this hypothesis will be presented in the suc-
ceeding chapters. It is now purposed to consider the nature
of the structure and the possible source of its origin.
The evidence will show that this atmospheric protector
existed until recent time, and that primitive man lived under
itsbeneficent roof. Furthermore, it was visible to him, for
he has recorded the fact on his monuments, and many of the
roots from which his archaic languages are derived have
their origin in sky scenes. He worshipped the phenomena
which he saw, making gods and devils of the various features,
handing down to us the substance of his impressions in that
form of mythology which portrays the nature myth.
Since the sky-features were visible, it proves that a canopy
of uniform texture spreading evenly over the whole earth
could not have fulfilled the requirements. Such a blanket
has been postulated by many scientists.
Tyndall thus depicts the influence of such an atmospheric
appendage on planetary temperature. He says: "Let us
now consider for a moment the effect upon the earth's tem-
perature of a shell of olefiant gas, surrounding our planet at

a little distance above its surface. The gas would be trans-
parent to the solar rays, allowing them, without sensible

hindrance, to reach the earth. Here, however, the luminous
heat of the sun would be converted into non-luminous terres-
trial heat; at least 26 per cent, of this heat would be inter-
cepted by a layer of gas one inch thick, and in great part
returned to the earth. Under such a canopy, trifling as it
may appear, and perfectly transparent to the eye, the earth's
surface would be maintained at a stifling temperature.
" A
few years ago a work possessing great charms of style
and ingenuity of reasoning was written to prove that the
more distant planets of our system are uninhabitable. Apply-
ing the law of inverse squares to their distances from the
sun, the diminution of temperature was found to be so great
THE HYPOTHESIS 13
as to preclude the possibility of human life in the more

remote members of the solar system. But in those calcula-
tions the influence of an atmospheric envelope was over-
looked, and this omission vitiated the entire argument. An
atmosphere may act the part of a barb to the solar rays, per-
mitting them to reach the earth, but preventing their escape.

A layer of air two inches in thickness, saturated with
the
vapor of sulphuric ether, would offer very little resistance

to the passage of the solar rays, but I find that it would cut
off fully35 per cent, of the planetary radiation. It would
require no inordinate thickening of the layer of vapor to
double this absorption and it is perfectly evident that, with
;
a protecting envelope of this kind, permitting the heat to

enter but preventing its escape, a comfortable temperature
l
might be obtained on the surface of the most distant planet."
As stated above, the envelope of uniform texture does not
fulfilthe requirements which the evidence about to be pro-
duced demands. If visible at all, the monotony of its same-
ness would have failed to arouse the religious superstitions
of early man, hence they would have left no records of it.
Again, the continuance of arctic and tropic life shows that

climate was differentiated in such a manner as to preclude
uniformity.
In explanation of the vagaries of climate which have
existed in the past, two alternatives now present themselves.
The one is Chamberlin's hypothesis, that the amount of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere itself is responsible for the
physical phenomena. The other is that a fractured shell or
envelope composed of rings or belts floated above or on the
outer bounds of the atmosphere. This latter hypothesis not
only accounts for the physical phenomena, but it also explains

the origin of the myths we have so often referred to.
The one hypothesis may be as complicated as the other.
Chamberlin's requires a fine adjustment between the ocean
Heat a Mode of Motion," 6th ed., pp. 417-418.

and the atmosphere. Thus the originator of the hypothesis

"
quotes Schloesing's views as follows The carbon dioxide
:
of the atmosphere is in equilibrium, not only with the free

carbon dioxide absorbed in the sea water, but, through dis-
sociation, with the second equivalent of carbon dioxide in
the oceanic bicarbonates. The sum-total of such free and
loosely combined carbon dioxide available at present as a
possible supply for the atmosphere may be some twenty-five

times the present atmospheric content. Schloesing held that
any depletion of the atmospheric content would be followed

by emanation from the ocean, and any excess acquired by the
atmosphere would be followed by oceanic absorption, and
hence great changes in the atmospheric content would only
be brought about by reducing or increasing the large sum-
2
total of atmospheric and oceanic supply."
RTow, the diffusion of gases in water is a slow process,

and it would seem that the supply of carbon dioxide which
the ocean would yield atmosphere might be far too

to the
slow to offset the consumption of the same under certain
chemic geologic conditions. This depletion, according to
Chamberlin's hypothesis, would bring about an ice age, the
location of the main
centres of glaciation being determined
by the path of cyclonic storms. So far all seems well, but,

unfortunately for the hypothesis, it is difficult to account for
the return to normal conditions. The restocking of the
atmospheric supply from the ocean would be very slow, and
a question arises as to whether the evidence does not indicate
a more rapid
recession, comparatively speaking.
Again, if the cold of the ice ages was due to depletion,
then the warmth of the Carboniferous age was due to excess.
This amount could not have exceeded a percentage that would
allow of the continuance of animal life.
"
According to
Berzelius, common air 1
containing / 20 of its volume of
*
Journal of Geology, vol. xiv, No. 5, p. 367.
THE HYPOTHESIS 15
carbon dioxide can be breathed without producing any serious

effects
;
but from Angus Smith's later experiments it appears
that when air contains only 0.20 per cent, by volume of this
gas, its effect

inlowering the action of the pulse is rendered
evident after the respiration has continued for about an hour.
It seems, therefore, premature to say that the smallest
increase of the atmospheric carbonic acid may not be pro-
3
ductive of hurtful results."
But let us examine one of the statements of the author
"
himself. He says: If we consider what a possible atmos-
phere and ocean richer in carbon dioxide might do, it seems

idle to look to the atmosphere as even a possible competent
reservoir, consistently with the life that existed; for the

carbon dioxide of the present atmosphere, if converted into
limestone, would form a layer about one-thirtieth of an inch
thick only, over the globe. To form a layer one foot thick it
would have to be increased 360 fold, which would surely
imperil active, air-breathing life, unless it were different
from similar present life." 4
Dropping this line of argument and approaching it from
another standpoint, it seems rash to postulate a colder climate
as a requisite to an ice age. It takes heat to evaporate water
in order to furnish the supply of snow. Belts of carbon
dioxide hanging above the atmosphere would have caused
remarkable climatic contrasts, and as they would not neces-
sarily have changed the atmospheric content, animal life
would not have suffered. The saturated warm air drifting
from beneath such a canopy would have been quickly con-
gealed into snow and ice by the cold air in the open zones.
Intense cold near the poles during the Ice age is at variance
with the recorded facts.
Again reverting to Chamberlin's hypothesis, we find that
it is based on the views of Arrhenius regarding the effects
and Schorlemmer, "Treatise on Chemistry,"

Roscoe vol. i, p.
625; Angus Smith, "Air and Rain," p. 209.
*Chamberlin and Salisbury, Geo., vol. ii, p. 661.
on the climate of small changes in the amount of carbon

dioxide in the air. Now, his views have been contested by
Angstrom and Very, and are not accepted by Hann. Thus,
since the physicists disagree, it may be that the foundation
is itself insecure.
The which postulates that belts or

alternate hypothesis
rings environed the earth may be presented in two forms, or

in a combination of the two. The first assumes that their
originwas terrestrial, the second that it was planetesimal.
The one is atmospheric, the other rises high above it. The
requirements, but
first fulfils all a possible difficulty exists
in connection with the flotation stability of the belts. The
density of carbon dioxide compared to air is 1.524, therefore
it does not seem likely that this substance entered into their
composition. However, as there are numerous other lighter

gases which might have answered the purpose, this objection
is not serious. Centrifugal force undoubtedly played a con-
spicuous part, as it was this whirling energy that broke the
canopy up into belts. If the rings had their origin beyond

the atmosphere, then the forces which control Saturn's system
must have sustained ours. In other words, we are presenting
two diametrically opposed ideas, the one working outward
and the other inward. It may be true that both forms of
the hypothesis are correct. There may have been a system
of rings composed of planetesimal accretions received from
outer space, and there may also have been belts on the outer
confines of the atmosphere, somewhat similar to the belts now
visible on Jupiter. These belts may have had a volcanic
origin, or, again, they may have been derived from the rings,
for undoubtedly in falling these became canopies, their
substance drifting off in the direction of the poles, where
centrifugal force was at a minimum. It is a significant

fact that our sister planets present us with an object lesson,
and that we do not comprehend the exact working of the,
laws involved.
CHAPTER II
ATMOSPHERIC BELTS
ACCORDING to the planetesimal hypothesis of the earth's
origin, the hydrosphere and atmosphere were acquired

through gravitational action driving out the internal gases.
This process has gone on from the initial stages to the present
time. Every volcanic eruption witnesses large additions,
that can be measured, as in the case of explosive vents like
1
that of Mount Pelee, by the standard of cubic miles.
The principal gaseous product excluded by volcanoes are
water-vapor, carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, hydrogen, oxygen,
and nitrogen. To these may be added chlorine, sulphur, and
many other temporary gases, together with certain other
light and volatile material. Even at the present day enor-

mous quantities of these products are shot forth into very
high altitudes. Witness the eruption of Krakatoa, the pow-
dery dust from which was carried up at least seventeen miles,
and the gaseous ejections may have reached still more amaz-
2
ing heights. Volcanic action in the past has been more
active than at present. 3 In the case of our sun, protuber-
1
James Furman Kemp, "Economic Geology," Dec.-Jan., vol. i,
No. 3, pp. 219-220, 229.
2
Joseph Le Conte, "Elements of Geology," 5th ed., revised by Her-
man Le Roy Fairchild, p. 91.
'Archibald Geikie describes
the following basalt-plain visited on
his return trip from the Yellowstone, which illustrates this greater
activity of the past. He says: "The last section of our ride proved
to be in a geological sense one of the most interesting parts of the
whole journey. We found that the older trachytic lavas of the hills
had been deeply trenched by lateral valleys, and that all these valleys
had a floor of the black basalt that had been poured out as the last
of the molten materials from the now extinct volcanoes. There were
no visible cones or vents from which these floods of basalt could have
17
ances are shot out to heights of many thousands of miles.

"
The expansive potency of this prodigious elasticity,"
"
say Chamberlin and Salisbury, is held in restraint
of the sun's gravity."
by the equally prodigious power
As it is, some of these outshoots closely approach the
4
controlling limit of the sun's gravity. In the case of our
moon, the expansive potency of its volcanoes has been too
great to be controlled by its feeble gravity, hence the moon

lacks an atmosphere. Now, gravity exerts on our own planet
a force much less than that of the sun, and much greater
than that of the moon. It is generally admitted that we may
have our atmosphere, therefore it may be log-
lost a part of
ically surmised that more than one of our outer gaseous shells
or envelopes in past time escaped.
The joint authors above cited say in this connection that
"
themean velocity of hydrogen is more than four times that
proceeded. We rode for hours by the margin of a vast plain of basalt,

stretching southward and westward as far as the eye could reach. It
seemed as if the plain had been once a great lake or sea of molten
rock which surged along the base of the hills, entering every valley
and leaving there a solid floor of bare black stone. We camped on
this basalt plain, near some springs of clear cold water which rise
close to its edge. Wandering over the bare hummocks of rock, on many
of which not a vestige of vegetation had yet taken root, I realized with
vividness the truth of an assertion made
first by Richthofen, but very
generally neglected by geologists, that our modern volcanoes, such as

Vesuvius or Etna, present us with by no means the grandest type of
volcanic action, but rather belong to a time of failing activity. There
have been periods of tremendous volcanic energy, when, instead of
escaping from a local vent, like a Vesuvian cone, the lava has found
its way to the surface by innumerable fissures opened for it in the
solid crust of the globe over thousands of square miles. I felt that the
structure of this and the other volcanic plains of the Far West furnish
the true key to the history of the basaltic plateaux of Ireland and
Scotland, which had been an enigma to me for many years." ("Geolog-
ical Sketches at Home and Abroad," pp. 237-238.) To this we may
add that the explosive type of volcanic eruption was also greater in
the past than at present.
*
Chamberlin and Salisbury, Geo., vol. ii, p. 55.
ATMOSPHERIC BELTS 19
of oxygen, and it may be assumed that it would be at least

four times as liable to escape from the control of the earth." 6
If these belts, composed of gases lighter than air, were
working outwards, all that is required of them is that they

remained under gravitational control long enough to produce
the pronounced climatic effects known to biology and to
geology.
They may have been and yet have
invisible to the eye
fulfilled all the requirements of the hero-tales left us by early
man, for, although invisible themselves, they would have
caused certain phenomena to be introduced into th*, atmos-
phere beneath which would have been visible, and this sec-
ondary class of phenomena would have given birth to the
myths.
The secondary phenomena referred to may be explained
as follows: When a column of air saturated with aqueous
vapor ascends from the earth it is invisible until radiation or

the meeting with cooler currents condenses it. Thus cumuli
are the heads of vaporous columns which are precipitated as
soon as they reach a certain elevation. 6 ]STow, gaseous belts
floating on the outer confines of the atmosphere would

have prevented this radiation. They would have intro-
duced greenhouse conditions, admitting the luminous heat,
and preventing the escape of the dark heat. Aqueous
vapor is lighter than air, and the only thing that stops its
upward career is this condensation. Under the influence
of such belts as are postulated, undoubtedly the present
storm belt would have been surmounted by one immeasurably
higher, and this stupendous belt of cloud being visible in-
spired the ancients to worship and to build monuments that
have along with the Scriptures perpetuated the memory of
the crooked flying serpent.
5
Ibid, p. 98.
"Tyndall, "Heat a Mode of Motion," 6th ed., p. 384.
"
By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens ;
his hand
hath formed the crooked serpent." 7 The serpent portrayed
girded the sky in an east and west direction. The storm-
belt, postulated,not only floated at great heights, but also
had its boundaries established by the overruling zonal extra-
atmosphaBra belts, and it follows that it could not extend
further north, or further south, than these boundaries.
The greenhouse conditions are thus described by Le
"
Conte It seems almost certain that during the whole
:
recorded history of the earth, i.e., during the time it has

been inhabited by organisms, the surface-temperature of the
earth has been almost wholly due to external causes. Now,
the composition of the atmosphere is an external cause, which
greatly affects the surface-temperature, but which has hith-

erto been almost wholly neglected. The thorough explana-
tion of this point will require some discussion of the proper-
ties of transparent media in relation to light and heat.
"
Many bodies which are transparent to light are opaque
to heat. Such bodies, however, will freely transmit heat, if
the heat be accompanied with intense light. It is as if the
light carried the heat through with it. Heat thus associated
with light is sometimes called light heat, while that which
is not thus associated is called dark heat. Now, the bodies
spoken of are transparent to light heat, but opaque to dark
heat. Glass is such a body. If a pane of glass be held
between the face and the sun,, the heat passes freely and
burns the face, but the same pane would act as a partial
screen before a fire, and as a perfect screen before a hot, but
not incandescent, cannon-ball.
" It
is in this way we explain the fact that a
glass green-
house, even in the coldest sunshiny winter's day, becomes
insupportably warm if shut up. The sunlight and heat pass
freely through the glass and heat the ground, the benches,
T
Job xxvi: 13.
the flower-pots ; but the light-heat thereby becomes converted

into dark heat, and thus is imprisoned within. Now, the
earth and its atmosphere are such a greenhouse. The light-
heat passes readily through, warms the ground, changes into
dark heat, and is in a measure imprisoned by the partial
opacity of the atmosphere to this kind of heat. The atmos-
phere is a kind of blanket put about the earth to keep it
warm. So much has long been recognized. But Tyndall has
shown that the property of opacity to dark heat in the case
of the atmosphere is due wholly to the small quantity of
carbonic acid and aqueous vapor present; that oxygen and
nitrogen are transparent to dark heat, and, therefore, if the

atmosphere consisted only of those two gases, it would not be
heated by radiation from the earth, and the ground would
lose all its heat by radiation during the night, and become
intensely cold, like space. In other words, the blanket put

about the earth to keep it warm is woven of carbonic acid and
8
aqueous vapor."
The matter resolves itself into the question, What gases
of light density would exert a similar influence? Langley
" The
says :
temperature of this planet, and with it the
existence not only of the human race but of all organized
life on the globe, appears, in the light of the conclusions
reached by the Mount Whitney expedition, to depend far

less on the direct solar heat than on the hitherto too little
9
regarded quality of selective absorption in our atmosphere."
Geology and biology unveil the fact that in the past the
earth has been at times a vast orchard-house blooming with a
luxuriant vegetation that has even extended to the polar
regions.
" We know by experiment," remarks Sir Charles Lyell,
" which are natives of the tropics can dispense
that plants
8
Geo., 5th ed., revised by Fairchild, pp. 395-396.
"George F. Barker, "Physics," 4th ed., p. 393.
more easily with the bright light of those countries than with
the heat of the same. Few palms can live in our temperate
latitudes without protection from the cold; but when placed
grow luxuriantly, even under a cloudy
in hot-houses they
sky and where much light is intercepted by the glass and

framework. At St. Petersburg, in lat. 60 1ST., many tropical
plants have been successfully cultivated in hot-houses,
although there they must exchange the perpetual equinox of

their native regions for days and nights which are alternately
protracted to nineteen hours and shortened to five. How

much farther towards the pole even the existing species might
continue to live, provided a due quantity of heat and moisture
were supplied, has not yet been determined but St. Peters- ;
burg is probably not the utmost limit, and we should expect

that in lat. 65 at least, where they would never remain
twenty-four hours without enjoying the sun's light, they might
10
still exist."
Greenhouse conditions have existed in the past all the

way up to the pole, thus all these facts go to show that a
canopy exerting a selective absorption must have existed.
Pure hydrogen, though light enough to float above the atmos-
phere, was not the material out of which this blanket was
made, for its atoms, apparently, are quite incompetent to
stop the calorific waves. But there are other gases, such as
argon, krypton, neon, helium, and their combinations, which

have to be considered. Some of the hydrocarbons likewise,
which also are products of vulcanism, and which have a rela-
tively high power of absorption, cannot be ignored.

The radiation-enigmas of the boreal auroras have recently
been identified with the spectra of some of the new atmos-
pheric gases. This indicates that remnants of the old canopy
still exist. This phenomenon often takes the form of an arc
from which stream curtains of light.
Principles of Geology," vol. i, llth ed., p. 226.

There a possibility that these rarefied belts may have

is
been upheld by electrical expulsion originating in the earth,

in which case they may have been heavier than air. Centrif-
ugal force also was a very powerful factor, the rate of gyra-
tion being the same or slightly slower than the earth.
One matter is certain, the gaseous envelope could not
have been of uniform texture. The physical evidence as
recorded by the zonal climatic temperatures and the records
of primitive man unite against such a supposition. In other
words, it was broken up into belts or rings, and, furthermore,
the laws of mathematics, mechanics, and physics demand that
it should be.
Itnot unlikely that electricity alone would have caused
is
such a break up. Biela's comet separated into two parts,

11
mutually affecting each other. Though this comparison
may have but little value, it does, however, introduce a pos-
sible factor. Yet why deal with uncertainties, since this
feature is so clearly proved ?
Thus it is plain to all that the power of gravity being

at least partially neutralized by centrifugal tendency due to
axial speed, allowed the latter to gain progressively in lift-
ing capacity from the poles, where that speed had a zero
value, to the equator, where it attained the maximum. Here,
then, the gaseous materials of the rotating body were vir-
tually lighter than elsewhere, and consequently retreated
farther from the earth. ~Not only did this introduce strains
into the canopy itself, which probably disrupted it, but it
also caused an unevenness in the height to which the ascend-
ing columns of aqueous vapor could rise. This is all impor-

tant, for since the canopy quite probably was invisible, it
makes little difference whether it was ruptured or not. The
fact to grasp is that the secondary cloud uplift was visible,
"Agnes M. Clerke, "History of Astronomy During the Nineteenth

Century," 3d ed., p. 120.
and this, owing to these physical conditions, must have been

divided into serpent-like belts.
It must not be inferred because of the use of the word
" "
rupture that the upper belt which we are considering was
of one piece. Such a structure is impossible. Our concep-
tionmakes every individual particle independent, but liberty
isnot license, and when these individuals transgressed the
law of their station they were to all intents and purposes
ruptured from it.
Even under existing conditions signs are not wanting that
point to the existence of belts in the heights of our atmos-
phere. Twenty miles above the earth's surface there is a
stupendous wind blowing which completes its circuit in about
thirteen days. The great explosion of Krakatoa, which took
place August 27, 1883, revealed to us its existence. Through

the medium of the dust from this eruption it was seen that
this mighty wind circled around the earth in the vicinity of
the Equator. Afterwards the dust dissipated as a canopy
drifting towards the poles. Those who saw the brilliant sun-
sets tinged by these particles will never forget them. Kraka-
toa certainly thundered forth its voice as a witness to this
12
hypothesis.
This is not the only instance in recent time when the dust
from volcanoes and from arid regions has revealed these
upper air-currents. The following are given as illustrations :
" This
phenomenon is frequent on the northwest of Africa,
about the Cape Verde Islands, in the Mediterranean, and
over the bordering countries. A
microscopic examination of
this dust by Ehrenberg led him to the belief that it contains
numerous diatoms of South American species; and he in-

ferred that a dust-cloud must be swimming in the atmos-
phere, carried forward by continuous currents of air in the
12
James D. Dana, " Manual of Geo.," 4th ed., pp. 163, 291. Archibald
Geikie, Geo., 3d ed., pp. 214, 338.
region of the trade-winds and anti-trades, but suffering par-

tialand periodical deviations. But much of the dust seems
to come from the sandy plains and desiccated pools of the
north of Africa. Daubree recognized in 1865 some of the
Sahara sand which fell in the Canary Islands. On the coast
of Italy a film of sandy clay identical with that from parts
of the Libyan desert is occasionally found on windows after
rain. In the middle of the last century an area of northern
Italy, estimated at about 200 square leagues, was covered
with a layer of dust which in some places reached a depth
of one inch. In 1846 the Sahara dust reached Lyons, and
said to have been since detected as far as Boulogne-sur-
it is
Mer. Should the travelling dust encounter a cooler tempera-

ture, it may be brought to the ground by snow, as has hap-
pened in the north of Italy, and more notably in the east and
southeast of Kussia, where the snows are sometimes rendered
dirty by the dust raised by winds on the Caspian steppes. It

is easy to see how widespread deposits of dust may arise,
mingled with the soil of the land and with the silt and sand
of lakes, rivers, or the sea and how the minuter organisms
;
of tropical regions may thus come to be preserved in the same

formations with the terrestrial or marine organisms of tem-
13
perate latitudes."
This kind of evidence be somewhat tiresome, but it
may
is very suggestive, for since dust can be suspended in the
atmosphere, as now constituted, and carried to such great

distances, a little reflection shows what a potent factor it
must have been in the by-gone ages. In those days this same
dust must have been sucked up, along with the water-vapor,
to very great heights, where it was held in suspension for
correspondingly long periods. A few more instances may be

pardoned :
"
M. Stanislas Meunier, the well-known authority upon
"Archibald Geikie, Geo., 3d ed., p. 337.

meteorological effects, gives an account of a phenomenon which

occurred at Paris and which was no doubt caused by the
eruption of Vesuvius. On
morning of the llth of April
the
a dry and yellowish fog extended over the city. It was strong
enough to interfere with the navigation on the Seine, and the

sun appeared under a peculiar aspect. Supposing that this
phenomenon might be caused by the eruption of Vesuvius,
M. Meunier placed upon the roof of his dwelling a series
of plates covered with glycerine, so as to retain the floating
dust. These plates when treated with water gave a rather
abundant deposit in which soot and organic matter were
visible to the naked eye. The fine portion of the deposit,
which was separated by the Thoulet heavy liquid, gave an
extremely fine sand, and a microscopic examination of this
confirmed M. Meunier's idea.
"
Comparison of this sand with the ash sent up by Vesu-
vius in 1822, of which he had a sample, showed a complete
identity with the latter. The main difference consists in

the presence of some perfectly spherical globules of oxidized
iron in the Paris dust. We
may therefore admit that the
fog seen in Paris was caused by the very fine dust sent up
from Vesuvius." 14
" Ashes
Tyndall says :have been shot through the lower
current by volcanoes, and, from the places where they have
subsequently fallen, the direction of the wind which carried

them has been inferred. Professor Dove, who has so enriched
the knowledge of the age by his researches in meteorology,
cites the following instance :
'
On the night of April 30
explosions like those of heavy artillery were heard at Barba-
does, so that the garrison at Fort St. Anne remained all night
under arms. On May 1, at daybreak, the eastern portion of
the horizon appeared clear, while the rest of the firmament
was covered by a black cloud, which soon extended to the
14
Scientific American, vol. xcv, No. 13.
east, quenched the light there, and produced a dark-

at length
ness so intense that the windows in the rooms could not be
discerned. A shower of ashes descended. Whence came
these ashes? From the direction of the wind, we should
infer that they came from the Azores; they came, however,
from the volcano Morne Garou in St. Vincent, which lies
about 100 miles west of Barbadoes. The ashes had been cast
into the currentby the upper trade. A
second example of
the same kind occurred on January 20, 1835. On the 24th
and 25th the sun was darkened in Jamaica by a shower of
fine ashes,which had been discharged from the mountain
Coseguina, distant 800 miles. The people learned in this
way that the explosions previously heard were not those of
artillery. These ashes could only have been carried by the
upper current, as Jamaica lies northeast from the mountain.
The same eruption gives also a beautiful proof that the
ascending air-current divides itself above, for ashes fell upon
the ship Conway, in the Pacific, at a distance of 700 miles
" 15 '
southwest of Coseguina.
Another class of phenomena which points to the existence
of belts in the upper confines of the atmosphere is the aurora
polaris.
most interesting fact that these displays have a
It is a
tendency though they were in some

to follow local time, as
way connected with an invisible belt whose rotation period

was in harmony with that of the earth's. Thus in the great
aurora of February 4, 1872, which was visible in both
hemispheres, it had its maximum at about the same local
time, between 8.30 and 9.30 P.M., and not at the same physi-
cal instant. 16
A common appearance of the aurora is that of parallel
arches or curtains of light, always running from east to west
"Heat a Mode of Motion," 6th ed., pp. 209-210.

16
Frank Wilbert Stokes, Century Magazine, Feb., 1903, vol. Ixv,
No. 4.
orfrom west to east a significant fact, for as electric phe-

nomena depend upon a material surface on which to accu-
mulate, and as the aurora is generally acknowledged to be
of electrical origin, it proves the existence of invisible belts
in our modern atmosphere.
"
It is said of these arcs that in certain regions, and
probably also at certain epochs, the polar aurora manifests

itselfsimply as a very regular arc of a circle, with well-
defined outlines and uniformly luminous in all its parts, so
that it presents an absoutely homogeneous texture. It is
under form that the aurora borealis most often presented
this
itself to Professor Nordenskjold in 187&-79, during the
celebrated wintering of the Vega on the northern coast of
Siberia, almost at the entrance to Behring Strait. In this

station the summit of the arc rarely exceded
a height of
thirty degrees above the horizon, so that its centre remained

well below the horizon.
" These arcs are
generally completely motionless and
remarkably permanent: they often retain their position for
hours and even for several days." 17
Now, unquestionably these belts or rivers flow above the
cloud-zone. Thus the aurora furnishes still another valuable
idea. It gives certain data regarding the height of these
gaseous belts. Floegel deduces the following conclusions:

" The altitude of the base of the
rays is very variable ; it is
usually comprised between 150 and 250 kilometres (93 to
155 miles), but its extreme limits attain perhaps 100 and
300 kilometres (62 and 186 miles). As to the summits of
the rays, they often reach a greater height than 500 kilo-
metres (310 miles) ;
it is even probable that they pass 750
kilometres (565 miles) ;
but they appear never to reach
18
1,500 kilometres (930 miles)."
"Alfred Angot, "The Aurora Borealis," The International Scien-

tific Series, pp. 20-21.
19
IUd, p. 59.
It is said also that these displays may be in part con-

nected with the presence of ferruginous dust derived from the
disintegration of meteoric masses or from volcanic eruptions.
As canopies are subject to the laws of centrifugal force,
which becomes of zero value at the poles, it follows that
there always has been an open place in the sky in those zones.
In this connection any invisible series of belts existing to-day
would also be outlawed from the far north. This feature is
indicated by the aurora and is thus described in the Century
article from which we have already drawn:
"
Contrary to received opinion, the auroras do not in-
crease as we advance poleward; for in the regions where
polar expeditions have mostly wintered, Melville Island,

Baffin Bay, and Smith Sound, the aurora is generally less
brilliant and also less frequent than in Iceland, Labrador,
and South Greenland. Its maximum of frequency is at
!N"orth Cape, Nova Zembla, and at Cape Chelyuskin, Siberia
cutting the meridian of Behring Strait at latitude 70,
entering America a little to the west of Barrow Strait, cross-
ing Hudson Bay and Labrador, passing to the south of
Greenland and Iceland, and forming an oval zone which has
for its centre a point situated between the geographical and
magnetic poles. The latter is situated in Boothia Felix
Land, in. latitude 73 north and 98 west longitude from

19
Paris."
An objection may arise in the minds of some to the effect
that if the arc of the aurora reveals belts in the upper atmos-
pheric gases, then since these arcs are often elliptical rather
than circular, the belts assume a form not reconcilable with
the expected conditions. This may be true, but whether the
conditions are such as we
picture in our minds or not, the
fact remains, Saturn's ring system is elliptical. 20
"Vol. IXT, No. 4, Feb., 1903, p. 495.

80
Agnes M. Clerke, "History of Astronomy in the Nineteenth
Century," 3d ed., pt. ii, chap, viii, p. 364.
CHAPTER III
PLANETESIMAL RINGS
IT isa vast step from Jupiter-like belts to rings such as

circle Saturn, and yet there are features that are common to
both. Rings composed of planetesimal bodies riding at
immense heights may have caused a secondary cloud system

in the atmosphere, or, again, in falling, these rings may
have themselves formed canopies. Be this as it may, Saturn
has Jupiter-like belts. Since these marvels exist, it will be
well to glance at certain of the conditions which they intro-
duce, and the laws which they are forced to obey, with the
object of showing that it is quite possible that our earth
once had such a system.
To begin with, as the force exerted by gravity on our
earth is not much greater than on Saturn, conditions similar
to those now prevailing on that body may have existed on
our globe. Thus a
falling body on our sphere passes through
a space of sixteen feet during the first second of its journey.
On Saturn in the polar regions it would cover seventeen and
five-tenths of a foot, but at the equator, owing to the increased
velocity of rotation, the force lessened one-sixth, therefore

is
the falling body would travel only fourteen and eight-tenths

feet in the first second.
Mathematical calculations (Kepler's Third Law) require
the rings in the case of our earth to have been about 2,200
miles from the surface in order to maintain their stability.
It is knownthat our sister planet has belts as well as
rings. This a very important point. An annular system

is
such as Saturn's, taken by itself, would not have influenced

the climate of our planet in such a way as to mark the con-
trasts required by the geological ages. For this reason it
30
PLANETESIMAL RINGS 31
isobvious that a secondary cloud system is necessary. Again,

though it is true that the upper system itself, if it continued
as a feature in the sky until man appeared on the earth,
would have impressed itself upon his imagination and re-
ligious instinct so vividly that it would have contributed

largely to his primitive nature myths, yet the secondary
canopy system is needed to round out this record.
Taking the primary system into consideration, if we could

travel over the surface of the planet Saturn to-day, we would
find that from the pole as far as the 63d degree of latitude
the great annular system would be invisible. Advancing
toward the equator, the arches would begin to rise above the
distant horizon more and more. It would be only during
the two seasons, spring and summer, that the face of the
rings would turn toward the hemisphere where we would be
standing. Their appearance at night would be that of a
bright bow reflecting the light from the sun, but in day-time
probably only a feeble light, analogous to that of our moon
when seen in broad daylight, would be visible.
In mean latitudes, of say 45, the several series of nearly
concentric rings would be viewed sideways. would see We
three principal rings and several minor subdivisions, sepa-
rated by certain well-defined spaces. Under the equator,
glancing up at the zenith, we would be looking only at the
thin interior edge. It would be ribbon-like in appearance,
for, according to the evidence derived from the breadth of the

shadow cast on the planet, the rings are only sixty miles thick.
As to the height of these wonderful appendages of our
" "
sister planet, the inner or ring, also known as the
crape
" "
gauze ring, begins at a distance of some 6,400 miles from
the surface of the planet and extends upward to about 8,400
miles. This first
ring merges by imperceptible gradations
into another circlet which is some 18,000 miles wide. Then
comes an interval of about 1,450 miles, known as " Cassini's
" after which
division ;
follows the outer ring, some 10,000
miles wide, whose exterior edge is approximately 43,000

miles distant from the surface of the planet.
The substance of the crape ring is now generally admitted
to be a cloud of cosmical dust, similar to the cloud that causes
"
the phenomenon of the zodiacal light. The disk of Saturn
isseen through this ring in undiminished brightness, and in
May, 1905, Saturn's satellite lapetus passed bodily through

it. The circumstances and consequences of this passage
is composed of separate particles,
proved that the gauze ring
which are either smaller or less closely aggregated than those
which form the outer rings." 1
As the rings draw nearer to the planet, increased col-
lisions probably account for the finer character of the dust,
the dashing together of the particles reducing them to a con-
dition which when they finally fall into the upper strata of
the atmosphere would result in their immediate combustion,
the gases resulting spreading out and forming the canopy. 2
There is a close relationship between meteoric dust and
the aurora polaris.
"
According to this view, the light of
the aurora is caused by clouds of ferruginous meteoric dust,
which is ignited by friction with the atmosphere. Groneman
has shown that these might be arranged along the magnetic
curves by action of the earth's magnetic force during their
descent, and that their influence might produce the observed
magnetic disturbances. . . . The correspondences with
iron lines in its spectrum are sufficiently close to favor the
idea. Ferruginous particles have been found in the dust of
1
Illustrirte Zeitung, and Scientific American Supplements, Nos. 192,
1600.
2
It is well to emphasize the fact that the gaseous nature of the
canopy is derived from combustion, and that no part of it comes in
the aeriform fluid condition directly from the rings. The water-sky
of the ancients was of secondary origin, the water, or rather the vapor,
being derived from the surface of the earth itself. As no refraction
is visibleupon the limb of the planet seen through the gauze ring, it
follows that the ring itself is not gaseous.
the Polar regions, but whether they are derived from stellar
3
space or from volcanic eruption is uncertain."
The geographical distribution of the fall of meteorites
indicates that they have been whirling for some time in belts
before finally reaching the earth. This of course does not
apply to the shooting stars, which, coming from a stationary
radiant point in upper inter-planetary space, are usually
consumed in our atmosphere. With regard to the former
class, a prediction was made by Dr. Oliver C. Farrington in
the Popular Science Monthly in February, 1904, 4 in the
"
following words. He said It is usual to dismiss inquiries
:
regarding the meaning of such groupings with the remark

that they are mere coincidences. But it is the mission of
science to investigate coincidences, and however long the
task may be of determining the laws which bring about the
particular occurrences here referred to, there can be no doubt
that they are the result of law, and of law which will some
day be discerned by the human mind."

If a few meteorites can make a belt of sufficient density
to give rise to the auroral
phenomenon, naturally great things
should result from the consumption of a ring of such material.
"
Saturn's rings are falling. Since 165 7, when Huygens
described the interval between the ring and the planet as
rather exceeding the width of the ring, it is all but certain
that a growth inward has actually occurred. For the two
bright rings together, instead of being narrower than the
interval, are now more than one and a half times as broad.
Hence the expressions used by Huygens, no less than most
of the old drawings, are glaringly inconsistent with the
5
planet's present appearance."
8
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th ed., article on the aurora.
*Vol. Ixiv, No. 4, p. 354.
5
Agnes M. Clerke, "History of Astronomy During the Nineteenth
Century," 3d ed., pt. ii, chap, viii, p. 366.
3
Inf ailing material naturally drifts towards the poles where

centrifugal force is annulled, therefore since Saturn's rings
to-day are falling and are forming a canopy, and it is not
reasonable to suppose that another process of nature in the
past originated the blankets now seen on Jupiter, Venus,

and Mars, and that our earth was garnished by one of
these appendages derived in some other way.
In our last chapter a volcanic origin was suggested as a
possibility, but the fact remains. It is altogether improbable
that projectiles from terrestrial volcanoes ever received im-
pulses powerful enough to enable them not only to surmount

the earth's gravity, but also to penetrate its atmosphere. In
order to meet this difficulty we were forced to postulate gases
lighter than air, but the present assumption of an infalling
ring system accounts for the heavier-than-air gases, such as
carbon dioxide, riding on top. There is a certain class of
meteorites that are carbonaceous.
As to the origin of the material which formed the rings,
the meteoric hypothesis meets with little favor, for the dis-
tribution of meteorites through space is too sparse. The
planetesimal hypothesis assumes a cold spiral nebula, out of
which the solar system has evolved, but long ages ago, it is
believed, inter-planetary space was swept clean of the dusty
material. A question arises Could this supply in any way
have been replenished ?
It is generally supposed that the nebulae, from which the

stellar systems are derived, are rendered luminous by virtue
of the continually recurring contacts of their various par-
ticles.It is highly probable that in space there exists a far
larger number of invisible nebulae than visible, for the reason

that the number of contacts in a system of lighter texture
would be so few that their existence would not be made
known. Our sun is continually rushing into new fields, and
the suggestion is made
that in some past age, geologically
speaking, not so very long ago, he ran into one of these minor
dark nebulae. 6 This would have replenished the inter-

planetary dust, and the velocities and distribution of such
particles would have lent themselves to the formation of just

such annular systems, as that which has passed away from
our own earth, and those now visible in the final or canopy
stage on Venus and Jupiter, and which still survives on the
planet Saturn. These show us, not how the worlds were
made, but how the geologic ages were separated by the
planetesimal-ring clock.
It must be understood that whether the nebula into which
our finished solar system plunged was a gaseous spheroid
or one arising from an aggregation of meteors, matters not,
the important factor being that this newly acquired material
conformed to the general law of such systems, revolving in
concentric orbits about its common centre, which was no
doubt captivated by our sun. The several constituent parts
must have been attracted towards the different planets, around
which they must have first revolved as a nebulous satellite,
but, owing to their disrupted condition, they no doubt soon

trailed out into a characteristic ring formation.
The authors of Chamberlin's and Salisbury's
joint
"
Geology grant that the rings of Saturn may have been
satellite nuclei at the outset, and have been drawn within
the Roche limit by the growth of Saturn, and then disinte-

7
grated by tidal action and distributed into the ring form."
Other methods of "
acquiring satellites also exist. This
possibility, it now seems, has been actually realized. The
identification of Brooks's with LexelPs comet is due to the
acumen of Dr. Chandler. He found that the former body
had spent eight months in 1886 under Jupiter's immediate
control had, in fact, barely escaped being reduced to the
6
The suggestion that the sun ran into a nebulous region is somewhat
similar to that hypothesis, advanced to account for the Ice age, which
pictures certain regions in space as colder than others.
7
Vol. ii, p. 63.
position of his satellite and had issued from the proximity

with all the elements of itsmotion turned, so to speak, topsy-
8
turvy."
If annular systems have been acquired as suggested, it
follows that their period of rotation would not at the first
have been likely to conform to that of their adopted primary.
Tidal retardations would in time adjust these differences,
but in the beginning this added initial impulse derived from
their original system would have tended to float them high in
the heavens of their new relative.
Jupiter to this day furnishes us with evidence of this

"
nature. The time of rotation of the red spot is not the
same as that of the adjacent cloud-forms. In 1890 a large
spot was moving directly toward the red spot; but it was
diverted from its course, and passed at one side of the spot.
After it passed by it did not return to its original course,
but remained at the higher latitude into which it had been
shunted; it passed the red spot at the rate of twenty miles
an hour. Professor Keeler has likened the great red spot to
a sand-bank in a river, past which the flecks of foam go
9
scurrying."
In Jupiter's never been seen, so
case, the true globe has
the period of rotation is unknown, though the red spot may
represent some mighty physical disturbance near the sur-

face. But this does not seem likely, for even this wonderful
feature is itself changing rate of rotation. With
subject to a
one or two exceptions, the vapor-cloud currents are pretty
the gen-
constant, their normal speed conforming closely to
eral movement of the latitude in which they circle.
As regards the relative altitudes of the various markings,
observation tends to show that the more swiftly moving
objects are situated

at a greater height than those which jour-
3d
"History of Astronomy During the Nineteenth Century,"
8 ed.,
p. 445.
8 Herbert A. Howe, "A Study of the Sky," p. 255.
ney more slowly. According to the conditions outlined in

our last chapter, this is just what should be expected. In
Jupiter's case, an invisible gaseous canopy surrounds the
planet, the lower system of cloud-belts being lifted to heights
far above the natural storm zone by the inability of these
vaporous masses to radiate their heat through the greenhouse
roof. They are aided somewhat in their upward tendency
by two causes: first, as already mentioned, aqueous vapor,
being lighter than air, would always reach greater heights

than it does were it not due to condensation resulting from
the above-mentioned radiation; second, the great ocean of
gas, or rather planetesimals, resting above the clouds, exerts

a certain well defined gravitational pull.
The equatorial belts observed in Jupiter's canopy are
probably composed of ring material not yet reduced to the
gaseous form by the oxidizing agency of the atmosphere.
Returning to the problem of axial rotation, we have seen
that atmospheric retardation in the case of Jupiter's cloud-
belts has reduced the speed of the lower members of the
system. The
opposite characteristic, however, prevails in
the case of ring systems. Thus Keeler demonstrated by
means of the light waves received from opposite sides of
Saturn's rings, that they rotate, but the most marvelous part
of his spectroscopic work is the point established, that the
interior part of the rings rotate faster than the outside.
The following rotation periods are very suggestive : The
inner edge of the bright ring, 7 hours and 45 minutes. The
inner edge of the innermost or crape ring, 5 hours 39 min-
utes. The mean time of the rings as a whole, however, is
10 hours and 29 minutes, which is somewhat longer than
that of the planet itself. The atmospheric canopy of Saturn
does not rotate as fast as the planet itself, and, moreover,
different streams or belts have relative motion with respect
to their surroundings.
If satellites and annular systems have been acquired as

postulated, we should expect to find instances where
tidal
action has not yet brought about a perfect harmony. The

most prominent examples are found in the satellites of
Uranus and Neptune, which have a retrograde rotation from
east to west, a fact of which neither Kant nor Laplace had
been aware. Another striking instance is that of Phobos, one
of Mars' moons, which is the only known case of a satellite
circulating faster than its primary rotates.

" innermost moon conforms in its motions
Jupiter's
strictly, and indeed inevitably, to the plane of his equa-
torial protuberance, following, however, a sensibly elliptical
path. very insignificance raises the suspicion that it may
Its
not prove solitary. Possibly it belongs to a zone peopled by
asteroidal satellites. More than fifteen thousand such small
bodies could be furnished out of the materials of a single full-
10
sized satellite spoiled in the making."
10
"A Popular History of Astronomy During the Nineteenth Cen-
tury," 3d ed., chap, viii, pp. 357-358.
CHAPTER IV
PHYSICAL EFFCTS GEOLOGIC
THE new by this hypothesis throw
factors introduced
fresh light on many mooted questions. In this chapter it is
purposed to glance at some of these; namely, tidal action,
planetesimal deposits, and the division of the geologic periods
by the great annular time-clock.
Taking these up in the above order, first we have the
matter of the earth's rotation affected by these conditions, and
we find two very important factors diametrically opposed to
each other. The contraction of the loosely compacted planet-
esimal world matter, on the one hand, has increased our
planet's rate of rotation, thus shortening the day, while on
the other hand, the tidal brake is to be credited with the pre-
vention of an excessive gain of this speed.
A
doubt arises as to how long the moon has been respon-
sible for this tidal restraint. The fact is, most of the elabo-
rate calculations of the mathematicians are based on a terres-
trial birth and gradual withdrawal of our satellite. Yet this
birth and withdrawal itself may be questioned. .
Thus astron-
" It
omers tell us not unlikely that the satellites of
: is
Jupiter, Saturn, or Mars (we may safely add, of Uranus

or Neptune) 'never revolved in much narrower orbits than
those they now practically certain that they
traverse; it is
did not, like our moon, originate very near the present
surfaces of their primaries." 1
It is very strange if nature provided two different methods
for the birth of these children of the planets. Plainly the
1
Agnes M. Clerke, "A Popular History of Astronomy During the
Nineteenth Century," 3d ed., pt. ii, chap, ix, p. 387. Phil. Trans., vol.
clxxii, p. 530.
trouble with this whole proposition is that it is founded on

the old version of the nebula hypothesis.
Now, turning to the new interpretation, the moon-zones

or rings out of which all the satellites of the planets were
formed according to the planetesimal hypothesis had a gravi-
tational but not a tidal effect on their primaries. Take the
case of our earth. In opposition to terrestrial gravity the
contrary attraction of the annular system must have lifted
immense bodies of water in the equatorial regions. Again,
these rings attracted each other. As some of the inner rings
fell they acted as a partial release to the outer or moon-zone
ring, allowing it to drift off farther and farther into space;

hence the late birth of the moon tends to ratify the inference
that we had a regular annular system. The grinding down
of axial velocity and the expanding of orbital range were
greatly retarded by the annular system.

In fact, the above is the only tenable hypothesis advanced
to explain the birth of our satellite. The break-up of the
primeval planet into two mases as a consequence of a too
rapid rotation is open to the objection that the lesser mass
would have been entirely disrupted. After this catastrophe
these broken remnants necessarily had to reunite. Why
introduce into the proposition two elements of uncertainty
when one is more than sufficient ?
We remarked that the above is the only tenable hypothe-

sis advanced to explain the origin of our moon, but it may
be well to qualify this remark with the suggestion that per-
haps when our sun picked up the unknown system in stellar
space, our moon was already a developed member of that
community. According to this view, other satellites may
have been added to our mundane system, which, however,
became disrupted, thus forming the rings postulated.
But to return to the proposition that our moon was not
born from, or rather torn from, our semi-molten earth,
which, to begin with, assumes a condition of earthly things
PHYSICAL EFFECTS GEOLOGIC 41
which we cannot admit ever existed, the best authorities
concurring in this opinion.

"
Mr. James Nolan of Victoria has made it clear that the
moon could not have subsisted as a continuous mass under
the powerful disruptive strain which would have acted upon
itwhen revolving almost in contact with the present surface
of the earth ;
and Professor Darwin, admitting the objection,
concedes to our satellite, in its initial stage, the alternative
form of a flock of meteorites. But such a congregation
must have been quickly dispersed, by tidal action, into a
meteoric ring. The same investigator fixed 6500 miles from
centre to centre as the minimum distance at which the moon
2
could have revolved in its entirety."
If the moon had its origin from the terrestrial spheroid,
then the period of critical instability that brought about its

birth occurred long aeons before the geologic time-clock began
to lay down its divisions of rock. Keeping this in mind, if
the moon is to be credited with being the chief agency in
developing oceanic tides, then it follows from these two
propositions that the earliest geologic ages should have seen
the highest tides. Now, the geological record shows that very
high tides occurred in the Triassic period of Mesozoic time;

if the moon were
so close as to raise these tides during the
Reptilian age, then the whole harmony of a gradual with-

drawal outward on its long spiral journey is upset. The
firstpart of the trip would have been unreasonably slow and
the last portion at an unthinkable speed; therefore we are
forced to the conclusion that the moon was born at too late
a date to allow of the thought that it was separated intact
from its primary.
At first sight it would appear that there is no connection
between gravitational action on the part of the belt system
and geologic divisions of rock and of time, but there is.
*llid, pt. ii, chap, viii, p. 386.

j
Take, for example, the fact that this pull exerted by the
rings was uniform around the circumference of the earth.
It follows that there was no tidal action due to this cause,
but there must have been a great uplift of the waters of the
ocean under these appendages.
Astronomers and physicists claim that the earth is a
stable body more rigid than steel, and they are extremely
skeptical of the claims of the geologists that involve vast

terrestrial uplifts, for they argue, if the earth were less rigid,
the enormous united tidal influences of the sun and moon
would cause waves of flexure to travel around the globe as
ocean tides do, and these agencies would be powerful enough
to have a disrupting influence.
Now, the idea which we advance relative to the uplift of
the waters of the ocean under the annular appendages does
much It is not necessary to suppose
to reconcile these views.
that the earth is as plastic as is
generally claimed by the
geologists, nor on the other do we have to admit the stability
of the rigid condition required by the astronomers and physi-
cists. The evidence shows that as we descend from the earth's
surface we enter a zone where owing to the augmented heat
rocks would be in a state of flowage were it not for the in-
creased gravitational pressure. Below this region the pres-
sure controls the situation. Now, the critical region is rigid
so long as it remains under control, but the
shifting of the
oceanic weights has from time to time upset these stable con-
ditions and introduced the plastic.
Since the annular system was subject to certain periodic
and perhaps to erratic oscillations, it follows that the
also
heaped up waters must from time to time have been forced

to shift. This calls to mind the old ' waves of translation.'
In the early days of geological theory one hypothesis advanced
the idea that in some manner a series of gigantic waves were
propagated in the far north. These mysterious movements

were styled e waves of translation. James Geikie says, " It
'
was unfortunate for this view that it violated at the very

outset the first principles of the science, by assuming the
former existence of a cause which there was little in nature
to warrant." 3
Perhaps the old hypothesis is not so bad after all, though

the direction of the inundation should be reversed.
Shoal water did exist at the poles, as is witnessed by the
land bridges, by means of which the flora and fauna migrated
from one continental plain to the other, and also by the
buried river channels, firths, and fiords. It is generally
admitted by all but the astronomers and physicists that the

weight of the great continental ice sheets caused the settling
of the land masses, and that the vast accumulation of this
same ice also lent a gravitational pull that tended to draw
the oceanic waters towards the north but in addition to these
;
reasons there certainly is no objection to admitting a third

cause which logically accompanies them. To wit, when the
canopy passed away the uplifted waters in the equatorial

regions sought their level. The canopy, as we shall see in a
future chapter, was the direct cause of the ice ages.
Le Conte is authority for the statement that " at the
same time, partly by subsidence, and therefore slacked water-
currents, and partly by moderated climate and melting of
glaciers, there was a flooded condition of rivers and lakes in
Middle Europe, France, Germany, and Switzerland. At
the same time, also, the northern portion of Asia and the
lake-region of that continent were submerged. The Caspian

Sea, Lake Aral, and other lakes in that region were probably
then united into one great inland sea, connecting either with
the Black Sea or the then greatly-extended Arctic Ocean, or
with both." 4
"
The Great Ice Age," 3d ed., chap, iii, p. 26.
4
Elements of Geo., 5th ed., p. 596. Nature, vol. xiii, p. 74. Natural
History Magazine, vol. xvii, p. 176. Archives des Science, vol. liv,
p. 427.
Going back in geological time to yet earlier ages, G.

"
Frederick Wright says Coming down from the neighbor-
:
hood of the White Mountains, the Adirondacks, and the

Archaean highlands of Canada, sediment-laden streams have,
from the earliest geological ages, been engaged in wearing
away the hills, scooping out the valleys, and silting up the
sea. The Alleghany Mountains were at one time the bed of
the ocean upon which this sediment was deposited. The
sandstones, shales, and conglomerates of the coal-measures
attest the activity of the forces of that early period. The
tops of the mountains in southern ~New York and northern
and eastern Pennsylvania are covered with subcarboniferous
conglomerates of almost incredible depth and extent, con-
sisting largely of well-rounded quartz pebbles, of all sizes
up two or three inches in diameter. These are water-
to
worn, and must have been rolled along by impetuous currents

from far-distant regions." 5
The size of these deposits is indeed incredible, and the
tremendous currents required for their assortment are indeed
a puzzle. The key to the situation is found in the warmth
of the carbonic climate, and this key when turned in the
lock reveals a greenhouse-roof-canopy that not only piled
the waters in a heap but also furnished the materials for
up
the coal plants and the limestones of that era.
In connection with the possible aerial origin of some of
the above deposits,H. L. Fairchild makes the following sug-
gestions, which show that geologists are ready to admit the
"
extra-terrestrial origin of certain deposits. With the pass-
"
ing of the old hypothesis," he says, it will be desirable to
change the terminology of the rocks as far as this now implies

c '
an original molten or igneous state of the earth. Some
new name will be desirable for the sedimentswhich were
formed chiefly or wholly from planetesimals (the cosmic
""The Ice Age in North America," 4th ed., chap, xii, pp. 268-269.
matter) in the early seas of the growing globe. Let us call

such deposits cosmo elastics, and the primitive massive rocks,
the cosmics. The downward succession of the rocks would thus
be from unaltered elastics through altered elastics (meta-
morphics) to metamorphosed cosmoclastics ; while beneath
these, perhaps ever invisible, lie the altered cosmics, the
6
primitive deposits."
Naturally any ring stuff which may have been added to
the earth as late as the Carboniferous cannot be expected to
show forth its origin as clearly as the formations of the
archseozoic, for the reason that decomposition of the loose
clastic materialwas greatly enhanced by the luxuriant vege-
tal growth in the former era.
Fairchild distinctly points out that the detritus which

formed the sandstones, shales, and conglomerates was not all
due to the wearing away of earlier formations. He remarks :
" The
nebular hypothesis requires that the globe should have
been fully formed before the surface or epigene agencies
began their work, and that the vast deposits of fragmen-
all
tal origin, the clastic rocks, have been wholly derived from
the primitive land areas by rock destruction. The new

hypothesis allows a different view. According to this, the
ocean began its work long before the earth and moon had
attained full size by gathering to themselves all the particles
of the earth-moon ring or zone. Consequently, there were
oceanic sediments which were not wholly detrital, but were
primitive world-stuff. The earlier ocean sediments must

have been deeply buried under the later, and may now con-
7
stitute part of the interior mass of the globe."
Even archaeology testifies to strange, loosely shifting
material which may be in part the wind blown remnants of
cosmical world chaff. Thus in connection with BePs sanc-
8
American Geologist, vol. xxxiii, No. 2, p. 101.
f
lUd, p. 100.
Herman V. "
tuary at Nippur, Hilprecht says In descend- :
ing into the pre-Sargonic period below Naram-Sin's pave-

ment, which itself lies six to eight feet above the present
level of the desert, Haynes penetrated through more than
thirty feet of ruins before he reached the virgin soil, or
thirty-five feet before he was at the water level. What do
these ruins contain? To what period of human history do
they lead us ? How was this great accumulation beneath the
level of the desert possible ? What geological changes have
taken place since to explain this remarkable phenomenon?
Such and other similar questions may have come to many
thoughtful students when they first read these extraordinary
8
facts."
Ignatius Donnelly imagined the earth covered with the

fragments from the wreck of a comet. Natural phenomena,
however, connected with the every-day physical forces, ex-
plain the origin of all of these deposits, but though they may
be explained, it does not follow that some of them, in part
at least, may not owe their origin to the ring-belt system. In
other words, it's time to break away from the time-honored
but antiquated principle of Charles Lyell, that geological
evidence excludes the thought of catastrophic changes. Thus
the late Joseph Prestwich contended for a comparatively
recent submergence of western Europe and the Mediter-
9
ranean coasts. The distribution of rubble-drift was one of
his strong lines of argument. Rubble-drift hardly answers
the requirements, but Prestwich also mentions the wide-
spread formations of the loess. In almost all parts of the
""Explorations in Bible Lands During the Nineteenth Century," p.

891.
8
Articles on this subject may be found in the following publications :
"On the Raised Beaches and 'Head' or Rubble-drift of the South of

England, etc.." Quart. Journ. Geol. Society, vol. xlviii, p. 263;
"
On the Evidences of a Submergence of Western Europe and of the
Mediterranean Coasts at the close of the Glacial Period," etc., Phil.
Trans., for 1893.
world this peculiar deposit is found. Several theories have

been proposed to account for it, but none are satisfactory.
It appears to be associated with the ground-up materials
from the glaciers and to have been rearranged by fluviatile
and eolian processes. The fossil content belongs to the land.
Bust from the belts may readily enter in part into its com-
position. far the largest percentage of meteoric material
By
which reaches this earth is in dust form. However, we are
not forced to accept the statement that all the material pre-
cipitated from the belts was consumed to powder before

reaching terra firma, for if larger bodies did fall it follows
that they would have been quickly reduced in the mill of the
glaciers and the extreme weather conditions to which they

were exposed. Prestwich also remarks the red breccia which
covers the hills of southern Europe.
The conclusion arrived at is that no distinctive deposit
can be found that owes its origin wholly to the belts, for the
reason that from the beginning such material was loose and
scattered, and therefore subjected to the most rigorous of the
disintegrating processes.
Though it is impossible at this time to identify any of
the superficial debris as planetesimal dust, yet some of the
old views regarding these depositions are in this connection
of rare interest. For instance, Sir. J. W. Dawson says of
them:
" The mammoth would seem
deposits of the age, and it
of the reindeer age as well, are covered with beds of yellow

earth, brick earth, and earth with angular stones, which ante-
date the later stone age and bronze age. These deposits con-
stitute the ordinary of the country, and at all levels, and
soil
they are evidently of the same nature with the superficial

gravels, soils, and loess to be found resting on the pleistocene
deposits everywhere in the northern hemisphere, and which
have poured into the old caverns of the Palseocosmic age.
They are not to be confounded with the ordinary glacial
deposits which in northern districts underlie them. They

are not river deposits, because no possible extension of the
river beds could overflow the places where
they lie, or bring
the stones from very distant localities which the gravels often
contain. They prove as Howorth, the Duke of Argyll, and
the writer have argued, that at the close of the Palseocosmic
age a deluge of water swept over our continents and caused

the physical break between the earlier and later human ages.
This great cataclysm was preceded, in Europe at least, by
a gradual refrigeration and a progressive extinction of the
larger animals, and was followed by a diminished size of
the continents, and by the advent over the depopulated sur-

face of a more limited fauna and a new race of men. That
itmust have been this great cataclysm which has fixed itself
in the traditions of all races of men as the historical deluge,
we can scarcely doubt." 10
Before the facts of the stupendous work done in the ice
ages were generally understood, certain phenomena which

have since been attributed to this agency were given other
"
interpretations. Thus the loess was called inundation
mud," and perhaps the idea was not so very wrong after all.
It was known to have covered much of Europe and of Asia,
and inasmuch as G. Frederick Wright has found evidence
of a very extensive recent submergence in this latter con-
11
tinent, the old idea gains new credence. The Duke of
Argyll says:
"
On the continent of Europe, too, we know that a large
part of its central area is occupied by a formation (the
' '
loess ') which Lyell inundation mud,' and which he
calls
designates as the last and latest of all the great formations

known to geology. The difficulty of accounting for it is
proved by the number of theories which have been pro-
10 "
Modern Science in Bible Lands," chap, in, pp. 137-138.
n American
Geologist, vol. v, No. 3, p. 182. McClure's, June, 1901.
pounded. The shells in this formation are not fluviatile, nor

are they lacustrine. On the other hand, they are not marine.
They are terrestrial. They are land shells the shells of

damp woods or morasses in short, of a land surface which
'
has been covered with this inundation mud.' One possible
explanation is obvious. The sea establishes its own forms
of life where itself is established for any length of time.

But invasion of any land area be not lasting, but
if its
temporary, it may fail to carry its mere dead shells over

that area, whilst its living fauna would not have had time to
12
grow."
Having outlined the powerful influence that the gravita-
tional pull of the annular system exerted, it is next pur-
posed, as set forth in the opening statement of this chapter,

to show how these inundations and the climatic changes
brought about by the canopy itself may be likened to a
great annular time-clock, dividing the geological periods
from each other.
Every one knows that a geological clock would be a very
convenient thing, an instrument that would assure the inves-
tigator that the same time divisions were synchronous in
all localities. It is manifest to a greater or less extent that
such an instrument has existed throughout the geological
ages. The present hypothesis reveals the clock, its work-
ings, and the method by which we may ascertain the striking

of the hours.
It is a significant fact that even the subordinate groups
of a formation are almost as definitely marked off in the
same order, the world over, as the major terranes themselves.
This true not only of the stratagraphic arrangement, but
is
also of the fossil content. Why, it might be asked, could

not a migration have occurred backwards from one conti-
nent to the other, the Silurian fauna being imposed upon the
"Article by Argyll in the Contemporary Review.

i
Devonian, for instance? Clearly there was some hindering

and controlling cause that made the conditions nearly uni-
form throughout the world, and there can be no doubt that
even the minor subdivisions were practically synchronous or
contemporaneous. The
singular uniformity of the litho-
logical record, moreover, indicates that this controlling cause
was more than physical; it was material.
It is postulated that a separate fall marked the end of
each geological age, and to a lesser extent subsidiary falls
punctuated each era, period, and epoch. These falls were
not, generally speaking, catastrophic, but were gradual. Take
that which marked the Ice age. Large quantities of snow
and ice, no doubt, fell from the upper cloud belt itself. Not
only must this fall have been long drawn out, but the result-
ing glaciers also protracted the time by locking in their icy

chain such hordes that the heat of centuries was not sufficient
to melt them.
In chapter threewas stated that it was possible that the
it
earth's annular system was picked up from new sweepings

derived from the cosmical dust of a minor or dark nebula
into whose territory our solar system had plunged. It
is established, however, from the evidence of the time
clock, that our system has survived from the dawn of geo-
logical phenomena. Following inevitable law, ring after

ring has broken away from the equatorial system, has spread
out and formed canopies, only to be eventually claimed by
the earth. It follows from this order that between the fall
of each separate ring there was probably a time of clear
skies, except for the ribbon-like edge of the disks which
spanned the zenith at the equator.

Thefact of these clear skies is very important to the
present hypothesis because the existence of exogenous trees,

growing by annular rings added to the outside, as early as
Devonian time, proves the action of alternating seasons of
summer and winter, and hence a solar climate. Again,
since purposed to show that the last remnant of the ring

it is
system did not pass away until after civilized man appeared
on the earth, it is necessary that he could have seen the clear
sky, for otherwise the early records which he has left us
would be violated, as they contain accurate descriptions of
solar and stellar phenomena.
In the American Geologist of February, 1904, 13 attention
is called to a twisted form of stem exhibited by certain
shallow-water monticuliporoids of the lower Silurian, which

Sardeson interprets as possibly due to heliotropism, and
hence an indication of direct sunlight. The article
goes
on to "
state that of early solar climate
if these indications
can be explained conformably with Mr. Manson's theory, or

a modification of it, certainly a most serious obstacle will be
overcome." in our preface Manson's theory was men-
Now,
tioned as a scientific presentation of an atmospheric cloud-
canopy. Here where lacking, the hypothesis under con-
it is
sideration is strong. Open skies did exist for a large part of

the time.
Vol. xxxiii, No. 2, p. 120; vol. xxvii, p. 388.

CHAPTER V
PHYSICAL EFFECTS BIOLOGIC
" THE very limited number of generic forms that pass
from one major formation to another is remarkable. Bar-
rande enumerates but seven of the twenty-seven Cambrian
genera which pass over into the Silurian, and twelve of the
fifty-five Silurian genera which reappear in the Devonian.
The Carboniferous genera are but three or four in number
(Phillipsia, Griifithides, Brachymetopus, Proetus). Of the
fifty-five Silurian genera, with three exceptions, all the forms
are already represented in the lower division. The number
of genera that extend through two or more formations is
reduced to two or three (Phillipsia, Proetus)." x
" Since
Rutherford has aptly said : the different forms
of life found in the successive geological strata indicate the
stages of evolution, it is evident that the biological and geo-

logical clock is the same, and that whatever time is required
for the changes in the one science must be conceded by the
2
other."
As a canopy fell a geological age ended, and with it its
life conditions. In course of time a second and originally
a higher ring descended, forming another canopy, with its
resultant new world environment and with its new life con-
ditions admitting of a higher order. These in turn gave way
to similar fallsand to successive marches of still other rings
and canopies across the ephemeral sky. Thus the record is
written, and the facts are for our investigation. In the
succeeding chapters it is purposed to show that the new
1 "
The Geographical and Geological Distribution
Angelo Heilprin,
of Animals," International Scientific Series, pt. iii, chap, i, p. 277.
8
Harper's Monthly, Feb., 1905, p. 390.
52
PHYSICAL EFFECTS BIOLOGIC 53
are
physical conditions introduced by annular phenomena
responsible for these deaths, and that they also are potent
factors in causing the surviving species to mutate. Finally
the geographical distribution of the flora and fauna will be
shown to have taken place in accord with the new hypothesis.
The fact of the imperfection of the geological and bio-
logical record demonstrates the catastrophic
nature of the
end of the age changes. Had these occurred by gradual
stages, the missing links would be wanting,
that is, if life
had developed along the lines of the Darwinian School. But
there are missing links, as every one knows, and each one
of these links means a catastrophe of some nature. Each
succeeding geological age had its own development, which,
though it was a continuation in part of the preceding age,
nevertheless had distinctive peculiarities, due to climate,
absorption of light and heat rays, weight of the atmosphere,
etc. Probably also the waters were at times impregnated and
the air vitiated.
To begin with, as Darwin himself showed, the intervals
that elapsed between consecutive formations were usually
much longer than the formations themselves. Angelo Heil-
"
prin says : It must be admitted that there are certain
anomalies connected with the occurrence of breaks which
have not thus far received an adequate explanation. Their
broad distribution it might, indeed, almost be said univer-
sality in equivalent periods of time, has long been noted as

a surprising fact, and one that still remains in the nature
of a puzzle to the geologist. Nowhere on the surface of the
earth has there as yet been found a distinct connection
between the Paleozoic and Mesozoicseries of deposits, and
only at a very few points (India, New Zealand, California)

what may be considered to be an unequivocal link between the
Mesozoic and Cainozoic series (Cretaceous and Tertiary)." 3
"The Geographical and Geological Distribution of Animals," p. 193.

This is as it should be, for only during a period of change

were the forces of nature fully awakened, and the general
character of these changes was the natural result of a shift
or alteration in a system that environed the world. Sec-
ondary results followed immediately, and these in turn fre-
quently followed others. Thus the violent shifting of the

oceanic waters as pictured in our last chapter must have
induced sympathetic volcanic action. Illustrations of all
kinds are plentiful. The Arctic mammoth luxuriating in
polar pastures were overwhelmed suddenly and placed in
cold storage with undigested food in the stomach.
Elephant Point, Alaska, is famous as the locality where

Kotzebue found remains of the fossil elephant, ox, and other
mammals. Its bluffs are said to be composed of tough blue
clay, light loose soil, bones, and solid ice. These cliffs are some-
times fifty feet thick, and extend for two miles east and west.
" The
smell of these ice cliffs," says Dr. Tarleton H. Bean,
" "
resembles that of a stable or something worse." The
old Russians living in Siberia were of opinion that the
mammoth was an animal of the same kind as the elephant,
and that Siberia had been warmer before the Flood than
now, and elephants had then lived in numbers there; that
they had been drowned in the .Flood, and afterwards, when
the climate became colder, had frozen in the river mud." 4
The question as to the origin of this graveyard is easily
explained by the present hypothesis.
Looking back at some of the early ages, the same record
of sudden death confronts us. Even Lvell./ who always
tj */
emphasized gradual development along ultra conservative

lines, cannot help recognizing this feature. He says :
" It has been

remarked, and truly, that many fish and
saurians, found fossil in the Lias, must have met with sud-
den death and immediate burial: and that the destructive
4
Nordenskjold, "Voyage of the Vega," p. 305.
operation, whatever may have been its nature, was often

repeated.
" ( '
Sometimes/ says Dr. Buckland, scarcely a single
bone or scale has been removed from the place it occupied
during life which could not have happened had the uncov-
;
ered bodies of these saurians been left, even for a few hours,
exposed to putrefaction, and to the attacks of fishes and
other smaller animals at the bottom of the sea.' Not only are
the skeletons of the Ichthyosaurs entire, but sometimes the
contents of their stomachs still remain between their ribs,
as before remarked, so that we can discover the particular
species of fish on which they lived, and the form of their

excrements. Not unfrequently there are layers of these
coprolites, at different depths in the Lias, at a distance from

any entire skeletons of the marine lizards from which they
'
were derived ' as if/ says Sir H. de la Beche, the muddy
;
bottom of the sea received small sudden accessions of matter

from time to time, covering up the coprolites and other
exuviaa which had accumulated during the intervals.' It is
further stated that, at Lyme Regis, those surfaces only of
the coprolites which lay uppermost at the bottom of the sea
have suffered partial decay, from the action of water before
they were covered and protected by the muddy sediment that
has afterwards permanently enveloped them.
"
Numerous specimens of the Calamary, or pen-and-ink
fish (Geoteuthis bollensis), have also been met with in the
Lias at Lyme, with the ink-bags still distended, containing

the ink in a dried state, chiefly composed of carbon, and but
slightly impregnated with carbonate of lime. These cephalo-

poda, therefore, must, like the saurians, have been soon
buried in sediment; for, if long exposed after death, the
membrane containing the ink would have decayed." 5
5
Elements of Geo., pp. 362, 363. Bridgewater Treatise, p. 115.
Geological Researches, p. 334. Buckland, Bridgewater Treatise, p. 307.
"
Hugh Miller says : The river bull-head, when attacked
by an enemy, or immediately as it feels the hook in its jaws,

erects its two spines at nearly right angles with the plates of
the head, as if to render itself as difficult of being swallowed
as possible. The attitude is one of danger and alarm; and
it is a curious fact * * * that in this attitude nine-
tenths of the Pterichthys of the Lower Old Red Sandstone
are found. We
read in the stone a singularly preserved story
of the strong instinctive love of life, and of the mingled fear
'
and anger implanted for its preservation The champions
7
in distorted postures threat. It presents us, too, with a
wonderful record of violent death falling at once, not on a
few individuals, but on whole tribes." 6
Again, the above author describes a scene of death which

suggests at once the agency of pollution from the fall of
cosmical canopy dust. He says:
"
At this period of our history, some terrible catastrophe
involved in sudden destruction the fish of an area at least a
hundred miles from boundary to boundary, perhaps much
more. The same platform in Orkney as at Cromarty is
strewed thick with remains, which exhibit unequivocally the
marks of violent death. The figures are contorted, con-
tracted, curved; the tail in many instances is bent round to
the head the spines stick out ; the fins are spread to the full,
;
as in fish that die in convulsions. The PterlchtJiys shows

its arms extended at their stiffest angle, as if prepared for
an enemy. The attitude of the ichthyolites on this platform
are attitudes of fear, anger, and pain. The remains, too,
appear to have suffered nothing from the after-attacks of
predaceous fishes; none such seem to have survived. The

record is one of destruction at once widely spread and total,
so far as it extended. There are proofs that, whatever may
have been the cause of the catastrophe, it must have taken
"
Old Red Sandstone," chap, ii, p. 48.
place in a sea unusually still. The scales, when scattered by

some slight undulation, are scattered to the distance of only
a few inches, and still exhibit their enamel entire, and their
peculiar fineness of edge. The spines, even when separated,
retain their original needle-like sharpness of point. Rays
well nigh as slender as horse-hairs are enclosed unbroken in
the mass. Whole ichthyolites occur, in which not only all
the parts survive, but even the expression which the stiff and
threatening attitude conveyed when the last struggle was

over. Destruction must have come in the calm, and it must
have been of a kind by which the calm was nothing dis-
turbed. In what could it have originated ?
By what quiet
but potent agency of destruction were the innumerable exist-
ences of an area perhaps ten thousand square miles in extent
annihilated at once, and yet the medium in which they had
lived left undisturbed by its
operations ? Conjecture lacks
footing in grappling with the enigma, and expatiates in
uncertainty over all the known phenomena of death. Dis-
eases of mysterious origin break out at times in the animal
kingdom, and well nigh exterminate the tribes on which they

fall. The present generation has seen a hundred millions
of the human family swept away by a disease unknown to
our fathers. Virgil describes the fatal murrain that once
depopulated the Alps, not more as a poet than as a historian.
The shell-fish of the rivers of North America died in such
vast abundance during a year of the present century, that
the animals, washed out of their shells, lay rotting in masses
beside the banks, infecting the very air. About the close of
the last century, the haddock well nigh disappeared, for
several seasons together, from the eastern coasts of Scotland ;
and it is related by Creech that a Scotch shipmaster of the
period sailed for several leagues on the coast of Norway,

about the time the scarcity began, through a floating shoal
of dead haddocks. But
the ravages of no such disease, how-
ever excessive, could well account for some of the phenomena
of this platform of death. It is rarely that disease falls
equally on many different tribes at once, and never does it

fallwith instantaneous suddenness; whereas in the ruin of
this platform from ten to twelve distinct genera seem to have
been equally involved; and so suddenly did it perform its
work that its victims were fixed in their first attitude of terror
and surprise. I have observed, too, that groups of adjoining
nodules are charged frequently with fragments of the same
variety of ichthyolite; and the circumstance seems fraught
with evidence regarding both the original habits of the
creatures and the instantaneous suddenness of the destruc-
tion by which they were overtaken. They seem, like many
of our existing fish, to have been gregarious, and to have
perished together ere their crowds had time to break up and

disperse.
"
Fish have been found floating dead in shoals beside
submarine volcanoes killed either by the heated water or by
mephitic gases. There are, however, no marks of volcanic
activity in connection with the ichthyolite beds no marks,
at least, which belong to nearly the same age with the fossils.
The disturbing granite of the neighboring eminences was

not upheaved until after the times of the Oolite. But the
volcano, if such was the destroying agent, might have been
distant; nay, from some of the points in an area of such
immense extent, it must have been distant. The beds abound,
as has been said, in lime; and the thought has often struck
me that calcined lime, cast out as ashes from some distant
crater, and carried by the winds, might have been the cause
of the widely spread destruction to which their organisms
testify. I have seen the fish of a small trouting stream, over

which a bridge was in the course of building, destroyed in
a single hour, for a full mile below the erection, by the
few troughfuls of lime that fell into the water when the
7
centring was removed."
, pp. 221-225.
was stated above that during the periods of canopy

It
change sympathetic earth movements occurred. James D.

Dana illustrates this point in the following language:
" Prominent
among the events influencing the rock-structure
and continent is that of mountain-making.
life of a The
Appalachian Mountains stand as a grand time-boundary
between the Paleozoic seon and the Mesozoic; and contem-
poraneous orographic movements make a like limit in Euro-
pean geology. Moreover, it was attended by the most re-
markable of organic breaks. The Taconic Mountains mark
the close of the Lower Silurian, an epoch of abrupt change in
North America; and parallel disturbances occurred in
Britain and Europe. The Laramide or post-Cretaceous
mountain system along the Rocky Mountains is another such
boundary for America, separating Mesozoic and Cenozoic
time, though not as complete in the attendant organic break
as in the physical. But it so happens that no corresponding
event occurred at this time in Europe, the orographic move-
ments most nearly synchronous taking place after the com-
mencement of Cenozoic time. Nevertheless, the organic
break at the close of the Cretaceous period is even greater
for Europe than for America. Such a fact seems to show
that there was some other catastrophic event concerned; but
8
its nature yet to be studied out."
is
"
Again Dana says Paleozoic time is naturally divided
:
into two sections at the break between the Lower and Upper
Silurian. This boundary line is marked in the history by
an epoch of mountain-making in eastern North America and
western Europe, and by a somewhat abrupt transition in
9
animal life of the seas."
We need not stop to point to the drift and meaning of

all this testimony. In the last hundred years geology, like
biology, has tossed from the cataclysms of Cuvier and his
'Manual of Geo., 4th ed., pt. iv, p. 406.

9
Ibid, p. 460.
geological revelations to the slow principle of the Doctrine of

Uniformity as advocated by Sir Charles Lyell. The latter
is antiquated, and at the present time the best thought of
the age is swinging back under the
leadership of Suess to
recognize sudden transformations.
TheJoseph Le Conte is one of those who have recog-
late
nized the fact that " the present condition of geological evi-
dence is undoubtedly in favor of some degree of suddenness."
He adds further on in the same work from which the above
is cited "In the evolution of the organic kingdom, as in
:
the evolution of the earth, in the evolution of

society, in the
evolution of the egg, in fact, as in all evolution, there have
been periods of comparative quiet and periods of rapid
10
change."
The doctrine of evolution by distinct and abrupt muta-
tions, as advanced by De Vries,
11
which is now claiming the
closest attention of the biological world,
clearly recognizes
this fact. The present hypothesis presents the causes which
stimulated the individual or perhaps whole colonies to become
mutants.
Closely related to the suddenness is the fact of periodicity
in the introduction of species. They come in by bursts or
flood tides at particular points of time.
These periods are
followed and preceded by times of ebb in which little that
is new is evolved. It is a significant fact that since the
Glacial age no new species of mammal has originated.
"
A great number of zoologists, botanists, and paleon-
tologists are inclined to adopt this notion of sudden changes
as consonant with the teachings of experience. We may cite
in this connection the well-known argument of Agassiz. This
celebrated naturalist called attention to the simultaneous
appearance, in the first fossiliferous strata, of a mixed fauna
10 "
Keligion and Science," pp. 22, 25.
"Die Mutationstheorie, 1903.
comprising representations of all the grand divisions of the

animal kingdom. This is shown in the Upper Silurian or
Devonian horizon in which the vertebrates make their appear-
ance in the form of fish. In the most ancient fauna, and
that which has become known most recently (that of the
Lower Silurian or Cambrian), all the grand divisions are
stillfound, except that of vertebrates, each represented by
quite high types. It is a question to be decided whether,
lower down, in the sedimentary rocks hitherto considered as
azoic, there is really a living population,more scattered, and
reduced to the most rudimentary animals and plants that
is to say, to protophytes and protozones, as appears from the
researches of MM. Barrois, Bertrand, and Cayeux. Yet

it is none the less certain that the very important remark
of Agassiz is true, and that, in the Cambrian horizon, all

the principal types appear simultaneously. We recognize
here a sort of explosion of universal life.
" In
consequence of this the transformists are obliged
to admit that in the short space of time that corresponds to
the deposit of the most ancient fossiliferous rocks the first
living beings must have undergone all the evolutions neces-

sary for passing from the state of a simple mass of proto-
plasm to that of types characteristic of all the grand divi-
sions, the vertebrates only excepted. We
are authorized to
conclude that the time during which the most ancient fos-
siliferous rocks were deposited was short, because we can
judge of it from their thickness, which is much inferior to

that of the subsequent strata. Therefore, but a comparatively
short space of time was required for the modifications by
virtue of which the first living forms produced the principal
grand divisions. The Lower Silurian epoch was one of rapid

transformations, of active morphogenesis, of intensive muta-
tions. If we wished to suppose that these were caused by
the Darwinian mechanism of slow accumulations of minute
variations, we would be obliged to throw back the origin of
life into an epoch

inconceivably beyond the most ancient
geologic epoch now known.
" In
the same way, as other paleontologists have ob-
served, among whom is Dr. Charles A. White, the extraor-
dinary flora of the carboniferous epoch developed abruptly.

We know nothing or but very little of the floras that pre-
ceded it. Its appearance and its extinction were sudden.
'''
We might multiply these remarks relative to the abrupt

explosions of creation in living things. Here is another.
The dinosaurian lizards that abounded throughout the sec-
ondary epoch, forming, indeed, the dominant animal type,
show an extreme variety taken from any point of view.
There were some gigantic ones, like Brontosaurus, having
a mass that was certainly equal to that of four or five ele-
phants; others of small stature, not larger than a domestic

fowl. The group included carnivora and herbivora, aquatic
species and and bipeds quite
terrestrial species, quadrupeds,
similar to birds, except as to the faculty of flight. By the
variety of their types of organization, they form, as aptly
stated by Frederick A. Lucas, a sort of epitome of the class of
reptiles. Now, and differentiation were com-

their appearance
paratively abrupt and sudden phenomena. It does not seem

probable that they were formed by the mechanism of natural
selection, and that they were destroyed because of their
inferiority to other species in the struggle for existence.
" We
arrive at similar conclusions from an examination
of the first placental mammals. They appeared abruptly at
the beginning of the Tertiary period ; they assumed a variety
of forms almost as numerous as those of the mammals of
12
to-day, and they finally disappeared."
"
L. P. Gratacap, in a paper on Biological Crises," says :
"
Assuming a great age for this development [reference is
to the faunal basins of the Lower Carboniferous], the expres-
u A. Dastre, Article on the New of the Origin of the Species,

Theory
Scientific American Supplement, No. 1510.
sion of suddenness not unwarranted in referring to them.

is
There is
certainly slender suggestion in the Devonian of
such large and opulent supplies of crinoidal life. The
' '
biological crisis they present is not simply apparent. It

13
is real."
New species arise from an old stock, not by continuous

and slow changes, but suddenly. The genius of evolution
seems to be seeking that mystic cause the modifying effects;
of external circumstances due to the various phenomena con-

nected with this belted canopy hypothesis rounds out the
whole scheme.
In a manner never dreamt of in the philosophy of
Lamarck, physical conditions enter into the problem of evo-
lution, evolving, as it were, a new evolution. As stated above,
the present hypothesis presents the causes which stimulated
the individual, or perhaps whole colonies, to become mutants.
According to De
Yries' hypothesis, the degree of muta-
bility isdependent upon external life conditions. Our new

hypothesis presents the greatest variety of these. As each
canopy overspread the earth, the whole environment was
changed. Climate was changed and food supply. The qual-
ity of the light was altered. Absorption of the red rays
of the solar spectrum took place. The content of the air and
its density were altered. The pull of gravity from above
caused a loss of weight. Waters were impregnated. Sym-
pathetic volcanic action caused by the disarrangement of the
tidal uplift occurred. Land connections or land bridges in
the polar regions partially laid bare by the rush of waters
towards the equator facilitated geographical migration, etc.,
etc. All these and many more disturbances went to make up
quite a budget of altered external conditions. These produced
great changes in life already existent, and when a canopy
system fell, extermination in whole or in part, and readap-
18
American Geologist, vol. xxviii, No. 4, p. 234.
tation of the survivors, followed. Mutation under such con-

ditions was necessary; it meant natural preservation. In
this way the single steps of evolution were brought about.
The survival of the fittest meant the survival of those indi-
viduals or species best fitted to adapt themselves to the new
conditions. Evolution is at a comparative standstill since the
Glacial age, for the reason that physical nature has been in
a like quiescent state.
CHAPTER VI
DENSITY OF THE ATMOSPHERE AND OTHER
PHYSICAL PHENOMENA
LAM ABC K gives the following as a definition of species:

" A is a collection of similar individuals which are
species
perpetuated by generation in the same condition as long as
their environment has not changed sufficiently to bring about
variation in their habits, their character, and their forms."
"
Herbert Spencer says : The direct action of the medium
was the primordial factor of organic evolution."
"
The botanist Sachs asserts : A far greater portion of
the phenomena of life is called forth by external influences
than one formerly ventured to assume. Every phenomenon
of life arises from two factors on the one hand from the
:
structure transmittedfrom the mother organism, and on the

other from external forces working on this structure."
This truth
aptly illustrated by the following experi-
is
ment If a radium tube of proper strength be suspended in

:
water containing tadpoles, this first stage of the common

frog is prolonged, but eccentricities of growth occur and
monsters are produced. 1
Another striking demonstration is found in the external
anatomy of the celebrated trout which was introduced into

New Zealand. In this case the number of pyloric appendages
about the stomach augmented rapidly, and even the form
and the size of the animal changed. This all took place
quickly, and it shows the potent effects of environment.
When Nature is stimulated by sufficient causes it is capable
of transforming animals, we might say, suddenly.
1
Robert H. Bradbury, "Radium and Radio- Activity in General,"
The Franklin Institute Journal, vol. clix, No. 3, March, 1905.
5 65
But in this age Nature is not stimulated to this degree,

hence it is an age of quiescence. Yet this is the age which,
according to the Doctrine of Uniformity, should show the
greatest changes, for it is an age of complex organisms. The
possibilities for a complex or old form to undergo changes
cannot be questioned. The complex is more easily deranged
than the simple. Why, then, do forms not change in this
present age ?
Plainly, Nature is not stimulated by sufficient
causes.
It will not do to say that variation was at one time more
active with each species because forms were younger. In
fact, such an argument only strengthens our position, for
the above reasoning shows us that the further we get away
from simple forms, the greater are the varieties, hence,
plainly, the causes which stimulated Nature when she was
young must have been very pronounced.
Natural selection is always ready to make use of adapted
variations. Thus, the gull fed on corn will develop a gizzard.

The wild duck when tamed will differ from the same species
in the length of wing. The green frogs taken from the
forest and placed in colorless surroundings become sombre
gray. But these examples do not become " fixed " that is,
their biological associations have not been sufficiently changed
to cause them to develop into new animals and the sombre
frog replaced in the bright green foliage soon regains his
formercolor. Changes resulting from age-producing canopy
were of a more serious and permanent character.
falls
Nature apparently has some pretty large blanks, and it

must have taken correspondingly great physical changes to
bridge these chasms. The present hypothesis reveals the
most powerful physical agencies ever dreamt of in the philos-
ophy of man, therefore it is best fitted to cope with the
conditions.
James D. Dana says, speaking of these blanks :
" One of these is the

apparently sudden appearance of
DENSITY OF THE ATMOSPHERE 67
plants of the tribe of Angiosperms, the most common kind of

Kecent time, in the Lower Cretaceous another, the still more
;
remarkably abrupt introduction of ordinary or placental

Mammals as successors to the Marsupials at the commence-
ment of the Tertiary; another, the introduction of well-
characterized Fishes, without the discovery of their pre-
2
cursors." Such gaps are of course every day being lessened
by the discoveries of intermediate links, but if correctly
balanced, there is still a very wide interval in the chain of

life that physical environment alone can account for.
Again, the destruction of vast horizons at the end of the

ages speaks volumes. Dana describes the fact in these words :
"
This sweeping from the world of so large a part of its
life, and especially that of Mesozoic characteristics, was a
much-needed preparation for the era of the Reign of Mam-
'
'
mals.' was an opportunity for the survival of the
It
'
fittest on a grand scale that is, the survival of those species
;
that could withstand the special causes of destruction, and of

the many that were out of harm's way. The exterminations
were the removals of hindrances to progress. The survival of
the fittest and of the lucky ones, while not directly species-
making, was the origin of new associations in continental

and oceanic life that is, of new faunas and new floras over
;
the world, in which, under the modified geographical and
physical conditions, the elements existed for further change

3
and progress,"
One of the potent physical changes which would have
caused a general extermination at the end of an age would
have been a fluctuation in the density of the atmosphere.
It has been facetiously said that the Dinosaur of the species
of Triceratops died of its big head. Many a true word has
been spoken in jest, and this is not one of the least of the
2
Manual of Geology, 4th ed., p. 1031.
8
Ibid., p. 878.
" A
head of one of these has been found more than
many.
six feet long and four feet wide, and another over eight feet
7 4
long.' Every skeleton is the solution of a problem in
mechanics, to wit, the problem of carrying a given weight

and of adaptation to a given mode of life. Thus often a
variation in condition has proved fatal to a whole race.
Elephas ganesa, a species of mammoth found in Pliocene

deposits of the Sidwalik Hills, India, had tusks twelve feet
nine inches long and two feet two inches in circumference.
It is a mystery how these animals ever carried them, owing
to their enormous size and leverage.
Another one of the creatures that came to end through
its
itsbig head was Dinotherium giganteum. This animal was

of elephantine proportions, and lived in the Miocene. It
was characterized by an enormous head, over six feet long,
and unquestionably labored under great mechanical dis-
it
advantage in lifting its immense weight in the process of

mastication. It can be seen, then, how any change in the
density of the atmosphere directly influenced its chances in

the struggle for life.
Again, such great and necessarily sluggish brutes as

Brontosaurus and Diplodocus, with their tons of flesh to
carry, and their small heads and feeble teeth, were obviously
reared in circumstances that must have been easy for them,
as they were unfitted to serve in any strenuous struggle for
existence. Thepeculiar make-up of these animals has a
meaning that may now be understood. The great ground
sloths, the Mylodons, Megatheres, and their allies, are another
case in point; they became extinct when the conditions
changed.
These are only instances taken at random. Geology
reveals the fact that in the past our earth has been peopled
with huge creatures. Plant life also was very different then
4
Le Conte, Geo., 5th ed., p. 518.
from now. Grasses and ferns were as large as our trees.
Everything was so gigantic that plant and animal life seemed

fairly to vie with each other in the production of monstrous
growths. There was a reason for all this. Was it not the
greater density of the atmosphere ? Geologists say that dur-
ing certain ages, especially the Carboniferous, the air was
very heavy and excessively damp. But why was it heavy
and damp?
Explanations are not necessary. It is understood that
the belts as they descended formed canopies which in turn
pressed downward on the upper air, materially increasing the

density and weight of the atmosphere itself. One of the
secondary results was that oxygenation was freer. candle A
burns brighter in a condensed atmosphere, as seen in the
caissons where the laborer works under pressure. The effect
of all this upon life was to foster gigantic growths. 5
The increased buoyant power of the atmosphere was also
derived from another cause, to wit: In opposition to ter-
annular system
restrial gravity the contrary attraction of the
diminished the weight in a notable proportion. There must
have been a zone where bodies were attracted equally from
above and below.
It has been claimed that since the fossil impress of rain-
drops in the past geological ages are such as would be made

by our modern storms, therefore the atmosphere of these
periods must have been of a like density to our own. This
argument seems to overlook the increased buoyancy. Prob-
ably these drops were heavier and therefore had a greater
penetrating power, yet on the whole why should we say this ?

There was nothing in the conditions to cause their form to
differ radically from those of to-day, and if they were
heavier the increased buoyancy of the atmosphere would
have neutralized the results.
'"Alpha and Omega," pp. 144, 145.

The increased buoyancy must have been specially favor-

able at times to large bird and insect life, and the conditions
in general to a cryptogamic and gymnospermous flora. But
these same conditions must have been alike adverse to the
well-being of the higher order of flowering plants, and of the

quick-breathing animals. Of course birds come under this
last capitation, but the winged denizens of the air in the
early paleontologic ages were of a different character from
their posterity, and then it must not be forgotten that during
certain geological periods the condensed oxygen of the atmos-
phere took the place of the miasmatic influence of other

periods.
The dragons of the air which soared in ancient times,
like the Roc of Arabian romance, were not able to survive
the changes, which were to them of vital moment. Ptero-
dactyles, computed to have had a spread of wing of over

twenty feet, perished in great numbers. Their battered and
"
broken bones are found in the graveyard of the rocks. At
two Pterodactyles are found in the Oxford clay, known
least
from more or less fragmentary remains or isolated bones;
Kimeridge clay, Purbeck limestone,
just as they occur in the
Wealden sandstones, and especially in newer Secondary
rocks, named Gault, Upper GTreensand, and Chalk, in the
southeast of England.'' 6 A
thousand of these bones taken
from the Cambridge Greensand are now in the Woodwardian
Museum of the University of Cambridge. Seeley draws
attention to the fact that these were mostly all gathered dur-
ing two or three years.

This gives us some idea of their abundance in the days
when their outstretched pinions enabled them to seek the air
for their safety. But how long did this safety endure ?
When the canopy disintegrated the atmosphere was released
from the superincumbent burden and the sustaining power
e "
H. G. Seeley, Dragons of the Air," p. 33.
of the air was gone. 7 Thus the chapter of these great birds
was closed forever. The ostrich and the recently extinct
moas of New Zealand are survivors of a late annular or
canopy fall that have been able to adapt themselves to a
terrestrial Deprived of their power of flight,
existence.
"
they have become the fleet-footed creature which scorneth
the horse and his rider." Nature flung away the wings, as
she always does with every part of a skeleton which is not
vital. In New Zealand the skeleton of the Dinornis ele-
phantopus from the Post-Pliocene, and in Madagascar the
bones of another huge wingless bird, the Êpiornis maximus,
are but instances taken at random, which show how this class
of beings existed for a time and then perished. Nature
changed their organisms, but as the altered conditions of
Kfe were too radical, she could not save them from ultimate
extinction.
The great size of some of the Devonian and Carbonifer-
ous insects is another indication of the denser atmosphere.
Dana says "A :
spread of wing exceeding two feet is a
size now existing only in large bats and birds." 8 The infer-
ence is obvious.
The consensus of geological opinion is that the atmos-
phere must originally have differed in its constituents from
its present condition. Planetesimal dust and gaseous emana-
would largely account for this
tions entering the air belt
phenomenon. Canopy formation and decline produced at

different times and in different ways divers conditions.
These conditions are at the root of the process of evolution.
De Vries' theory is the key; the lock in which it turns is
set forth in this present hypothesis. Little and great physi-
and great changes, simply
cal differences, little meant adap-
tion, adjustment, or extinction.
A calamity of this nature appears from the evidence to have oc-

7
curred in the Cretaceous era of Mesozoic time.

"Manual of Geo., 4th ed., p. 721.
As an illustration of the influence of a very slight change

in the atmospheric content, it is remarked that ferns and
monocotyledons are scarce in comparison with dicotyledons

in the Rocky Mountains. Dryness and rarity of the atmos-
phere, less pressure, heat, and carbon dioxide, being the
assigned cause.
An important result of Langley's bolometric investiga-
tion is the discovery that the earth's atmosphere exerts a
selective absorption to a remarkable degree, keeping back
an immense proportion of blue and green. It is postulated
that our atmosphere has varied a great deal in the past, and
so must have exerted a great effect on the flora and fauna
9
of these bygone ages. The fact is, the unveiled sun is blue.
Our atmosphere now stops the shortest wave-lengths, the
ultra-violet, and
said that scarcely sixty per cent, of
it is
the solar rays penetrate to the earth's surface. Has it always

been so Probably yea, we can almost say with certainty
?
there have been ages in the past when the selective absorption
was even more pronounced than now.
The
spectra of Saturn, and Jupiter show the distinctive
dark line in the red (wave-length 618). This is an unmis-
takable indication of aqueous absorption. 10 Tyndall says
"
that, regarding the earth as a source of heat, I estimate
that at. least 10 per cent, of its heat is intercepted within
ten feet of the surface. This single fact suggests the enor-
mous influence which this newly-developed property of aque-
ous vapor must have in the phenomena of meteorology." n
Experiments have been made at the laboratory in the
Catacombs on the effect of darkness upon animals. The
crustaceans ( Gammarus Huviatilis) changed as follows :
The gray pigment disappeared entirely. The organs of
9 "
A. M. Clerke, History of Astronomy During the Nineteenth Cen-
tury," 3d ed., pt. ii, chap, v, p. 278.
10
Ibid., pt. ii, chap, viii, p. 368.
"
11
Heat a Mode of Motion," 6th ed., Lect. xiii, pp. 380-381.
smell, touch, showed a marked hypertrophy at the

and taste
end of a few months, and their length increased gradually
until their dimensions tripled. Again, in the aquarium
building in the Jardin des Plantes just over the laboratory
in the Catacombs, experiments were made of a reverse nature,
and the Proteus commenced to assume a color; at first this
was light, but it ended in a violet black, with occasional small
12
yellow patches.
Most of the dinosaurs, owing to their great eye-sockets,
are thought to have had nocturnal habits, yet possibly this
was a result of physical conditions. The Reptilian age may
have been characterized by a dense dark canopy that admitted
the passage of only a little light. The flora of the period also
points to this conclusion. Instances such as these could be

added indefinitely, but all that is required is to show that
variation in the quality and quantity of light would have
exerted a great influence on life in general. It may be well
to add that at times of darkness, like the ones we have just
pictured, open zones existed at the poles, where no doubt

certain species that could not have existed without light sur-
vived the ordeal.
Clouds are more translucent than transcalent, hence light
rays, in the days of the canopy, reached the earth's surface
to a far greater degree than the heat rays, though those which
did come through were boxed in, as it were, since radiation
into space was largely intercepted. Thus to a great extent
there was a complete reversal of present conditions.
The effects of heat and cold on the process of evolution
cannot be questioned; however, a few illustrations will not
"
be out of place. It has been suspected," says the Scientific
American, "that temperature changes and new environments

might have something to do with the origin of species, and the
experiment has been tried of breeding butterflies at various
32
Scientific American, vol. xc, No. 17.
degrees of heat. Dr. M. Standfuss, of Zurich, has done some

very extensive work along this line, producing arctic and
tropical varieties as well as intermediate forms by raising
the butterflies in heated or cooled boxes. It is claimed that
butterflies thus reared are not fixed species and will not
breed true. In one case, however, Standfuss has apparently
13
succeeded in obtaining a fixed species by this treatment."
Another article in a later number of the same paper
"
contains the following notice Prof. Max Standfuss has
:
for years been propagating butterflies and moths under arti-

ficial temperature conditions. He has taken the eggs of
middle European moths, for example, and bred them at very
low temperatures, and obtained varieties of that same middle
European moth found only in Arctic regions. Similarly,
eggs of the middle European moths, hatched at very high
temperatures, produce varieties that are to be found only in
tropical countries. Furthermore, by changing the tempera-
tures he has obtained varieties which have existed but are
14
now extinct.'
7
Climatic influences may have also been largely aided in

their work by secondary causes. Thus it is well known that
the gorilla does not thrive when removed from his native
miasmatic swamps. The effluvia of decaying vegetation and
the humid reeking atmosphere seem necessary to his
very
existence. Again, in certain localities in our American
tropics a rich gray moss is found growing luxuriously; it
is an aerial plant, and yet it does not thrive if removed into
a region of pure air; indeed, it seems to imbibe something

from the surrounding swamps. It is not carbonic acid gas,
the chief food of plants, nor is it nitrogen; all we know is
that the element which this plant requires is found in that
murky atmosphere, and that it is deadly to human life.

Moisture and heat alone will not account for it.
13
Vol. xcv, No. 10, Sept. 8, 1906.
14
Ibid., vol. xcv, No. 15, Oct. 13, 1906.
CHAPTER VII
VICISSITUDES OF CLIMATE
ALL who possess any knowledge whatever of geology

know that in the past eras meteorological conditions differed
radically from those extant. However, as this work is for

the general reader as well as the specialist, and as all have
not been schooled in the workings of nature, a few facts
relative to whatis really known of the past climates will
be in order. Consideration of these same facts naturally

stimulates the mind to inquire as to the cause of these won-
derful variations, and every little detail that helps is wel-
comed. Thus, even though the hypothesis that the earth has
cooled from a molten condition is thoroughly discredited, it
would seem natural if the records of the past showed that

from age to age the climate was gradually cooling, for the
planetesimal hypothesis, now generally accepted, postulates
a condition of heat brought about by gravitational settling.
Probably, however, this was in the remote 'days before

geological time dawned, for the fact remains, the records of
the science do not show this gradual cooling. While it is not
purposed to arrange the quotations which follow in their
geological sequence, still they may be read with this point in
mind. Thereader's attention is called to the fact that glacial
ages frequently followed periods of luxuriant growth.

"
James D. Dana says Using the facts from the rela-
:
tions of existing plants to climate that Ferns and Lycopods

thrive best in tropical and temperate latitudes, and Equiseta
in temperate it is inferred from the occurrence of coal-
plants of each of these groups in all latitudes to the Arctic

regions that the climate of the globe in the Carbonic era
was nowhere colder than the modern temperate zone, or
75
below a mean temperature of 60 F. Similarly, the occur-

rence in Spitzbergen of Corals of the genera Ltthostrotion,
Cyathophyttunij and Syringopora, and of some species of

Brachiopods of twice the size they have in Europe, seems to
show that the waters of the ocean were equally temperate
throughout. As to excessive heat in the tropics, we have
no evidence, since the common Carboniferous Brachiopods,
Productus semireticulaius, P. longispinus, Athyris subtilita,
and a Bellerophon near B. Urii, are found in the Bolivian
Andes." *
"
Again, our author states During the Cretaceous
:
period a warm climate still prevailed over the earth even to

the poles, but with some cooling during the closing part of
the period; and in North America with a great Central
Interior Sea, to the end of the period, the climate- was moist.
The Cycads and associated species of plants, in the lower
Cretaceous beds of Greenland indicate, according to Heer,
a mean temperature of 21 C. to 22 C., or about 70 F. to
72 F. This temperature is that of Cuba. The facts prove
that a somewhat similar temperature prevailed at the same

time over Spitzbergen and Alaska, where the same flora
existed; even along the Atlantic border, at least as far
north as Long Island; in the region of the Kootanie beds
in Montana, and the neighboring part of British America;
2
and over more western North America to Alaska."
Professor Arthur Lake's testimony may be added as
" The recent discoveries of fields of
follows :
lignitic and
bituminous coal in Alaska, besides their great economic
importance in that partially treeless and much besnowed
region, point to some well-known and interesting geological
facts; viz.,
that there were periods in the world's history when,
instead of the present ice cap and treelessness, the Arctics
1
Manual of Geo., 4th ed., p. 711.
*IUd., p. 872.
VICISSITUDES OF CLIMATE 77
were a region clad with a luxuriant, temperate, if not

tropical, vegetation, and enjoying a temperate, if not a warm,
climate. There
may or may not have been an open Polar
sea, but needed
it no Arctic hardships to explore it, and there
3
certainly was no ice cap."
"
T. C. Chamberlin says It appears necessary now
:
to accept as demonstrative the evidences of extensive glacia-

tion in India, Australia, and South Africa in the midst of
the later coal-forming stages of the Paleozoic era. The
glacial beds lie even between coal beds of Permian or Permo-
Carboniferous age; while, strangely enough, the areas of
glaciation approach, and even overlap, the tropics of Cancer
and Capricorn. And yet figs and magnolias have grown in
Greenland since, and mild polar climates are as well authen-
ticated after as before this climacteric glaciation. Less com-
plete evidences from China and Norway imply a very much

earlier glaciation, falling in the oldest Cambrian, or perhaps
even pre-Cambrian, times. Still more recently, similar
evidences of early Paleozoic glaciation in South Africa have
been announced.
"
The
climatic student seems therefore compelled to
face oscillations within the known geologic periods, ranging
from sub-tropical congeniality within the polar circles, on
the one hand, to glacial conditions in low latitudes, on the
other, and these in alternating succession; while neither of

these oscillations was permitted to swim across the narrow
4
limital lines of organic endurance."
" the
Again turning to Professor Dana, we find that
cold that followed the Champlain period, or that of the
Reindeer era of Lartet, appears to have brought destruction
among the northern tribes of Europe and Asia, and, at the
same time, to have driven southward the more active sur-
" Mines and

8
Minerals," vol. xxvi, No. 9, p. 401.
4
Journal of Geology, vol. xiv, No. 5, p. 366.
vivors, or those which had the best chance for escape. The
encasing in ice of huge Elephants, and the perfect preserva-
tion of the flesh, shows that the cold finally became suddenly
extreme, as of a single winter's night, and knew no relenting

afterward. The existence of remains of the Reindeer in
southern France, of the Marmot, also a northern species,
and of the Ibex and Chamois, now Alpine species, is at-
tributed by Lartet to the forced migration thus occasioned.
In the caves of Perigord (Dordogne, etc.) the bones of the
Reindeer, far the most abundant kind, lie along with those
of the Cave Hyena, Cave Bear, Cave Lion, Elephant, and
5
Rhinoceros, as well as Horse and Aurochs."
In the Monograph on the Geology of the Narragansett
Basin the following remarks are made by the authors:
"
We may first note that the deposits formed during the
times represented by the conglomerates of the Carboniferous
series have a character which warrants the hypothesis that
they are to a considerable extent the products of glacial

action.
* * *
"Although there are instances in which a torrent may

accumulate a large detrital cone composed of boulders and
pebbles, I know of no geological machinery now at work on
the earth's surface, or which can reasonably be supposed to
have operated in the past, except glaciation, that is competent
to produce such immense masses of coarse detritus as are
contained in these conglomerates, or bring them into position
where water action can effect their arrangement into beds.
The area of the deposits lying on the two sides of the old
Appalachian axis probably now exceeds 60,000 square miles ;

the average thickness of the section is certainly not less than
2,500 feet; so that the amount of matter of a prevailingly

coarse nature which was laid down along the old Appalachian
ridge in a period apparently of no great duration was not
5
Man. of Geo., 4th ed., pp. 1007, 1008.
lessthan 20,000 cubic miles, and probably was far more than
that amount. * * *
"
It should be noted that the pebbles of the Carboniferous
conglomerates, especially in the Narragansett district, show

no trace of glacial scratches; moreover, they generally have
a rather rounded form and are of less varied size than those
in any of the till deposits formed during the last Glacial
period. In some cases, however, they seem to me to retain

the faceted shape which is so characteristic of ice-made
pebbles. When compared with the pebbles of the last Glacial

period, which, in a measure, have been subjected to marine
or stream action, they are found to correspond with them
in all essential features, except when, as is often the case,
the old fragments have been deformed by stresses which came
upon them since they were built into the Carboniferous

strata.
* * *
"
In no way save by glacial work does it seem to me
possible to account for the rapid formation of the great mass
of pebbly detritus which is contained in these beds. It
therefore may fairly be held that the Carboniferous period,
in this district at least, was one of extensive and long-con-
tinued glacial action, and that the greater part of the section
exhibited in the basin is made up of rocks which owe their
more important features to the action of glaciation." 6
Ernest H. L. Schwartz, who made a geological survey of
"
Cape Colony in 1896, says: "No matter how good the
specimens of glaciated boulders and the photographs of ice-

scored floors, that came home from India, Australia, or
South Africa, no one would believe in the Permian Ice age.
I was myself skeptical when I first came to South Africa,
and at a meeting in Cape Town, when some of the glaciated
Dwyka Conglomerate pebbles were exhibited, assisted in
recording the belief that there was in these scratches no
* '
satisfactory evidence of ice-action.

Mono, xxxiii, pp. 64-67.
"
In the field it is different ;
there the evidence is over-
whelming, as I was soon to see when I joined the Geological

* * *
Survey.
"
The Dwyka Conglomerate, and its equivalent in Aus-
tralia and India, is too well known now to require description
here, but I have introduced the account of the part which
Mr. Rogers and myself played in the elucidation of the
problem in order to show the credentials with which we offer
evidence of two more glacial periods in South Africa. The
evidence of each was discovered by Mr. Rogers the evidence ;
of one, probably Devonian in age, I have examined in the

field; the other is probably Archean, and although I have
not seen the glacial beds in place, the specimens which Mr.
Rogers has sent me form ample material for confirming his

* * *
interpretation.
"
At some future date it will perhaps be established that
there a rhythmic recurrence of glacial conditions in sub-
is
tropical and even tropical countries, and we shall be able to

date the rock strata according to the positions of these tills.
In Australia they have two the Permian or Carbo-Permian,
and the so-called Cambrian one, which is, at any rate, older
than the Ordovician, and possibly Algonkian. We have
three in South Africa, the oldest of which may be equivalent
of the two Australian ones.
* * *
to the older
" Sir Andrew Ramsay's evidence as to the European
Paleozoic Ice age, and the character of the striations on the
stones, is admitted, even by those who do not accept his
7
explanation, to be strongly suggestive."
Alexander Winchell records like facts in the following.
He says: " Some of the most salient phenomena attributed
to the reign of glacier ice are smoothed and striated rock-
surfaces, and accumulations of rounded pebbles. Precisely

these phenomena have been detected among the rocks of re-
'
Journal of Geology, vol. xiv, No. 8, pp. 683, 684, 689, 690,
moter ages of the world's history. More than thirty years ago
the New York geologists called attention to the smoothed
surfaces of the Medina Sandstone in the western part of that
State. They did not then dare to utter the conjecture that
these are glaciated surfaces; though recent opinion strongly
inclines in that direction. Foreign geologists have made
similar observations in numerous other formations.In the
Miocene System, that vast Swiss formation known as the
Molasse, seems to be but an older bed of glacier pebbles,
extremely similar to those accumulated upon the existing
surface along the slopes and flanks of the Alps." 8
"
Le Conte states The Permo-Carbonif erous of Aus-
:
tralia, India, South Africa, and Brazil all contain enormous

glacial deposits and other evidences of glaciation. Appar-
ently Permian glaciation was on a vaster scale than that of
the Pleistocene in the northern hemisphere." 9 He also says,
"
speaking of the late period Of alternations of colder and
:
warmer periods during the Glacial epoch there are evidences

both in Europe and America." 10
"
Again William North Rice says The Quaternary
:
period, instead of being brief and comparatively simple, has

been shown to be of long duration and great complexity. It
has been analyzed into a succession of glacial and inter-
glacial epochs; and, from the vast amount of erosion in

some of the inter-glacial epochs, it has been inferred that post-
Glacial time is very short in comparison with inter-Glacial
time." n
The flora and fauna of a region show how the climate
has changed thus G. Frederick Wright says " On both :
;
continents, at the close of the Tertiary period, there occurred

a remarkable extinction of animals which is doubtless con-
8 "
Sparks from a Geologist's Hammer," 3d ed., pp. 177-178.
9
Geo., 5th ed., p. 430.
10
Ibid., p. 615.
11
6
nected with the advance of the continental ice-sheet. Among

these we may mention two species of the cat family as large
as lions ;
four species of the dog family, some of them larger
than wolves; two species of bears; a walrus, found in Vir-
ginia ; three species of dolphins found in the Eastern States ;
two species of the sea-cow, found in Florida and South Caro-

lina; six species of the horse; the existing South American
tapir a species of the South American llama a camel ; two
; ;
species of bison; three species of sheep; two species of ele-

phants and two of mastodons; a species of Megatherium,
three of Megalonyx, and one of Mylodon huge terrestrial
sloths as large as the rhinoceros, or even as large as elephants,
which ranged over the Southern States to Pennsylvania, and
the Mylodon as far as the Great Lakes and Oregon.
"
This wondrous assemblage of animals became extinct
upon the approach of the Glacial period, as their remains

are all found in post-Pliocene deposits. The intermingling
of forms is remarkable." 12
"
Alexander Winchell tells us that
impossible to it is
refrain from speculating on the nature of the events which

resulted in the burial of entire mammoths in glacier-ice.
That the climate in which they had lived was not tropical,
like that of Africa or India, be regarded as proved by
may
the presence of the fur in which these animals were clothed.
That it was not similar to the existing climate of northern
Siberia is apparent from the consideration that such a climate
would not yield the requisite supply of vegetation to sustain
their existence. More especially would forest vegetation be
wanting, which seems to have been designed as the main
reliance for proboscidians. Northern Siberia must, therefore,'

13
have possessed a temperate climate."
""The Ice Age in North America," 4th ed., p. 386. "The Geo-
129.
graphical Distribution of Animals," vol. i, p.
11
"Sparks from a Geologist's Hammer," 3d ed., pp. 243-244.
On the same line as all this testimony the great Agassiz

"
has following record
left the It is my belief/' he says,
:
"
founded upon the tropical character of the Fauna, that a
much milder climate then prevailed over the whole northern
hemisphere than is now known to it. Some naturalists have
supposed that the presence of the tropical Mammalia in the

Northern Temperate Zone might be otherwise accounted for,
that they might have been endowed with warmer covering,
with thicker hair or fur. But I think the simpler and more
natural reason for their existence throughout the North is
to be found in the difference of climate ;
and I am the more
inclined to this opinion because the Tertiary animals gener-
ally, the Fishes, Shells, etc., in the same regions, are more
closely allied in character to those now living in the Tropics

than to those of the Temperate Zones. The Tertiary age
may be called the geological summer we shall see, hereafter,
;
how abruptly it was brought to a close. * * *

"
The long summer was over. For ages a tropical climate
had prevailed over a great part of the earth, and animals
whose home is now beneath the Equator roamed over the
world from the far south to the very borders of the Arctics.
The gigantic quadrupeds, the Mastodons, Elephants, Tigers,
Lions, Hyenas, Bears, whose remains are found in Europe
from its southern promontories to the northernmost limits of
Siberia and Scandinavia, and in America from the Southern
States to Greenland and the Melville Islands, may indeed be
said to have possessed the earth in those days. But their
reign was over. A
sudden intense winter, that was also to
last for ages, fell upon the globe; it spread over the very
countries where these tropical animals had their homes, and
so suddenly did it come upon them that they were embalmed
beneath masses of snow and ice, without time even for the
14
decay which follows death."
""Geological Sketches," pp. 205-206, 208.

Professor Wright quotes from the Scientific Papers of

15
Asa Gray and records his own views of the past climatic
conditions in the far north as follows:
"
Geologically the coal beds of Greenland are much later
than the Carboniferous period. The accompanying plants
indicate that some of them belong to the Upper Cretaceous
and others to the Middle Tertiary (Miocene). * * *
"
The Tertiary beds in this region bear striking witness
to the changes of climate which the region has experienced,
and to the fact that there is a lineal connection between the
present flora of the north temperate zone and the ancient
arctic flora of Greenland. During the middle portion of the
Tertiary period the climate of north Greenland corresponded
closely with that which now exists in Virginia and North

Carolina. As enumerated by Asa Gray, the familiar plants
'
found in these beds comprise magnolias, sassafras, hickories,
gum trees, our identical southern cypress (for all we can see
of difference), and especially sequoias not only the two
which obviously answer to the two big trees now peculiar to
California, but several others; they equally comprise trees

now peculiar to Japan and China three kinds of gingko
trees, for instance, one of them not evidently distinguishable
from the Japan species which alone survives. We have evi-
dence not merely of pines and maples, birches, lindens, and
whatever characterize the temperate-zone forests of our era,
but also of particular species of these so like those of our own
time and country that we may fairly reckon them as ancestors
" 16
of several of ours.'
Sir Archibald Geikie's testimony of the vicissitudes of
" in
climate is that Europe and North America a tolerably
sharp demarcation can usually be made between the Pliocene
formations and those now to be described. The Crag deposits
15
Vol. ii, p. 227.
"Greenland Icefields and Life in the North Atlantic," pp. 113-114.
of the southeast of England, as we have seen, show traces of

a gradual lowering of the temperature during later Pliocene
times, and the same fact is indicated by the Pliocene fauna

and floraon the Continent even in the Mediterranean basin.
This change of climate continued until at last thoroughly
Arctic conditions prevailed, under which the oldest of the
Post-Tertiary or Pleistocene deposits were accumulated in

northern and central Europe, and in Canada and the northern
17
part of the United States."
In a foot-note the same author remarks "
: That a glacial
period occurred at the close of the Cretaceous period, again
at the end of the Eocene and in the Miocene (erratics of
Superga, near Turin), has been regarded by some geologists

as probable." ls
" In the
Chamberlin and Salisbury tell us that upper :
division of the Old Red sandstone of Great Britain there

are conglomerates of such a character as to have raised a
question concerning the existence of glaciers in this region in

Devonian times. The conglomerates contain boulders of all
sizes,up to eight feet in diameter. While the smaller stones
are usually well worn, the larger ones are often distinctly
subangular. All sorts of durable rock are represented. The
large boulders seem not to have from distant regions,

come in
but some of the smaller stones may have come from greater
distances, since no local source for them is known. Further-
more, some of the boulders are said to be striated, and it is
believed by some geologists at least that the strisG are glacial.

The matrix of the conglomerate is in keeping with the
hypothesis that ice cooperated in its making. It has been
suggested that the Highlands of Scotland were then much
higher than now, that they harbored glaciers, and that the
"Text Book of Geo., 3d. ed., pp. 1023-1024.
Ibid., note 3, p. 979. A. V6zian, Rev. Sci. xi (1877), p. 171;

Schardt, "Etudes G6ologiques sur le pays d'Enhaut Vaudois," Bull.
Soc. Vaud. 1884.
bergs to which the glaciers gave origin made, or helped to

make, the conglomerates here referred to. The conglomerate
is to be seen in the Lammermuir
Hills, and in the Silurian
hills of Cumberland and Westmoreland, in northern
19
England."
Heat and cold certainly seem to have followed each other
"
very closely. The same authors say Taking the phe-
:
nomena of India, Australia, and South Africa together, they

make a puzzling combination. If the chief coal-beds be re-
ferred to the Carboniferous proper, it introduces glacial beds,
and a great floral break, into the midst of a system which has
usually been held to be marked by great uniformity the world

20
over."
a
Again, these authors say :
Unwilling as geologists were
to believe that there was a
glacial period at this early stage
of the earth's history, the evidence now in hand is over-
whelming, and a glacial period in Australia in the late

Carboniferous or Permian period must be regarded as a
demonstrated fact." * * * The recurrence of the boulder
beds points to the repeated recurrence of glacial conditions,
and the great thickness both of clastic beds and of the in-
cluded coal point to the great duration of the period through
which the several glacial epochs were distributed.
" These remarkable
phenomena are not local. Counting
Tasmania, where glacial deposits are also found, the Paleo-
zoic glaciation of Australia had a known range of nearly 22
in latitude (42 in Tasmania to 20 30' in Queensland), and
about 35 in longitude (west from 137 30'), though it is
not known, nor perhaps probable, that all the area within
these limits was glaciated. On the other hand, it is not to
be understood that the phenomena here described are re-
stricted to high altitudes; rather are they known chiefly at

low levels, descending in some places nearly to the sea.
The
19
Geo., vol. ii, p. 446.
id., p. 602.
altitude of this region is not only low now, but it was prob-
ably low during glaciation, as shown by the relation of the

glacial deposits to the marine beds. Whatever the difficulties
in the way of its explanation, therefore, the fact of a long
period during which glacial conditions recurred many times

must be accepted." 21
James Geikie sums up in a few paragraphs the general
by a review of the British deposits. His
results obtained
summary shows in the clearest manner the remarkable fluctu-

ations of climate in a single period. It is as follows:
"
1. Weybourn Crag. The North Sea occupied by an
Arctic fauna.
" 2. Forest-Bed of Cromer. Wider extent of land-sur-
face, the southern portion of the North Sea a broad plain
traversed by the Rhine. Climate temperate.
"
3. Leda-Myalis Bed. Passage from temperate to boreal
and arctic conditions. Submergence of the Rhenish alluvial
plain.
"
4. Arctic Fresh-water Bed. Arctic flora in England.
"
5. Lower
Boulder-clays. Maximum glaciation of the
British Islands: mer de glace flows south to valley of the
Thames ; is confluent with the inland ice of Scandinavia.
"
6. Interglacial Beds. (Fresh-water alluvia, peat, etc.,
cave-deposits, marine beds.) Britain probably continental;
climate at first cold, then temperate. Submergence ensued
towards close of the period, with conditions passing from
temperate to arctic.
" General mer de glace, con-
1. Upper
Boulder-clay.
fluent with that of Scandinavia it did not flow so far south
;
as that of preceding glacial epoch.

"
8. Interglacial Beds. (Fresh-water alluvia, peat, etc. ;
marine deposits.) Britain probably again continental:

climate at first temperate and insular; submergence ensues
n 632-634.
H>id., pp.
with cold climatic conditions Scotland depressed for 130

feet or thereabout.
"
9. Ground-Moraines and Terminal Moraines. Major
portion of Scottish Highlands covered by ice-sheet ; local ice-
sheets and district glaciers in Southern Uplands of Scotland,
and in mountainous parts of England, Wales, and Ireland.
Icebergs are calved at mouths of Highland sea-lochs ;
terminal
moraines dropped upon marine deposits, then forming (100-
ft. beach in
Scotland).
"
10. Interglacial Beds. (Fresh-water alluvia with
arctic plants ; lower buried forest and peat Coarse-clays and ;
raised beaches. ) Britain again continental ; climate at first

cold, subsequently becoming temperate; great forests.
Eventual insulation of Britain ;
climate humid, and probably
colder than now.
"11. Mountain-\7 alley Moraines; Corrie Moraines. In
Scotland these in some places rest on raised beaches (45-50
ft. above sea) ;
snow-line at 2,500 ft.
"12. Upper Buried Forest Alluvia, etc. He-elevation

;
of land, to what extent is not known climate temperate. ;
' 7
"13. Peat overlying upper buried forest low-level ;
Raised Beaches; high-level Corrie Glaciers, snow-line at

3,500 ft. climate colder and more humid than now.
;
"
14. Final retreat of sea to present level; decay of peat-
bogs; disappearance of permanent snow; climate drier than

22
during preceding stage (13)."
22
"The Great Ice Age," 3d ed., pp. 421-422.
CHAPTER VIII
EVOLUTION AND DISTRIBUTION
DE VRIES' doctrine of evolution advances
physical
environment and conditions to place in the chain of
first
cause and effect. The great accelerations noticed in the de-

velopment of life, spasmodically as it were, indicate that these
conditions were radical, and it is imperative that the source
should be adequate. The first cause must have been some-
thing out of the ordinary.

It is postulated that the canopy at times belted the earth,
even as far north as the Arctic circle. This introduces into

the polar regions three powerful factors, light, heat, and land
connections. Archibald Geikie says:
"
The climate during Tertiary time underwent in the
northern hemisphere some remarkable changes. Judging
from the terrestrial vegetation preserved in the strata, we may
infer that in England the climate of the oldest Tertiary
periods was of a temperate character, but that it became
during Eocene time tropical and subtropical, even in the

centre ofEurope and North America. It then gradually
grew more temperate, but flowering plants and shrubs con-
tinued to live even far within the Arctic circle, where, then
as now, unless the axis of the earth has meanwhile shifted,
there must have been six sunless months every year. Grow-
still cooler, the climate passed
ing eventually into a phase of
extreme cold, when snow and ice extended from the Arctic
regions far south into Europe and North America. Since
that time the cold has again diminished, until the present
thermal distribution has been reached." 1
"
Again, speaking of Greenland, he says One of the
:
'Geo., 3d ed., p. 964.

89
most remarkable geological discoveries of modern times has

been that of Tertiary plant-beds in North Greenland. Heer
has described a flora extending at least up to 70 N. lat.,
containing 137 species, of which 46 are found also in the

central European Miocene basins. More than half of the
plants are trees, including 30 species of conifers (Sequoia,
Thujopsis, tSalisburia, etc.), besides beeches, oaks, planes,
poplars, maples, walnuts, limes, magnolias, and many more.
These plants grew on the spot, for their fruits in various
stages of growth have been obtained from the deposits. From
Spitzbergen (78 56' K
lat.) 136 species of fossil plants
have been named by Heer. But the latest English Arctic
expedition brought to light a bed of coal, black and lustrous
like one of the Paleozoic fuels, from 31 45' E". lat. It is
from 25 to 30 feet thick, and is covered with black shales
and sandstones full of land-plants. Heer notices 30 species,
12 of which had already been found in the Arctic Miocene
zone. As in Spitzbergen, the conifers are most numerous
(pines, firs, spruces, and cypresses), but there occur also the
Arctic poplar, two species of birch, two of hazel, an elm, and
a viburnum. In addition to these terrestrial trees and
shrubs, the lacustrine waters of the time bore water-lilies,
while their banks were clothed with reeds and sedges. When
we remember that this vegetation grew luxuriantly within
8 North Pole, in a region which is now in darkness
15' of the
for half of the year, and almost continuously buried under
snow and ice, we can realize the difficulty of the problem in
the distribution of climate which these facts present to the-
2
geologist."
The difficulty has been thoroughly appreciated. J. W-
" It
Dawson makes this acknowledgment of it. He says :
is difficult toaccount for these vicissitudes of climate, and

much controversy. exists on the subject; but it seems certain
d., pp. 1001-1002.

EVOLUTION AND DISTRIBUTION 91
that in the earlier Tertiary and Cretaceous periods, for ex-

ample, the supplies of heat and light were so diffused over
the earth as to permit the growth of a temperate vegetation in
3
Greenland, and even Spitzbergen."
The polar regions now have unremitted light for six
months in the year, but, owing to the climate, this energy is
wasted. When the canopy induced greenhouse conditions
clear up to the Arctic circle, this heat was wafted over the
clear space of the north. But this is not all of the good
which it when
the sun sank in the southern sky this
did, for
marvellous roof caught its slant-wise rays. Holding these
in its embrace, it reflected them back on the land, which
otherwise was a land of darkness. Sunlight and twilight
must therefore have endured the whole twelve months.
Next to light, the importance of the electric stimulus
should be considered. Electricity must have a material con-
ductor. When the canopy extended to the Arctic circle, the
conductor was spread out as a curtain, and the frequency and
intensity of the auroras may be imagined. Their effect as
a stimulant to plant-growth cannot be questioned. The
Scientific American says :
" The north polar region is remarkable for

flora of the
rapid growth, fertility, and brilliancy of coloring, phenomena

which seem incompatible with the climate. For the Arctic
summer, though nightless, is very short, the sun is low, and
itsrays are often intercepted by fog and clouds, so that it
cannot furnish an amount of light and heat favorable to very
rapid growth.
"
The
investigations of Prof. Lemstrom, of Helsingfors,
and others, tend to show that electricity exerts a great influ-
ence on the growth of plants, and this view is confirmed by
the luxuriant vegetation of the zone of action of that violent
electrical manifestation, the aurora borealis. Furthermore,
8 "
Origin of the World," p. 395.
a close connection has been found, in Finland, between fruit-

fulness and frequency of auroras. Finally, Lemstrom was
led to attribute to the sharp points of plants, such as the beard
i
of grains, the function of lightning rods/ which collect
atmospheric electricity and facilitate the exchange of the
charges of the air and the ground.
"
Thereupon he proceeded to submit the suspected effect
of electricity upon vegetable growth to the test of experiment,
beginning in 1885 with a number of flower-pots containing

similar soil and seed. Some of the pots were subjected to
the action of an influence or inductive statical machine, one
pole of which was connected with the soil in the pot, and the
other with a wire netting stretched over it. The other pots
were left to nature. The electric machine was driven
several hours daily. Within a week the electrified plants
showed more vigorous growth than the others, and in eight
a
weeks the disparity in weight, of grain and straw alike,
4
amounted to forty per cent."
A continent is said to have existed in these far northern
latitudes in the primitive Eocene, and this same canopy-like
structure which had
origin from
its equatorial rings points
us back to the southern oceans, where the waters were held
up in a heap by the gravitational pull. In after ages, when
these waters were released, they not only sought their level,
but they were also attracted toward the north by the weight
of the ice itself.
H. W. Pearson has recently come out with a new idea as

to the cause of the raised beaches, which were once necessarily
near the water's level, but which have now
acquired consider-
able elevation. The correlation of his facts relative to the
uniformities of elevation and gradient of these old markings
are germane to our own hypothesis. We
cannot admit, how-
ever, the cause which he assigns for their origin, namely the
4
Vol. xcii, No. 23, June 10, 1905.
Adhemar-Croll hypothesis, of which we will have more to say

hereafter. Oscillations of such long duration will not fit in
with facts such as those introduced at the end of our last
chapter, which showed fourteen vicissitudes of climate, some
of them of a sudden nature, and all within one geological
period. Pearson, however, has done a very good work in

revealing the wide scope and the symmetrical character of
the remains left by the inundations of the past. He says:
"
Now, then, if glacial dams and chance upheaval of the
crust are both to fail us when we seek for explanation of
these strange facts in the raised beaches, it is our duty to
look elsewhere, and in such a search it is soon discovered
that there is but one physical cause that can be considered
adequate to our needs, and this may be stated as the displace-
ment of the earth's centre of gravity by the accumulated ice
of the last glacial epoch, and the consequent
submergence of
5
all northern shore lines/'
This brings us back to the point we were discussing:
the disappearance of the primitive Eocene Arctic Continent.
Pearson has found that the inclination of the beaches shows
a raised gradient toward the north. Starting at sea level
at the equator, they rise approximately as the sine of the
latitude, until, as estimated, they would reach an altitude of
1,467 feet above present sea level at the pole. No doubt this
great weight of water was the cause of the permanent depres-
sion of the land surface. Pearson believes that the shifting
of the waters as indicated could have taken place only at the
expense of the waters of the southern hemisphere, and while

it may be true that the north claimed more than its rightful
share from that region, still it seems to us more probable that

it was the equatorial waters alone that were transferred.
Other authorities have likewise recognized the potent in-

fluence of the great mass of ice in causing a shifting of the
waters. James Geikie says:
5
Scientific American Supplement, No. 1682, March 28, 1908.
" 6
The viewby Mr. Jamieson, that the apparent
set forth
rise of the sea-level in glacial times was induced by sub-
sidence of the earth's crust under the weight of the ice-sheets,

has been received with considerable favor by geologists. His
'
leading idea is that the ice-covered regions were depressed by

reason of the great weight of ice placed upon them, and that
when the ice disappeared they rose again with extreme slow-
ness, and may have eventually attained nearly their former

e
level ;
but in most cases/ he believes, some amount of perma-
nent depression probably occurred.' This hypothesis appears
to explain so many facts, that geologists are
naturally inclined
to accept it. It accounts for the striking association of
7
glaciation and submergence."
It is suggested that the subsidence that followed this gen-
eralmovement was only started by these influences. It is a
matter of geological record that once a land begins to rise or
to sink the movement usually continues through long
successive ages.
Even now the waters are not deep in the north polar
region. Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, in his journal of the voyage

The water "
of the Yukon, writes under date of August 24 :
is quite shoal here, and generally in the Arctic, 32 fathoms
being the deepest sounding on my chart so that while an

ugly sea rises quickly, it also subsides quickly with a change
of wind, and does not make life miserable for days and days
8
after a storm, as is the case in the deep sea."
These thoughts lead to a consideration of the conditions
which existed before the Ice age set in. G. Frederick Wright
" From Maine and
says :
Puget Sound to the arctic archi-
pelago and Greenland, the abundant long and branching fiords
of these northern regions, and the wide and deep channels
8
Geological Magazine, 1882, p. 400.
T
"The Great Ice Age," 3d ed., p. 786.
8
"The White World," p. 254.
dividing their islands, attest a very long time of pre-glacial

9
high elevation there."
The same author says of this flooded continent, in con-
nection with its bearing on the distribution of species, that
" of the earth down to the northern
the polar projection tropic
shows to the eye as our maps do not how all the lands
come together into one region, and how natural it may be
for the same species, under homogeneous conditions, to spread
over it. When we know, moreover, that sea and land have
varied greatly since these species existed, we may well believe
that any ocean-gaps, now in the way of equable distribution,
may have been bridged over. There is now only one
10
considerable gap."
" Asa
Again our author remarks Gray and others have
:
shown that the affinity of the plants of southern Greenland

with those of Europe is such as to make it probable that they
emigrated directly from Europe, rather than by the longer
route across Asia and North America. Davis Strait seems
to have been a more effectual barrier to the emigration of
plants than was the North Atlantic on the east of Greenland.

This would imply that the elevation of the bed of the North
Atlantic is more certainly proved, or that it was longer con-
tinued than that of Davis Strait or Baffin Bay ;
or possibly it
may prove simply that, from being freer of ice, it was more
available for the passage of plants and animals."
u
Yet one more citation from this great glacialist may be
"
pardoned. He says : From the geographic distribution
of animals, not less than of plants, abundant evidence is
found that in a late geologic time, probably comprising the
closing stage of the Tertiary era and the early part of the
Quaternary until the Ice age, an extensive land area occupied
the present place of Behring Strait and Sea, upon which the
9 " Icefields and Life in the North Atlantic," p. 320.
Greenland
10
"The Age in North America," 4th ed., p. 379.
Ice
""Greenland Icefields and Life in the North Atlantic," p. 369.
fauna and flora of the northern lands freely migrated from

Europe and Asia America, and the reverse, becoming
to
two great continental regions. Over all
nearly alike in these
the circumpolar land expanse the mammoth, mastodon, and
many other large animals roamed from the United States to

Alaska, Siberia, Continental Europe, and the British Isles
12
during late Tertiary times."
In an editorial comment on " Where Did Life Begin ? "
E". H. Winchell says
"
In several of his chapters Dr.
:
Warren directs attention to the conditions favoring the com-

mencement of life at the pole. See p. 59. Wallace (quoted
i
by Warren) shows that the facts of arctic paleontology call
for the supposition of a primitive Eocene continent in the
highest latitudes/ Professor Heer of Zurich noted the same.

Baron Nordenskjb'ld arrived at the same conclusion. J.
Starkie Gardner argued from the facts known then (1878)
that continuous land once united Europe and North America.
This arctic continent, whether it was that which was sub-
merged by the ocean that covered northern Asia, as shown by
Professor G. F. Wright, in late Glacial or post-Glacial time,
or was that which gave birth to the great glaciers of the Glacial
epoch, subsisted through the Tertiary, since fossil Tertiary

land plants, indicating warm and moist climates, have been
found at numerous points within the Arctic circle. Given
this continent and the tropical warmth that its fossils denote,
the great preponderance of light over darkness, the intensity
of direct, continued sun's rays, and the conditions were
favorable for the most luxuriant, if not for spontaneous, life.
It is now a well-known doctrine of fossil botanists that the
oldest land plants of the earth originated in the region of
the North Pole and from there spread southwardly. This
evolution toward the south continued. That the Arctic
region was the birth place of plants and continued to send
Ibid., p. 215.
her progeny southward until the close of the Tertiary has

been demonstrated by Gray, Heer, Hooker, Kuntze, Saporta,
and others.
"
With the existence of such a continent at the North Pole,
and with the demonstrated stream of migratory plant life
emerging from it, the author does not fail to inquire as to the
evidence of animal origin in the same region. He quotes
Orton (1876) and Wallace (1876) to the effect that the
north temperate and Arctic regions have been the starting-
points of long continued migrations, and concludes this
branch of his inquiry in the following words From all the
:
'
facts, but one conclusion is possible, and that is that like as

the Arctic pole is the mother region of all plants, so it is
the mother region of all animals the region where in the
beginning God created every beast of the earth after its kind,
and cattle after their kind. And this is the conclusion now
being reached and announced by all comparative zoologists
who busy themselves with the problem of the origin and
" 13 7
prehistoric distribution of the animal world.

It is not assumed in our hypothesis that the origin of life
was at the pole, but simply that the canopy introduced condi-
tions favorable to development and distribution from that
point. It gives a reason for the many apparent anomalies

in the distribution of living beings in time and space. The
facts show this much, and the greenhouse roof explains the
facts. The conditions were recurrent with the appearance of
each successive canopy.
Warren's central idea of sun-controlled climates is all
wrong. Manson's theory of earth-controlled or canopy-

controlled climates approaches the truth, but this roof must
be broken up into separate belts, otherwise the whole earth
was encompassed by a mantle of cloud, a separate cause has
American Geologist, vol. xxxiii, No. 3, March, 1904; Wm. F.

18
Warren, "Paradise Found"; G. Hilton Scribner, "Where Did Life

Begin?"
7
to be found to account for the subsidence of the Arctic con-
tinent, the evolution of exogens remains unexplained, and

finally the recurrence of similar polar conditions in different
geological ages makes the idea untenable. For these reasons
the content of the atmosphere could not have formed the
blanket.
In this connection Chamberlin and Salisbury have put
"
the following on record An atmosphere so heavily sur-
:
charged with carbon dioxide and water-vapor must have been

rich in heat-absorbing power, and should have given a very
warm, equable climate to the earth, as has been rightly

assumed. Warm equable climates did indeed prevail in
a portion of the earlier history of the earth, as also in the
later but the investigations of the past two decades in India,
;
Australia, and South Africa have forced the recognition of

extensive glaciation on the very border of the tropics, at a
period as early as the closing Paleozoic. Evidences of glacia-

tion in northwestern Europe, and also in China in about 30
N". near the base of the Cambrian, has recently
lat, at or
been presented. Less striking but perhaps not less sig-
nificant is the occurrence in the early Paleozoic, of extensive
salt and gypsum beds in rather high latitudes. These de-
posits imply severe and protracted aridity, and such
seem to
aridity, especially where north of the 30 belt, is not readily

reconcilable with an enormous equalizing atmospheric
envelope.
u
There seem, therefore, to have been, in Paleozoic times,
much the same alternations of very uniform with very
diversified climates that marked the Mesozoic and Cenozoic
eras in other words, the alternations of climate seem to have
;
been of much the same order throughout the known eras.

The hypothesis of an enormous original atmosphere suffering
gradual depletion finds, therefore, but scant and uncertain
support in a critical study of either the biological or the
14
physical history of the earth."
"Geo., vol. ii, pp. 87-88.

It is hardly necessary to state that like conditions existed

at the South pole, and that this section also testifies that the
atmospheric content could not have been the controlling

factor of the climates. The zoogeographical distributions
establish the fact of the land connection, and science has even
gone so far as to name this Antarctic continent. In the
Permic it was known as Gondwana Land, and it is said to
have embraced Brazil, India, South Africa, and Australia.
~No doubt the causes- which brought about the .destruction of
the North polar continent were the -same that brought about
its destruction. In a future chapter we will show that the
action in both hemispheres was contemporaneous. This co-
incidence of time, and the fact of equatorial glaciation.
exclude the Adhemar-Croll hypothesis. 15
During the Cretaceous, Australia and South America

were united. 16 In the Quaternary the continent appears to
have again been enlarged to the wide limits it had in Permian
time. 17
"
If the land extensions and connections in the Southern
Hemisphere in the Permian period be made as slight as

biological data permit," say the joint authors of Chamber-
lin and Salisbury's Geology,
"
they would probably at least
consist of a connection from India, via Australia and the
old submerged land, to New Zealand, and thence to Antarc-
tica, and through this to South America. Other and more
northerly connections between India and South Africa, and
between the latter and South America, have usually been
ls
postulated."
15
Charles Schuchert, Journal of Geology, vol. xiv, No. 8, p. 725. See
also vol. xiv, No. 2, pp. 81-90; Dana, "Manual of Geology," 4th ed.,
pp. 737, 873, 937.

16
Dr. W. D. Matthew, "Outlines of the Continents in Tertiary
Times," Map No. 1.
"James D. Dana, "Man. of Geo.," 4th ed., p. 1019.

18
Vol. ii, pp. 675-676.
These conditions were followed by periftds of cold just the

same as in the Northern Hemisphere. The records as re-
"
vealed to date are as follows : In New Zealand the marks
of the Glacial period are unequivocal. The glaciers which
now come down from the lofty mountains upon the South
Island of New Zealand to within a few hundred feet of the
sea then descended to the sea-level. The longest existing
glacier in New Zealand is sixteen miles. One of the ancient
moraines contains a boulder from thirty to forty feet in
diameter, and the amount of glacial debris covering the
mountain-sides is said to be enormous. Reports have
also been recently brought of signs of ancient glaciers in
Australia.
"
According to Darwin, there are distinct signs of glacia-
tion upon the plains of Patagonia, sixty or seventy miles east
of the foot of the mountains, and in the Straits of Magellan
he found great masses of unstratified glacial material con-
taining boulders which were at least one hundred and thirty
miles away from their parent rock; while upon the island of
Chiloe he found embedded in
'
hardened mud ' boulders
which must have come from the mountain-chains of the
continent. Agassiz also observed unquestionable glacial
phenomena on various parts of the Fuegian coast, and indeed
everywhere on the continent south of latitude 37. Between
Concepcion and Arauco, in latitude 37, Agaseiz observed,
near sea-level, a glacial surface well marked with furrows
'
and scratches, and as well preserved, he says, as any he had
" 19
seen under the glaciers of the present day.'
M G. Frederick "Man and the Glacial Period," 2d

Wright, ed., pp.
126-128.
CHAPTER IX
CAUSE OF THE ICE AGES
THE cause of the ice inundations, up to this time, has

remained locked in the bosom of nature. Nearly all the
hypotheses advanced in explanation of the phenomena may
be grouped under the following heads: (1) the astronomic,
which call upon influences from outside the earth; (2) the
hypsometric, those which appeal to continental elevation;
(3) the atmospheric, those depending upon the constitution
and movements of the earth's gaseous envelopes.
1
Croll's semi-astronomic hypothesis, founded on the -vari-
ations in the eccentricity of the earth's orbit and the preces-
sion of the equinoxes, is dead. The greatly exaggerated
estimate of the time element kills it. Croll placed the close
of the last glacial epoch as 80,000 years ago, which, in the
light of modern discovery, is simply preposterous. Later

modifications which bring the last stages of the ice down to
within ten thousand years are also open to question.
The phenomena connected with the ice invasion seem to
have been practically universal, even the elevated areas in
the tropics being glaciated. Here once more CrolFs theory,
that the glacial epochs in one hemisphere coincided with the
interglacial epochs in the other, and vice versa, is sadly want-

ing. This same reason also rules out the epeirogenic or
elevation theory, 2 and Sir Charles Lyell's oscillations between
the continents and oceans, and all other hypotheses founded
1 " " Climate

Climate and Time in Their Geological Relations," also
and Cosmology," by James Croll; "The Cause of the Ice Age," Sir
Robert Ball; and "The Great Ice Age," James Geikie.
2 "
G. Frederick Wright, The Ice Age in North America," p. 573 ff.
James D. Dana, Man. of Geo., 4th ed., p. 978.
101
on changes in the distribution of land and water, together

with the hypothesis of a shifting polar axis. In this connec-
tion the following citation from Le Conte is to the point. He
says:
" The
more important element in the glacial problem is
the cause of the lower temperature. The fact of Permian
glaciation in low latitudes, either side of the equator, rules
out the astronomic hypothesis, and continental elevation alone
is insufficient. But a sufficient cause of secular changes of
temperature, affecting the whole earth alike, is found in
the variation in amount of the carbon dioxide of the
3
atmosphere/'
The
true cause, then, should be sought in or above the
atmosphere, but, as already intimated, a uniform blanket

and to this we may add, neither will variation
will not do,
in the amount of carbon dioxide answer, for if depletion
brought on the cold, then evaporation would have been less.

Cyclonic action and precipitation would have been at a
minimum. In other words, the idea that cold alone is
responsible for bringing about glacial conditions is like killing
the goose which lays the golden eggs.
"
It is perfectly mani-
fest," remarks Tyndall, " that by weakening the sun's action,

either through a defect of emission or by steeping of the
entire solar system in space of a low temperature, we shall
4
be cutting off the glaciers at their source."
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere makes a uniform

blanket, depletion makes the air more transparent to re-
flected heat (dark heat). The blanket once thinned, the
temperature falls, the moisture decreases, and for this reason
conditions are not good for an ice age; but nevertheless, as
stated above, the true cause should be sought in the
atmosphere, or, more correctly, in the regions immediately

above the atmosphere.
'Elements of Geo., 5th ed., p. 617.

4 "
Heat Considered as a Mode of Motion."
CAUSE OF THE ICE AGES .
103
Step by step now let us follow the on-coming of the

Glacial epoch and its explanation as revealed by the present
hypothesis. Previous to the period of cold, we have seen

that the warm climates did actually exist everywhere north
of the Arctic circle, and a canopy was postulated as existing
up to the boundaries of the polar regions. The warm tem-

peratures originating under this roof are further supposed
to have drifted out over the open space of the north, carrying
with them a temperate climate almost to the pole itself. At
this time the vegetation of central Europe and of the Middle
Atlantic States of America flourished in northern Greenland
and in Spitzbergen.
It is not assumed that the blanket which existed outside
or above the atmosphere was of any great degree of thickness ;
on the contrary, it was probably exceedingly thin. Yet its

influence was such that it prevented the free radiation of
heat, and thus it caused the secondary belts of vapor to be

raised in the atmosphere itself. ISTow, since the primary
canopy was upheld by centrifugal force, and since this force

was at a minimum at the axis of rotation, it follows that, as
it spread beyond the point of stability, its northern edge must
have been subjected to a continual depletion.

It is postulated on the strongest scientific grounds that
as the canopy aged it lost energy, hence this point of stability
retreated further and further south, and the great secondary
vapor belts withdrew with it. IsTatural sun-controlled
climatic conditions then began to appear in its wake, and the
average temperature became cooler and cooler.

Picture now the descent and dispersal of the forests
adjusted to a temperate climate. The tropical forms were

forced to migrate southward, and this made room for the
downward march of the inhabitants of Greenland and Spitz-
bergen to more hospitable latitudes. A single tree is helpless
before such a change in environment, since a tree alone cannot
migrate. But a forest of trees can, hence they followed the

retreating canopy, keeping under it or just beyond its con-

fines, according to the conditions to which they were best
suited. As the favorable conditions near the pole were dis-
turbed, the individual trees on that side of the forest-belt
gradually perished, but at the same time new territory was

continually being invaded southward.
The first changes in the climate, then, were not of a
sudden nature. But conditions were rapidly ripening for
an ice age. On the one hand vast belts of vapor circled in
the lower atmosphere of the middle zones; on the other the
open space of the north had expanded to such an extent that

the warm currents from the south could no longer maintain
an even temperature. In other words, the north was becom-
ing a condensing area, and the arctic flora and fauna began
to descend into the cloudy debatable region.
"
Charles Darwin says : The identity of many plants
and animals on mountain-summits, separated from each other
by hundreds of miles of low-lands, where Alpine species could
not possibly exist, is one of the most striking cases known of
the same species living at distant points, without the apparent
possibility of their having migrated from one point to the

other. It is indeed a remarkable fact to see so many plants
of the same species living on the snowy regions of the Alps or
Pyrenees, and in the extreme northern parts of Europe but ;
it is far more remarkable that the plants on the White
Mountains, in the United States of America, are all the

same with those of Labrador, and nearly all the same, as we
hear from Asa Gray, with those on the loftiest mountains
5
of Europe."
Sir Charles Lyell gave as an explanation of the com-
mingling of arctic and southern forms of animal life his

opinion that the periods of summer and winter were more
strongly contrasted. The fact of this commingling must have
"
Origin of Species," vol. ii, p. 92.
CAUSE OF THE ICE AGES 105
greatly troubled Sir Charles, as he was the great exponent of

the doctrine of uniformity.
But let us take up once more the thread of the on-coming
of the Ice age. When the northern limit of the canopy had
retreated to, say, the 35 of north latitude, and the cor-
responding edge in the south had withdrawn to the 35 of

south latitude, the condensing area as portrayed above was
represented by the middle ground between the pole and the
canopy belt.
The great masses of cloud undoubtedly reduced the aver-

age summer temperature. Chamberlin and Salisbury recog-
nize the potent influence of such persistent cloud and wind
factors, but to account for these same factors is as difficult a

problem to them as the original puzzle. Having shown how
these originated under the influence of the canopy, it is inter-
esting to see what the joint authors have to say about what
they call the Proximate hypotheses. We therefore quote
them as follows:
"
In the atmospheric class of hypotheses are to be
reckoned two that are proximate but not ultimate hypotheses :
namely, the cloud hypothesis and the wind hypothesis. With-

out doubt, clouds and wind are important factors in the
development of glaciation, but if clouds are made the essential

factor, the problem is only shifted to the cause of such
persistent clouds covering such large areas for tens of thou-
sands of years consecutively, with a cooling potency compe-
tent to develop the great ice-sheets. The solution of this seems
6
as formidable as the problem in its usual form."
The united effect of persistent cloud and wind conditions
was the lowering of the snow line, probably some several
thousand feet, and thus all the conditions became favorable
to the rapid accumulation of the ice. It has been estimated
that a lowering of the average temperature of the globe from
6
Geo., vol. iii, p. 445.
5 to 8 C. below the present temperature would be sufficient

7
to produce general conditions of glaciation.
"
Prof. Shaler has warned us that New England at the
present time barely escapes glacial conditions. The rudi-

ments of a glacier still remain in Tuckermann's Ravine upon
Mount Washington. A slight lowering of temperature or a
slight increase of snowfall would again start the glaciers of
the White Mountains out upon their career, and when once
started, it is difficult to tell where they would stop for glaciers
;
intensify the conditions to which they owe their origin, and

would seem to have almost unlimited power when once the
forces producing them have come fully into play. Equally
close is the approach to glacial conditions in Norway and
8
Alaska."
The circumstances, then, preeminently favoring the intro-
duction of the Ice age, were all present when the canopy had
receded to say the 35 of lat., abundant moisture was in the
atmosphere, and climatic conditions favorable to the precipi-
snow rather than as rain prevailed.
tation of this moisture as
Once these heavy falls exceeded the melting capacity of the
sun's rays, there arose an annual addition to the ice-sheet
"
Snow locks up, as it were, the capital upon dry land, where,
like all other capital, it becomes conservative, and resists with
great tenacity both the action of gravity and heat." Profes-

sor Wright analyzes these cumulative effects and he further
says:
"
Under the influence of heat ice melts, but in melting it
consumes an enormous amount of force. In order to melt
one cubic foot of ice, as much heat is required as would heat
a cubic foot of water from the freezing-point to 176 Fahr.,
or two cubic feet to 88 Fahr. To melt a layer of ice a foot
thick will therefore use up as much heat as would raise a
'Mid., p. 444.
8
G. Frederick Wright, "Greenland Icefields and Life in the North
Atlantic," p. 377.
layer of water two feet thick to the temperature of 88 Eahr. ;
and the effect becomes still more easily understood if we esti-
mate it as applied to air, for to melt a layer of ice only one

and a half inches thick would require as much heat as would
raise a stratum of air eight hundred feet thick from the freez-
ing-point to the tropical heat of 88 Fahr. We thus obtain a
good idea both of the wonderful power of snow and ice in
keeping down temperature and also the reason why it takes

so long a time to melt away, and is able to go on accumulating
9
to such an extent as to become permanent."
The importance of the cold polar currents, furnishing, as
they did, the cold dry air necessary to cause precipitation,

must not be overlooked. The path which these currents took
was established by the same laws that exist to-day, hence the
cyclonic areas cover the same ground. Persistent clouds
and fog, habitual to such conditions, formed and shielded the
glacial surface by their high reflecting powers, hence all the
auxiliary forces of nature may be said to have fallen into

line, doing their share to promote the general glacial
conditions.
The next point that attracts our attention is the centres
of distribution. The localization of these show that they
occupied areas of permanent atmospheric depression. There
is a remarkable correspondence between the border of the
ice-sheets and the course of the movement of storms to-day.

In other language, the atmospheric conditions were simply
exaggerated. The extremes were greater, but the cyclonic
paths of the storms were the same. It is notable that the
great ice-lobes converged toward the area where storm-

frequency is now
greatest. The canopy theestablished
mechanical factor which produced the vapor, and as this was
fixed geographically the cyclonic area also became fixed, in-
stead of moving with the atmosphere as the familiar stray
" North America," 4th

The Ice Age in ed., p. 406.
cyclones do. It seems natural, therefore, that their paths

should have been approximately the same then as now.
This conception provides for the precipitation of the
vapors brought into existence by a fixed mechanical agency,
and it gives a reason for the low temperature that caused
this precipitation to be in the form of snow. In Siberia, as
at present, the average precipitation should have been rela-
tively low, therefore the conditions never quite reached the

glacial stage; nevertheless, it is probable that great floods
swept over that land. A
glance at the map of North America
shows that the glacial centres were somewhere in the vicinity
of Lake Superior and Labrador. Chamberlin and Salisbury
remark that:
"It is not a little remarkable that the ice-sheets after
their retreats, and perhaps entire disappearances,
several
should have advanced repeatedly in nearly the same forms
and to nearly the same extents, though in some particulars
their habits otherwise were noticeably unlike. All these and
many minor facts are associated in theory with these perma-
' '
nent lows and the related storm-tracks. These features are
presumed to have been extended and intensified during the
glacial stages, but to have retained the general relations and
10
configurations they now possess."
From the standpoint of the present hypothesis, it does not
appear remarkable that the several ice-sheets should have
occupied nearly the same identical region. machine turns A
out the same results simply because it is mechanical, and the
canopy was to all intents and purposes a fixed feature.

Fluctuations in the declining edge of the canopy, causing it
to advance further north or retreat further south, are prob-
ably answerable for like advances and retreats of the ice-

sheets. The recognition of these recessions and advances is
of much more importance than the question whether they
are to be regarded as distinct glacial epochs.
10
Geo., vol. iii. p. 433.
"
Here is another feature.
Wright says It must be
:
confessed that Professor Dana's estimates of the size of the

Connecticut River floods at that time are somewhat startling,
even with all the changes of level for which he provides in his
theory. For, after reducing, by reason of the Champlain
depression, the gradient of the stream during the close of the
Ice period by one third, the slope of the surface of the Con-
necticut would still have been more than one foot per mile.
This, in a torrent 2,500 feet wide, with a depth of 140 feet,
would produce a current of eight miles per hour on the surface
and of six miles on the bottom. With this size of the flood,
the rate of discharge would be about four hundred cubic miles

of water per annum; whereas, at the present time the total
discharge of a year is only about five cubic miles. To cause

this enormous rate, Professor Dana supposes that, for a short
period, the Connecticut glacier melted at the rate of more

than a cubic mile per day. As he estimates the area of this
drainage-basin to be about 8,500 square miles, this would
imply that at times as much as eight inches per day melted
from this surface. This rapid rate of removal in summer is
not, however, supposed to continue for a long period

less than five years."
n
probably
James Geikie, speaking of certain interglacial beds, tells
"
us that they are of the very highest interest, since their
evidence amounts to a demonstration that the Ice age was
12
not one long uninterrupted period of cold conditions."
Vegetation sometimes grew up to the edge of the ice. Re-

mains are found in the drift. The mere presence of this
material in situ between beds of drift no proof of distinct
is
glacial epochs, for this growth may have occurred during a

temporary retreat, and a slight advance of the ice may have
buried it beneath more drift. It is proof, however, that the
11 "
The Ice Age in North America," 4th ed., pp. 306-307. American
Journal of Science, vol. cxxiii, 1882, p. 198.
""The Great Ice Age," 3d ed., p. 129.
climate on the border of the ice was not so cold after all.
A slight advance of the canopy bringing this perpetual sum-

mer warmth over the edge of the glacier caused floods such
as that pictured by Dana.
Forest remains, found under like conditions as those above
portrayed, not only show the presence of this warmth, but also
that the periods of fluctuation were sometimes of considerable
length.
"
the most remarkable of the interglacial forest
Among
beds are those near Toronto. Among the identifiable plant
remains are those of the pawpaw, the ash, the elm, the oak,
and the yew. Most of these species now range as far north
as Toronto, but most of them have their greatest development
farther south. The pawpaw is not known so far north. It
flourishes in the latitude of the Ohio River, ranging thence
north to Lake Erie. At
the present time these species as a
whole seem to belong to the climate of a latitude somewhat
lower than that of Toronto. Their testimony is that the
climate of Toronto, during the interval of deglaciation when
they grew, was somewhat warmer than that of the present

time in the same locality. Toronto is 800 miles or more
from the centre of the Labrador ice sheet." 13
Because of this evidence of heat, the joint authors of the

!N"ew Jersey publication arrive at the following conclusion:
" The
temperate climate which the plant remains prove makes
it clear that the ice sheet which existed north of Toronto at
that time must have been small, for with no ice sheet there
at the present time, the climate is less warm than during the
interval of deglaciation when the plants grew.
"
It is of significance to note that the phenomena of
America are in keeping with those of Europe on this point.
# * * "j"]^ remains of land animals are often found in the
forest beds or at corresponding horizons. Their significance
13
"Glacial Geology of New Jersey," vol. v, Final Report, pp.
171-172.
is similar. At Toronto, for example, animal remains are
found, and, the plants, they indicate a temperature

like
warmer than that of the same region at the present time." 14
It has been shown by the migrations of the plants and
animals that the on-coming of the Ice age was gradual, but
there are likewise features of suddenness. Thus the burial
of entire mammoths by a mighty storm, and
just such storms
must have taken place. The swirling power of the canopy
may at times have
the atmospheric belts themselves in
set
motion, and the latter carrying the moisture laden vapors

must have caused deluges and snows that at times were of
cataclysmal magnitude. Winchell says:
"
If the change to an arctic climate had been gradual, the
herds of mammoths would probably have slowly migrated
southward ; or, if no actual migration occurred, the extinction
of the mammoth population would have been distributed over
many and the destruction of individuals would have
years,
taken place at temperatures which were still insufficiently
rigorous to preserve their carcasses for a hundred ages.
Whole herds of mammoths must have been overwhelmed by
a sudden invasion of arctic weather. Some secular change
produced an unprecedented precipitation of snow. We may
imagine elephantine communities huddled together in the
sheltering valleysand in the deep defiles of the rivers, where,
on previous occasions, they had found that protection which
carried them safely through wintry storms. But now the
snow-fall found no pause. Like cattle overwhelmed in the
gorges of Montana, the mammoths were rapidly buried. By
precipitation and by drifting, fifty feet of snow, perhaps,
accumulated above them. They must perish; and with the
sudden change in the climate, their shroud of snow would
remain wrapped about them through all the mildness of the
ensuing summer. The fleecy snow would become granular;
14
IUd., p. 172.
itwould be neve or firn, as in the glacier sources of the Alps.

It would finally become solid ice, compact, clear and sea-
green in its limpid depths. It would be a glacier and so it
;
would travel down the gorges, down the valleys toward the
frozen ocean, sweeping buried mammoths bodily in its resist-
less stream. Thus, in the course of ages, their mummied
forms would reach a latitude more northern than that in
which they had been inhumed." 15
The mammoth may have found the physical conditions
under the canopy insupportable, or, again, it may be that the
extinction of this great beast may best be accounted for by
saying, it was his intelligence that killed him. Elephants are

acknowledged to be the most knowing animals, and the mam-
moth belongs to this family. Looking at the lowering skies
to the south, perhaps he feared to explore the only region
which would have meant safety, whereas other creatures, of
less intelligence, rushed blindly in and so came into posses-
sion of the garden-land. The mammoths' stay in the de-

"
batable land resulted in their being overcome suddenly."
One of the difficult problems in connection with the cause
of the Ice age has always been to account for the remarkable
fact that the greater part of Alaska, the extreme North, and
also portions of Greenland, were not extensively glaciated
16
during Pleistocene time. Our explanation is that the
gradual withdrawal of the canopy did not allow of the forma-
tion of ice-sheets in the far north. The
area of precipitation
followed the outer rim of the canopy, and until this had
descended into the lower latitudes the clear space of the
north was not large enough to allow of the radiation of suf-
13 "
Sparks from a Geologist's Hammer/' pp. 244-245.
"Israel C. Russell, "Glaciers of North America," pp. 139, 144-145.
"
James D. Dana, Man. of Geo.," 4th ed., p. 977. G. Frederick Wright,
"Greenland Icefields and Life in the North Atlantic," pp. 206-207,
369-370. Chamberlin and Salisbury, Geo., vol. iii, pp. 329-330,
336-337.
vapors from the south to turn to

ficient hea^t to cause, the
snow. When this point was finally reached the area of

precipitation was south of the arctic circle. The fact here
clearly stated proves conclusively that the cause of the Ice
age was some other than the gradual lowering of temperature,
such as might have been brought about by a depletion of the
carbon dioxide of the atmosphere, or by elevation of the con-
tinental masses. The distribution of the ice during the
Glacial period was not such as to indicate a gradual exten-
sion of it from the north pole, but rather its accumulation
upon centres many degrees to the south.

There was a northern limitation and there was a southern
limitation. The continental ice belts reached 40 of lati-
tude. If no influence existed to prevent the cold from this
region descending southward, it would seem certain that it

would have done so. Sympathetic glaciation would surely
have reached the equator. All tropical vegetation would
have been exterminated. Since it was not, it follows that a
preventive cause must have existed. The survival of in-
numerable tropical plants shows that the Glacial age was not
a period of universal cold.
JSFow, the preventive cause of southern invasion was the belt

of tropical or semi-tropical heat girding the earth under the
greenhouse roof at about the 35 of latitude. At first this

canopy formed one blanket from the 35 of south latitude
to a like latitude in the north, but as time went on it is
further postulated that the sky cleared at the equator, leaving

a northern and a southern belt. Under these conditions the
high lands between the belts also became somewhat glaciated.
Thus the hypothesis we are considering accounts for a vast
storehouse of heat, where vapor was formed, which in turn
furnished the material for deluges of rain and great storms
of snow. Accumulation of ice north of the protected belt
established the ice-sheets, and at a much later period local
glaciation began to appear on the mountains to the south.

8
The cold and warm

zones, brought thus into juxtaposition,
gave rise to cyclonic convulsions upon a scale which the
ordinary operations of nature cannot begin to parallel.
The breaking up of the belt caused the sympathetic
final
glaciation above referred to to invade the whole earth. As

an illustration of how this would have occurred, it is inter-
esting to know that "the small precipitation in Greenland
commonly stated to be only about ten inches annually on and

near the coast renders it quite probable that if the ice were
once melted away, it would not,under present conditions,
accumulate* again." 17
We have already quoted the same
author as saying:
"
Under the influence of heat ice melts, but in melting
it consumes an enormous amount of force. In order to melt
one cubic foot of ice as much heat is required as would heat a
cubic foot of water from the freezing-point to 176 Fahr.,
or two cubic feet to 88 Fahr. To melt a layer of ice a
foot thick will therefore use up as much heat as would raise
a layer of water two feet thick to the temperature of 88
Fahr. ; and the effect becomes still more easily understood if
we estimate it as applied to air, for to melt a layer of ice only
one and a half inch thick would require as much heat as would
raise a stratum of air eight hundred feet thick from the
freezing-point to the tropical heat of 88 Fahr. thus We

obtain a good idea both of the wonderful power of snow and
ice in keeping down temperature, and also the reason why
it takes so long a time to melt away, and is able to go on
18
accumulating to such an extent as to become permanent."
"
James Geikie says Every one, indeed, has heard of
:
the heat of the arctic sun, which shines day and night during
the whole summer-tide. But despite the sun's power the
" " and Life in the North Atlantic,"

Wright, Greenland Icefields
p. 367.
18 "
The Ice Age in North America," 4th ed., p. 406.
mean temperature of summer in North Greenland does not

exceed one or two degrees above freezing-point, and this is
19
entirely owing to the presence of snow and ice."
We can understand from these citations how it was that

glaciation reached the tropics. When
the canopy finally
dispersed it was like removing a wall or dam which had

stopped or held in check the cooling currents which obtained
their low degree of temperature from the vast accumulations
of ice to the north, and which had already invaded the lower
latitudes. The duration of this southern glaciation, how-
ever, was short-lived. The sun got in its work in time to .
save the tropical forms of life, but not in time to prevent

the migration of certain arctic species from the one zone to
the other.
In connection with the fact of the migration of arctic
" we
species, Sir Robert Ball tells us that have the high
authority of Sir J. Hooker for the remarkable fact that a
great number of the flowering plants in Patagonia are either

identical with or closely allied to plants in temperate North
America and Europe. To realize the significance of this
fact, consider not so much that Patagonia and Northern
Europe are separated by thousands of miles of land and sea,

as that between them lies the torrid zone, in which these
plants adapted temperate regions could not live.

to There is
no continuity between the flora of Patagonia and that of
North America, for equatorial America is a barrier through
which such organisms could not pass. How, then, are we to
explain the community of botanical forms in two regions so
remote ? It is impossible to believe that these separate floras
can have sprung independently into being, for all analogies
of nature demonstrate that they must have had some common
source. The glacial theory is at hand to render an explana-
tion of the facts." 20
"The Great Ice Age," 3d ed., p. 800.

20
"The Cause of an Ice Age," p. 146.
Ball supported the Crollian hypothesis, and his explana-

is not very satisfactory.
tion of these facts T. G. Bonney,
"
along with many others, tells us that the extension of the
glaciers on Mount Kenya (19,500) is specially interesting,

because position (almost on the equator) suggests a pos-
its
sible refrigeration of the earth as a whole rather than of

its hemispheres alternately. Formerly its glaciers de-
scended to a height of about 9,800 feet above sea-level, or
their end was about 9,700 feet vertical beneath the summit,
instead of about 4,000 feet, as at present. Kenya, in those
days, must have presented conditions generally corresponding
with those of a peak in the Alps rising to a height of about
14,000 feet (where the snow-line is about 8,000 feet, or 6,000
below the summit). On Kenya formerly this line should
have been not far from 13,500 feet above the sea, and its
present level must be about 15,000 feet; a difference which
roughly corresponds with a lowering of temperature
amounting to 5."
That which true of the recent Pleistocene glaciation
is
is likewise true of those which occurred in remote geological

"
ages. Evidence has been adduced from the Carboniferous
"
times," says Archibald Geikie, to support the view that in
spite of the genial temperature indicated by the vegetation

there were glaciers even in tropical and sub-tropical regions.
Coarse boulder-conglomerates and striated stones have been
cited from various parts of India, South Africa, and eastern
21
Australia, as evidence of ice-action."
.,
3d ed., p. 809.
CHAPTER X
SYMPATHETIC FEATURES
THEEE were a great many other sympathetic features
connected with the Ice age upon which the present hypothesis
throws light. II. W. Pearson's views relative to the drift-
wood origin of coal, accounting for, as they do, the remains
of the plants grown in situ, might be transferred bodily into
1
this volume. Both hypotheses, though they are as far apart
as the east is from the west, in their primary conceptions,
recognize the fact that the ice caused the inundations re-
quired to accumulate the vast deposits of the Carboniferous,
and is responsible also for the phenomenon of the raised
beaches of the several geological ages involved.

These views have been held more or less definitely by
"
'many others. Thus, Professor Penck thinks it likely that
the pluvial periods, of which there is evidence in many of
the deserts of the world, were contemporaneous with ice-
advances, and that desiccation phenomena accompanied inter-

2
glacial epochs."
The phenomena of desiccation seem to have been first
cousins of the pluvial manifestations. We would point out
that no other hypothesis than the one now before us can
explain how it is few hundred miles

that within a range of a
these two extremes should be contrasted, and yet there is
geological evidence to show that such were the actual

conditions.
Frederick S. Dellenbaugh says of the Grand Canyon of
"
the Colorado that the inner gorge appears to have been cut
far more rapidly than the outer one, and at a much later
" *
American Supplement, No. 1683, April 4, 1908.
Scientific
2
Geographical Journal, Feb. 1906, pp. 182-187. The Journal of
Geology, vol. xiv, No. 6, Sept.-Oct., 1906, p. 570.
117
period. Were this not the case, there

would be no inner
gorge. It is a singular fact that
some side canyons the
Kanab, for example while now possessing no running water,
or at best a puny rivulet, and
depending for their corrasion
on intermittent floods, meet on equal terms the great Colo-
rado, the giant that never for a second ceases its ferocious
attack.
* * * A on contemplating some of
suspicion arises,
these apparent discrepancies, that the prevailing conditions
of corrasion are not what they were at some earlier period,
when they were such that it was rendered more rapid and
violent ;
was perhaps an epoch when these deep-cut
that there
tributary canyons carried perennial streams, and when the

volume of the Colorado itself was many times greater, pos-
sessing a multiplied corrasive power, while the adjacent areas
3
were about as arid as now." Dellenbaugh, who was one
of the members of Major J. W. Powell's second expedition,
undoubtedly correctly surmises that the cause of the addi-
tional corrasive power was increased precipitation on the
mountain summits during the Glacial epoch. We might add,
the result of the sympathetic glaciation. The significant
point is that the region of the canyons, according to the evi-
dence, was then as arid as at present. The inference is
obvious the region in question lay under the protecting belt,
:
hence, though great quantities of moisture were in the air,

geologically speaking the area was one of desiccation.
Like conditions naturally prevailed in the remote geolog-
ical ages when other belts caused other glaciations. Thus
the problems of the Permian are summed up by Chamberlin
and Salisbury, and we would point out that desiccation under
the canopy belt existed then just as it existed in the Pleisto-
cene. The joint authors say:
"Between a marvelous deployment of glaciation, a
strangely dispersed deposition of salt and gypsum, an extra-
8
"The Romance of the Colorado River," pp. 46-47.
SYMPATHETIC FEATURES 119
ordinary development of red beds, a decided change in ter-

restrial vegetation, a great depletion of marine life, a
remarkable shifting of geographic outlines, and a pronounced
stage of crustal folding, the events of the Permian period
constitute a climacteric combination. Each of these phe-
nomena brings its own unsolved questions, while their
combination presents a plexus of problems of unparalleled
difficulty. More than any other period since the Cambrian,
the Permian is the period of problems. With little doubt
these marked phenomena were related to one another, and
their elucidation is quite sure to be found in a common
group of cooperative agencies. While it is too much to hope
for a full elucidation at once, there is no occasion to blink the
4
facts or evade the issues they raise."
Evaporation is akin to desiccation, and this took place

under the zonal belts. Precipitation occurred in the open
zones, outside the influence of the protecting canopy. Under
these conditions salt deposits could beformed in one region
while in an adjacent territory torrential floods were accom-
plishing their work.

As has no occasion to evade an issue raised,
this hypothesis
the phenomena of crustal folding and kindred questions next

attract attention. Undoubtedly they were of a sympathetic
nature, elucidation of the one great cause opening the way for
a discussion of the cooperative agencies.
According to Professor G. Pozzi, the principal volcanic

outbreaks of Italy are of the Glacial period. 5 Professor
"
Wright says The connection of lava-flows on the Pacific
:
coast with the Glacial period is unquestionably close. For

some reason which we do not fully understand, the vast ac-
cumulation of ice in North America during the Glacial
period is correlated with enormous eruptions of lava west of
the Rocky Mountains, and, in connection with these events,
4
Geo., vol. ii, pp. 655-656.
5
Atti Linci, 3d ser., vol. ii (1878), p. 35.
there took place on the Pacific coast an almost entire change

in the plants and animals occupying the regions." 6
The same author says of the columnar outflows of basalt of
Disco Island and contiguous and more northern islands along
"
the Greenland coast The date of these lava outflows was
:
approximately the same with similar or even grander volcanic

action in the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and the region of the
Cascade Mountains in Oregon and Washington." 7
Chamber] in and Salisbury give the following summary
"
of the evidence in America There are lava-flows and
:
cinder cones of Quaternary age in ~New Mexico, Colorado,
Utah, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and at various

points in the Sierras. On many of them vegetation has
hardly begun to gain a foothold. Gilbert estimates that of
250 lava fields observed in these states 15 per cent, are of
Pleistocene age, and of the 350 volcanic cones in the same
States, 60 per cent, are considered to be Pleistocene. Vol-

canic ash is* interbedded with loess at various points in
eastern Washington and Oregon, and overlies glacial
moraines in some parts of Alaska. Glacier Peak, Washing-
ton, is the remnant of a volcano formed after the elevation

of the base-leveled tract. Mount Eainier dates from about
8
the same time."
Associated as these instances were with the Glacial
period, there can be no doubt that the redistribution of the
land, caused by the heaping up of the ice, was the proximate
9
cause. The ice depressed the Champlain valley about 200
6
"Man and the Glacial Period/' 2d ed., p. 301.
7 " Greenland Icefields and Life in the North
Atlantic," p. 208.
8
Geo., vol. iii, p. 479.
9
N. S. Shaler, "Depression of the Terrestrial Surface Caused by
Accumulation of Ice-Sheets." Proc. Boston Nat. Hist. Soc., xvii, p.
288. T. F. Jamieson, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., 1882, and Geol. Mag.,
Fisher, "Physics of Earth's Crust," p. 223. A.
1882, pp. 400, 526.
Geikie, Geo., 3d ed., p. 295. G. Frederick Wright, "The Ice Age in
North America," 4th ed., pp. 368, 369, 573, 576, 586, 595, 616, 618.
feet,and it is generally conceded that the whole St. Lawrence

region must have stood some hundreds of feet lower than now.
Where did the crushed out or displaced strata go ?
" These relations between the amount of ele-
post-glacial
vation and the centre of the icefield have led to the hypothesis
'(1) that the low altitude of the land at the close of the last
glacial epoch was the result of sinking caused by the great

load ofice, and that the sinking was greatest where the ice
was thickest; and (2) that the rise of the land since the
glacial period is the result of the removal of the load of ice,
and that the was greatest where the depression
resilience
was greatest, namely, where the ice was thickest. This
hypothesis, which makes the crust of the earth responsive to
]oad, is the doctrine of isostasy.
"
Attempts have been made to test this hypothesis in
various ways. The result of all investigations thus far
carried out seems to point to the conclusion that it contains
a truth, and that load, or the removal of load, affecting a
great area, is a real cause of crustal movement. It is not to

be inferred, however, that this responds promptly or uni-
formly to it. It is probable that other forces originate crustal
oscillation, or may limit, delay, or defeat the movement which

load or removal would tend to produce." 10
its
After the ice disappeared the ocean invaded the Cham-

plain depression, but, the load having been removed, the land
"
began to return to its normal elevation. The conclusion
that the northern lands were lower than now when the ice
melted carries with it the farther conclusion that the land
has since risen, relative to the sea level. Much other evi-
dence, gathered from a wide range of territory, points to the
same conclusion. Not only this, but the post-glacial rise of
the land seems to have been greater, as the centre of the
icefield is approached, and amounts to as much as 1,000 feet
10 " Final Report, pp. 200, 201.

Glacial Gteo. of N. J., vol. v,
or more near the centre of the field." n The time factor of

this dynamic oscillation was certainly much faster than is
12
generally realized.
Load was only one of the proximate factors resulting
from the atmospheric belts, that caused plutonic and other
terrestrial disturbances. All the most pronounced mani-
festations of vulcanism occurred at periods when the belted
canopy was undergoing some form of change. Thus during
the Tertiary vast floods of lava were poured out in both the
Old and the ISTew Worlds. Going still further back, like
phenomena mark the later parts of the Cretaceous, and it is

13
the same story in the more remote ages.
still The immedi-
ate cause of these outbreaks was undoubtedly the weight of
ice and the pressure of the atmosphere. But these factors
only acted on the critical region (anamorphic zone) of rock
flowage. Be it remembered we advocate a rigid earth.
"
Archibald Geikie, in this connection, says Leaving :
for the present the general question of the cause of volcanic
action, it may be here remarked that the conditions determin-

ing any particular eruption are still unknown. The explo-
sions of a volcano may be to some extent regulated by the
conditions of atmospheric pressure over the area at the time.
In the case of a volcanic funnel like Stromboli, where, as
Scrope pointed out, the expansive subterranean force within,
and the repressiveeffect of atmospheric pressure without, just
balance each other, any serious disturbance of that pressure
might be expected to make itself evident by a change in the

condition of the volcano. Accordingly, it has long been
remarked by fishermen of the Lipari Islands that in stormy
11
Ibid., p. 200.
12
For figures relative to this interesting phenomenon, see New York
State Museum, Bui. 84, Geo. 8, pp. 236-238.
A. Geikie, Geo., 3d ed., pp. 258, 973. James D. Dana, Manual
13
of Geo., 4th ed., pp. 299-300, 365-366, 392. Joseph Le Conte, Geo., 5th
ed., p. 525.
weather there is at Stromboli a more copious discharge of

steam and stones than in fine weather. They make use of
the cone as a weather-glass, the increase of its activity indi-
cating a falling, and the diminution a rising, barometer. In

like manner, Etna, according to Sartorius von Waltershausen,
is more active in the winter months. Mr. Coan has indicated
a relation between the eruptions of Kilauea and the rainy
seasons of Hawaii, most of the discharges of that crater
taking place within the four months from March to June.

"
When we remember the connection, now indubitably
established, between a more copious discharge of fire-damp in
mines and a lowering of atmospheric pressure, we may be
prepared to find a similar influence affecting the escape of
vapors from the upper surface of the lava-column of a vol-
cano for it is not so much to the lava itself as to the expan-
;
sive vapors impregnating it that the manifestations of

volcanic activity are due. Among the Yesuvian eruptions
since the middle of the seventeenth century, the number which
took place in winter and spring has been to that of those
which broke out in summer and autumn as 7 to 4. In Japan
also the greater number of recorded eruptions have taken
place during the cold months of the year, February to

* * *
April.
"
The greater frequency of Japanese volcanic eruptions
and earthquakes in winter has been referred in explanation
to the fact that the average barometric gradient across Japan
is steeper in winter than in summer, while the piling up of
snow in the northern regions gives rise to long-continued
stresses, in consequence of which certain lines of weakness in
the earth's crust are more prepared to give way during the
winter months than they are in summer." 14
14
Geo., 3d ed., pp. 205-206.
CHAPTER XI
RECENTNESS OF THE LAST STAGES OF THE ICE
THIS chapter is introduced to show that the last stages
of the ice invasion were of such recent date that man, includ-
ing even civilized man, was a witness of the grand phenomena
of the belted canopy. The demonstration of this point is
very important, as its establishment admits before the court

the evidence locked up in the mythological tales, the fossil
thought of those ancient days, which has come down to us as

an echo. It is generally admitted by the scientists that man
livedon the earth during the Pleistocene, therefore in a
measure this chapter is unnecessary, but that the lay mind
may find it easier to follow the argument, and that no link
may be wanting, especially at such an important junction, it

seems best to present a general outline of the evidence.
Further, it may be well to state that remnants of the belts
probably survived in the heavens long after the ice disap-
peared. Now, since man lived in the Pleistocene, he saw
the system in its glory, and as it is assumed that remnants
remained until a much later period, he saw the decline and
fall of the same, the Ragnarok of his gods.
The popular idea that the Ice age occurred at a very

remote date, humanly speaking, lives on in spite of the fact
that science has controverted the data on which it was orig-
inally founded. Estimates of this character are based more
or less on three worn-out theories: (1) Ly ell's principle of
uniformity Nature's
in operations, which has led to an
exaggerated estimate of the Glacial age, in order to proportion
it to the other events in geologic time; (2) Croll's hypothesis
of the precession of the equinoxes (now generally dis-
credited) ; (3) Darwin's system of evolution, which requires

124
RECENTNESS OF THE LAST STAGES OF THE ICE 125
long periods of time for the development of new species from

a parent stem. De Vries removes this difficulty, as his
" mutants " fulfil all
requirements for the shortening of the
time element.
The data we are now after are those of the withdrawal of
the last of the ice from the centre of glaciation. In one
sense the age is not yet over; the glaciers, especially those
of Alaska, are still receding. But this slow recession, while
it shows that the date of heavy glaciation was recent, is of
value in the present connection, for it only demonstrates
little
the tenacity with which cold stored up in the past has en-
dured. It does not show that the cause itself still existed
until recent time. In order to find out what this date may
be, we want to determine the approximate date of the first
withdrawal of ice from the southern border of the ice sheet.
To that end we introduce the following testimony.
Prestwich places a rough estimate within the limits of
6,000 to 12,000 years as necessary for the wearing back along
the coast-line of certain cliffs since the glacial submergence in
the soft Cretaceous, Oolitic, and Liassic strata in the South
of England. 1 The evidence from weathering in America
confirms this. T. C. Chamberlin, State Geologist of Wis-
"
consin, says : ~No sensible denudation had taken place there
since glacial times." 2
H. Carville Lewis says in connection with the striae on
"
Cannon Hill, Kerry, Ireland At the present day the
:
northwest winds are the wet winds. The winds were the
same in the time of the local glaciers. The marks are so
not be over 5,000 years old." 3 In "
fresh that they may
Europe, likewise, numerous estimates of the lapse of time
ia On Certain Phenomena
Belonging to the Close of the Last
Geological Period, etc.," p. 71.
*Geo. of Wis., vol. ii, p. 632.
8
"The Glacial Geo. of Great Britain and Ireland," pp. 93, 94.
since the Glacial period, as collatedby Hansew, are found

to be comprised between the limits of 5,000 and 12,000
4
years."
Material comprising deposits of the Glacial age is very
slightly oxidized and disintegration is very slightly advanced,
even when said deposits occupy exposed positions. All this
indicates that the lapse of time has not been long. fce late
Professor White,ôf the Pennsylvania Geological Survey, de-

scribes freshly preserved leaves at great depths which he
found in terraces on the Monongahela River. He also de-
scribes a certain pebble which he found near the Big Sandy,
and which peculiarly liable to disintegration, nevertheless
is
"
his specimens were in good condition. There is not space
to mention the many other places where wood is reported in
the modified drift filling what are perhaps preglacial torrents,
and which may therefore have been transported a long dis-
tance from their native place. One such was reported to
me in the valley of Raccoon Creek, in Granville, Licking
County, Ohio, and but a few miles from the glaciated border.
This was found ninety-four feet below the surface of the
terrace, which would bring it about forty feet below the
present bed of the stream. A
few miles farther up in this
same valley so many red-cedar logs were formerly found
beneath the glacial terraces along the valley, and the wood was
so fresh, that a flourishing business was for a while carried
on in manufacturing household utensils from them. Red
cedar is not found in that region now, and these logs are
probably of the same period with those described as found
in true glacial till in Butler County, and which are so fresh
as to preserve still the peculiar odor of the wood.
" Professor Collett
reports that all through that portion
of southwestern Indiana included within the glacial boundary
there are found, from sixty to a hundred and twenty feet
4
below the surface, peat, muck, rotted stumps, branches and

leaves of trees, and that these accumulations sometimes occur
through a thickness of from two to twenty feet.

"
We
may mention also, as probably connected with the
period of the ice-dam at Cincinnati, the well-preserved
organic remains found in the high-level terraces of various
tributaries of the upper Ohio. In the vicinity of Morgan-
town, Professor I. C. White, as already noted, reports that
in the terraces which he connects with the period of the Cin-
cinnati ice-dam the leaves of our common forest-trees are
most beautifully preserved some distance below the surface,
and that logs of wood in a semi-rotted condition were encoun-
tered seventy feet below the surface." 5
Very little erosion has taken place since the Kames of

Scotland or America were deposited, and in both these locali-
ties thesepeculiar relics of the Glacial period retain their
"
sharpness of outline. When, also, one considers the
chemical agencies at work to decompose the rocks everywhere
protected by a covering of till, the freshness of the glaciated
surfaces never ceases to be a cause of astonishment. * * *
"
Closely connected with the preceding class of facts are
the observations made upon the extent to which the lakes,
dating from the Glacial period, have been filled with sedi-
ment. Little reflection is required to make it evident that
our present lake-basins could not always have existed; for,
' ?
except where counteracting agencies are at work, the wash
of the hills will in due time fill to the brim all inclosed areas
of depression. Mr. Upham, of the Minnesota Geological
Survey, expresses surprise at the small extent to which the
numerous lakes of that State have been filled with the sedi-
e
ment continually washing into them. The lapse of time
since the Ice age has been insufficient for rains and streams
to fill these basins with sediment, or to cut outlets low
enough
B " North America," 4th

The Ice Age in ed., p. 493.
to drain them, though in many instances we can see such

6
changes going forward.'
"
Dr. E. Andrews, of Chicago, has made calculations,
deserving of more attention than they have had, concerning
the rate at which the waters of Lake Michigan are eating
into the shoresand washing the sediment into deeper water
or toward the southern end of the lake. 7 The United States
Coast Survey have carefully sounded the lake in all its parts,
and have ascertained the width of the area of shallow water
extending inward from the shores. It is well known that
waves are limited in their downward action, so that there will
be a surrounding shelf, or shoulder of shallow water, in cases
where the waves of a deep lake are eroding its banks. This
fringe of shallow water encircling Lake Michigan is only a
few miles wide; and from such data as have been gathered,
the average rate of erosion found to be as much as five or
is
six feet per annum which would indicate that the lake-basins
;
had not been in existence more than seventy-five hundred

3
years."
The author from whom we have just quoted enters into a
9
lengthy discussion of the date of the Glacial period, from
which we cite the following :
"
Seven thousand years may, with a good deal of confi-
dence, be taken as the age of the lower part of the Niagara

gorge. This, of course, does not take us back to the period
when the front of the glacier lay in the headwaters of the
Delaware and the Little Miami River, and when glacial floods
were depositing the gravel at Trenton, 'New Jersey, and at
Loveland and Madisonville, Ohio, and where Drs. Abbott and
Metz have found paleolithic implements but it does bring us
;
back to within a comparatively short distance of that period,
"Minnesota Geological Report for 1879, p. 73.

'American Journal of Science, vol. xcviii, 1869, pp. 172 et seq.
1
"Wright, "The Ice Age in North America," 4th ed., pp. 470-471.
*IUd., pp. 448-505.
the difference being merely the time necessary for the melting
back of the ice from the summit of the Gatskills to the
southern flanks of the Adirondacks, and from the water-
partings of the Ohio to the north shore of Lake Erie.

"
A
second typical place for the study of the recession of
post-glacial waterfalls is presented in the gorge of the Mis-
sissippi River below the Falls of St. Anthony at Minneapolis.
The problem here presented has been carefully studied by
Professor N. Winchell, the State Geologist of Minnesota,
li.
who thinks he can pretty closely approximate to the truth
concerning its antiquity." The average arrived at for these

10
calculations is 7,803 years.
" "
The .Falls of St. Anthony," says Le Conte, recedes
about five feet per annum, and has made its gorge in about
1X
8,000 years."
Warren Upham arrives at a somewhat earlier date,
though the region on which he founds his conclusion is farther
north. He writes " Likewise probably the uprise of the
:
St. Lawrence basin was at first relatively rapid, so that it all
might take place within the period of about 7,000 or 6,000

years which is indicated for Postglacial time in that part of
the northern United States and Canada by Prof. N. li.
Winchell, in his studies of the recession of the Falls of St.

Anthony, with which my studies of the Niagara falls and
gorge well coincide. The former estimate of the period since
the Ice age as tens of thousands of years, still advocated by
Gilbert and Woodworth, is opposed by a great range of well
accordant evidence on the glacial areas of both North America
and Europe." 12
"
These calculations concerning the age of Niagara and
the Falls of St. Anthony are amply sustained by the study of
various minor waterfalls and gorges in Ohio, to which I have
IMd., pp. 458, 464.

"Elements, 5th ed., p. 15.
18
American Geologist, November, 1905, vol. xxxvi, No. 5, p. 288.
"
myself given special attention/' says Wright. For ex-
ample, at Elyria, twenty-five miles west of Cleveland, Black
River plunges over the outcropping Waverly sandstone, and
flows onward to the lake through a wide valley in the Erie
shale, which was doubtless preglacial, though no buried chan-

nel above has yet been discovered. The gorge below the falls/
which has been eroded since glacial times, and which approxi-
mately represents the work done by Black River during that
time, only a trifle over two thousand feet long.
is The water
flowing over the falls represents the drainage of about four
hundred square miles, and the sandstone which forms the
precipice over which the water plunges is underlaid by soft
shale very favorable to rapid erosion." 13
Warren Upham in " Popular Astronomy " gives the fol-
lowing data, which ably summarize what has already been
said. He remarks " In various localities we are able to
:
measure the present rate of erosion of gorges below water-

falls, and the length of the postglacial gorge divided by the
rate of recession of the falls gives approximately the time
since the Ice age. Such measurements of the gorge and
falls of St.Anthony by Prof. ~N. H. Winchell show the length
of the Postglacial or Recent period to have been about 8,000
years; and from the surveys of Niagara Falls, Prof. G. F.

Wright and the present writer believe it to have been 7,000
years, more or less. From the rates of wave-cutting along
the side of Lake Michigan and the consequent accumulation
of sand around the south end of the lake, Dr. E. Andrews
estimates that the land there became uncovered from the
ice-sheet notmore than 7,500 years ago. Prof. Wright ob-
tains a similar resultfrom the rate of filling of kettle-holes
among the gravel knolls and ridges called kames and eskers,
and likewise from the erosion of valleys by streams tributary
to Lake Erie; and Prof. B. K. Emerson, from the rate of
13 " The Ice in North America," 4th 466.

Age ed., p.
deposition of modified drift in the Connecticut Valley at

Northampton, Mass., thinks that the time since the Glacial
period cannot exceed 10,000 years. An equally small estimate
is also indicated by the studies of Gilbert and Russell for the
time since the highest rise of the Quaternary lakes, Bonne-

ville and Lahontan, lying in Utah and Nevada, within the
arid Great Basin of interior drainage, which are believed to

have been contemporaneous with the great extension of ice-
sheets upon the northern part pf our continent.
* * *
" In Wales and Yorkshire amount of denudation of
the
limestone rocks on which boulders lie has been regarded by
Mr. D. Mackintosh as proof that a period of not more than

6,000 years has elapsed since the boulders were left in their
positions. The vertical extent of this denudation, averaging
about six inches, is nearly the same with that observed in the
southwest part of the Province of Quebec by Sir William
Logan and Dr. Robert Bell, where veins of quartz marked
with glacial stria3 stand out to various heights not exceeding
one foot above the weathered surface of the inclosing lime-
stone.
"
Another indication that the final melting of the ice-
sheet upon British America was separated by only a very

short interval, geologically speaking, from the present time,
is seen in the wonderfully perfect preservation of the glacial
striation and polishing on the surfaces of the more enduring
rocks. Of their character in one noteworthy district, Dr.
Bell writes as follows : On Portland promontory on the
'
east coast ofHudson's Bay, in latitude 58 and southward,

the high rocky hills are completely glaciated and bare. The
striaeare as fresh-looking as if the ice had left them only
yesterday. When the sun bursts upon these hills after they
have been wet by the rain, they glitter and shine like the
tinned roofs of the city of Montreal.'
" From this wide
range of concurrent but independent
testimonies, we may accept it as practically demonstrated that
the ice-sheets disappeared from North America and Europe

14
some 6,000 to 10,000 years ago." Upham also remarks:
" be placed in round numbers between
Niagara history may
15
5,000 and 10,000 years."
In the Final Report of the State Geologist of New Jersey
"
the following concise statement occurs The date and
:
duration of the glacial period are matters of the greatest

interest, but neither has been determined with numerical
exactness. Many lines of calculation, all of them confessedly
more or less uncertain, point to the retreat of the last ice-sheet
from the northern part of the United States 6,000 years to
10,000 years ago. While these figures are to be looked upon
as estimates only, there are somany lines of evidence pointing
in the same direction that the recency (geologically speaking)
of the last glaciation must be looked on as established." 16
Humphreys and Abbot estimated that the whole delta of

the Mississippi had been laid downin 5,000 years. 17 De
Lanoye gives but 6,350 years for the making of the delta of
the Nile. 18
The recentness of the date of the waning of the
having ice
been established, a few citations are now given to show that

man's relics have been found in widely dispersed regions in
formations of said period, and also that deductions founded
on this assumption are borne out by the facts of ethnology.
"
Geologic archeology in Europe demonstrates," says
Warren Upham, " man's existence there before the culmina-
tion of the Glacial period, and indeed, I think, before its be-
ginning. From my examination of the implement-bearing

gravel deposits of the Somme valley in northern France,
where the proofs of man's great geologic antiquity were first
14
American Supplement, No. 1588.
Scientific
18
"Vol. v, Glacial Geo., p. 194.
"Humphreys and Abbot, Report on the Mississippi River, 1861.
"De Lanoye, Ramsts le Grand ou I'Egypt il y a 3300 ans, trans.,
New York, 1870.
recognized and published, I conclude that Paleolithic men

began their occupation of that country before the epoch of
great elevation of the lands which became glaciated, probably
19
contemporaneously, in both Europe and North America."
"
Frederick S. Dellenbaugh says There has been an
:
error, I believe, in considering the Glacial period as of the

remote past. It does not seem to have yet closed. It influ-
ences our climate now, and probably a thousand years ago
its meteorological effects were marked as far south as Yuca-
tan. The Northern Hemisphere everywhere

glaciers of the
appear to be slowly disappearing, and not so slowly either, if
the Muir can be taken as a gauge, for it has been for twenty
years receding at the rate of 500 feet per annum, and prob-
ably at the same rate before that. However this may be, it is
probably less than 5,000 years since the ice front was at Lake
Erie. Eminent geologists have estimated it at less than
7,000, based on the erosion at Niagara; but as the erosion
immediately following the disappearance of the ice is ex-
20
tremely rapid, it seems safe to cut down the estimate."
Dellenbaugh is so sure of the recentness of the Ice age
that he advances the following argument on that stone for
a foundation. He reasons " : That the continent was en-
tirely peopled by way of Behring Strait within the last

thousand years, by migration through a zone of ice, is
improbable. To assume that a population came over and
passed down to Mexico and Yucatan and even South Amer-
ica, carrying with them their arts, but not exercising them
on their interminable journey, is ridiculous. No pottery has
yet been found between the Yukon and the Humboldt, or
even farther south, probably because the Eskimo learned what
little they knew about it while in the St. Lawrence
Valley or
21
the Atlantic region."
19
American Geologist, vol. xxii, pp. 350-363; Yol. xxviii, p. 251.
20 " The North Americans of
Yesterday," Preface, p. xi.
p. 428.
"
Our author again says How the Amerinds came
:
here, I explain by a theory that there was before, or perhaps

during the early part of, the Glacial period, a wider distribu-
tion of land surfaces on latitudinal lines, which invited
migrations. These land surfaces may have been no more
than groups of larger or smaller islands which have been
since wholly submerged or have left only their highest parts
above the sea. Before the beginning of the glacial cold a
mild climate extended to the North Pole, facilitating migra-
tions also in that region. Changes in the ocean's bottom
were probably greater in preglacial time than now, but they
have not altogether ceased. It is little more than fifteen
years since a new island appeared off the Aleutian chain, and
I think it is any of that group existed above water
doubtful if
hundred years ago. I am also of the opinion

six or eight
that no human life was in Alaska or in northeast Siberia
five hundred years back.
"
Races not being all of an even grade of culture before
the beginning of the cold period any more than now, the
tribes that found themselves isolated on this continent by
changes in the land levels and by the southward extension of

the glaciation, were unevenly developed, some being in ad-
vance of others in various ways, though none, of course, had
passed beyond the use of stone tools, a condition in which
they practically continued down to the Discovery. In this
' 7
respect the term Stone Age, as indicating a condition, is

applicable, but it would not be possible to differentiate it into
e
Paleolithic and Neolithic periods. The cold pushed
'
' ?
them all southward, whether they came by northlands or by

latitudinal lands, or both, towards the narrow, funnel-like
part of the continent, and also to the lower levels, as there

was no chance for latitudinal expansion as in the Eastern
Hemisphere, the most advanced tribes being the most south-

erly, if not from original position, because they were able to
choose. Eventually communication with Asia and Europe
by the north was by the glaciation severed completely, as it

had previously been latitudinally by the disappearance of
favorable land surfaces, and communication by the north
remained closed till within three or four hundred years. The
most crowded tribes developed most rapidly, because such
development was imperative for self-preservation, and their
culture filtered through in diminishing ratio, according to
distance, to the less crowded regions that is, to the climatic-
ally less favorable regions ;

but all who were closely crowded
progressed along similar lines and in much
e '
in the funnel
the same degree, without regard to relationships, so that we
find in the narrow part of the continent, where the largest
number found refuge from the cold, many different stocks in
'
parallel areas of characterization/ as in the latitudinally

broader lands of the Eastern Hemisphere, though in some
cases there were slight barriers tending to produce or maintain
slight variations. The long longitudinal chain of the Sierra

Nevada abounding in glaciers to a late date, and to a less
extent that of the Rocky Mountains, brought about a partial
isolation of the stocks in the great north-and-south migrations,
maintaining previous differences and originating others, so

thatwe now distinguish differences between what is called the
Pacific group, while they are yet practically the same. The
tribes farthest advanced at the beginning of the isolation on
this continent would not necessarily continue at the front of
progress, for a change of conditions that might cripple such
tribes might at the same time be beneficial to others previously
inferior. For
instance, as the heat gradually returned, the
highly developed lowland tribes began to find themselves at a
disadvantage, which grew with the intensity of heat, while
others, inured to harsher conditions, found warmth stimulat-
ing, and they began to develop germs received from the
superior but now declining stocks.
c
The American Indians,'
'
says Brinton, cannot bear the heat of the tropics even as
well as the European.' The heat, which at first seems to
have been intense in the daytime, then caused a decline of

the highest stocks, and a corresponding progression of lower
stocks existing on, or migrating to, higher levels. The Yuca-
tec tribes declined, while the IsTahuatls, at higher altitudes,
began to develop. The finest monuments of North American

antiquity, for these reasons, are generally found on com-
paratively low levels and below a certain latitude, where
conditions during the greatest cold were most favorable;
conditions that may have continued fairly favorable down
to within, say, a thousand years.
"
Long before the dawn of the Columbian era, therefore,
the Amerind peoples had become, through the influences indi-
cated, a world-race by themselves, existing in various stages
of the same general culture, and with a rising and a
declining of tribes and stocks directed by environment and

circumstances." 22
Speaking of languages and dialects Dellenbaugh says

"
elsewhere The widest differences were in the Maya and
:
the Timuquanan. Each of these differed greatly from the

bulk of the Amerind languages and from each other, probably
because both stocks held more isolated positions than the
others during the glacial period, and preserved more of their
23
earlier life, whatever it may have been."
It will now be interesting to see what this ethnologist says
of the effects of the glacial age on the human race as a whole.
"
Discussing this problem, he says The people inhabiting
:
the world before it may have been originally much alike in

kind and color, with local variations, and the isolation pro-
duced by glacial conditions modified this color and increased
the variations, those finally left in hot lands becoming darker,
medium temperatures producing brown, still cooler the reds
and yellows, and the forests of Europe evolving a shade or
22
Hid., Preface, pp. viii-x.
26
Hid., p. 17.
shadow people, shrinking from the strong sun; the so-called

24
white race." The author of this work does not agree with
these last conclusions of Dellenbaugh. Briefly rearranging
the order according to his light, it would seem that the orig-
inal color of the inhabitants of the world before the canopies
fell was black ; as time went on, and more especially towards
the north, the browns, reds, and yellows developed, and then
finally the Caucasian or Adamite race was evolved. The

conditions arising from the fall of the heat-retaining canopies
of course were the leading stimuli which fostered these
changes.
After these long citations from Dellenbaugh, by way of
contrast we will indulge in a few shorter ones, that by the
mouth of several witnesses these things may be established.
G. Frederick Wright says :
"
The evidence of man's existence in North America
before the close of the Glacial period would indicate that he
too shared in the sharp struggle which ensued with the new
and rapidly changing conditions of that time. Did he also,
like so many of his companions among the larger animals,
share in this extinction ? The sharpness of the transition

from paleolithic to the neolithic implements, as we pass out
from the Trenton gravel into the shallow soil above it, would
seem to indicate an absolute distinction between the two
77 25
succeeding races.
"
geological succession of events,' says J. W. Foster,
7
The
"
as disclosed by the Danish discoveries, would appear to be
after the following order: The Reindeer Epoch had closed,
and the animals fitted for an Arctic climate, which formerly
roamed over France and almost to the shores of the Mediter-
ranean, had retired to the far north, before the earthen
tumuli and shell-heaps and other relics of human occupancy
"IUd., p. 435.
25
"The Ice Age in North America," 4th ed., p. 568.
had been erected; and were succeeded by a fauna now in-
digenous to the region. On the land, changes in the

character of the arborescent vegetation were going on. The
pine associated with the oldest stone implements, and on
whose buds the capercailzie fed gave place to the oak
-
associated with bronze implements which in turn gave place

to the beech associated with iron implements, the predomi-
nant type of vegetation at this time. Thus, this succession
in climatic changes corresponded very closely with the
archaeological changes of the ages of Stone, Bronze, and Iron,
26
bringing down the record to the Historical Period."
"
James Geikie tells us that no relics of Paleolithic man
have been detected anywhere in Northern Europe in beds
of later date than the accumulations of the third glacial epoch.
Implements, etc., of Neolithic age, on the other hand, make

their first appearance on a much higher horizon. They occur
in the older beds of peat, but never in the clays with arctic
plants which underlie the peat-bogs. It would seem, then,

that Neolithic man did not appear in Northern Europe until
the cold of the fourth glacial epoch was passing away." 27
Since Paleolithic relics have been found, we have direct
proof that man lived on the earth before the last belts, which
caused the last glacial and interglacial periods, had dissi-
" It is interesting to know that relics of Paleolithic
pated.
Man have been found in the same deposits with remains of
mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, horse, wapiti, etc., near Irkutsk.
The relics consisted of rudely worked bones, coarse objects of
' '
burnt clay, one of which was pyramidal in form and holed
for the obvious purpose of being fixed to a shaft, while the
2S
point was worn and blunted as if from use."
"
Prehistoric Races of the United States of America," 6th ed., p. 40.
""The Great Ice Age," 3d ed., pp. 499-500. G. Frederick Wright
devotes a whole chapter to evidence of this kind. "The Ice Age in
North America," 4th ed., p. 506, if.
28 "
Geikie, The Great Ice Age," 3d ed., p. 704.
It is interesting to know that the same story comes from

Africa. There they had a pluvial period almost within
Historic time, as the accompanying evidence shows* " The
:
exploration of the Sahara daily yields unexpected discoveries ;

and already fifteen different stations formerly inhabited
by
man have been made In those remote days a large river
out.
flowed near Wargla, which was then an important centre, and

a number of tools picked up bear witness to the former
presence of an active and industrious population. At one

place the flint implements, arrow-heads, knives, and scrapers
are all of a very primitive type, and were found sorted into
piles. This was evidently a depot, probably forming the

reserve stock of the tribe. Wargla, or perhaps Golea, at one
time appears to have been the extreme limit of the Stone age
in Algeria, but quite recently traces of primitive man have
been discovered amongst the Tuaregs." 29
The Egyptologist, A. B. Edwards, tells of a dry river
somewhere between Wady Sabooah and Maharrakeh. Here
she found the ruins of a comparatively modern town, whose
location led her into the following speculation. She says:
"
Supposing yonder town to have been founded in the
days when the river was a river, and the plain fertile and
well watered, the mystery of its position is explained. It
was protected in front by the Nile, and in the rear by the
ravine and the river. But how long ago was this ? Here
apparently was an independent stream, taking its rise among
the Libyan mountains. It dated back, consequently, to a
time when those barren hills collected and distributed water
that is to say, to a time when it used to rain in Nubia.
And that time must have been before the rocky barrier broke
down at Silsilis, in the old days when the land of Kush flowed
30
with milk and honey."
29
The Marquis de Nadaillac, "Manners and Monuments of Pre-
historic Peoples," trans. Nancy Bell (N. D'Anvers), p. 32.
80 "
AThousand Miles up the Nile," p. 362.
"
The hippopotamus is found in the Nile, Niger, Senegal,
and most of the larger rivers of South Africa, between which
stretch vast areas where no individuals of the animal have
ever been found regions untenable by reason of their arid-
ity ; but here, as in the case of the chamois, there can be no
doubt that a migration or diffusion did take place at a time
when the physical aspects of the country were favorable for
such a dispersion, and were, consequently, different from
what they are at present." 31
Professor Sayce says of the period immediately succeed-
ing the close of the old Egyptian empire with the sixth
dynasty, and the rise of the eleventh: "Profound changes
have taken, place when the veil is once more lifted from
Egyptian history. We find ourselves in a new Egypt: the
seat of power has been transferred to Thebes, the physical
type of the ruling caste is no longer that of the Old Empire,

and a change has passed over the religion of the people; it
has become gloomy, introspective, and mystical; the light-
hearted freedom and practical character that formerly dis-
tinguishedit are gone. Art, too, has undergone modifications

which imply a long age of development: it has ceased to be
spontaneous and realistic, and has become conventional.
Even the fauna and flora are different; and the domestic
cat,imported from Nubia, for the first time makes its appear-
ance in the threshold of history." No doubt the increased
cold resulting from the break-up of the Ice age started the
Hyksos invasion. It must be remembered that the effects

of the Ice age have not yet entirely disappeared from our
climate, and that when the protecting belt which was the
immediate cause of the great storms that heaped up the snow
over North America and Europe passed away, then these
storms descended into the south country. Thus for a long
" The
'Geographical and Geological Distribution
81
Angelo Heilprin,
of Animals," p. 21.
time after the belt bad dissipated, its removal disturbed the
genial climate of the heretofore favored middle-lands. Prob-
ably most of the barbarian invasions resulted from this cause.
As a summary to all that has been said, two more citations
"
may be pardoned Prof. James Geikie maintains that the
:
use of paleolithic implements had ceased, and that early man

in Europe made neolithic (polished) implements, before the
recession of the ice-sheet from Scotland, Denmark, and the
Scandinavian peninsula; and Prestwich suggests that the
dawn of civilization in Egypt, China, and India may have
been coeval with the glaciation of northwestern Europe." 32
Winchell says " There has
: been a time in the history of
the Aryan family of men when
they seem to have suffered
from a sudden change of climate which compelled them to
migrate southward. When we trace the movements of the
European nations backward, we find, in the remote past, a
point of divergence from the nations which crossed the
Hindu-Kush into the peninsula of India. In Central Asia
the ancestors of the Hindus, Iranians, and Europeans were
one people. There arose the Brahmanic and Zoroastrian
religions. But the sacred books of the latter contain allusions
to a remoter time,when the ancestors of the Aryans dwelt in
a country blessed with seven months of summer. This was
Aryana-Vaejo, a land of delight, given by Ahura-Mazda, and
supposed to have been located in southern Turkestan, upon
the Plateau of Pamir, or somewhat f artber east in the beauti-
ful valley of Cash gar. But lest this paradise should tempt
c
allnations to crowd in and overpopulate it, the evil being,
Angra-Mainyus (Ahriman), full of death, created a mighty

serpent,and winter, the work of the Devas.' Now ten
months of frost prevailed, succeeded by only two months of
summer. Of this transformed region the Vendidad says:
82
G. Frederick Wright, "Greenland Icefields and Life in the Korth
Atlantic," p. 339.
'
There is the heart of winter ;
there all around falls deep
snow; there is the worst of evils.' So the ancestors of the
Zoroastrians migrated from Aryana-Vaejo, or Old Iran,
southward into New Iran, within the modern Afghanistan.
"
Is there no analogy between the Aryana-Yaejo of the
Zend-Avesta and the Eden of the Hebrew sacred books ? In
both, the primitive home was a country of
of the white race
spontaneous productiveness and a delightful climate. Both

lands were given by a beneficent Deity for human occupation.
From both lands our ancestors were driven through the
machinations of the Evil One. In both narratives the power
of evil is personified in a serpent. The consequence in both
narratives is the necessity of resort to cultivation of the soil
for the production of bread. May both narratives be pictures
reproducing from national memory the same encroachment
of physical severities upon the same land of Edenic de-
" 33 In
lights ? the future chapters of this work it will be
seen that the vapor-belt in the sky was the great serpent.
Sparks from a Geologist's Hammer/' 3d ed., pp. 245-246.

CHAPTER XII
FOSSIL THOUGHT
WITH apologies for taking such liberty with Shakespeare
the following question is asked:
Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt; but at least inquire
What theory fits the groove.
Serpent worship was once a world-wide cult, and in Egypt

this serpent was linked with Canopus (the canopy), who
conquered the in the sky-ring (the sun) by his water-jar.
fire
Canopus was the Egyptian god of water, and was represented

by the hieroglyphic of a water-jar, though sometimes a ser-
pent was used in its stead. As the vapor-belt formed a
secondary arc under the canopy, it was natural to associate
it with water; hence the water- jar. It can readily be seen
how our word " canopy "
is derived from this serpent-net
or covering. It comes to us through the Greek.
Leaving the thought of the serpent for the present, we

find many references to the canopy ; thus one of the maxims
from Theognis the Megarean, translated by the Rev. J. Blank,
M.A., reads as follows:

"
Then may the broad brazen vault-of-heaven fall on me
from above, that terror of men of the olden-time, if I shall
not help them indeed who love me but be to my foes a vexa-
:
tion and great source-of-loss."

The same translated by J. H. Frere runs thus :
"Then brazen fiery vault of heaven

let the
Crush me with instant ruin, rent and riven,
(The fear and horror of a former age,)
If from the friends and comrades that engage
In common enterprise I shrink, or spare
Myself or any soul! If I forbear
Full vengeance and requital on my foes!
All our antagonists! all that oppose!
"
143
This brazen fiery vault was the sun, or " shiner," of the
ancients the true sun imparted its light to the fire belt, but
;
was itself unseen. Herodotus tells of the account he heard

from the Egyptians, how that for a period of ten thousand
years none of the sky gods assumed the form of man. Speak-
"
ing of the shiner, or, as he calls it, the sun, he says Dur- :
ing this time, they related that the sun had four times risen
out of his usual quarter, and that he had twice risen where
he now sets, and twice set where he now rises; yet that no
change in the things in Egypt was occasioned by this, either
with regard to the productions of the earth or the river, or
with regard to diseases, or with respect to deaths." 1
" "
The early Aryans called the vault Varuna. Beneath
it the region of clouds was enthroned. The light of luminous
air they called Dyaus. The Greeks conceived the same idea
of a hollow or concave vault, KoUo$. Among the Latins the
name ccelum has the same signification. Thus we see how
tenaciously the record of the facts survived the rise and fall
of empires, even after their meaning had been forgotten.
Should we go back to the earliest days of the first Baby-
lonian Empire, we would find that these matters which we
are depicting were even then in a great measure only echo.
On investigation, however, we would find the sound was very
close, theecho was very loud and clear. We often tell chil-
dren to count the seconds intervening between the flash of the
lightning and the growl of the thunder, in order to estimate
the distance. Applying this rule, we find in this instance a
very short interval.
Rassam found in the ruins of Abu Habba a marble tablet,
eleven inches and a half long by seven inches wide, covered
with writing and adorned with a beautiful bas-relief on the
top of the obverse. The subject represents Sippara, the god of
the shiner, seated in his shrine, under the canopy. The
1
Henry Gary's trans., B. 2, <|f 142, p. 152.
FOSSIL THOUGHT 145
significance of the fact is that the inscription gives instruc-

" are to
tions how the symbols are to be engraved, how they
"
be placed on a new image that may be made," opposite the
ocean, between the snake." The sun, Shamash, is outside
2
the snake, but is pulled up over it by cords.
At the time when this conception was born the true sun
must have been seen dimly riding up above the body of the
snake. The Egyptians beheld the same scene, and, according
to the custom of the age, it became a part of their religion.
They called the arc of the sky Nu or Nu-t and represented it
by a female figure bending over Seb, the earth,lay in a who
recumbent position. N~u~t's body was elongated in a very
peculiar manner, her feet resting on one horizon and her
finger-tips on the other. Over her arched back the sun-god
traversed the sky daily from east to west in his boat. The
vapor arc or halo which surrounded the dimly seen sun
accounts for this myth. Sometimes K~u-t is represented as
double. The upper bending figure being covered with stars
clearly portrays her nature. She must have been nearly
transparent. The lower Nu-t is evidently a band of water,
which suggests the Hebrew idea of the firmament. The
proximate cause of the formation of this vapor belt, we have
seen, was the upper canopy. Seb, the earth, is represented
covered with leaves.
When the canopy first began to split at the equator, divid-
ing into the northern and southern halves, the Egyptians saw
the two belts descending on the one horizon as the arms of
Nu-t and on the other as the legs. Job speaks of these two
"
divisions as the pillars of heaven." He says " They :
tremble and are astonished at His reproof. He divideth the

"
sea with His power." * * * He bindeth up the waters in
His thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them."
2
Herman V. Hilprecht, "Explorations in Bible Lands During the
Nineteenth Century," pp. 269-271.
10
* * * "
By His Spirit He hath garnished the heavens ; His
hand hath formed the crooked serpent." 3
The Hindus called these two
belts the Acvins. At night
they were seen as two pillars of light receiving the sun rays
from the under-world. These were also the original Pillars
of Hercules. As the vapors thinned out over the tropical
region, the sun rose between the great pillars or divisions of

Nu-t, and set between them again on the other side. And
this sun was a blazing, flaming creature, a god, traveling in
his halo boat.
When the fact is recalled that the sun was said by the
ancients to set between the Pillars of Hercules, it will be
granted that it was natural that when the sky scenes passed
away, the twin rocks at the entrance of the Mediterranean
came to inherit the name. Some may even have considered
them the stumps out of which the sky-pillars grew. They
" "
were at the world's end to the Greeks, nothing but the all-
encircling ocean-river lying beyond.

As we have seen, in Job " the pillars of heaven " are
" crooked
associated with the serpent." Hercules (the sun),
when he took the place of the giant Atlas, supporting the
heavens on his shoulders while the latter obtained the golden
apples (stars) from the garden of Hesperides, is another
account by a different people of the same thing. We can
" "
readily see the Pillars (Atlas) arising from the horizon
and apparently supporting the heavens the stars are discov- ;
ered in its
open guarded by the dragon or serpent.
rifts
Another name of the " Pillars " is the " World-Tree."

Serpent worship was universal. Frequently the myths
tell of two serpents. These undoubtedly represent the two
halves of the canopy, and the people who left the record lived
on or near the equator, where both belts could be seen. When
only one serpent is mentioned the people leaving the record
Job xxvi: 11, 12, 8, 13.

FOSSIL THOUGHT 147
usually lived in the middle regions under the canopy or

nearer the poles.
The infant Hercules (the new-born sun, just bursting
through the canopy) is said to have strangled two serpents
with his own hands before he was out of his cradle (the vapor
arc boat).
"
First two dread Snakes at Juno's vengeful nod
Climb'd round the cradle of the sleeping god;
Waked by the thrilling hiss and rustling sound,
And shrieks of fair attendants trembling round,
Their gasping throats with clenching hands he holds,
And Death untwists their convoluted folds." 4
It is said of the ancient Hindus that they must have
known of yore that Saturn was encircled by rings. 5 This
assumption is made on the ground that an image in one of
their temples represents the god Sani, or Saturn, intwined
by two wreathing serpents. It seems more likely that this
image originally represented our own system, as the two
snakes are certainly very suggestive of the two halves of the
divided canopy.
The Persian legends tell us of a serpent-king called Zohak.
He was a power for good until the demon Iblis kissed him
on the shoulder. This seems to have been the place from
whence the good emanated. On his shoulder, like in the
story of Atlas, the world-roof rested. Thus when he was

kissed in this spot there issued two dreadful serpents, and the
golden age, with its Eden-like conditions under the canopy,

came to an end. We will find a great many myths of this
character as we go on with the study. The parting of the
canopy brought with it In this par-

death and destruction.
ticular instance Iblis told Zohak that the two dreadful
serpents must be fed every day with the brains of two chil-
dren. So the country gradually became depopulated. The
end was to destroy the human race. 6
4
Darwin. 'Maurice, "Indian Antiquities."
"Poor, "Sanskrit Literature," p. 158.
At Circleville, Ohio, some time ago, a very curious cir-

cular disc of stone, about a foot in diameter, was found.
Around it was carved the figures of two intwined serpents.
Bernal Diaz, who accompanied Cortez, stated that in one
town whose buildings were of lime and stone they found
"
figures of serpents and idols painted upon the walls." The
arms of the Peruvians were two serpents with their tails
interlaced. At San Juan de Maguana, in the Island of
"
Haiti, curious relics of the aboriginal cult," says A. K.
"
Fiske, have been found, including a circle of stones roughly
representing the emblem of eternity, in the form of a serpent
with its tail in its mouth." 7 Many such relics have been
found elsewheres.
The usual form of the serpent myth, however, represents
only one belt at a time. The Midgard Serpent occupied the
local heaven, or middle world (middle heaven), of the Norse-
man. In Egypt, Apophis, the lofty serpent, reigned over
the mighty water.
Archaeological remains show the same veneration for this

" "
ubiquitous sky-serpent. Some of the new-world finds
"
have already been referred to. Some additional light ap-
pears to have been thrown upon ancient serpent worship in
the West by the recent archaeological explorations of Mr.
John S. Phene, F.G.S., F.E.G.S., in Scotland. Mr. Phene
has just investigated a curious earthen mound in Glen
Feechan, Argyllshire, referred to by him, meetingat the late
of the British Association in Edinburgh, as being in the

(
form of a serpent or saurian. The mound/ says the
Scotsman,
'
is a
perfect one.' The head is a large cairn, and
the body of the earthen reptile 300 feet long; and in the
centre of the head there were evidences, when Mr. Phene
8
first visited it, of an altar having been placed there."
T
"The West Indies," p. 252.
"
8
Ignatius Donnelly, Atlantis," 21st ed., pp. 204-205.
FOSSIL THOUGHT 149
In America the Mound Builders are comparatively a

recent people. Their works overlie the formations of the
Glacial age, but the existence of serpent worship amongst
them indicates that there were still remnants of the old
belted vapor system left in the sky when they inhabited the
land. Probably the most famous monument left by them is
that of the great serpent mound of Adams County, Ohio.
This serpent has an egg in its mouth, which undoubtedly
represents the sun in his vapor-arc, the boat of the Egyptians.
Other groups of mounds also include the egg.
In the south the canopy divided, and the sun, appearing
in the rift, seemed to conquer, but in the higher latitudes, in
the middle regions, as it were, the belts slowly descending
polewards seemed to swallow the orb of day as depicted by

the serpent mounds. The Iroquois say that the White one,
meaning the sun, was overcome by the frog monster, who
swallowed him up. This tale is found on both sides of the
Atlantic.
At Waukesha, Wisconsin, is a relic similar to the serpent
mound of Adams County, Ohio. It is called by Lapham a
"
Turtle mound." Body, 56 feet, engulfing an egg; tail 250
" "
feet ; height 6 feet. The so-called Lizard mounds also
occur here. They have remarkable curved tails. These
long tails portray what their builders actually saw in the
sky. And no doubt we here have the origin of that primeval
serpent-worship found all over the world. First he was the
good serpent, the protector, but as his aspect became menac-
ing, with the passing of time, he became associated with the

"
evil one. In itself the serpent should no more represent
moral wrong," says Donnelly, " than the lizard, the crocodile,
or the frog; but the hereditary abhorrence with which he is
regarded by mankind extends to no other created thing. He

is the image of the great destroyer, the wronger, the enemy." 9
"Ragnarok," p. 175.
A peculiarity about serpent worship was that it was

quickly forgotten, being superseded by its successor in a few
turns of the hour-glass ; but this is as the present hypothesis
requires, for when the hidden sun came into view he came as
a conqueror and claimed all that adoration which ones be-
longed to the snake. The slimy reptile which we all abhor

to-day never could have commanded the veneration which
we find was accorded it in the prehistoric age. The
conclusion is obvious
The snakes of old, that by all men were praised
Must have been grand as in the sky they blazed
The people called them gods and stood amazed.
In India, Amanta, the good, who was the serpent of

celestial waters, and who dwelt in the lower sky, was con-
quered by a supreme god, who lived above, on high. The
"
Toltecs called their sky-god, Quetzalcoatl. The Popol Vuh,
the great collection of Quiche myths, presents Gukumatz as
one of the four principal gods who created the world.
Gukumatz means shining or brilliant snake, and hence seems
to be the same character as that known to the Nahuatls, or
Aztecs, as Quetzalcoatl, whose name means the bright or

10
shining snake."
Quetzalcoatl was reputed to be a very good vapor
spirit, a kind of coverer. He was the son of Camaxtli, the
shiner of yesterday ; that is,of a shining canopy or sun that
"
had passed away. He fought the enemies that had risen
against his father, and attacked the temple of the Cloud-
"
Snakes' mountain." * * * He was tall, of white com-
plexion." His reign was the Golden Age of the Toltecs. He
was pursued by enemies and obliged to fly. One of these
was a near kinsman, a splendid youth, named Tezcatlipoca,
the smoking mirror, whom we recognize as a canopy. This
10 "
F. S. Dellenbaugh, The North Americans of Yesterday," p. 397.
FOSSIL THOUGHT 151
"
kinsman was Quetzalcoatl was pressed
his bitter
enemy.
from land to land. By some accounts he disappeared in a
boat on the sea; by others he perished on the snow-covered
peak of Orizaba (the Olympian cloud-mountain of the

Aztecs), mounting to heaven on the smoke of the funeral
11
pile. When he vanished the sun withdrew his shining."
In the museum down at Mexico an image of Quetzalco-
atl is on exhibition which is girt about with snakes of very
savage mien. Their peculiarity is that they are both bird

and reptile, a kind of feathered flying serpent, indicating
rapid flight. This idea of rapid flight is frequently associ-

ated with the White one, the illuminated and fleeting canopy,
or perhaps rather with the true sun seen in his vapor-arc or
boat passing rapidly over the canopy-sea.
Turning to the Arabian tales, the identity of thought with

all that we have already set forth bespeaks a common origin
"
of this class of nature myth. Thus, Abou Mohammed the
Lazy, who is a very great magician, with power over the
forces of the air and the Af rites, beholds a battle between two
great snakes, one tawny-colored, the other white. The tawny

serpent is overcoming the white one; but Abou Mohammed
kills it with a rock. The white serpent (the sun) departed,
and was absent for a while, but returned; and the tawny
serpent was torn to pieces and scattered over the land, and
12
nothing remained of her but her head."
The white one, or the egg in some of the myths, which
was seen through the canopy was the sun. His foe was the
glittering prince of serpents, the feathered serpent, etc. In
the Bible there the flying serpent: Isa. xiv: 29 Job xxvi
is ;
:
13 ;
Isa. 1. The Aztecs represented their god,
xxvii :
Tezcatlipoca, as a flying or winged serpent. Other myths

represent the canopy as a dragon, while still others picture it
11 " The
Charles De B. Mills, Tree of Mythology," pp. 44, 45.
"
"Ignatius Donnelly, Ragnarok," p. 268.
as a giant bird, a frog, a wolf, a dog, a boar, or as some other

creature. The Hindu legends often represent it as a cow,
and amongst all primitive people the deer and the hare are
common. It must be remembered that the belts in falling
advanced through several different stages, forming many
different sky-forms, which were seen from a great many
different angles, and by a great many different people. Speed
seems to have impressed them all, hence the comparison with
flying animals.
The belts as they drifted northward or southward broke
into separate divisions. These were the immediate cause of
the various stages of ice recession. Mythology is full of these
broken and wicked forms wicked because of the evil that
they introduced on the earth and sometimes these forms are

;
called serpents. They were the hundred-armed giants,

known as Typhon, Briareus, and Enceladus. Again, they
were the three huge monsters, the terrible speckled serpent,
Typhon, and Chimaera, the fire ring, a lion in front, a goat
in the middle, and a serpent behind. Chimsera breathed
resistless fire, and, like the speckled serpent, was huge, swift,
and fierce.Typhon, associated with both of these, seems to
have been the most terrible of all. This dreadful monster,
born of Hell, was also a serpent or fierce dragon. He was
many-headed, dusky tongues of fire gleamed throughout his
body, and it was said that he emitted appalling noises and
caused earthquakes.
The
story told in the Typhon legend is found in the
mythology of many peoples. In the Norse account we see
the same threefold aspect, to wit, the three monsters called
" " "
the Midgard serpent," the Fenris wolf," and lastly the
dog Gram." In the book of Job again we have the three

" " " "
divisions first, the
:
winding or twisting serpent, with
"
which God " adorned the heavens " then Behemoth," the
;
monster who drank up rivers; and finally the terrible

" "
Leviathan," whose name means the twisting animal gath-
FOSSIL THOUGHT 153
ering itself into folds." The Saxon legend tells us how

Beowulf killed savage monsters Grendel, the devil's dam,
and thirdly a dragon. Association of ideas recalls to our
minds the three roots of the tree Ygdrasil, the three-pronged
trident of Poseidon, etc., etc.
"
Says the Russian fairy-tale : Once there was an old
couple who had three sons. Two of them had their wits about
them, but the third, Ivan, was a simpleton. Now, in the land
in which Ivan lived there was never any day, but always
night. This was a snake's doing. Well, Ivan undertook to

kill that snake. Then came a third snake, with twelve
heads. Ivan killed it, and destroyed the heads and immedi-
;
ately there was bright light throughout the whole land. The
myth is pushed on, and there is also the monster who devours
i '
maidens, called a Norka and Perun takes the work of
;
Indra and Saint George, enters the castle (dark clouds), and
rescues her. But the dark power takes a distinctive Russian
13
appearance in the awful figure of Koshchei the deathless."
This victory of the sun over the serpent is told by all
primitive peoples. It is the victory of Adonis over Typhon,
of Indra over Yritra, of Dimiriat over Dahish, of Timadonar
over Ariconte, of Hercules over the two serpents strangled
while he was still an infant; of Osiris over Seb, etc., etc.
"
Pleasing was his shape,
And lovely; never since of serpent kind,
Lovelier; not those that in Illyria changed
Hermione and Cadmus, or the god
In Epidaurus, nor to which transformed
Ammonian Jove, or Capitoline, was seen." 14
The we have already seen, was not always

serpent, as
lovely. In the early stages of canopy decline he was the
dark and threatening one. The Peruvians tell of a certain
hero named Guamansuri, who descended to the earth and
"
13
L. E. Poor, Sanskrit and its Kindred Literatures," p. 390.
14
Milton.
seduced the sister of Guachemines, who was the rayless one,

or the Darkling; that is to say, she was the Power of Dark-
ness. The proved pregnant, and died in her labor,
sister
giving birth to two eggs, the sun and moon.

Again the Miztecs, who dwelt on the outskirts of Mexico,
"
said : In the year and in the day of obscurity and dark-
ness, yea, even before the days or the year were (before the
visible revolution of the sun marked the days, and the
universal canopy prevented the distinguishing of the sea-
sons) , when the world was in great darkness and chaos, when
the earth was covered with water, and there was nothing but
mud and slime on all the face of the earth behold a god
became visible, and his name was the Deer, and his surname
was the Lion-snake. There appeared also a very beautiful
goddess called the Deer, and surnamed the Tiger-snake.
These two gods were the origin and beginning of all the
15
gods."
0rigen de los Ind., pp. 327-329.

CHAPTER XIII
GENESIS
IN the development of Christianity on its intellectual

side, what is needed to-day is more synthetical work; it is
often forgotten that parts only go to make up a whole. Sepa-
rate truths go to make up one testimony, and that testimony
is of the unity of truth, and nothing but the truth it is the ;
revelation of God in all and through all and above all, and
all truth has itsplace somewhere in the scheme of this tes-
timony. Truth cannot annihilate truth, hence we say, what
is needed to-day is more synthetical work. Frederick Har-
"
rison has well said There never was an age so deeply
:
intoxicated with specialism in all its forms as our own, so
loftily abhorrent of anything systematic, so alien to synthesis,

thatis, organic coordination of related factors. Everything
nowadays is treated in infinitesimal subdivisions. Each
biologist sticks to his own microbe each
;
historian to his own
the practical man leaves ideas to the doctrinaire,
' ' ' '
period ;
and the divine leaves it to the dead worldling to bury his

dead in his own fashion. Specialism is erected into a philos-
creed, a moral duty, an intellectual antiseptic."
1
ophy, a
Now, as the various parts are brought together, we see

that science and comparative theology, as recorded in the
fossil rock and fossil thought handed down to us, unite har-
moniously in the present cosmological hypothesis. Each

shoemaker has been sticking to his own last, but it is now
time to do thefitting, and the foot-gear should be in keeping
with the whole dress of the man. The historian, the archae-
ologist, the paleontologist, the anthropologist, the ethnologist,
"
Great Keligions of the World," art. on " Positivism," p. 170.
155
the philologist, the mythographer, and the theologian, all
need to get together.
The present hypothesis brings them together, and, further-

more, it sets its seal on God's revelation. God's created record
and God's written record, Nature and the Bible, testify with
one voice. And the written word is inspired by the Holy
Ghost.
Proof that the Bibleinspired is set forth in the fact
is
that its various parts were written in an unscientific age and
yet they are scientific. For this reason theology, when it

properly interprets the evidence, may be set down as an exact
science. In an unscientific age a correct account of creation
was written. Since the unknown has been revealed, why
should not the unknowable of this age also be opened to the
" When
eyes of a future generation ? Cicero says you look :
upon a large and beautiful house, though you should not see
the master and find it quite empty, no one can persuade you
that it was built for the mice and weasels that abound in it,"
The plan of the universe is far too grand to suppose that it
"
is accident," therefore we are glad to say with the patriarch,
" In
the beginning God."
Let us look into this creation record. In Genesis i 1 :
,
there is a heaven mentioned which seems to be the same as the

firmament heaven of verse 8. This is not to be understood
to be the expanse above and around us, studded with innu-
merable stars, which is really infinite space, but a heaven
"
that was according to the divine account created." It was
associated with
the earth. God made heaven (Heb.
shamayim, heaved up things) and earth. Jer. xxxii 17 :
;
Ps. xxxiii 6-9. This fact is forgotten to-day. II Pet. iii

: :
3-6; Isa. xl:21-22. The necessity of some such interpre-

tation as thiswas apparent to the early Church Fathers.
St. Basil, Csesarius, and Origen argued that the sun,
St.
moon, and stars existed from the beginning, but that they
did not appear until the fourth day.
GENESIS 157
This heaven, or heavens, had an expansion or division

in it(Gen. i 6). The vapor helt was suspended, as we have
:
seen in our scientific chapters, in the atmosphere under the
canopy, and the Scriptures call them the waters which were
under and which were above the expanse. Unless this account
be based on fact, who would have ever risked his reputation
to be sponsor for such a statement? Does the heaven look
to us asthough the blue arch were a few hundred feet high,
"
and that on top of it are the clouds ? Job says Dost
:
thou know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works

of Him which is perfect in knowledge? * * * Hast
thou with Him spread out the sky, which is strong, and as a
molten looking-glass ? " 2
It has been demonstrated in our scientific chapters that
the geological age-changes were brought about by the disrup-

tion of these vapor belts, or heavens. These broke the
sequence in the chain of life. The great mutations occurred
almost instantaneously, becoming established in a generation
"
or so. Verily they were new creations," and they occurred
in a day.
The etymology of this word day " gives it the sense,"
" of
says J. W. Dawson, the time of glowing or warmth, and
in accordance with this the divine authority here limits its
3
meaning to the daylight." This is very puzzling to the
Biblical student, for the nature of the context clearly shows
that the natural day from sunrise to sunset is expressly
excluded. ISTow, the period of duration for a canopy was a
time of glowing and of warmth it is therefore quite evident
;
that the seven days of creation were seven ages of canopy
light.
The diurnal period was divided into a time of light and
of shade. The light of the sun shining through, and on,
the overhanging canopy of water-vapors produced the greater
3
Job xxxvii: 16, 18. *"The Origin of the World," p. 126.
light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night.
"
Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, Thou art
very great ;
Thou art clothed with honour and majesty. Who
coverest Thyself with light as with a garment Who stretchest :
out the heavens like a curtain Who layeth the beams of his
:
chambers in the waters : Who maketh the clouds his chariot :

Who walketh upon the wings of the wind: Who maketh his
angels spirits; his ministers a flaming the fire: Who laid
foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for

ever. Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment:
the waters stood above the mountains." 4
During the period of shade the light from below illu-
minated the vapor arc or crescent (moon of the ancients)

with a pale refulgence, weird, cold, and uncanny. The
witness of the shadow of the earth on the canopy is the
Pyramid of Cheops (Isa. xix: 19-20; Jer. xxxii: 17-20).
The time of shade or shadow, associated with death by the
Egyptians, was the night-time. A shadow-cone, or pyramid,

was projected into the canopy from the sunlight shining up
from the under-world.
A
sparkling canopy diffused its light on an awakening
earth. After man was created (evolved), this was to him
" In Joshua's day this sun stood
the shiner," or his sun.
"
still. The sun and moon
stood in their habitation still :
at the light of Thine arrows they went, and at the shining

5
of Thy glittering spear."
At night-time the canopy was the lesser light or moon.
"
Fontenelle, who was always so ingenious in
determining
the conditions of existence in the planetary worlds, expresses
himself thus in regard to Saturn
(
would be much aston-
: We
ished to see over our heads at night that great ring, which
would extend as a half-circle from one end of the horizon
to the other, and which, reflecting the light to us, would
4
Ps. civ: 1-6. Hab. iii: 11.
GENESIS 159
" 6
produce the effect of a continuous moon.' Kawlinson
"
tells us in his History of Ancient Egypt that under
Necherophes (Nebka?) the Libyans, who had revolted, made
their submission on account of a sudden increase in the
moon's size, which terrified them." 7 This increase in size
stamps the phenomenon as belonging to an inf ailing canopy.
It has been shown that the great precipitation accompany-
ing the disintegration of these belts was in the higher lati-
tudes, beyond the region of the greenhouse-roof. Job tells
us that here were stored the treasures of snow and hail
(Chap, xxxviii: 19-23). Under the canopy evaporation

went on at a great rate. ~No doubt, however, the atmosphere
was of a moist and misty character, hence the dews were
intensely copious. The Scriptures say, the dew or mist
rose from the ground (Gen. ii: 5-6). would have had Who
the hardihood to make such a statement, so utterly in con-
flictwith the established laws of nature, were the hand of
revelation not in this record?
Science and the Bible do not disagree. One is God's
created record and the other is God's written record. The
works of His hand cannot contradict the works of His heart ;
in Him is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of

old He and the heavens
laid the foundations of the earth:
are the work$ of His hands (Ps. cii:25). The works of
His heart are love, and the object of His love is to draw all
men unto Himself. He so loved the world that He gave us
the written word (John i: 1-14; iii: 16).
Science and the Bible do not disagree, but the interpre-
tations which man has evolved need to be either adjusted
or rejected. When a proper understanding is arrived at,
harmony is at once evident and the two testimonies become

essentially one. Now, the Bible is full of the same kind
8
Scientific American Supplement) No. 192.
7
Vol. ii, chap, xii, p. 18.
of tales as the ancients have left us in their varied literature,
commonly called myths, but it is offensive to a certain type

of mind to say that the Bible contains these myths. The
reason for this is that a lack of knowledge of the mental
horizon of the ancients exists. The common understanding
of a myth is that purely a fabulous or imaginary tale,
it is
and the fact is lost sight of that it generally conveys an
important truth of an allegorical and religious nature. In

the light of this present hypothesis the nature myths of these
so-called heathen were essentially religious, and they were
not so far from the true religion either, inasmuch as the
nature-types were pointing the way to God. Before taking
exceptions to the existence of these myths in the Bible, then,
their meaning should first be ascertained.
The trouble is this: The truths taught by the so-called
myths have been forgotten, the Bible is a book of the past
as well as a book of to-day, and therefore to understand it
we must understand the past. Our Saviour spoke a parable
of a sower that went forth to sow, that he might impress
thereby a spiritual teaching. Now, the solar myth of
Samson, which we will investigate later, it is evident was

introduced into the Old Testament not by spontaneous growth
nor by popular origin, but as in the case of the parable by
divine direction, and for the same purpose, namely, to set
forth a spiritual truth. All the saints living in those days
were as familiar with the illustration as we are to-day with
the settings of our Saviour's parable.
In the beginning, as in our Saviour's day, the hand of
God was visible. He planned it all before He began its ful-
filment. His love brooded over this earth, giving to man
an Eden paradise. Man, tempted by the beauty of this
creation, fell intothe serpent's clutch, worshiping the crea-

tion or creature instead of the Great Creator. God in His
infinite love then revealed Himself, casting man out from
the garden world wherein he had dwelt, that he might learn
GENESIS 161
the lesson, that first things must perish and that in the second
state alone there is life. In other words, matter always has
been and always must be subject to change. The spiritual
essence alone is unchangeable. This explains many of the
mooted questions of the theologians the cause of the fall;
the mystery of iniquity God's love reconciled with the admis-
;
sion of sin into the world, etc., etc.
Briefly, the and of death, and of resur-

drama of sin,
rection, was all revealed in the type, and the type was the
physical canopy and the vapor-belt which hung under the

canopy in the atmosphere. Natural phenomena were used by
God to convey the spiritual truth. The ordinary myth
missed this revelation, the Biblical always emphasized it.
The Adamite saw the works of creation, that they were good,
and forthwith worshiped the creature (serpent), leaving out
the Creator. This was the act of partaking of the tree of
knowledge.
8
Man as a free agent thus brought on his own
fall, for God in His infinite goodness and justice of neces-
sity had to disclose the nature of creation. This left man with
the knowledge of good and evil, with knowledge of the Creator
and the creature, and him the heritage of original
it also left
sin, for the fallen serpent or vapor skies allowed the actinic
rays to enter, and these produced fermentation, violence, and

a quickened life. The first drunkenness mentioned in the
Bible is that of Noah's. It is postulated that a remnant of
the Edenic canopy caused the deluge of the Scriptures. In
the world that was before this flood, Noah never knew the
fruit of the vine to produce such results, but with the passing
of the canopy new conditions of sun-fire were introduced, to
which he was not accustomed. His sin was, therefore, the
result of ignorance; immediately afterwards he preached a
sermon. In this age we do not listen to men recovering from
8
The tree in mythology will be shown in subsequent chapters to be
the canopy.
11
a spree, but Noah's voice has sounded on down through the
ages. The longevity of the ancients was a direct result of

the more healthful conditions, though undoubtedly the canopy
prevented their keeping track of the years. Hence the great
age of Methuselah and the rest of the antediluvians was due
to the two causes. When sun-fire broke in, the quickened
life brought a swifter death.
In
this connection it is interesting to note that at a
"
certain early period the Egyptians neither employed nor
knew any years of longer term than four months. The proof
of this, admits one of the most ardent champions of the high
antiquity of Egypt, is that, later, when the year consisted of

twelve months, three seasons were designated, each com-
prising four months, which were indicated hieroglyphically
by the word ier, and by a sign that may mean a season or
a year, indifferently." 9
But to return to the heritage of sin With the removal
:
of the Edenic canopy evil conditions came upon the earth.

"
Cursed is the ground," says the Lord God, " for thy sake ;
in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life." 10

The protecting canopy which was cast down was the serpent.
" And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou
hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle (behemah),
and above every beast of the field upon thy belly shalt thou
;
go,and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life." 11
The Bible myths, then, portray the story of the conflict,
and present both the good and evil sides thereof. In the
Walam Olum, or Red Score of the Lenape, " The cosmogony
describes the formation of the world by the Great Manito,
and its subsequent despoliation by the spirit of the waters,
under the form of a serpent. The happy days are depicted
F. De Lanoye, "Wonders of Art and Archaeology: Rameses the

8
"
Great," p. 31. Dr. H. De Brugsch, History of Egypt from the Earliest
Period of its Existence," Leipzig, 1859, p. 26.
M Gen. iii:17. u Gen. iii:14.
GENESIS 163
when men lived without wars or sickness, and food was at

all times abundant. Evil beings of mysterious power intro-
duced cold and war and sickness and premature death. Then
12
began strife and long wanderings."
Primitive man began
to go astray in his religion by tak-
ing the natural phenomena of the canopy and attributing to

them life; then he deified the creations of his mind. He
passed from the worship of God to the worship of the works
and forces which God had made, from reverence for the
creator to reverence for the created. Thus canopy worship
became simply a form of animism. It follows that a just
God had to remove the cause of this error. He had to
dethrone the gods of the heathen.
The first step in dethronement was the revealing of the
true sun through the equatorial slit or opening between the
northern and southern halves of the divided canopy. In
Genesis this event, which follows immediately after the fall
of man into the error of serpent worship, is described as the
"
introduction of a flaming sword which turned every way,
13
to keep the way of the tree of life." To keep the way
open for man through whom there is life.
to see the Creator
The tree, the eating of which caused them to know good
and evil, perished.
The two halves of the canopy, as we have already seen,
were the pillars of Hercules. Job speaks of them as the
" "
pillars of heaven," and the opening as the chambers of
the south." The mountains of the cloud-belt were removed. 14
Verily these mountains have a new significance. Mount

Olympus, the home of the gods. Ossa heaped on Pelion.
Jacob's ladder, etc.
Under the name of Hercules the Romans, Greeks, and

Phoenicians worshiped the sun. The story of Samson is the
12
D. G. Brinton, " The Lenapg and Their Legends," p. 164.
"Gen. iii: 24. "Job ix: 5-9; xxvi: 11.
same sky hero. The Hebrew form

Biblical account of the
of his name is, Shimshon, which is a variant form of
Shamash the name of the sun in Babylonian and Hebrew. 15
Like Hercules, Samson performed twelve labors in order
to free himself. First, he rent the lion as Hercules did the
Nemean sky monster, the skin of which he then used as a
cloak. The meaning of this is that the conquering sun was
obscured or hidden by the enveloping cloud. Second, he
extracted honey. Third, he slew thirty men. Fourth, he
caught some foxes. Fifth, with hip and thigh he made a
slaughter. Sixth, he broke certain cords. Seventh, he slew
a thousand men. Eighth, he carried off the gates, posts,
bar and all. Ninth, he broke green withes. Tenth, he broke
the new ropes. Eleventh, he carried off the pin and beam
of the sky temple (Latin, templum, expanse, open place),
the original sky home of the gods. Twelfth, he pulled down
16
this temple on his own head.
But though related to the Greek, Eoman, and Phoanician,
this solarmyth also bears a close analogy to the Babylonian.
"
Jastrow says The Biblical Samson appears to be mod-
:
elled upon the character of Gilgamesh. Both are heroes, both
conquerors, both strangle a lion, and both are wooed by a

woman, the one by Delilah, the other by Ishtar, and both
through a woman are shorn of their strength. The historical
17
traits are of course different."
The Bible tells us of these things because they are part
of the error of the ages, and the Bible presents both sides,
and it is written for all Eternity, and God's purposes must
"
be true, though every man be a liar. 18 Nay, but, O man,
who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing
"Morris Jastrow, "The Religions of Babylonia and Assyria," chap,

xxiii, p. 515.
16
Judges xiv-xvi.
1T " and Assyria," pp. 515-516.
Religions of Babylonia
"Roffi. iii: 3-4.
GENESIS 165
formed say to Him that formed it, Why hast Thou made me
" 19 " He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh
thus ? :
20
the Lord shall have them in derision."
Nay, but, O man, surely it may be said of you that ye

have questioned the very record of the flood itself (II Pet.
iii 5-6), and, what makes it worse, this is not a myth which
:
you have put the interrogation mark against, but a matter of

scientific and Biblical fact.
The Noachian flood probably extended over a vast terri-
tory in Central Asia and perhaps portions of Europe. Many

similar catastrophes of a like character occurred at about
the same time. The submergence was connected with the
Glacial period. The Ice-king held in his grip four million
square miles of the American continent and two million
square miles of western Europe. These immense areas were

buried under a mile or more of glacial ice. The shifting
of this vast weight brought about, as we have seen in our
scientific chapters, a number of secondary results, amongst
which may be included the great inundations recorded by
prehistoric man.
" The
principal countries in which these Flood-stories are
found are Greece (Deucalion's deluge), Lithuania, Austra-
lia,Hawaii and other Polynesian islands, Cashmir, Thibet,
Kamchatka, different parts of India, and America (where
such stories are particularly numerous) they are not found
;
(according to Andree) in northern and central Asia; they

are also absent in Egypt, China, and Japan, and almost
absent in other parts of Africa (except where they are due to
Christian influence). 21
" It was
maintained by the late Professor Prestwich,
on the ground of certain geological indications (especially the
'
so-called Rubble Drift'), that long after the appearance
19
Rom. ix:20. ^Ps. ii:4.
a Westminster
Commentaries, Gen. The Deluge, pp. 101-102.
of paleolithic man, there was a submergence of the crust of

the earth, chiefly in W. Europe, but also in N. W. Africa,
though extending doubtfully as far E. as Palestine, causing

a great inundation of the sea, which, though of short dura-
tion, destroyed a vast amount of animal and some human

that some species of animals {e.g.., the hippopotamus
life, so
in Sicily) became extinct in regions which they formerly
inhabited; and he suggests that this inundation may have'

22
accounted for the above-mentioned traditions."
The Commentator thinks that it mitigates against the
truth of Prestwich's theory that in Europe itself Elood
stories are comparatively scarce and that they are more fre-
quent in countries such as North and Central America. On

the other hand, where flood, and fire (volcanic), and earth-
quake, turned the earth into a cemetery, where was there

a man left to preserve the record? Dead men tell no tales.
Europe was inundated

It is not necessary to suppose that
at the time of the Noachian submergence. The cataclysm
simply overwhelmed the known earth of the Adamite (Cau-
casian) race. The whole area of northern Asia is still said
to be slowly rising, which may be taken as an indication
that the figure of the continent has not yet regained its
normal condition. Scattered lakes over this part of Asia
are inhabited by the same animals. How did they get from
one to the other? Intervening stretches of desert contain
23
semi-fossil shells of the species living in the lakes.
still
Of Central Asia and southern Siberia G. Frederick

"
Wright says : The geological conditions are such as can
only be explained by an extensive submergence of the region
where the Scriptures and tradition locate the Elood which
destroyed the whole human race, excepting Noah and his
family. The evidences of such a deluge are not one, but
* American
Hid., p. 102. Geologist, vol. v, No. 3, p. 182.
GENESIS 167
several, and extend from Mongolia to the western borders

24
of Kussia."
With the close of the Glacial period it is not to be sup-
posed that all remnants of the canopy and vapor-belt at once
disappeared. The Babel Builders (Gen. xi:4-9) sought to

reach this canopy or heaven. Its ever-changing appearance
caused great confusion of tongues and of thought as the
various peoples described different scenes to each other, and
converted the natural phenomena into heroes and demi-
gods; and, furthermore, they worshiped these ever-changing
appearances as gods and devils, adding confusion to the
already existing chaotic discord and disorder.
Berosus records the Chaldean version of this event in
complete agreement with the Biblical account, as follows:
"
They say that the first inhabitants of the earth, glorying
in their own strength and size and despising the gods, under-
took to raise a tower whose top should reach the sky, in the
place in which Babylon now stands but when it approached

;
the heaven the wind assisted the gods and overthrew the
work upon its contrivers, and its ruins are said to be still
at Babylon; and the gods introduced a diversity of tongues

among men, who till that time had all spoken the same
language and a war arose between Cronus and Titan.
; The
place in which they built the tower is now called Babylon,
on account of the confusion of tongues, for confusion is by
the Hebrews called Babel."
It will be seen from this that the gods were afraid that
man would reach their abode. Elsewhere this version clearly
"
they were building
states that in order that they might
mount up into heaven." 25
Of the confusion of tongues we have this to say: The
"McClure's, June, 1901, vol. xvii, No. 2, p. 134.

25 "
Rawlinson, Seven Great Monarchies," vol. i, Chaldea, Assyria.
"
Note 141 to chap, vii of First Monarchy," p. 526.
changing aspects of the sky caused the words which the

peoples used in describing what they saw to change with the
same rapidity as the scenes themselves. While all this was
but a phase of inanimate nature, yet it seemed ever to be
producing new forms, hence in describing it the ancients
confused its various phenomena with the idea of sex. Gen-
der-terminations are a part of the bacillus which was thus
26
injected into the tongues of the nations. Eût though this
gave rise to a great many different languages, the fact

remains that there were old root languages from which these
new languages were descended, and they of course did not
originate in this way. Andrew Lang
says :
" After
my degree
taking in 1868, I had leisure to read
a good deal of mythology in the legends of all races, and
found my distrust of Mr. Max Miiller's reasoning increase
upon me. The main cause was that whereas Mr. Max Miiller
explained Greek myths by etymologies of words in the Aryan
languages, chiefly Greek, Latin, Slavonic, and Sanskrit, I
kept finding myths very closely resembling those of Greece
among Red Indians, Kaffirs, Eskimo, Samoyeds, Kamilaroi,
Maoris, and Cahrocs. Now, if Aryan myths arose from a
6 '
disease of Aryan languages, it certainly did seem an odd
thing that myths so similar to these abounded where non-

Aryan languages alone prevailed. Did a kind of linguistic
measles affect all tongues alike, from Sanskrit to Choctaw,
and everywhere produce the same ugly scars in religion and
" 27
myth ? In reply to Lang's query we would say that it
26
"In
ancient languages every one of these words (sky, earth, sea,
rain) had necessarily a termination expressive of gender, and this
naturally produced in the mind the corresponding idea of sex, so that
these names received not only an individual but a sexual character."
Max Miiller, Chips, iv, 62. We explain this matter by the theory that
man called the lifeless things and phenomena of the canopy male or
female by using gender-terminations as a result of his habit of
regarding the lifeless things, etc., as personal beings and as gods.
"
27
Modern Mythology," p. 4.
GENESIS 169
is quite evident that the germ which scattered the linguistic

measles in all the root languages was the ever-changing sky
phenomena. Max Miiller should not have confined this

infectious disease to the Aryan language alone.
But we have had enough about languages, so let us return
to the sky scenes themselves. At a time when the Pillars of
Hercules spanned the equatorial heavens there was an open
spot or egg hole in the distant northern sky. The Bible calls
" " " "
this spot Baal-peor Baal, the lord," Peor,
: the open-
ing." Israel fell into the worship of this dreadful nature

cult and was accordingly punished (Num. xxv:3-5).
Nature or creature worship always dies hard. In
Ezekiel's time this evil thing had not yet been extirpated
(Ezek. viii Y-10). In the winter the sun, being in southern

:
latitudes, was of course far away from this hole which was
the only place in the heavens where he could be seen, hence
Tammuz was lost. In the prophet's vision every man saw
this "in the chambers of his imagery" (v. 12). In other
words, like Ptolemy's rings, this cult was only an echo. Bel
worship was indeed a terrible thing. Confusion's place was
'
at this sky-hole or gate of God.' It is recorded that the
"
prophet came to the door of the gate of the Lord's house
which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women
weeping for Tammuz" (v. 14). Tammuz means "the
hidden lost one." Tammuz, it will plainly be seen, was
originally the hidden sun, and even at this time it was known
that this weeping was for the sun. Sun worship was then
in full possession of the Lord's house itself (v. 16).
It is recorded of Tammuz that he was seen bleeding.
This is easily accounted for, as the great sky-hole must have
often been decked out in ruddy or sunset hues. This door or
opening into the Jieavens proved like the serpent a snare. It
is more than likely that our Saviour referred to it when he
"
said, I am the door," the way," " the truth," " the life."
The door of the shining hole produced a stupendous error, but
now we know that first (natural) things must perish that the
last (spiritual) may live.
The Indians of northern California have a legend which

localizes this sky-hole over Mount Shasta. They say that
"
the Creator made it first. The account is as follows Bor- :
ing a hole in the sky, using a large stone as an auger, he

pushed down snow and ice until they reached the desired
height; then he stepped from cloud to cloud down to the
great icy pile, and from

it to the earth, where he planted
the first trees by merely putting his finger into the soil here
and there. The sun began to melt the snow; the snow pro-
duced water ;
the water randown the sides of the mountains,
refreshed the trees, and made rivers. The Creator gathered
the leaves that fell from the trees, blew upon them, and they
28
became birds, etc."
The
story of Odysseus in the cave of Calypso (Greek
Kalupto, to cover) is but one of the many myths which have
arisen from this same scene. In Calypso's grotto-cave,
located in the Isle of Ogygia, in the hub of the sky sea, were
stars or nails that were fixed in the wondrous azure blue.
This was the egg-land, or beginning place where man first
learned astronomy. Man in those early days not only knew

God through the gospel of the stars, but also through the
beauties of the canopy, which were to them who were of a
true heart a guide and type to things celestial.
One of the most glorious types was that of the cherubim.
When the flaming sword, the bright shaft of sunlight, first
pierced the Edenic canopy, the sun itself floated as in a vapor

arc or shell accompanied by four mock suns surrounded with
halos. These were the cherubim, types of the redeemed
in future glory, true consorts of the living Son of God. The
first like a lion, the demean beast which Hercules the sun
The "
was sent to slay. second, like a calf," the solar bull
Bancroft, "Native Races," vol. iii, p. 90.

GENESIS 171
famed in the mythology of the ancients. The third had a

face as a man, made in the image of the solar orb. The
fourth, a flying eagle the winged disk being Assyria's old
emblem of the sun.
In Genesis the cherubim appear as guardians of God's
iii,
abode and of the spiritual treasures reserved therein. The

passage which should on all grounds be compared is Ezek.
xxviii 13-17. Ezekiel states that he was by the river of
:
Chebar (chap, i: 3) when he received this word. This river

was a large, navigable canal, not far from Mppur, southeast
of Babylon. 29 But we are not concerned with the site; it is
not where the prophet had the vision that interests us, but
it is the substance, the mythological fact. It does not follow
that he actually saw the wheels; what the text tells us is
that he saw a vision. In his mind's eye he saw what even
then probably was a remote occurrence.
"
In Ezekiel xxviii 13-17 there is a description where
:
e '
the prince of Tyre is represented as a glorious being
bedecked with gold and precious stones, who had been placed
' (
in Eden, the garden of God,' had there walked up and
'
down in the midst of stones of fire
(i.e., flashing gems),
but had forfeited his high estate by pride, and had been
'
expelled from the holy mountain of God by a cherub. '
Ezekiel, it is probable, had access to traditions about Para-
dise more ample than those preserved in Genesis, and per-

haps in some respects different from them and he makes use
;
of them here for the purpose of representing pictorially the

fall of the of Tyre." 30
King
"
And He rode upon a cherub, and did fly yea, He did ;
fly upon the wings of the wind." The same authority says
"
of the passage just cited Ps. xviii 10 would suggest that
: :
the conception arose in a personification of the thunder-cloud
29
University of Pennsylvania texts, vol. ix, p. 28.
80
Westminster Commentaries, Gen. The Cherubim, p. 61.
(upon, or within, which, as the context of the verse plainly

31
shews, the Hebrews believed Jehovah to be borne along)."
From the
' ' '
prince of Tyre to Satan, or the prince of the

power of the air/ is only a step. Satan in Arabic means a
serpent. The apostle was sent, To open certain eyes, and
to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of
Satan or the serpent unto God (Acts xxvi: 18). In other
words, His commission was to turn men from the material
to the spiritual, from the darkness, the seed of which was
planted by the canopy, to the light. And this light we find is

bearing fruit abundantly in the scientific revelations of this
present age. The prince of the power of the air (Eph. ii: 2)
is the prince of this world, and he is cast out (John xii: 31).
The serpent was a vapor-belt. Moses lifted up a figure
still known day as a memorial of a
to all the people in that
creation that had passed away, and they were to look by
faith for a new order in a coming Saviour. The barber's
pole is still a survival of serpent symbolism amongst us.
The ribbon painted spirally around their sign represented
originally the serpent. Formerly the barbers were doctors,
thus naturally they adopted the sign and symbol of the
healer.
The old creation that had passed was an Eden, but
because the people worshiped the creature instead of the
Great Creator, the God of Nature was forced to reveal Him-
self to cast down the serpent upon the ground.
and The
Eden conditions passed, and man has had to earn his liveli-
hood by the sweat of his brow ever since. Jer. x: 11-12;
Isa. xix: 1;Rev. xii: 9, 15. This last quotation shows how
the error of the ages has lived on down to our time. Ps.
xix: 1; Job xxvi: 8-13; Gen. iii: 1, 14; Isa. xxvii: 1; Ps.
Ixxiv: 13-15.
The following passages of Scripture introduce many
IUd.
GENESIS 173
features not presented in the text for lack of space. The

summary only suggests some of the riches which may be
unearthed.
Introduction. Heb. xi:3, 7; Isa. xl:21-22; II Pet. iii: 3-6.

Creation. Gen. i:6-7.
The Beginning. Ps. xixrl; Amos ix:6; Ps. xxxiii:6-7; xxiv:l-2.
Dew ascending from the ground. Gen. ii:5-6.
Heavens stretched out. Job xxxvii:18; Isa. xlii:5; xliv:24; xlv:12;
li:13.
Water Heavens (Secondary vapor-belts held in suspension under the
canopy). Job xxxviii:!, 4-11, 16-17, 37; Ps. civ:2-6.
Water heavens worshipped. Punishment followed. Jer. x: 11-12;
Isa. xix:l; Rev. xii:9, 15.
Serpent, i.e., serpent-like belt. Job xxvi:8-13; Gen. iiirl, 14; Isa.
xxvii:!, Ps. Ixxiv: 13-15; Rev. xii. Note specially v. 15. Moses lifted
up a sign familiar to the multitude. Num. xxi:9; John iii: 14-15.
Treasures of snow. Job xxxviii: 22-23; Rev. xi:19; xvi:21.
Falling vapor-belts. Job ix:5-8. In v. 8 bamah is the word trans-
"
lated waves, it means in Hebrew heights." Hag. ii:6, 21; Joel ii:2-ll;
Isa. ii: 19-21; Heb. xii:26-27; Hab. iii:6-15.
The Flood. Gen. vii. Note specially v. 11.
Rainbow after canopy fell. This phenomenon could not take place
until the vapor-heavens cleared. Gen. ix:8-17.
Babel. Gten. xi:4-9.
Pillar of cloud.Ex. xiii: 21-22; xiv: 19-24.
Ancient sun or shiner stood still. Joshua. x:12; Hab. iii: 11.
Flaming Sword. Gen. iii: 24.
Cherubim. Gen. iii: 24. Connecting link with canopy. Ps.
xviii:7-16; civ: 3-4; Ezek. x.

Good canopy turned evil. Ezek. xxviii: 14-17.
Wheels. Ezek. i.
Horses. Zech. i:8; Rev. vi:2-8; Hab. iii: 6-15.

Voice of Many Waters. Ezek. xliii:2; Dan. x:6; Rev. i:15; xiv:2;
xix:6.
Pyramid. The witness of the shadow of the earth on the canopy.
Isa. xix: 19-20; Jer. xxxii: 17-20.
CHAPTER XIV
HINDU MYTHS
"
THE gods themselves cannot recall their gifts."
*
Vedic
literature contains the record of five elements, fire, water,
'
and nature, the latter containing Agni, the Golden
earth, air,
Germ/ which is evidently the creative power seen in the fire
" The
ring or belt. Edward Washburn Hopkins says :
world was at first water ;

thereon floated a cosmic golden egg
(the principle of fire). Out of this came Spirit that desired ;
and by desire he begat the worlds and all things. It is

improbable that in this somewhat Orphic mystery there lies
any pre- Vedic myth. The notion comes up first in the golden
germ and egg-born bird (sun) of the Rik. It is not specially
2
Aryan, and is found even among the American Indians."
From the canopy continually came new sky-scenes which
the ancients thought were manifestations of their gods, hence
"
according to their records Agni is Varuna and is Indra."
Plainly Agni, the reflected light of the sun, was seen in
Varuna and in Indra. All fire was seen emerging from
the upper dome of gauze. Hopkins describes the attributes
of Indra as follows :
" Indra has been identified with f '

storm/ with the sky/
' ' ' ' e '
with the year also with sun
;
and with fire in general.
But he be taken as he is found in the hymns, it will be
if
noticed at once that he is too stormy to be the sun; too

luminous to be the storm; too near to the phenomena of the
monsoon to be the year or the sky too rainy to be fire too ; ;
alien from every one thing to be any one thing. He is too

celestial to be wholly atmospheric; too atmospheric to be
celestial ;
too earthly to be either. A most tempting solution
2
1
Tennyson. "The Religions of India," chap, ix, p. 208.
174
HINDU MYTHS 175
is that offered by Bergaigne, who sees in Indra sun or light-

ning. Yet does this explanation not explain all, and it is
more satisfactory than others only because broader; it is
while not yet broad enough.

it is
Indra, in Bergaigne's
3
opinion, stands, however, nearer to fire than to sun."
Indra was the clear sky or sun. Dyaus also was the true
"
sky. His name is derived from Dyu to shine." Zeus comes
from the same root.
O Agni, give us eyes that we may see

The mighty Indra, in his shining car,
Ride o'er the canopy, the great enfolder!
His golden whip, the ray of penciled light,
In his strong arms. His ruddy cheeks aglow
The clear-sky of the heavens towards the poles
All reddened by prismatic rays of light.
The golden helmet of the crowned sun,
Like a lamp flaming in a heavy mist
All nature proving that the gods are one.
O Agni! Thou art terrible. We fear!
"Yea, when the waters covered everywhere
"
They held the germ, they generated light
"Then came from the one spirit, breath of gods.
"
May he not hurt us, he the Lord of beings."
4
May he not hurt us. Agni, hurt us not!
Indra the clear sky conquered all the Asura, including

Varuna Asura, the dragon serpent, whose eyes were magni-
fied additions or haloes of the sun. She grew up over and
covered all the other Asuras, as a canopy drifting towards
the poles always did.
"
Zenaide A. Eagozin says :
Now, Sanskrit has a root
' '
vri, to cover a prolific one, which can be traced in many
words of kindred meanings and one of its most direct for-
mations is this very name of Yaruna. It is as though we
called the sky
'
the coverer, the enfolder/ * * * All
'
ancient peoples used to say that the heavens cover or
3
Ibid., ch. iv, pp. 91-92.
4
Adapted to the present interpretation. After a famous hymn, etc.,
from the Rig Veda.
encompass the earth and all it contains/ sometimes adding

' ? ' '
like a tent or like a roof and meant it literally, not
5
metaphorically."
"
I will sing forth unto the universal king a high, deep
prayer, dear to renowned Varuna, who, as a butcher a hide,
has struck earth apart (from the sky) for the sun. Varuna
has extended air in trees, strength in horses, milk in cows,
and has laid wisdom in hearts ;
fire in water ; the sun in the
sky; soma in the stone. Varuna has inverted his water-

barrel and let the two worlds with the space between flow
with. With this (heavenly water-barrel) he, the king of
every created thing, wets the whole world, as a rain does a
meadow. He wets the world, both earth and heaven, when
6
he, Varuna, chooses to milk out (water)."
Varuna is the universal encompasser, the canopy. He
stands in mid-air like Parjanya and upsets a water-barrel.
Agni is the light or fire in the water-sky; afterwards he is

earthly fire. To place on the altar that which was seen in
the sky was a natural sequence. Fire worship is the logical
result of seeing fire in heaven. Indra is the true sun seen
floating aboveVaruna in a boat or vapor-arc. In the Egyp-

tian myth, Nu-t is depicted as a water-sky with stars above
her. The hymns and prayers to these Vedic gods are
naturally much confused, for the reason that the ever-chang-
ing features of the zonal cloud system resulted in the votaries
of one age emphasizing a feature known as a god which the
peoples of a following generation perhaps could not distin-

guish. Thus Indra might be obscured by Varuna Asura
growing up over and covering him from view.
"
He, men, is Indra," as the Vedas say, and Agni is
Varuna and is Indra. This confusion was caused by the
ever-changing appearance of the sky-scene. It reminds us
of the confusion of tongues at Babel. He slew the snake
6
"The Story of Vedic India," ch. v, fl 8, pp. 140, 141,
6 "
Religions of India," pp. 65-66. Rig Veda T, 85,
HINDU MYTHS 177
that lay upon the hills. He Vritra slew. Watched by the

snake, the waters stood on high. What time the water-cov-
ered cave he opened, the waters freed. Like bellowing kine
7
they swiftly flowed to earth.
"
The text says He men is Indra of the long red beard."
:
There are several features about Indra that reminds us of

Thor, the Scandinavian thunder god, Jove the thunderer,
and of Samson. Both Indra and Thor had lightning or fire
beards. Samson's hair also figured as a cause of his strength.

He set fire to the corn of the Philistines (Judges xv: 45).
In Indra's fight with Vritra, the former's thunderbolt is all-

8
powerful.
" He menIndra of the long red beard " is plainly the
is
same as Hercules. The Acvins were the two pillars of light

seen in the canopy at night. The canopy that is, the north
and south belts caught the rays of the sun from the under-
world, making two pillars. These* were the Pillars of Her-
<
cules. They were Horsemen,' twin sons of Dyaus.
the
Their steeds, the whirling belts, were ever in motion.
The Maruts, whose name means the shining, gleaming
ones, always accompanied the storm bringer, Indra. Their
mother was the variegated cow, Pricni, the mother cloud. 9
These warlike Maruts thus spoke to Indra bragging what
they had done :
"
Thou hast indeed done great things, O mighty one,
with us for thy helpers, through our equal valor. But we
Maruts, O strong Indra, can perform many great deeds by
our power when we so desire."
"
Indra retorts : By my own inborn might, O Maruts,
I slew Vritra. Through my own wrath I grew so strong. It
was I who, wielding the lightning, opened the way for the
10
shining waters to run down for men."
T
Rig Veda i, 32.2 and v. 11.
8 "
Hopkins, The Religions of India," chap, xiv, p. 357.
10 "
IUd., p. 97. Rig Veda i, 165. Ragozin, Vedic India," p. 211.
12
The Maruts knuckled and admitted had " no

that Indra
equal among the gods." Yet they too were immortal. The
whole story is that of Hercules and the many-headed Hydra.
One of these heads proved immortal, which signifies that
the storm winds cannot be subjugated by the- sun those heads
;
which Hercules killed being the violent personifications of

the Ice age.
The Maoris of New
Zealand have a story entitled The i
Legend of the Children of Heaven and Earth/ It was taken

down by Sir George Grey many years ago, and though it is
somewhat lengthy, it will bear perusal in this connection.

We would have the reader note especially the character of
Tawhiri-ma-tea (the immortal storm-head).
"
Men had but one pair of primitive ancestors they ;
sprang from the vast heaven that exists above us, and from
the earth which lies beneath us. According to the traditions
of our race, Rangi and Papa, or Heaven and Earth, were
the source from which, in the beginning, all things origi-
nated. Darkness then rested upon the heaven and upon the
earth, and they still both clave together, for they had not
yet been rent apart and the children they had begotten were
;
ever thinking amongst themselves what might be the differ-

ence between darkness and light they knew that beings had
;
multiplied and increased, and yet light had never broken

upon them, but it ever continued dark. Hence those sayings
(
are found in our ancient religious services There was
:
darkness from the first division of time unto the tenth, to

the hundredth, to the thousandth,' that is, for a vast space
of time; and these divisions of time were considered as
beings, and were each termed a Po.

" At last the
beings who had been begotten by Heaven
and the Earth, worn out by the continued darkness, consulted
amongst themselves, saying, Let us now determine what we

should do with Rangi and Papa, whether it would be better
to slay them, or to rend them apart. Then spoke Tu-ma-
HINDU MYTHS 179
tauenga, the fiercest of the children of Heaven and Earth,

'
It is well, let us slay them/
"
Then spake Tane-mahuta, the father of forests and of
all things that inhabit them or that are constructed from
'
trees, Nay, not so. It is better to rend them apart, and to
let the heaven stand far above us, and the earth lie under
our feet. Let the sky become as a stranger to us, but the
earth remain close to us as our nourishing mother.' The
brothers all consented to this proposal, with the exception
of Tawhiri-ma-tea, the father of winds and storms, and he,
fearing that his kingdom was about to be overthrown, grieved

greatly at the thought of his parents' being torn apart. Five
of the brothers willingly consented to the separation of their
parents, but one of them would not agree to it.

"
The brothers all tried, in vain. The god and father of
the cultivated food of man, god and father of fish and rep-
tiles, every one failed.

etc. Then at last slowly uprises
Tane-mahuta, the god and father of forests, of birds, and of
insects,and he struggles with his parents in vain he strives

;
to rend them apart with his hands and arms. Lo, he pauses,
his head is now firmly planted on his mother, the earth, his
feet he raises up and rests against his father, the skies; he
strains his back and limbs with mighty effort. Now are
rent apart Rangi and Papa, and with cries and groans of
c
woe they shriek aloud. Wherefore slay you thus your
parents? Why commit you so dreadful a crime as to slay
'
us, as to rend your parents apart ? But Tane-mahuta pauses
not, he regards not their shrieks and cries far beneath him ;
he presses down the earth, far, far above him he thrusts up

the sky.
" Hence these '
It was the fierce
sayings of olden time :
thrusting of Tane which tore the heaven from the earth so

that they were rent apart, and darkness was made manifest,
and so was light.'
"
No sooner was heaven rent from the earth than the mul-
titiide of human beings were discovered whom they had

begotten, and who had hitherto lain concealed between the
bodies of Rangi and Papa.
"
The legend next describes how Tawhiri-ma-tea, god
and father of winds and storms, arose and followed his father
to the realms above, hurrying to the sheltered hollows of the
boundless skies, to hide and cling and nestle there. Fierce
desire came to him to wage war against his brethren who had
'
done such unhandsome deed to their parents. Then came
forth his progeny, the mighty winds, the fierce squalls, the
clouds, dense, dark, fiery, wildly bursting and in their midst

;
their father rushed upon his foe.' Tane-mahuta and his

giant forests were taken unawares, unsuspecting, when the
raging hurricane burst upon them, the mighty trees were
snapped in twain, prostrated, trunks and branches left torn
upon the ground for insect and grub to prey on. The sea was
swept and tossed with wild surgings and mountain waves
tillTangaroa, god of the ocean and father of all that dwell
therein, became affrighted and fled. His children, the
parents of fish on the one hand and of reptiles on the other,

fled, the one into the depths of the sea, the other into the
recesses of the shore, amid the forests and the scrubs.
" The
storm-god attacked his brothers, the gods and pro-
genitors of the tilled food and the wild, but Papa, the Earth,
caught them up and hid them, and he searched and swept to
find them, in vain. He fell upon the last of his brothers, the
father of fierce men, but him he could not even move. Man
stood erect, unshaken upon the bosom of his mother earth.
e
At Heaven and the Storm became tran-
last the hearts of the
quil, and their passion was assuaged.'

" But now
Tu-ma-tauenga, father of fierce men, became
stirred to attack. He was minded to avenge himself upon
his brethren who had left him unaided to stand against the
god of storms. He twisted nooses of the leaves of the whanake

tree, and the birds and beasts, children of the forest-god,
HINDU MYTHS 181
fell before him; netted nets of the flax plant and dragged
ashore the fish; he digged in the ground and brought up the
sweet potato and all cultivated food, the fern root and all
wild growing food. He overcame every one of the brothers,
all but the storm-god, who still ever attacks him in tempest
and hurricane, seeking to destroy him both by sea and by

land. It was in one of these attacks that the dry land was
made to disappear beneath the waters.
"
The beings of ancient days who thus submerged the
land were Terrible-rain, Long-continued-rain, Fierce-hail-
storms and their progeny were Mist, Heavy-dew, and Light-
;
dew, and thus but little of the dry land was left standing
above the sea.
" From that time clear
light increased upon the earth,
and allthe beings which were hidden between Rangi and
Papa before they were separated now multiplied upon the

earth. The first beings begotten by Rangi and Papa were
not like human beings; but Tu-ma-tauenga bore the likeness
of a man, as did all his brothers.
"
Up to this time the vast Heaven has still ever remained
separate from his spouse, the Earth. Yet their mutual love
still continues, the soft warm bosom still
sighs of her loving
ever rise up to
him, ascending from the woody mountains and
valleys, and men call these mists; and the vast Heaven, as
he mourns through the long nights his separation from his
beloved, drops frequent tears upon her bosom, and men, see-
11
ing these, term them dew-drops."
This long citation shows the similarity of the many-
headed storm-king myth throughout the world. The lifting
of the canopy was invariably followed by a season of tem-
pestuous violence. But let us return to the Hindu legends.

The Eig Veda, which is the oldest Hindu authority, is
a compiled work, containing many additions of a later day;
u
Grey's Polynesian Mythology, pp. 1-5, 14, 15, as quoted by Charles
De B. Mills,
" The Tree of
Mythology," pp. 269-274.
thus hymns that first expressed the scenes of a water sky

were afterwards in part rearranged to adapt them to the
changed conditions. But this will become clearer to us as
we peruse the following selections taken from the Second
Series ofAuld Lang Syne. It will be noted that these mostly
record the scenes of the vapor-belt and canopy period.
HYMN TO SAVITRI SUN. (RIG- VEDA i, 35, 2.)
(6) Three skies are there of SavitH, two places,

And one in Yama's realm that holds our heroes,
Immortals mounted on the chariot's axle,
Let him speak out who understands this saying.
(7) The glorious bird (the sun) has lighted-up the heaven,
The guide divine, whose wings are deeply sounding j
Where is the sun? Who knows it now, to tell us,

Which of the heavens his ray may have illumined?
Naturally, the sun was first addressed when seen through

the vapor-sky, where in the imagination he appeared as a
spirit riding in a golden chariot, drawn by brilliant horses.

The next step noted is that the figurative speech remained
after the canopy and vapor-belt had passed away and the
sun was seen in its true glory. Thus we read, Rig- Veda i,
27, 10 :
The stars fixed high in heaven and shining brightly

By night, say, where have they gone by day-time?
The laws of Varuwa are everlasting,
The moon moves on by night in brilliant splendor.
It does not follow from this that because the stars were
seen the last canopy or ring had dissipated. This evidence
is simply to be classed with the records which the ancient
Chinese, Egyptians, and Chaldeans kept of the eclipses.

These records, together with the other astronomical data of
the ancients, merely show that the true sky was seen at times.
Yea, even if we are forced to grant that the skies were com-
pletely cleared from all belted-cloud phenomena at the time
of these recorded astronomical events, only removes the

it
actual appearances of the cloud phenomena into a more

HINDU MYTHS 183
remote past. Who can gainsay such evidence as is found in

the following (hymn X, 129) :
Nor aught nor naught existed: yon bright sky

Was not, nor heaven's broad woof outstretched above;
What covered all? what sheltered? what concealed?
Was it the waters' fathomless abyss?
Again we quote from the same hymn:

Darkness there was, and all at first was veiled
In gloom profound, an ocean without light j
The germ that still lay covered in the husk
Burst forth, one nature, from the fervent heat.
Here is another selection taken from the Hymn, To

Katri, Night.
(1) The Night comes near and looks about,

The goddess with her many eyes,
She has put on her glories all.
(2) Immortal, she has filled the space,

Both far and wide, both low and high,
She conquers darkness with her light.
(3) She has undone her sister, Dawn,

The goddess Night, as she approached,
And utter darkness flies away.
"
Max Miiller says We must remember that the night
:
to the Yedic poet was not the same as darkness, but that, on
the contrary, when the night had driven away the day, she
was supposed to lighten the darkness, and even to rival her
sister, the bright day, with her starlight beauty. The night,
no doubt, gives peace and rest, looked upon
yet the Dawn is
as the kindlier light, and is implored to free mortals from
the dangers of the night, as debtors are freed from a debt.
Many conjectural alterations have been proposed in this

12
hymn, but it seems to me to be intelligible as it stands."
From the standpoint of the additional light shed by the
""Auld Lang Syne/' Second Series, p. 255.

present hypothesis, this hymn becomes still more intelli-

gible. At night the sunlight from below illuminated the
"
canopy ; in the words of the hymn, She conquered darkness
with her light." In connection with the lesson of the pyra-
mids, this hymn clearer, and the midnight hour of
becomes
" shade " "
the and of Death " is indeed a revelation.
(8) Like cows, I brought this hymn to thee,
As to a conqueror, child of Dyaus.
Accept it graciously, O Night!
The " cows " mentioned in the text refers without ques-
tion to the clouds, and brings at once to our attention all
the solar bulls of mythology. Sarama had cloud-cattle stolen
by the Pani-robbers. Sarama went after them, and the fol-

lowing conversation took place:
"
The Panis: With what intention did Sarama reach
'
this pla.ce? for the way is far and leads tortuously away.
Didst travel safely ? (or, how
'
What is thy wish with us ?
was the night?') How didst thou cross the waters of the
'
Easa ?
ff '
Sarama : I came sent as the messenger of Indra,
desiring, O
Panis, your great treasures. This preserved me
from the fear of crossing, and thus I crossed the waters of
the Rasa.'
"
Who is he ? what looks he like, this Indra,
The Panis: e
whose herald you have hastened from afar? Let him come
here, we will make friends with him, then he may be the
herdsman of our cows.'
"Sarama: (
Ye cannot injure him, but he can injure,
whose herald I have hastened from afar. Deep rivers cannot
overwhelm him you, Panis, soon shall be cut down by Indra.'
;
ff
The Panis: ' Those cows, O Sarama, which thou cam'st
to seek, are flying round the ends of the sky. O darling, who
would give up to thee without a fight? for, in truth, our
" 13
weapons too are sharp.'
Eagozin, "Vedic India,"
18
Rig- Veda x, 108. p. 257.
HINDU MYTHS 185
We have already sketched some of the attributes of Indra,

the conquering sun. He was also a cow or cloud disperser.
He slew the awful " demon-cloud " ; also Yal or Vritra, him
of speed, the great snake, the great restrainer. He, men,
was Indra, the cloud compeller.
" He who fixed firm the
moving earth who tranquillized ;
the incensed mountains who spread

the spacious firmament ;
;
who consolidated the heavens: he, men, is Indra.

" He
who, having destroyed Ahi, set free the seven
rivers; who recovered the cows retained by Bal; who gen-
erated fire in the clouds ; who is invincible in battle ; he, men,
14
is Indra."
an interesting fact that England's patron, Saint
It is
George, borrowed from this scene. The battle of Indra

is
and Ahi is analogous and equivalent to that between Saint

George and the Dragon. Other prototypes are Hercules and
the Hydra, Perseus and the sea-monster, Sigurd and Eafnir,
Beowulf and Grendel. "
All this is descriptive of the deliv-
erance of the earth," says Charles De B. Mills,
"
from the
fangs of a monster, either the storm-cloud in the case of
Herakles the throttling serpents of night or the icy prison
of cold, of winter." Nay, but we know that it is all summed
up in one monster the overhanging snake-belt under the

canopy.
"
Mr. Mills goes on to say : What causes surprise is the
universality of this It is
everywhere, certainly
speech.
wherever any of the Aryan race are found. Nay, there are
traces of the same essential story in the literatures of the
Phoenicians, Egyptians, and Babylonians. In Saint George

we have the myth Christianized, touched afresh with new
colors,and the hero thus presented has become one of the
most venerated and popular of all the saints in the calendar.
The patron saint of England now since early in the fifteenth
century, he has been also that of Aragon and Portugal, and

"Murray's Manual of Mythology, 20th ed., p. 372.
the order of the knights of Saint George has been widely

instituted. In the time of the crusades he appeared once in
light on the walls of Jerusalem, waving his sword, and led
the victorious assault on the Holy City. Is it not wonder-
" 15
ful that he has been so long and gratefully remembered ?
Sky-scenes were essentially ephemeral, thus all through

Vedic literature the changing of names and of the meanings
of words is in evidence, and so just as we have seen the
English saint, originally a sun-god, become a being leading

armies of men to victory, so also the Hindus, like all the
other peoples of their day (and of the days that have since
passed), endeavored to keep abreast of the times. Deva

'
Surya, shining one/ is an illustration of this truth. Surya
means the red afterwards he became Savitar,
ball of the sun ;
'
enlivener.' He proved to be the burner death. 16 This
burning one was the racing canopy. Max Miiller says of it:
" One of the most
intelligible names given to the sun
was Asva, the racer, or Dadhikravan or V&gm (horse).
And while at one time the sun was a racer, at another the
sun was conceived as approaching men and standing on a
chariot which was drawn by horses, as in Greek mythology.
'
Thus we 35, 2
read, Kig-Veda i, The god Savit :
(the
sun), approaching on the dark-blue sky, sustaining mortals
and immortals, comes on his golden chariot, beholding all
" 17
the worlds.'
Hopkins gives the hymn as follows:

Through space of darkness wending comes he hither,
Who puts to rest th' immortal and the mortal,
On golden car existent things beholding,
The god that rouses, Savitar, the shining;
Comes he, the shining one, comes forward, upward,
Comes with two yellow steeds, the god revered,
Comes shining Savitar from out the distance,
All difficulties far away compelling.
His pearl-adorned, high, variegated chariot,
""The Tree of Mythology," pp. 76-77.

16
Rig- Veda, liv, 2.
""Auld Lang Syne," Second Series, p. 194.
HINDU MYTHS 187
Of which the pole is golden, he, reverSd,

Hath mounted, Savitar, whose beams are brilliant,
Against the darksome spaces strength assuming.
Among the people gaze the brown white-footed
(Steeds) that the chariot drag whose pole is golden.
All peoples stand, and all things made, forever,
Within the lap of Savitar, the heavenly.
(There are three heavens of Savitar, two low ones,

One, men-restraining, in the realm of Yama.
As on (his) chariot-pole stand all immortals,
Let him declare it who has understood it !
)
Across air-spaces gazes he, the eagle,

Who moves in secret, th' Asura, well-guiding,
Where is (bright) Surya now? who understands it?
And through which sky is now his ray extending ? 18
It has already been pointed out that the Acvins were

the two halves of the divided canopy. They were like two
great mountains, the one to the north, the other in the south.
Warren says of them:
"
A striking parallel to the Egyptian and Akkadian idea
of two opposed polar mountains, an arctic and an antarctic
the one celestial and the other infernal is found among the
ancient inhabitants of India. The celestial mountain they

called Su-Meru, the infernal one Ku-Meru. In the Hindu
Puranas the size and splendors of the former are presented
in the wildest exaggerations of Oriental fancy. Its height,
according to some accounts, isnot less than eight hundred

and forty thousand miles, its diameter at the summit three
hundred and twenty thousand. Four enormous buttress
mountains, situated at mutually opposite points of the hori-

zon, surround it. One account makes the eastern side of
Meru of the color of the ruby, its southern that of the lotus,
its western that of gold, its northern that of coral. On its
summit the vast city of Brahma, fourteen thousand leagues

is
in extent. Around it, in the cardinal points and the inter-

18
"Religions of India," p. 49, Rig- Veda i, 35.
mediate quarters, are situated the magnificent cities of Indra

and the other regents of >he spheres. The
city of Brahma, in
the centre of the eight, is surrounded by a moat of sweet
flowing celestial waters, a kind of river of the water of

life (Ganga), which, after encircling the city, divides into
four mighty rivers flowing towards four opposite points of
the horizon, and descending into the equatorial ocean which
engirdles the earth.

"
Sometimes Mount Meru is represented as planted so
firmly and deeply in the globe that the antarctic or infernal
mountain is only a projection of its lower end. Thus the
Surya Siddhanta says
f
A collection of manifold jewels, a
:
mountain of gold, is Meru, passing through the middle of

the earth-globe (bhugola), and protruding on either side.
At its upper end are stationed along with Indra the gods and
the great sages (maJiarishis) at ;
itslower end, in like
manner, the demons have their abode each (class) the enemy
of the other. Surrounding it on every side is fixed, next,
this great ocean, like a girdle about the earth, separating the
two hemispheres of the gods and of the demons." 19
The four mighty rivers above referred to as flowing down-

wards towards the four opposite points of the horizon were
four snakes. At an early date in the mythology of the
Hindus the great snakes and the little snakes are said to have
taken sides. Divine snakes grouped with other celestial
powers disputed for victory over earthly combatants. This is

a record of the fact that as time wore on the cult which
owed its origin to the original sky-scenes was becoming con-
taminated. The scenes that gave birth to the myths had

passed away and the people were prone to forget. In a
footnote on these times Hopkins says:
"
The snakes belong to Yaruna and his region, as de-
scribed in v. 98. It is on the head of the earth-upholding
snake Cesha that Vishnu muses, iii, 203, 12. The reverence
""Paradise Found," pp. 129-130.

HINDU MYTHS 189
paid to serpents begins to be ritual in the Atharva Veda.

Even in the Kig Veda there is the deification of the cloud-
snake. In later times they answered to the Nymphs, being
tutelary guardians of streams and rivers (Buhler). In i, 36,
Cesha Ananta supports earth, and it is told why he does
99 20
so.
"
Vishnu means " knowledge." Avatar means Descent
from somewheres to this earth." The gods descended when
the canopy fell and brought knowledge to men.
The duration of the time of the gods' own lives and of
the divine heavens, unlike the Greeks' notion of the four ages
which include all time, in India embraces only a fraction of
time.
"
Starting at any one point of eternity, there is, accord-
ing to the Hindu belief," says Hopkins, " a preliminary
'
dawn '
of a new cycle of ages. This dawn lasts four hun-
dred years, and then followed by the real age (the first of
'
is
four), which last four thousand years, and has again a twi-
light ending of four hundred years in addition. This first
is the Krita age, corresponding to the classical Golden Age.
Its characteristics are that in it everything is perfect ; right

eternal now exists in full power." 21
These ages are a long-drawn-out affair. "No doubt the
epoch-making events of canopy decline through which primi-

tive man passed moulded his thoughts in this direction and
gave birth to the idea of dividing time up into ages. In

Hindu expression, this cycle of the ages always repeats itself
anew.
The four horses of Eevelations
(ch. vi) are another in-
stance of the fourfold division of early time. In all parts
of the world the same divisions seem to have been observed,
and the inference is that there actually was something in
canopy time which caused these ages to be noted.
20
"The Religions of India," chap, xiv, p. 376.
81
"Religions of India," ch. xv, p. 419.
" '
ThePopul Vuh,' the national book of the Quiches,
tells us of four ages of the world. The man of the first age
was made of clay he was strengthless, inept, watery he
;
i
;
could not move his head, his face looked but one way; his
'
sight was restricted, he could not look behind him (that is,
'
he had no knowledge of the past) he had been endowed ;
with language, but he had no intelligence, so he was con-

sumed in the water.'
"
Then followed a higher race of
they filled the men ;
world with their progeny they had intelligence but no moral

;
'
sense; they forgot the Heart of Heaven.' They were de-
stroyed by and pitch from heaven, accompanied by tre-
fire
mendous earthquakes, from which only a few escaped.

" Then followed a
period when all was dark, save the
white light as yet of the primeval world.
"
Once more are the gods in council, in the darkness, in
the night of a desolated universe.
" Then the
people prayed to God for light, evidently for
the return of the sun.
"'Hail! O
Creator!' they cried. 'O Former! Thou
that hearest and understandest us abandon us not forsake ! !
us not ! O God, thou art in heaven and on earth ;

O Heart of
Heaven ! O Heart of Earth !
give us descendants, and a pos-
terity as long as the light endure.'
"
It was thus they spake, living tranquilly, invoking the
return of the light ; waiting the rising of the sun watching ;
the star of the morning, precursor of the sun. But no sun

came, and the four men and their descendants grew uneasy.
*
We have no person to watch over us,' they said ' nothing ;
'
to guard our symbols Then they adopted gods of their
!
own, and waited. They kindled fires, for the climate was
colder; then there fell great rains and hail-storms, and put
out their fires. Several times they made fires, and several
times the rains and storms extinguished them. Many other
trials also they underwent in Tulan, famines and such things,
HINDU MYTHS 191
and a general dampness and cold for the earth was moist,
* * *
there being no sun.
generations seem to have grown up and perished

"Many
' '
under the sunless skies, waiting for the return of the light ;
for the
'
Popul Vuh '

tells us that
l
here also the language
of all the families was confused, so that no one of the first
.four men could any longer understand the speech of the
others.'
* * *
" This shows that
many, many years it may he cen-
turies must have elapsed before that vast volume of mois-
up by evaporation, was able to fall back in
ture, carried
snow and rain to the land and sea, and allow the sun to
'
shine through the blanket of the dark/ Starvation encoun-
tered the scattered fragments of mankind.
"
And in these same Quiche legends of Central America
'
we are told The persons of the godhead were enveloped
:
" 22
in the darkness which enshrouded a desolated world/
" The " felt the
Aztecs," says Prescott, curiosity, common
to man in almost every stage of civilization, to lift the veil
which covers the mysterious past and the more awful future.
They sought relief, like the nations of the Old Continent,
from the oppressive idea of eternity, by breaking it up into
distinct cycles, or periods of time, each of several thousand
years' duration. There were four of these cycles, and at

the end of each, by the agency of one of the elements, the
human family was swept from the earth, and the sun blotted
out from the heavens, to be again rekindled." 23
Quetzalcoatl was the god of the air, the good canopy.
"
Under him," says Prescott, " the earth teemed with fruits
and flowers, without the pains of culture. An ear of Indian
corn was as much as a single man could carry. The cotton,
as it grew, took, of its own accord, the rich dyes of human
22
Bancroft's "Native Races," vol. iii, p. 46, as quoted by Donnelly
"
in Ragnarok," pp. 216-218.
23
"History of the Conquest of Mexico," vol. i, ch. iii, p. 64.
art. The air was filled with intoxicating perfumes and the
sweet melody of birds. Inshort, these were the halcyon days,
which find a place in the mythic systems of so many nations
24
in the Old World. It was the golden ag& of Anahuac."
"
The reader has already been made acquainted with the
Aztec system of four great cycles," says the famous historian,
" at
the end of each of which the world was destroyed, to be .
again regenerated. The belief in these periodical convulsions

of nature, through the agency of some one or other of the ele-
ments, was familiar to many countries in the Eastern hemi-

sphere; and, though varying in detail, the general resem-
blance of outline furnishes an argument in favor of a common
origin.
"
No tradition has been more widely spread among
nations than that of a Deluge. Independently of tradition,
indeed, it would seem to be naturally suggested by the inte-

rior structure of the earth, and by the elevated places on
which marine substances are found to be deposited. It was
the received notion, under some form or other, of the most
civilized people in the Old World, and of the barbarians of
the New. The Aztecs combined with this some particular
circumstances of a more arbitrary character, resembling the
accounts of the East. They believed that two persons sur-
vived the Deluge a man, named Coxcox, and his wife.
Their heads are represented in ancient paintings, together
with a boat floating on the waters, at the foot of a mountain.
A dove is also depicted, with the hieroglyphical emblem of
languages in his mouth, which he is distributing to the
chil-
dren of Coxcox, who were born dumb. The neighboring

people of Michoacan, inhabiting the same high plains
of
the Andes, had a still further tradition, that the boat in
which Tezpi, their Noah, escaped, was filled with various
kinds of animals and birds. After some time, a vulture was
sent out from it, but remained feeding on the dead bodies of
"Ibid., p. 61.
HINDU MYTHS 193
the giants, which had been left on the earth, as the waters
subsided. The little humming-bird, huitzitzilin, was then
sent forth, and returned with a twig in its mouth. The coin-
cidence of both these accounts with the Hebrew and Chaldean
narratives is obvious. It were to be wished that the authority
25
for the Michoacan version were more satisfactory."
This account of the Deluge, though evidently grafted
from the Old World, brings us back to our Hindu legends.
Manu was the Hindu Noah. The human race, according
to this legend, was preserved through a compact which was
made between him and the god, Vishnu, who was incarnate
in many strange forms and things, each one of which was
an avatar. The account of the famous flood avatar is as
follows :
"
In the morning they brought water to Manu to wash
with, even as they bring it to-day to wash hands with. While
he was washing a fish came into his hands. The fish said,
'
Keep me, and I will save thee.' What wilt thou save me f
from ? A flood will sweep away all creatures on earth.

' '
I will save thee from that/ How am I to keep thee ? ' '
'
As long as we are small/ said he (the fish), we are sub- e
ject to much destruction ;

fish eats fish. Thou shalt keep me
first in a jar. When I outgrow that, thou shalt dig a hole,
and keep me in it. When I outgrow that, thou shalt take
me down to the sea, for there I shall be beyond destruction.'
"
It soon became a (great horned fish called a) jhasha,
'
for this grows the largest, and then it said The flood will :
come this summer (or in such a year). Look out for (or
worship) me, and build a ship. When the flood rises, enter
into the ship, and I will save thee.' After he had kept it he
took it down And the same summer (year) as the
to the sea.
fish had told him he looked out for (or worshiped) the fish ;
and built a ship. And when the flood rose he entered into
the ship. Then up swam the fish, and Manu tied the ship's
*Ilnd.f vol. iii, appendix, part i, pp. 362-364.
13
rope to the horn of the fish; and thus he sailed swiftly up

'
toward the mountain of the north. I have saved thee,' said
'
he (the fish). Fasten the ship to a tree. But let not the
water leave thee stranded while thou art on the mountain
(top). Descend slowly as the water goes down.' So he
descended slowly, and that descent of the mountain of the
(
north is called the Descent of Manu.' The flood then swept
off all the creatures of the earth, and Manu here remained
alone." 26
This avatar speaks plainly of the descent of both gods and
water to this earth. Vishnu is said to have lain on a bed of
snakes, so the unknown source, the somewheres of the myth,
isclearly the vapor-belt on high. First Yishnu took the form
of a fish. In a later avatar he became a strong tortoise,
upholding the sky-rim-disk.
"
Another avatar is thus described by Maurice :
By the
power of God there issued from the essence of Brahma a

being shaped like a boar, white and exceeding small; this
being, in the space of an hour, grew to the size of an elephant
of the largest size, and remained in the air.
"
Brahma was astonished on beholding this figure, and
discovered, by the force of internal penetration, that it could
be nothing but the power of the Omnipotent which had
assumed a body and become visible. He now felt that God
is all in all, and all is from him, and all in him; and said
to Mareechee and his sons (the attendant genii)

'
A won- :
derful animal has emanated from my essence at first of the ;
smallest size, it has in one hour increased to this enormous
bulk, and, without doubt, it is a portion of the almighty
power.'
"
They were engaged in this conversation when that
(
vara, or boar-form/ suddenly uttered a sound like the loud-
est thunder, and the echo reverberated and shook all the
quarters of the universe.

26
Hopkins, "The Religions of India," ch. ix, pp. 214-215.
HINDU MYTHS 195
" But under

still, this dreadful awe of heaven, a certain
wonderful divine confidence secretly animated the hearts of
Brahma, Mareechee, and the other genii, who immediately
began praises and thanksgiving. That vara (boar-form)
figure, hearing the power Yedas and Mantras from
of the
their mouths, again made a loud noise, and became a dread-
ful spectacle. Shaking the full flowing mane which hung
down his neck on both sides, and erecting the humid hairs
of his body, he proudly displayed his two most exceedingly
white tusks ; then, rolling about his wine-colored (red) eyes
and erecting his tail, he descended from the region of the
air, and plunged headforemost into the water. The whole
body of water was convulsed by the motion, and began to rise
in waves, while the guardian spirit of the sea, being terrified,
27
began to tremble for his domain and cry for mercy."
The avatars that follow are nothing but husks built up
to sustain the priestly cult. But we must not omit mention-
ing Vasuka, the King of Serpents, who was made into a rope
to twirl the churn of heaven. It is said that he churned the
foaming waters of the sea until the milky waves arose, lashed
and in the midst of these mighty convulsions he
to whiteness,
caused the storm to bring the things of beauty out from the
heaving bosom of the deep to their birth.
27
"Ancient History of Hindustan," vol. i, p. 304.
CHAPTER XV
BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN MYTHS
THE
fourth avatar of Vishnu, as we have just seen in
"
our last chapter, was that of the great mountain, Mandara
the lofty," which acted as a churning stick to stir the foam-
ing waters of the vapor-belt, the King snake being used as

a rope to twirl the stick around. Now, the cloud-mountain
always was the home of the gods. The Greeks had their
Olympia, the North American Indians had their sky-moun-
tain, and the Mohammedan mythology records the fact that
Mount Caf, which encircled the earth, was the home of
giants. It was said to rest upon the sacred emerald-colored
stone, sakhral, whose reflected light was the cause of the tints
of the sky. The Scandinavian myths also mention the moun-
tain giants, and the Egyptians had their pyramids. That
the Babylonian gods lived above or on top of the world-
"
mountain therefore seems quite natural. The mountain of
' '
the world is also called the mountain of the nether world
(shad Aralu) in the cuneiform inscriptions." The gods,

Ea, Sin, Shamash, Nebo, Adad, Ninib, and their sublime
consorts, were all born in a house situated on top of this
mountain. 1
In some form or other, nearly all the peoples of antiquity
have left a record of this
sky-mountain phenomena, but per-
haps the Babylonians and Assyrians have excelled them all.
Their zikkurats, or staged towers, were imitations of this
2 " The
mountain, and they were the temples of their gods.
1 " in Bible Lands During the Nineteenth Century,"
Explorations
pp. 464-465.
2
"To produce the mountain effect, a mound of earth was piled up,
and on this mound a terrace was formed that served as the foundation
plane for the temple proper, but it was perfectly natural also that
196
BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN MYTHS 197
temple in so far as it was erected to serve as a habitation for

"
the god/' says Jastrow, was to be the reproduction of the
cosmic E-Kur
' '
a mountain house on a small scale, a
miniature Kharsag-kurkura." * * * "In Assyria we
find one of the oldest temples bearing the name E-kharsag-
kurkura, that stamps the edifice as the reproduction of the
' " 3
mountain of all lands.'
Some of the mountain titles of these deities and their
temples were as follows : The name (

zikkurat' itself means
' '
mountain peak.' Bel's temple at Mppur was E-Kur,'
the mountain house of Bel. Belit, his consort, was called
' '
Nin-Khar-Sag,' or the lady of the great high mountain.'
Bel was often addressed as if he himself were the mountain :
( ' '
the great mountain,' the lofty Bel,' the mighty Bel.'
Originally he was the mountain mass in the sky. His deifi-

cation did not rob him of his name.
In Ur was ' the house of the great mountain,' ' the glo-
' '
rious mountain house,' the lofty house,' the heavenly
'
house,' 'the link of heaven and earth,' the summit house.'
'
In Asshur there was the house of all the lands or the ' '
'
house of mountains,' the house of the mountain of countries.'
'
At Babylon the great house was an abode of the same
'
nature. Here the mountain-god was called Marduk, from

Maru ('the sun') Duk
(u) ('the glorious chamber') the 4
:
glorious chamber of the hidden sun. The gods lived in

chambers. Jastrow says:
"
As the zikkurat represented the mountain on which the
gods were born and where they were once supposed to dwell,
so the sacred room was regarded as the reproduction of a
instead of making the edifice consist of one story, a second was super-
imposed on the first, so as to heighten the resemblance to a mountain.
The outcome of this ideal was the so-called staged tower, known as
the zikkurat. The name signifies simply a ' high ' edifice, and embodies
the same idea that led the Canaanites and Hebrews to call their tem-
' "
ples high places/ Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria," ch.
xxvi, p. 615. *IUd., pp. 614, 615. *IUd., ch. viii, p. 116.
portion of the great mountain where the gods assembled in

solemn council. This council chamber was situated at the
eastern end of the great mountain, and was known as
'
Du-azagga, that is, brilliant chamber.' The chamber itself

constituted the innermost recess of the eastern limit of the
mountain, and the special part of the mountain in which it

lay was known as Ubshu-kenna, written with the ideographic
' " 5
equivalents to assembly room.'
Bel of Nippur became associated with Marduk of Baby-
lon. The union of the governments of the two cities blended
the one god into the other until finally they became united as
one deity. Both were solar characters. Probably they rep-
resented the same aspect of abstract nature, and since their
affinities were the same their union was the logical result
when the peoples of the two cities came to realize that they
were worshiping the same nature-being. In both places they
were worshiping the same god-like mountain. 6
The union of Bel-Mar duk is only one instance of an
innumerable host of similar occurrences. Take the leviathan
which we read about in Job. He
the crooked serpent
is
(Job xxvi: 13; Ps. xxxiii: 6-7; Isa. xxvii: 1). The swift
Acvin or northern canopy of the Hindus, etc., etc. And yet
how quickly he becomes associated with our present scene.
It is written of him " He beholdeth all high things he is
:
;
a king over all the children of pride." Chaldaic: "of all

"
the sons of the mountains (Job xli: 34)
6
Ibid., ch. xxvi, p. 629.
6
Marduk was the bright glowing, shining canopy-mountain. He
was not the sun itself; only the shiner which was lit by reflection, even
at night. Those who believe that his temple, E-Sagili, was a sun-
temple will have some difficulty to explain the night prayers that
formed a part of his worship. Sayce (Hibbert Lectures, p. 101) says:
"
Two hours after nightfall the priest must come and take of the waters
of the river; must enter into the presence of Bil, and, putting on a
stole in the presence of Bil, must say this prayer, etc."
Ishtar was originally a good canopy. Personified, she

was known as the mother/ for the reason that she seemed
*
to give birth to all, the sky phenomena. 7 She was also known
' '
as the brilliant goddess/ and as the mistress of the moun-
tains.' Afterwards she became violent, and the verdant earth
under her greenhouse roof trembled. Thus she lost her good
character, and the Assyrians, seeing her transformation,
henceforth considered her the goddess of battle and war.
Her character is like that of the good cherub of Ezekiel
(chap, xxviii), who afterwards became a menace and terror.
Of this canopy it is written that he was set like Ishtar on the
holy mountain. The passage reads as follows :
" Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth ;

and I
have set thee so thou wast upon the holy mountain of God
:
;
thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones

of fire.
"
Thou wast perfect in thyways from the day that thou
wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
"
the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled
By
the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned there- :
fore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God :
and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of

"
the stones of fire (vs. 1416).
In the cosmology of the Chaldeans the mountain of the
canopy is very prominent. They imagined that the earth
was shaped like an inverted round boat or bowl. A. H. Sayce
is authority for the following:
" e
Heaven itself had not always been the land of the
'
silver sky of later Assyrian belief. The Babylonians once
believed that the gods inhabited the snow-clad peak of
'
Eowandiz, mountain of the world and ' the mountain
'the
of the East/ as it was also termed, which supported the
7
"The mother" was a common appellation given to the canopy
in all ancient systems of religion.
starry vault of heaven. It is to this old Babylonian belief

that allusion is made in Isaiah xiv: 13, 14, where the Baby-
lonian monarch represented as saying, in his heart: 'I
is
will ascend into heaven, I will sit also on the mount of the
assembly (of the gods) in the extremities of the north: I

will ascend above the heights of the clouds.' " 8
"
Above the convex surface of the earth," Eagozin says,
"spread the sky (ana), itself divided into two regions: the
highest heaven or firmament, which, with the fixed stars
immovably attached to it, revolved, as round an axis or pivot,
around an immensely high mountain, which joined it to the
earth as a * * *
pillar.
"
Between the lower heaven and the surface of the earth
isthe atmospheric region, the realm of Im or Mermer, the
Wind, where he drives the clouds, rouses the storms, and

whence he pours down the rain, which is stored in the great
reservoir of Ana, in the heavenly Ocean. As to the earthly
Ocean, it is fancied as a broad river, or watery rim, flowing

allround the edge of the imaginary inverted bowl; in its
dwells Ea (whose name means
'
waters the House of
Waters '), the great Spirit of the Earth and Waters (Ziki-a),
either in the form of a
fish, whence he is frequently called
'
Ea f
the Exalted Fish,' or on a magnificent
the fish/ or
ship, with which he travels round the earth, guarding and

9
protecting it."
The people of those early days naturally speculated on

the question as to what held the hollow hemisphere of the
stretched-out heaven in place. It appeared to them as a
solid dome or covering. The Assyriologist of the British
Museum, L. W. King, gives us some account of their ideas
He tells us that they thought that
"
on this subject. both
earth and heaven rested upon a great body of water called
Apsu, i.e., the Deep." Again, some say:

8
"By-Paths of Bible Knowledge," vii; "Assyria," ch. iii, p. 77.
9
"The Story of Chaldea," pp. 153, 154.
" It is not quite certain how the solid dome of heaven

was supported; that is to say, it is not clear whether it was
supported by the earth or was held up, independently of the
earth, by the waters. According to one view, the edge of the
earth was turned up and formed around it a solid wall, like
a steep range of hills, upon which the dome of heaven rested ;
and in the hollow between the mountain of the earth and

this outer wall of hills the sea collected in the form of a
narrow stream. 10 This conception coincides with some of
the phases in the Legend of Etana, but against it may be
urged the fact that the sea is frequently identified with

Apsu, or the primeval Deep upon which the earth rested.
But if the edges of the earth supported the dome of heaven,
all communication between the sea and Apsu would be cut
off. more probable, therefore, that the earth did not
It is
support the heavens, and that the foundations of the heavens,

like those of the earth, rested on Apsu." This confusion
The original stream of the Eden World is here portrayed. It is

10
written: "A river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from
thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the
first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah,
where there is gold and the gold of that land is good there is bdellium
; :
and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the
same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. And the name
of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east
of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates." (Gen. ii: 10-14.)
William F. Warren
says:
"Finally, pursuing these curious investigations further, our plain
reader finds mention in Pausanias, ii, 5, of a strange belief of the
ancients, according to which the Euphrates, after disappearing in a
marsh and flowing a long distance underground, rises again beyond
Ethiopia, and flows through Egypt as the Nile. This reminds him of
the language of Josephus, according to which the Ganges, the Tigris,
the Euphrates, and the Nile are all but parts of 'one river which ran
round about the whole earth' the Okeanos-river of the Greeks. And
he wonders whether the old Shemitic term from which the modern
Euphrates is derived was not originally a name of that Ocean-river
which Aristotle describes as rising in the upper heavens, descending
in rain upon the earth, feeding, as Homer tells us, all fountains and
arises from the fact that the Chaldeans themselves did not
understand the workings of the laws which upheld the dome.
They therefore felt certain that it must rest on some founda-
tion, for they saw 'it descending, as it were, both on the
right hand and on the left, both to the East and to the West.
Our author describes the origin of the dome as follows:
"
According to a version of the creation story, the god Bel
or Marduk formed the heavens and the earth out of the body
of a great female monster that dwelt in the Deep which he
had slain. Splitting her body into two halves, he fashioned
from one half the dome of heaven, and from the other the
earth." "
Above the dome of heaven, according to the ancient belief,
was another mass of water, supported by the lower dome
which kept it from breaking through and drowning the earth.
The interpretation of this is that the dome of heaven was a
canopy in its last stages, hence so thin that the sun, moon,
rivers and every sea, flowing through all these water-courses down
into the great and 'broad' equatorial ocean-current which girdles the
world in its embrace, thence branching out from the further shore into
the rivers of the Underworld, to be at last fire-purged and sublimated,
and returned in purity to the upper heavens to recommence its round.
And just as he is wondering over the question, he finds that some of
the Assyriologists, in their investigation of pre-Babylonian Akkadian
mythology, have found reason to believe this surmise correct, and to
*
say that in that mythology the term Euphrates was applied to the
rope of the world,' 'the encircling river of the snake god of the tree
'
of life,' the heavenly river which surrounds the earth.' Furthermore,
as he turns back to the pages of Hyginus, and Manilius, and Lucius
' '
Ampelius, and reads of the fall of the world-egg at the beginning
'
into the river Euphrates,' he perceives that he is in a mythologic, and
not a historic, region. And when he lights upon a mutilated fragment
of an ancient Assyrian inscription, in which descriptions of the visible
and invisible world are mixed up together, and in which the river 'of
1
is designated by the name

' '
the life of the world Euphrates,' he
quickly concludes that it will not do to take the term Phrath, or
Eu-frata, as always and everywhere referring to the historic river of
Mesopotamia." ("Paradise Found," pp. 30, 31.)
""Babylonian Religion and Mythology," vol. iv, pp. 28, 30, 31.
and were seen as gods drifting through its substance

stars
in halos or boats. Herodotus says, the boats of the Baby-
lonians and Assyrians were circular, like a shield, and no
was made between the head and the 12
distinction stern. In
thisway the mythological idea of the gods journeying in boats
had its beginning. From the parent conception it was only
a step introduce the boat-procession into the various
to
13
Egypt and elsewhere.
priestly cults as practised in There
"
is splendid
poetry in the following hymn O Sun thou : !
hast stepped forth from the background of heaven, thou hast
pushed back the bolts of the brilliant heaven, yea, the gate
of heaven. O Sun above the land thou hast raised thy head
! !
O Sun thou hast covered the immeasurable space of heaven

!
and countries " 14 !
But besides seeing the daily procession of the gods, headed

by the Sun, stepping out from behind the Mountain of the
Sunrise and drifting in his boat towards the Mountain of
the Sunset, these Babylonians also saw the true
canopy soar-
ing above the vapor dome. This they naturally supposed was
supported by the lower cloud belt or mountain.
12
Bk. i, ch. 194.
13
"A
sacred object in the construction of which much care was
taken was the ship in which the deity was carried in solemn procession.
It is again in the inscriptions of Gudea that we come across the first
mention of this ship. This ruler tells us that he built the 'beloved
'
ship for Nin-girsu, and gave it the name Kar-mma-ta-uddua, the ship
up out of the dam of the deep.' The ship of
'
of the one that rises
Nabu is of considerable size, and is fitted out with a captain and crew,
has masts and compartments. The ship resembled a moon's crescent,
not differing much, therefore, from the ordinary fiat-bottomed Baby-
lonian boat with upturned edges. Through Nebuchadnezzar we learn
that these ships were brilliantly studded with precious stones, their
compartments handsomely fitted out, and that in them the gods were
carried in solemn procession on the festivals celebrated in their honor.
A long list of such ships shows that it was a symbol that belonged to
all the great gods. The ships of Nin-lil, Ea, Marduk, Sin, Shamash,
Nabu, Ninib, Bau, Nin-gal, and of others are especially mentioned."
"
Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria," ch. xxvi, pp. 653-655.
14
Ragozin, "Story of Chaldea," ch. iii, p. 172.
woman which Bel cleft in

Ornoroka was the name of the
twain, from one half of which he made the dome of heaven,
and from the other half the earth. In Chaldee her name is
i ' '
Thamte, i.e.., tamtu, the Babylonian for sea or ocean/

which in the Greek is Thalassa. 15 This Tiamat or sea,
according to the myth, took the form of a huge serpent, she
and Apsu, her consort, revolted against the gods, that is
against the sun, moon, and stars, by creating a brood of
monsters which destroyed them. In other words, the serpent-
belt became a sun-obscuring, star-devouring pall, a spreading
canopy.
According to the beautiful Babylonian poem, the creation-
epic, written upon seven tablets, this scene is depicted as fol-
"
lows : At
the very beginning of all things, a dark, chaotic,
primeval water, called Tiamat, existed in a state of agitation

and tumult. But as soon as the gods made preparations for
the formation of an ordered universe, Tiamat, generally
represented as a dragon, but also as a seven-headed serpent,

arose in bitter enmity, gave birth to monsters filled with
venom and with these as her allies, prepared, roaring and
snorting, to do battle with the gods. All the gods tremble
with fear when they perceive their terrible adversary; only
the god Marduk, the god of light, * * * volunteered to
do battle. * * * A The god

splendid scene follows.
Marduk fastens a mighty net to the east and south, north and
west, in order that nothing of Tiamat may escape; then,
clad in the gleaming armor, and in majestic splendor, he
mounts his chariot drawn by four fiery steeds (a reference
to the four halos or mock suns which accompanied the true
sun on his diurnal journey over the canopy), the gods around
gazing with admiration. Straight he drives to meet the
* * * Then her
dragon and her army. ground quaked
15
The Hebrew and Babylonian cosmogonies both present to us in
the beginning a watery chaos. The Hebrew word tehom, translated
'the deep' (Gen. i:2), corresponds with the Babylonian Tiamat.
asunder from the bottom. She opened her jaws to their
utmost, but before she could close her lips the god Marduk
bade the evil wind enter within her. * * * Then
Marduk clave Tiamat clean asunder like a fish; out of the
one half he formed heaven, out of the other, earth, at the
same time dividing the upper waters from the lower by means
of the firmament. He decked the heavens with moon, sun,
and (which implies that they were not seen before),
stars
the earth with plants and animals." 16
She created a brood of uncouth beings, the same as we
find in the giant myths of the Greeks and Scandinavians.
The Babylonian version reads:
They have joined their forces and are making war,

Ummu-Khubur Tiamat), who formed all things,
(i.e.,
Has made in addition weapons invincible, she has spawned monster-
serpents,
Sharp of tooth and cruel of fang;
With poison instead of blood she has filled their bodies.
Fierce monster-vipers she has clothed with terror,
With splendor she has decked them, and she has caused them to
mount on high.
Whoever beholds them is overcome by dread.
Their bodies rear up and none can withstand their attack.

She has set up the viper, and the dragon, and the monster Lakkamu."
Attention is called to the second line quoted; there, it

will be noted, Tiamat is said to have created all things, hence
this revolt against the gods was against her own offspring,
which fact is sustained by various other Babylonian texts
as well as by the myths of other lands. The interpretation
is clear. When the first canopy known by tradition to the
Babylonians became thin it gave birth to the gods in other ;
words, the sun, moon, and stars were seen through it. Then,
as time went on, Marduk, i.e., Bel, the solar deity, split up
Translated by C. H. W. Johns, " Babel and the Bible," pp. 47-49.

16
"From the Tablets of the Creation epic; see Jastrow, "Religion of

Babylon and Assyria," ch. xxi, p. 409 ff., and L. W. King, "Babylon
Religion and Mythology," vol. iv, p. 63 ff.
another canopy which had formed and which was called the
body of his mother. Out of half of her body he formed the
dome of heaven and the waters which were seen above it,
and out of the other half he formed the earth. Tiamat then
created other serpents from the sky-water or canopy above
the firmament, a fearful brood of sun-obscuring, star-devour-
ing, venomous serpents, annular forms, and lowering

canopies.
The majority of scholars say that Marduk divided Tiamat
in half and from one half formed the earth. From the stand-
point of the present hypothesis, this is in perfect harmony
with the appearance of things, for to all intents and pur-
poses, when the sun, Marduk, conquered the water-sky, half
of did seem to be cast upon the earth.
it Certain other
scholars, however, say that the word, E-shara, translated
earth, is incorrectly interpreted, and if this be true our
hypothesis gains even more prestige, for the word they would
substitute for earth means heaven.' L. W. King would have
'
"
us consider E-shara to be a name for heaven, or for a part of
it," and he further adds in support of this assertion that
"
the last two lines of the Fourth Tablet of the
poem certainly
favor this view. The most natural meaning of the passage
is that Marduk made the mansion of E-shara to be heaven,
which he then divided between the three gods Anu, Bel,
and Ea."
That we may have a better understanding of the argu-
ment we quote from the last twelve lines of the Fourth Tablet
of the Creation Epic. It reads thus :
Then the lord rested, and gazed on her dead body.

He divided the flesh of the body, having devised a cunning plan.
He split her up like a flat fish into two halves.
One half of her he set in place as a covering for the heavens.
He fixed a bolt, he stationed watchmen,
And bade them not to let her waters come forth.
He passed through the heavens, he surveyed the regions (thereof),
Over against the Deep he set the dwelling of Nudimmud.
And the lord measured the structure of the Deep,

And he founded E-shara, a mansion like unto it.
The mansion E-shara, which he created as heaven,
Ea M
He caused Ami, Bel, and in their districts to inhabit."
Our
interpretation is that Marduk, i.e., Bel, conquered
Tiamat, the serpent-belt or ring; that is, she was not a
a
canopy in its last stages, but she was a serpent. Now,
serpent had to progress through the various stages of decline
before it could be dissipated. Marduk divided the serpent-
ring into two parts, the one resting towards the north and
the other towards the south. This divided the heavens into
three sections, one for each of the three gods, Bel giving to
Anu the middle alley in the equatorial sky, where he had
split the serpent in twain, and where of course the clear-sky
could be seen. Anu was
the god of the clear open sky.
Naturally, in time the two halves, drifting towards the north

and towards the south, became canopies. Bel dwelt in the
northernmost one himself, and through it he could be seen
crossing daily in his halo-boat. Hence we read that he caused
"
these gods their districts to inhabit."
It is an interesting probability that these tablets were
not a new composition when written. They were found in
Ashur-bani-pal's library and date from the seventh century
before Christ. But this does not indicate their age, for
Ashur-bani-pal was very fond of literature, and he collected
his materialfrom all over the country therefore it is almost
;
certain that these tablets were copied from older sources.

Another tablet, found in the same library, gives quite a
variation in the portrayal of the combat. Were the legend
a brand-new literary effort of the seventh century B. C. we
should not expect to find such variations in the same library.
It takes time to produce variant forms, especially when the
matter is set forth in writing. All this goes to show that
this mythological evidence may date from a very remote
""Babylonian Religion and Mythology," pp. 77, 78.

period. It is well to keep this fact ever in mind, for as we

go on to consider the evidence from other and newer lands,
we must remember that the people themselves never saw their
own gods. Greece, for instance, retained, and in a measure
beautified, the legends, but that is all they were to her. The
natural phenomena had slipped so far away in the remote
past that all that was left was legend.
This literary mist which has grown up and spread over
and beautified the stern reality of nature is the soul of poetry.
The Lord asks Job:
" Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the
earth? tell it, ifthou hast any understanding (of it).

"
Who fixed her measurements, if thou knowest it or who
stretched the measuring-line over her ?
"
Upon what are her foundation-pillars placed at rest ?
or who laid her corner-stone?

"
When altogether sang the morning stars in gladness,
and shouted for joy all the sons of God ? " 19
But in considering the question of time we are likely also
to err in the other direction; we are likely to assign these
myths to a dust-mirky age entirely too far back.

Knowledge
of celestialphenomena on the part of the ancients does not
always mean that the belted canopy phenomena had entirely
disappeared. For instance, there can be no question but
that the Babylonians were great astronomers. On a tablet
found in the Temple Library, Nippur, astronomical calcula-
tions of the most minute character as to the constellation
Scorpion show how proficient were the astronomers of

2300 B. C. But such evidence must not be understood to
indicate that the annular system was a thing of the past in
that age. It only indicates that the heavens were clear from
canopies, and that the rings, if such were then in the sky,
were probably seen edgewise, and so took up little space in
Isaac Lesser s Version, Job xxxviii:4-7.

the equatorial heavens, being altogether an unconspicuous

20
feature.
Professor H. V. Hilprecht's discoveries show amongst
other things that these Babylonians were aware that the earth
was round. They had the rings to guide them to the dis-
covery of this truth, and the fact that the peoples which lived
after them knowledge shows us that the rings which
lost this
acted as interpreters of nature must have passed into the
canopy stage or have been dissipated altogether. With their

disappearance the gods are said to have fled to the celestial
heavens, where they ultimately became identified with the
planets. Marduk is thus associated with Jupiter, Ishtar
with Venus, RTergal with Mars, Nabu with Mercury, and
Mnib with Saturn. 21 The very act of thus connecting them
20
The record of forms a very considerable portion of the
eclipses
"
astronomical data of the ancients. Among the Chinese they were
long calculated, and, in fact, it is thought by some that they have
pretended to a greater antiquity by calculating backwards, and record-
ing as observed eclipses those which happened before they understood
or noticed them. It seems, however, authenticated that they did in
the year 2169 B.C. observe an eclipse of the sun, and that at that date
they were in the habit of predicting them. For this particular eclipse
is said to have cost several of the astronomers their lives, as they had
not calculated it rightly. As the lives of princes were supposed to

be dependent on these eclipses, it became high treason to expose them
to such a danger without forewarning them. They paid more attention
to the eclipses of the sun than of the moon.
"Among the Babylonians the eclipses of the moon were observed
from a very early date, and numerous records of them are contained in
the Observations of Bel in Sargon's library, the tablets of which have
lately been discovered. In the older portion they only record that on
the 14th day of such and such a (lunar) month an eclipse takes place,
and state in what watch it begins, and when it ends. In a later
portion the observations were more precise, and the descriptions of the
eclipse more accurate. Long before 1700 B.C. the discovery of the lunar
cycle of 223 lunar months had been made, and by means of it they
were able to state of each lunar eclipse that it was either ' according to
' '
calculation or contrary to calculation/
" "
Flammarion, Astronomical
Myths," ch. xii, pp. 337-338.
'"Jastrow, "The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria," pp. 370, 371,

459.
14
with the star-roofed heavens points to the fact that they were
originally sky-scenes. It would have violated the religious
feelings of the people too much to restrict them to an earthly
home, and yet their old cloud-mountain home had passed
away, so where else in the whole universe could the priests
say they had gone ? In connection with the old cloud-moun-
tain, the second month of the Babylonian year was desig-
nated as the month of the resplendent mound. 22
The origin of the signs of the zodiac was due to the same
causes which led the Chaldean mind to assign planets to the
gods, in which they might make their home after the moun-
"
tain canopy had dissolved. Eleven constellations, that is
to say, the entire zodiac with the exception of the bull the
sign of Marduk were identified with the- eleven monsters

23
forming the host of Tiamat." The fantastic shape of the
animals chosen for this purpose bears unmistakable evidence
of their origin as vapor forms.
But to return to the earlier days. It was Bel, as we have
seen, that caused the gods, Anu, Bel, and Ea, their districts
to inhabit,
A tablet of the
'
Creation Epic,' so far as decipherable,
reads :
There was a time when above the heaven was not named.
Below the earth bore no name.
Apsu was there from the first the source of both,
And raging Tiamat, the mother of both.
But their waters were gathered together in a mass.
No field was marked off, no soil seen.
When none of the gods was as yet produced,
No name mentioned, no fate determined,
Then were created the gods in their totality.
Lakhmu and Lakhamu were created.
24
Days went by.
22
IUd., p. 464. Îbid., p. 456.
"Delitzsch supplies a parallel phrase which in the light of our
'
hypothesis makes the reading clearer. It is periods elapsed/
:
Anshar and Kishar were created.

* * *
Many days elapsed
Ann (Bel and Ea were created).
Anshar, Anu (?)***
25
The portion of the heavens given to Ea was Apsu, the

deep. Ea means the House of waters/ He was an Exalted
' '
Fish. This is parallel to that avatar of Vishnu where he

7
assumed the form of a great fish protecting Manu from the

flood. (The canopy was a protector, bringing greenhouse
conditions into the world.) Ea fought against Tiamat, the
dragon, serpent snake, and with Marduk's and Anu's help
conquered the dark one. Ea thus figures as the great hero of
the flood, which
parallels the account of the Noachian deluge,
but as this incident is described in the eleventh tablet of the
Gilgamesh epic, it will be best to defer its consideration until
after we have become acquainted with some of the records
from the first tablets.
This epic of Gilgamesh is known to many by the name

' " "
of Izdubar.' Gisdhubar," says Sayce, himself was a
solar hero." * * * " His twelve labors or adventures
answer to the twelve months of the year through which the
sun moves, like the twelve labors of the Greek Herakles." 26
E"ow, in the sixth tablet, to secure the love of Gilgamesh,
the solar orb, the exalted Ishtar, the one-time good canopy,
' '
brilliant goddess/ and mother of the gods,' raises her eyes.
She offers him her love, her home, her all. She offers him
the products of the mountain and the land, for she, the
goddess of fertility, produced wonderful agricultural fruits

under her protecting roof. She offers him full control of
her herds and cow-like clouds. She offers him a chariot of
lapis lazuli and gold, with wheels and horns of sapphire,
drawn by great steeds the swift horse being an emblem of
the flying ring or vapor-belt driven
by centrifugal force.
IUd., eh. xxi, p. 410.

26
"By-Paths of Bible Knowledge," vii. "Assyria," p. 110.
Gilgamesh spurns all this and upbraids her for her treatment
of her youthful loves.
Tammuz, the consort of thy youth ( ?),

Thou causest to weep every year.
The bright-colored allallu bird thou didst love.
Thou didst crush him and break his pinions.
In the woods he stands and laments, " my pinions
"
!
Thou didst love a lion of perfect strength;

Seven and seven times thou didst bury him in corners ( ? ) .
Thou didst love a horse superior in the fray;

With whip and spur thou didst urge him on.
Thou didst force him on for seven double hours. 27
She could not stand this insult, so, flying to her father,
Anu, the true sky, he creates for her a divine bull, a storm
28
deity; apparently in this case a kind of demon. The seal
cylinders of Babylon frequently picture the battle that fol-
lowed between supreme one and Gilgamesh and
this strong or
his friend Eabani. Since Gilgamesh is the sun, he of course
conquered. The bull was killed and the carcass was thrown
full into the face of thecanopy (Ishtar).
Briefly this whole scene may be thus interpreted : Ishtar
with her peace-like clouds was but a canopy in its last stages.
Unveiled, it then displayed its violent character (Her). Its
brilliant smiles produced a bitter chill, and Anu, heaven's
ocean, her own father, was covered with the clouds of rain
and storm. Gilgamesh, the sun, conquered these.
See the sun himself! on wings
Of glory up the east he springs.
Angel of light! who from the time*
Those heavens began their march sublime,
Hath first of all the starry choir
Trod in His Maker's steps of fire!
" On many seal cylinders and on the monuments Gil-
gamesh is pictured in the act of fighting with or strangling

a lion. In the preserved portions of the epic no reference
"Religion of Babylonia and Assyria,"

87
ch. xxiii, p. 482.
28
Ibid., p. 483. ^Lalla Rookh.
* * * "
to this contest has been found." After escaping
from the danger occasioned by the lions, Gilgamesh comes to
the mountain Mashu, which is described as a place of terrors,
the entrance to which is guarded by scorpion-men.' "
'
He reached the mountain Mashu,

Whose exit is daily guarded,
Whose back extends to the dam of heaven. 80
It will be recalled that the cloud-belt is pictured by the

Babylonians as a mountain. The description of Mashu is
(
dependent upon this conception. Ragozin says of the scor-

' "
pion-men they were gigantic monstrous beings, half men,
half scorpions: their feet were below the earth, while their
heads touched the gates of heaven ; they were the wardens of
31
the sun."
They were the Pillars of Hercules. In the Greek,

Hercules strangles the serpents sent to destroy him in the
cradle. In the Hebrew it is the house of the Philistines,
whose pillars Samson Shemesh, the Sun destroyed and
thereby slew his enemies. In fact, there is no end to the
figures under which canopy darkness is represented in the
myths and legends of the world. Often it is a sphinx, a
dragon, or a witch. In the Egyptian symbolism it is a
scorpion, conceived as stinging the sun to death, and after
that sitting as guard over it. The same appears to have
' 9
been the conception in the Akkadian myth of scorpion-men
which we have just perused. "At the appearing of the sun,
and the disappearing of the sun, they guard the sun." 32
Plainly they stand at the imaginary boundary between firm
land and the watery region of the upper world. In the epic
"
(60, 9) one version reads that the Scorpion man and his
wife guard the gate leading to the great cloud mountain,
Mashu." As they watched the sun rise and set in the slit
30
Ibid., pp. 488, 489. "Story of Chaldea," ch. vii, p. 311.
32
Substance of the above culled from Charles De B. Mills' " The Tree
of Mythology," p. 162.
between them, between the two pillars, verily they were

i.e.,
itsguardians. Their upper part, as the text says, reaches to

the sky, and their irtu (breast?) to the lower regions. This
lower or hidden part, which seemed to the ancients to go
down below the horizon, was the scorpion part.
The scorpion-men bring us back to the story of Ea, for
Gilgamesh was on his way to find Parnapishtim when he
came across these strange beings. Parnapishtim was the
Noah of the epic, though in some of the details he bears a
closer resemblance to Lot than to the patriarch of the deluge.
Gilgamesh speaks to Sabitum:

"
(Now) Sabitum, which is the way to Parnapishtim?
If it is possible, let me cross the ocean.
If it is not possible, let me stretch myself on the ground."
Sabitum speaks to Gilgamesh:
" there has never been a ferry,
Gilgamesh !
And no one has ever crossed the ocean.

Shamash, the hero, has crossedit, but except Shamash, who can cross it?
Difficult is the passage,very difficult the path.

Impassable ( ? ) the waters of death that are guarded by a bolt.
How canst thou, O Gilgamesh, traverse the ocean?
And after thou hast crossed the waters of death, what wilt thou do? "
As we have
not yet become acquainted with Shamash, a
digression from the epic will be in order, so that we may

come to know the sun and moon gods. Shamash was the
original or older Sun-god and it is a significant fact of the
early Babylonian or Sumerian religion, that his cult was
subordinate to the worship of Sin, the Moon-god. Indeed,
according to one tradition, Shamash was regarded as the
son of the Moon-god, and verily this tradition is founded on
fact, for it will be remembered that it was an actual neces-
sity of nature that caused the sun first to be seen in the vapor
arch or moon where he was born, as it were, in the water and
out of the water. Sin was originally the moon-like arch, but
later he is represented on some of the tablets accompanied by
83 "
Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria," ch. xxiii, pp.
490-491.
the lunar disk. 34 Undoubtedly this was a later development

of the cult. In the beginning Sin was the vapor-arc, simply
a crescent arc. After the deluge, when the gods fled to the
clear vault of heaven,Sin naturally became identified again
with the only crescent form in the clear sky, the new moon,
' '
jânnar means the illuminator it is one of the names
;
of Sin. The following extracts from the moon hymn illus-
trate the conceptions current about this deity:
Father Nannar, moon-god, chief of the gods.

Father Nannar, lord of the brilliant crescent, chief of the gods.
O strong bull, great of horns, perfect in form, with long flowing beard
of the color of lapus-lazuli.
Powerful one, self-created, a product ( ?) beautiful to look upon, whose
fulness has not yet been brought forth.
Father, begetter of the gods and of men, establishing dwellings and
35
granting gifts.
The statement that the gods were born of the moon stamps
it beginning place of the sky-scenes, the canopy. When
as the
the moon came to be conceived as a female divinity, Ishtar
' '
became also the goddess of the moon. This shiner or moon
was likewise the sun of the ancients.
The winged sun of Assyria is one of the most familiar
emblems in the architectural adornment of the east. The
attribute of flight indicates that the original sun was the
'
shiner/ the swift moving canopy itself. Another statement
that proves that the sun was originally the canopy is that
Mnib the major solar deity swallowed up Mn-girsu,
!Nîn-gish-zidu, another solar deity, and Nin-shakh. E"in-
shaka-kuddu was ' the mistress of Uruk/ ' the lady of shining
waters.' But to return to the epic of Gilgamesh:
Ea warned Parnapishtim of the approach of the flood.
Now, Ea lived in the sky-stream above, and no doubt the
aspect of the stream conveyed the warning.
Notably on the cylinder-seal No. 89126, British Museum.

Jastrow, "Religion of Babylonia and Assyria," ch. xvii, p. 303.
Doomed to destruction 'neath the dank dark cloud with nothing to
indemnify
The earth was doomed 'neath the great black thing which hung in the
parted sky.
Parnapishtim told the story to Gilgamesh as follows :
Parnapishtim spoke to Gilgamesh:

"
I will tell thee, Gilgamesh, the marvelous story,
And the decision of the gods I will tell thee.
The city Shurippak, a city which, as thou knowest,
Lies on the Euphrates,
That city was corrupt, so that the gods thereof
Decided to bring a rainstorm upon it.
All of the great gods, Anu, their father;
Their counsellor, the warrior Bel;
The bearer of destruction, Ninib;
Their leader, En-nugi;
The lord of unsearchable wisdom, Ea, was with them,
To proclaim their resolve to the reed-huts.
'Reed-hut, reed-hut, clay structures, clay structures,
O man
******
Reed-hut, hear! Clay structure, give ear!
of Shurippak, son of Kidin-Marduk

'
Erect a structure, build a ship."
"
Parnapishtim declares his readiness to obey the orders
of Ea, but, like Moses upon receiving the command of
Yahwe, he asks what he should say when people questioned

him.
"What shall I answer the city, the people, and the elders?"
Ea replies :
"
Thus answer and speak to them :
'
Bel has cast me
out in his hatred,
So that I can no longer dwell in your city.
On Bel's territory I dare no longer show my face;
*****
Therefore, I go to the
"
deep
"
Over you a rainstorm will come,

to dwell with Ea, my lord.
Men,
*****
birds, and beasts will perish.
When Shamash will bring on the time, then the lord of the whirlstorm
Will cause destruction to rain upon you in the evening."
Parnapishtim now proceeds to take his family and

chattels on board.
" All
that I had, I loaded on the ship.
With all the silver that I had, I loaded it,
With all the gold that I had, I loaded it,
With living creatures of all kinds I loaded it.
I brought on board my whole family and household,

Cattle of the field, beasts of the field, workmen all this I took on
-
board." /
Parnapishtim is ready to enter the ship, but he waits
until the time fixed for the storm arrives.
"
When the time came
For the lord of the whirlstorm to rain down destruction,
1 gazed on the earth;
I was terrified at its sight,
I entered the ship, and closed the door.
To the captain of the ship, to Puzur-Shadurabu,M the sailor,
*****
I entrusted the structure with all its contents.
the first appearance of dawn

Upon
There arose from the horizon dark clouds,
Within which Ramman caused his thunder to resound.
Nabu and Sharru marched at the front.
The destroyers passed across mountains and land.
Dibbarra lets loose the (mischievous forces?),
Ninib advances in furious hostility.
The Anunnaki raise torches
Whose sheen illumines the universe,
As Ramman's whirlwind sweeps the heavens,
And
*****
all light is changed to darkness.
Brother does not look after brother,

Men care not for another. In the heavens,
Even the gods are terrified at the storm.
They take refuge in the heaven of Anu.
The gods cowered like dogs at the edge of the heavens."
The significance of this language is remarkable : the gods
"Puzur" signifies "hidden," "protected." "Shadu rabu," i.e.,
"great mountain," is a title of Bel.

had to cower on the edge of heaven because the canopy which

had been their home had passed away.
"
Ishtar groans like a women in throes,
The lofty goddess cries with loud voice,
The world of old has become a mass of clay.
* * * * *
That I should have assented to this evil among the gods!

That when I assented to this evil,
I was for the destruction of my own creatures!
What I created, where is it?
Like so many fish, it fills the sea." 8T
87 "
Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria," ch. xxiii, p. 495 ff.
CHAPTER XVI
EGYPTIAN MYTHS
IN Egypt, the dead grave-yard of the past, the present
hypothesis finds a living record which begins with the memo-

rials of the old sky scenes, followed by the introduction of
pure and simple sun worship (disk- worship) in the eigh-
1
teenth dynasty. This change of cult was too radical, how-
ever, for the people of that day, so they reverted to their old
gods, whose memory was probably still kept before them by
2
lingering remnants of the dethroned system.
The critical or turning event in this history
is the change
of cult to disk-worship. In Assyria we have the winged

disk, emblem of Ashur. The interpretation of which is
that the head of the Assyrian pantheon was some phase of
the personified sun. Frequently a tail was attached to the
*In the twentieth dynasty (1100 B.C.) a series of star tables have
been found recorded in several manuscripts recovered from the tombs.
2
It is said of Solon the Greek law-giver, that when he visited Egypt,
six hundred years before Christ, he had a talk with the priests of Sais
about the Deluge of Deucalion. The following is Plato's account:
"Thereupon, one of the priests, who was of very great age, said, 'O
Solon, Solon, you Hellenes are but children, and there is never an
old man who is an Hellene/ Solon, hearing this, said, What do you
'
*
I mean to say,' he replied,
'
mean? '
that in mind you are all young;
there is no old opinion handed down among you by ancient tradition,
nor any science which is hoary with age. And I will tell you the
reason of this: there have been, and there will be again, many destruc-
tions of mankind arising out of many causes. There is a story which
even you have preserved, that once upon a time Phaeton, the son of
Helios, having yoked the steeds in his father's chariot, because he was
not able to drive them in the path of his father, burnt up all that was
upon the earth and was himself destroyed by a thunderbolt. Now,
this has the form of a myth, but really signifies a declination of the
bodies moving around the earth and in the heavens, and a great con-
flagration of things upon the earth recurring at long intervals of time."
"Dialogues," xi, 517, Timseus.
219
wings, the meaning of which was that the bird or sun was
seen moving over the canopy.
This same symbol, without the tail, strikingly resembles
the Egyptian emblem; the wings of the latter, however, are
those of the sparrow-hawk, their sacred bird. As time passed
on, the wings were dropped. The sun came clearer and
clearer into view, until finally the vapor appendages dissi-
pated forever; naturally the symbolic representations were

altered in order to conform to the new conditions, hence the
wings were dropped.

"
Rawlinson says Aten, in Egyptian theology, had
:
hitherto represented a particular aspect or character of Ha,

'the sun' that aspect which is expressed by the phrase,
'
the solar disk.' How it was possible to keep Aten distinct
from the other sun-gods, Ra, Khepra, Turn, Shu, Mentu,
Osiris, and Horus or Harmachis, is a puzzle to moderns;
but it seems to have been a difficulty practically overcome by
the Egyptians, to whom it did not perhaps even present itself
as a difficulty at all. Disk-worship consisted then, primarily,
in an undue exaltation of this god, who was made to take the
place of Ammon-Ra in the Pantheon, and was ordinarily
represented by a circle with rays proceeding from it, the rays
mostly terminating in hands, which frequently presented the

symbols of life and health and strength to the worshiper." 3
From the viewpoint of the present hypothesis the diffi-
culty which Rawlinson mentions relative to the fact that the

ancients kept distinct the various aspects of the sun, naming
them as different gods, fizzles away. We
moderns cannot
find enough phases in the existing sun to go around amongst
the gods. Had we lived under the canopy skies, everything
would have been different; for instance, Ammon or Amen
'
means concealer/ and this god is often coupled with another
as Amen-Ra, the solar deity covered. 4
1" The
story of Ancient Egypt," ch. xiv, p. 224.
*E. A. Wallis Budge, "The Dwellers on the Nile," 4th ed., p. 142.
EGYPTIAN MYTHS
<Aten> probably the same as

is
'
Adon,' the root of
Adonis; thus we see how the Greeks also worshiped this
feature of the glorious sun, but their story has mellowed with
age. Adonis was a youth who died from a wound received

from a boar during the chase plainly the youthful sun was
swallowed up by the remnant of a floating vapor-form. Orig-
inally he was six months behind the canopy and six months
in the open space. Later the worship of Adonis appears to
have had reference to the death of nature in winter and to
itsrevival in spring, hence Adonis spent six months in the
lower world and six months in the upper.
But "
to return to Egypt : In the matter of religion,"
"
says Kawlinson, the most noticeable changes which occurred
are connected with the disk-worship, with the alternate ele-
vation and depression of the god Set. The cult of the disk,
favored by Amenophis III, and fully established by his son,
Amenophis IV, or Khuenaten, is chiefly remarkable on
account of its exclusive character, the
disk-worshipers oppos-
ing and disallowing all other cults and religious usages. Had
Khuenaten been able to effect the religious revolution at
which he aimed, the old Egyptian religion would have been
destroyed, and its place would have 'been taken by a species
of monotheism, in which the material Sun would have been
recognized as the One and only Lord, and Ruler of the Uni-
verse. Ammon, Khem, Kneph, Phthah, Maut, Khonsu,
Osiris, Horus, Thoth would have disappeared, and the
Isis,
sun-worship, pure and simple, would have replaced the old

complicated polytheism. But Egypt was not prepared for
this change." 5
Egypt was not ready to overturn her gods, so let us look

behind the doors of the vapor belt, at the scenes which im-
pressed themselves so strongly on their minds as to cause
them to believe that
they saw into the chambers of
higher
5 "
History of Ancient Egypt," vol. ii, ch. xxi, p. 188.
beings than themselves. Their eyes revealed to them the

'Hall of the Two Truths' (i.e., the Pillars of Hercules),
the double abode of the sun in the heavens, through which,
according to the teachings of their theology, their dead had

to passand where they themselves would have to stand in
'
judgment before Osiris, the sun-god, Lord of Life,' before

they could enter to the fields of eternity beyond.
It is recorded of Osiris that in the Hall of Two Truths
he sat beneath a canopy. When
he disappeared behind it
he was lost and all Egypt mourned for him. When he
' '
'
returned he was said to be found,' and then all Egypt
'
rejoiced. The myth of Osiris Lost,' when all Egypt
mourned, represents the annual journey of the sun behind
the northern or falling cloud bank. The important point is
that the myth does not deal with the daily conflict between
day and night, but in its full expansion it covers the whole
year. The echo of this event sounded down through the
ages long afterwards. Rawlinson says:

"
Other feasts were held in honor of Osiris on the sev-
enteenth day of Athyr and the nineteenth of Pashons in the ;
'
former of which the loss of Osiris,' and in the latter his
recovery, were commemorated. A
cow, emblematic of Isis,
was veiled in black and led about for four successive days,
accompanied by a crowd of men and women, who beat their

breasts inmemory of the supposed disappearance of Osiris
from earth and his sister's search for him while, in memory ;
of his recovery, a procession was made to the seaside, the
priests carrying a sacred chest, and, an image or emblem of

Osiris fashioned out of earth and water having been placed
'
in it, the declaration was made, Osiris is found Osiris is !
found amid general festivity and rejoicing." 6

!
'
The Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg

gives a legend from the
Quiche Indians of Central America which depicts this same
"
scene : Now, behold, our ancients and our fathers were
6 "
History of Ancient Egypt," vol. i,
ch. x, p. 199.
EGYPTIAN MYTHS 223
made lords, and had their dawn. Behold, we will relate also
the rising of the sun, the moon, and the stars! Great was
their joy when they saw the morning-star, which came out
first, with resplendent face before the sun. At last the
its
sun began to come forth the animals, small and great,

itself ;
were in joy; they rose from the water-courses and ravines,

and stood on the mountain-tops, with their heads toward
where the sun was coming. An innumerable crowd of people
were there, and the dawn cast light on all these people at
once. At last the face of the ground was dried by the sun ;
like a man the sun showed himself, and his presence warmed
and dried the surface of the ground. Before the sun ap-
peared, muddy and wet was the surface of the ground, and
it was before the sun appeared, and then only the sun rose
like a man. But his heat had no strength, and he did but
show himself when he rose he only remained like a mirror
; ;
and it is not, indeed, the same sun that appears now, they
7
say, in the stories."
The death of Osiris has many like parallels in ancient
thought. Both annular, and also astronomical. For instance,

Epictetus favors the opinion that at the solstices of the great
year not only all human beings, but even the gods, are
annihilated, and speculates whether at such time Jove feels
8
lonely. The bank behind which Osiris disappeared was one
of the Halls of Two Truths, to which the deceased were
'
directed by the Ritual, or Book of the Dead.'
A passage in this book which contains instructions for the
"
deceased reads Retreat unto the eastern heavens. Unto
:
the dwellings which support the mount. That great mys-

terious mountain that spreads light among the gods." The
reason for this direction to the dead was probably due to
the fact that the cloud-mountain in its daily revolution kept
ever turning towards the east. In the third part of the
7 "
Tylor, Early History of Mankind," p. 308.
8 "
Discourses," book iii, ch. xiii.
Ritual, the deceased in company with the sun himself tra-

verse the various houses of heaven. In the cosmologies of
the ancients these great black halls or chambers (hiding
places) are associated with the abode of the damned and lost
souls. In the Homeric conception, they are called Hades
and Tartarus. It is not credible, as some scholars would have
it, that the early Greeks, unschooled in the exercise of the
scientific imagination and unacquainted with Newton's law
of gravitation, could have pictured a pendent under-surface
of the earth, around which flopped topsy-turvy ghosts, and
also that infernal rivers and infernal palaces could have
clung to this under-hemisphere.
The myth of Osiris and his consort Isis, whose image is
crowned with the sun disk, is as follows :
"Osiris and Isis were at one time induced to descend

to the earth to bestow gifts and blessings on its inhabitants.
Isis showed them first the use of wheat and barley, and
Osiris made the instruments of agriculture and taught men
the use of them, as well as how to harness the ox to the
plough. He then gave men laws, the institution of marriage,

a civil organization, and taught them how to worship the
gods. After he had thus made the valley of the Nile a happy
country, he assembled a host with which he went to bestow
his blessing upon the rest of the world. He conquered the
nations everywhere only with music and eloquence. His
brother Typhon saw this, and sought during his absence to
usurp his throne. But Isis, who held the reins of govern-
ment, frustrated his plans. more embittered, he now
Still
resolved to kill his brother. Having organized a conspiracy
of seventy-two members, he went with them to the feast which
was celebrated in honor of the king's return. He then caused
a box or chest to be brought in, which had been made to fit
exactly the size of Osiris, and declared that he would give

that chest of precious wood to whosoever could get into it.
The rest tried in vain, but no sooner was Osiris in it than
EGYPTIAN MYTHS 225
Typhon and companions closed the lid and flung the

his
chest into the Nile. When Isis heard of the cruel murder
she wept and mourned and then, with her hair shorn, clothed
;
in black, and beating her breast, she sought diligently for

the body of her husband. In this search she was materially
assisted by Anubis, the son of Osiris and Nephthys. They
sought in vain for some time; for when the chest, carried
by the waves to the shores of Byblos, had become entangled

in the reeds that edge of the water, the divine
grew at the
power that dwelt in the body of Osiris imparted such strength

to the shrub that it grew into a mighty tree, enclosing in its
trunk the coffin of the god. This tree, with its sacred deposit,
was shortly after felled, and erected
column in the palace
as a
of the king of Phoenicia. But at length, by the aid of
Anubis and the sacred birds, Isis ascertained these facts, and
then went to the royal city. There she offered herself at
the palace as a servant, and, being admitted, threw off her
disguise and appeared as the goddess, surrounded with thun-

der and lightning. Striking the column with her wand, she
caused it to split open and give up the sacred coffin." 9
Interpreted, this means that sunlight brought gifts to
man in the shape of agricultural plenty. Then an enemy
called Typhon, the personified canopy, trapped him in his
folds or coffin. Typhon's name is the same as the Hebrew
for north, Tsaphon.' He stretched out the canopy we
'
word
read across the empty space in the north sky (Job xxvi: 7).
The pillars of heaven trembled (verse 11), and the heavens
were garnished by the crooked serpent (verse 13). Apophis
was the Egyptian serpent of darkness. " He is portrayed,"
"
says Rawlinson, either as a huge serpent disposed in many
folds, or as a water-snake with a human head. He was sup-

posed to have sided with Set against Osiris, and to have
thereby provoked the anger of Horus, who is frequently rep-

9 " of Fable," Revised edit, of Rev. J.
Bulfinch's Age Loughran Scott,
pp. 369-370.
15
resented as piercing his head with a spear." 10 He is a sky-

scene that seems to have impeded the progress of souls on
their journey to the Hall of Two Truths.' Subsequently
'
he gave way, in the mythic system, to Set or Typhon, which

is logical, as he was practically the same personified natural
phenomenon. F. De Lanoye says :
"
In the Egyptian mythology, Apophis, the serpent, is
the great enemy of the Sun ; in several hypogees he is repre-

sented as struggling against the gods of the Amenti, who
succeed in capturing and chaining him." n
Typhon and the companions who were with him, after

they had trapped the sun, closed the lid of the chest and
flung him into a river which the myth designates as the Nile,
but which older sources clearly indicates was heaven's river.
The tree in which the coffin became incased is the same as
Ygdrasil, the world tree of the Scandinavians. This great

ash is supposed to have supported the whole universe, but
suffice it for the present, with lightning and thunder, the
goddess of sunlight made the mighty column or tree to split

open and surrender the sun himself. Horus, the new sun
god, said to have despatched Typhon with a sun-dart, which
is
pierced his watery head through and through. This again is

nothing but the tale of Apophis.
Many details of this wonderful myth could be dwelt on.
Thus in the Isle of Philse, in the temple dedicated to Osiris
and his wife and their son Horus, sculptured on the walls is
a complete record of this legend. The last shrine represents
Osiris rising from a couch which is supported by two legs
and is arched just like the body of Nu-t. It could not be
more suggestive of the sun resting on the arched canopy. It
is depicted as it appeared to the Egyptians.
"
History of Ancient Egypt," vol. i, ch. x, p. 186.
"
11
Wonders of Art and Archaeology in Egypt 3300 Years Ago," p.
146. See " Champollion's Letters from Egypt."
EGYPTIAN MYTHS 227
12
Typhon, or Set, as lie is often called, like all the per-
sonifications of the canopy, was at first a good deity. He
afterwards became the principle of evil, and, rapidly running
down the scale, he finally became the very synonym of death
itself. Set or Seb was the son of Ra, the ancient sun. This
luminary was nothing but the shiner or canopy. So, also,

the ancient moon was not our present satellite, but only a
crescent form of the ring. The mutilation of the sun's body
by Typhon is one of many similar descriptions found else-

wheres. The earth was covered with sun-fragments every
time a canopy broke up its light.
The Ute philosopher has strangely mixed the matter of
the mutilation of this old sun or shining canopy with the
occasional disappearance of the sun itself. Ta-vi, the sun-
god, must have originally been the blazing canopy, and then
like Osiris he became the true sun. The legend is as follows :
"In that long ago, the time to which all mythology refers,
the sun roamed the earth at will. When he came too near
with his fierce heat the people were scorched, and when he
hid away in his cave for a long time, too idle to come forth,
the night was long and the earth cold. Once upon a time
Ta-wats, the hare-god, was sitting with his family by the
camp-fire in the solemn woods, anxiously waiting for the
return of Ta-vi, the wayward sun-god. Wearied with long
watching, the hare-god fell asleep, and the sun-god came so
near that he scorched the naked shoulder of Ta-wats. Fore-
seeing the vengeance which would be thus provoked, he fled
back to his cave beneath the earth. Ta-wats awoke in great
anger, and speedily determined to go and fight the sun-god.
After a long journey of many adventures, the hare-god came
to the brink of the earth, and there watched long and
12
Egyptologists admit that Set, Sit, Typhon, Bes, and Sutekh are
identical. To this list possibly Ombo and Nubi should be added.
Apophis also was a form of Typhon. Sutekh was a god of the Canaan-
"
ites. Maspero, Histoire Ancienne" p. 165.
patiently, till coming out, lie shot an

at last, the sun-god
arrow at his face, but the fierce heat consumed the arrow ere
it had finished its intended course; then another arrow was
sped, but that also was consumed; and another, and still
another, till only one remained in his quiver. But this was
the magical arrow that had never failed its mark. Ta-wats,
holding it in his hand, lifted the barb to his eye and baptized
it in a divine tear ;
then the arrow was sped and struck the
sun-god full in the face, and the sun was shivered into a
thousand fragments, which causing a gen-
fell to the earth,
eral conflagration. Then Ta-wats,

the hare-god, fled before
the destruction he had wrought, and as he fled the burning
earth consumed his feet, consumed his legs, consumed his
body, consumed his hands and his arms all were consumed
but the head alone, which bowled across valleys and over
mountains, fleeing destruction from the burning earth, until
at last, swollen with heat, the eyes of the god burst and the
tears gushed forth in a flood which spread over the earth and
extinguished the fire. The sun-god was now conquered, and

he appeared before a council of the gods to await sentence.
In that long council were established the days and nights,
the seasons and the years, with the length thereof, and the
sun was condemned to travel across the firmament by the
13
same day after day till the end of time."
trail
The Greeks have portrayed certain features of this tale

in the legend of Phaeton. This god was a son of Sol.
Anxious to display his skill in horsemanship, he was allowed
one day. The horses of
to drive the chariot of his father for
the sun soon found out the incapacity of the charioteer,
became unmanageable, and overturned the chariot. There
was such fear of injury to heaven and earth, that Jove, to
stop the destruction, killed Phaeton with a thunderbolt.

" Even the ruler of
vast Olympus, who hurls the ruthless
Popular Science Monthly," October, 1879, p. 799.

EGYPTIAN MYTHS 229
bolts with his terrific right hand, cannot guide this chariot;
and yet what have we greater than Jupiter ? The first part
of the road is steep, and such as the horses, though fresh in
the morning, can hardly climb. In the middle of the heaven
it is high aloft, whence it is often a source of fear, even to
myself, to look down upon the sea and the earth, and my
breast trembles with fearful apprehensions. The last stage
is a steep descent, and requires a sure command of the
* * *
horses. Besides, the heavens are carried round
with a constant rotation, and carry with them the lofty stars,
and whirl them with rapid revolution. Against this I have to
contend; and that force which overcomes all other things
does not overcome me, and I am carried in a contrary direc-
tion to the rapid world." 14
Be it noted that Ovid supposes the rapid world-cloud to
move or revolve in one direction, while the sun appears to
move in the other. William F. Warren is authority for the
following :
"
Now, it is difficult to believe it a mere accident that
in various ancient authors we find allusion both to an ex-
tremely ancient displacement of the sky and its supposed

original state. None of these allusions have ever been
explained by writers on the subject. One of them occurs in
Plato's Timseus, where, in language ascribed to an Egyptian
'
priest of Solon's time, a declination of the bodies revolving
'
round the earth is spoken of, and this declination is offered
as the true explanation of the partial destruction of the world
commemorated in the myth of Phaeton. As this destruction
was by fire, there would at first sight seem to be no connection
between it and the destruction at the time of the Deluge;
nor is there in the context anything to suggest such a con-
nection. Fortunately, however, we have in Hyginus a fuller
version of the myth, from which it appears that the Greeks
"Ovid, "The Metamorphoses," book xi, fable 1.

supposed Deucalion's universal flood to have been providen-

tially extinguish the fearful conflagration which
sent to
Phaeton's unskilful driving of the steeds of the sun had occa-
sioned. This makes the connection clear and direct. The
(
Flood and the declination of the heavenly bodies revolving
round the earth' are at once brought into a true historic
relation.
" In
like manner, in the Bundahish, in the first five
chapters, and in the Zad Sparam's paraphrase of the same, it
that during the first three thousand years, before the

is stated
{
incoming of the Evil One, the sun, moon, and stars stood
still,' but as soon as the Destroyer of the good creation came
he assaulted and deranged the sky, as well as the earth and

sea. And, remarkably enough, it is stated that as a result
f
of this assault the Evil One mastered as much as one third
'
of the sky and overspread it with darkness. Moreover, in
the thirtieth chapter, in giving a prophetic account to the
final restoration of the material world to its primeval state,
there seems to be an allusion in verse thirty-two to a neces-
sary resetting or readjustment of the celestial vault by the

hand of its Creator." 15
The sum and substance of this matter is that the winged
sun was worshiped practically everywhere. F. Max Miiller
" One of the
says in the Second Series of Auld Lang Syne :
most intelligible names given to the sun was Asva, the racer,
or Dadhikravan or Ya^'n, horse. And while at one time the
sun was a racer, at another the sun was conceived as ap-
proaching men and standing on a golden chariot which was
drawn by horses, as in Greek mythology. Thus we read,
'
Kig-Veda i, 35, 2: The god Savitn (the sun), approaching
on the dark-blue sky, sustaining mortals and immortals,
comes on his golden chariot, beholding all the worlds.' " To
us this quotation from the Veda is a description of the
""Paradise Found," pp. 195-196; West, " Pahlavi Texts," pt. i,
p. 129.
EGYPTIAN MYTHS 231
solar orb shining through the dark-blue vault, the abode of
gods and demigods. Miiller catches the echo from the older
thought, which called the shining canopy the sun or racer.
Both Hesiod and Homer testify that the solar-car was drawn
by winged steeds. The Hindus say that their sun was en-
dowed with horses that were very fast. The people of the
olden times saw these flying steeds, such as Pegasus, and so
came worship the swift or winged one (sometimes plural),
to
praising heaven for their wondrous deeds. The wings

attached to the glowing golden sun of Assyria and Egypt
were for rapid flight In North America the sun was called
a hare; afterwards, as the swift became slow, the lame hare
became the sun emblem. Rapid suns or horses were flying
canopies and were also called chariots; when they reflected
the sunlight they appeared to be on fire. So Phrebus lashed
his steeds of fire and rushed upon the very wings of the wind.
Again, Phaeton drove the coursers of the sun, but as he drove

them a fearful change seemed to be impending. The atmos-
phere became sultry and almost unbearable as a result of the
settling down
of the sweltering vapor belt. This made the
world below seem as though it were lost in fire. The lower-
ing heavens also caught a fire-glow from the true sun, and
heaven and earth appeared to be in one blaze. The Storm-
King, roused by these conditions, brought to his aid Jove the
Thunderer,' who hurled his bolts at the luckless Phaeton,
'
and the whole war of the vapors was fought o'er again:
Then headlong falling, with his hair on fire,

Poor Phaeton marked the heavens as a star.
It is further recorded that all the gods were

frightened,
and that the rivers shrank. All the world felt that a change
was coming. Yet through this terror wisdom was brought
down to man, the Delphic oracle had spoken, and in the sight
of all the end was evidently near at hand, for
though Apollo,
Phaeton's own father, regained possession of his steeds and
16
by accelerating the speed seemed to be driving the chariot
of the sun along its proper course, yet, as we have said, it
was only for a time. The Delphic oracle had spoken.

These remarks on the slowing up of the speed with which
the canopy revolved brings to our attention once more
Typhon, the Egyptian canopy. Typhon was also
personified
a character in Grecian mythology. He and Echidna, who
16
The substance of the ring-belt possessed energy on account of its
situation, for the attraction of the earth was capable of doing work.
The further thering-belt was from the earth the larger was the quantity
of energy that it possessed from this cause. But it also possessed
another kind of energy, which was due to its velocity. The further
the ring was from the earth the smaller was this velocity and the
smaller was the quantity of energy possessed from this cause. If we
-unite thetwo forces we find that the result may be expressed in the
following manner: When the ring-belt revolved round the earth the
total energy of the system when added to the reciprocal of the distance
between the two bodies measured by a proper unit of length was the
same for all distances between them. This shows the connection between
the energy and the distance. Thus we see that when the orbit of the
ring-belt decreased, the energy of the system decreased also. The

moment of momentum ofany such system is proportional to the square
root of the distance of the two bodies. When the distance between the
ring and the earth lessened the moment of momentum remained constant.
In other words, the more the system contracted the faster it revolved.
This acceleration was the result of what is known to us as the law
of the conservation of moment of momentum.
" The
apparent anomaly of accounting for an accelerative effect
by a retarding cause disappears when it is considered that any check to
the motion of bodies revolving round a centre of attraction causes them
to draw closer to it, thus shortening their periods and quickening their
circulation." Agnes M. Clerke, "History of Astronomy During the
Nineteenth Century," 3d ed., pp. 115-116.
The late James E. Keeler, Director of the Lick Observatory, proved
by his observations with the spectroscope in 1895, that Saturn's rings
rotate. According to the undulatory theory, light consists of a series
of waves; the spectroscope enables us to measure and count these, and
if we find on counting them that there are too many, we know that the
source from which the light comes is approaching, but on the other
hand, if the number is too few, then we know that it is receding.
Keeler proved that one side of Saturn's rings were approaching and the
other receding. He also proved that the inner edge of each ring
rotates faster than the outer.
EGYPTIAN MYTHS 233
was half a maid and half a serpent, and withal a bloodthirsty-

wench, had a child, the Sphinx, who was also half woman
and half lion, mild jet fierce. The Grecian beast, unlike the
Egyptian Sphinx, had wings. This shows that it was a
flying canopy. The Thebans suffered in its dreadful maw
and asked the question, Will it ever die ? They saw a change
coming over it, hence it seemed a riddle. What would be
the end ? The mild
conditions were passing away. (Edipus,
or swollen-foot, the whirling cloud-belt, was seen to drop and
go slower and slower. As youth needs another prop in old

age, so the canopy needed something. Longevity, which had
been man's portion under the greenhouse roof, now ended,
and the ancients said the cause was that the Sphinx, or
canopy, had cast herself upon a rock. (Edipus thus killed
his father; that is, he stopped the upper or revolving ring;
also his mother and his wife, who werealso sky-forms.
Tragic as this
ending was, the story is full of beautiful
vapor-belt canopy lore. For instance, in his old age, (Edipus
was comforted by the presence of his daughter, Antigone,
she who was born opposite, the pale light that appears over
against the darkening canopy gone blind. His sons are said
to have disputed for the throne of Thebes, which was origi-
nally a walled city of the canopy. Undoubtedly the Egyptian

and Grecian were named for 17
cities it. Seven heroes warred
"Nothing can be plainer than that the names attached to regions

and personified appearances in the sky were transferred by the ancients
to terrestrial localities. For instance, to locate the original Olympus
as a many-peaked earthly mountain would simply embarrass the imag-
ination. How could the following vivid picture be explained?
evil-minded Juno, full of guile!

Thy arts have made the noble Hector leave
The combat, and have forced his troops to flee.
1 know not whether 't were not well that thou

Shouldst taste the fruit of thy pernicious wiles,
Chastised by me with stripes. Dost thou forget
When thou didst swing suspended, and I tied
Two anvils to thy feet, and bound a chain
234, THE ZONAL-BELT HYPOTHESIS
against mighty gate, but the battle ended without their

its
taking However, there soon after came a day when the

it.
great city fell and perished as all sky scenes had to in those
strenuous days. The change arrived and slow-foot was the
cause.
For the same reason that (Edipus was called swollen-
foot, Vulcan was made lame, and as the canopy of vapor
dissipated its fire went out; thus he also, as the story goes,
fell from heaven.
The slowing of the speed of the canopy made it appear

on earth that it was actually going backwards, which fact is
recorded in many myths; thus it is said that Cacus, when
he stole the oxen of Geryon, dragged them backward by their
tails to his cave.
"Achilles was invulnerable in all parts save the heel.

This hero seems indubitably to have been the solar deity,
and, as in the case of Baldur, Siegfried, Eustam, etc., could
be wounded only in one place. The heel here is symbolic,
indicating that he is vulnerable only from behind. So Baldur
falls struck by a dart from his blind brother Hb'dur (the dark-
ness). Siegfried is wounded by Hagene (the thorn) in the

spot between his shoulders where the broad linden leaf had
stuck when he was bathing himself in the dragon's blood, by
which he was made in all other points invulnerable.
" So in the
Algonquin myth of the Summer-maker who
had broken through the sky into the heaven-land beyond, and
brought down to earth the warm winds, the birds, and the
Of gold that none could break around thy wrists?

Then didst thou hang in air amid the clouds,
And all the gods of high Olympus saw
With pity. They stood near, but none of them
Were able to release thee. Whoso came
Within my reach I seized, and hurled him o'er
Heaven's threshold, and he fell upon the earth
Scarce breathing.
Bryant's Homer's Iliad, bk. xv, 19 ff.
EGYPTIAN MYTHS 235
summer, it is said that, pursued by the dwellers in heaven,

he was at last wounded by their arrows in his one vulnerable
spot, viz., in the tip of the tail. The shining Manitu and
Kwasind also could be wounded only in one place, in the
18
scalp or the crown of the head."
Ovid us that a day was lost. The standing still of
tells
the sun (Joshua x) is a like reminiscence: the shiner actually

did appear to stand still. It is significant that the record is
accompanied by a description of the falling stones, for of

necessity a canopy reaching this stage must begin to break
up. This is the record:

"
And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel,
and were in the going down to Beth-horon, that the Lord cast
down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and
they died: they were more which died with hailstones than
* * *
they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.
"
And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the
people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not
this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still
in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a
whole day.
"
And there was no day like that before it or after it." 19
Jasher was probably another Zeus; a great dim memory of
a terrible time was no doubt bound up in this lost volume.
Another account of falling material is found in Deut. xxviii :
23-24, 29, as follows :
"
Thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and
the earth that is under thee shall be iron. The Lord shall
make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven
shall it come down upon thee, until thou be
destroyed.
* * * And thou shalt
grope at noonday, as the blind
gropeth in darkness."
M Charles De B. "
The Tree of Mythology," p. 55.
Mills,
19
Joshua x:ll, 12, 14.
We have now seen that the hope of the Egyptians was

stayed upon Osiris Found.'
'
When he was dead Typhon
ruled the sky, and the Grecian myth has shown us that his
child was the Sphinx.
Yea, Egypt is the grave-yard of the past,
And here 's the Sphinx with his cold stony lips
Touched by the finger of Dame Silence, who
Rules o'er this land of ruin and of dust.
Plainly a sphinx-temple was a place wherein to worship

the cold spirit of the falling vapor-sky. The great sphinx at
Ghizeh faces to the east, as though to catch the first glimpse
of the day :
In eagerness he gazes like to one

That's guessing of the future and expects
An end that's coming, and a new-born sun.
Her head a woman, for she was quite mild,
His tail a lion, for he turned out fierce
As nearer to the earth he flew in death.
And by him stands the three great pyramids,
Memorials of the day of stablished things
The shadow of the turning earth upon, 20
A canopy which seemed forever fixed.
A cloudy mountain which received its light
At night-time from beneath; where dwell the shades;
From the dead sun, from the great under-world.
At midnight this division of the rays
By the earth's shadow cast a cone-like form,
A pyramid athwart the darkened sky.
"
The Hellenic and Eoman myths concerning the
'
World-
'
mountain were numerous, but in later times not a little
confused, as Ideler has learnedly shown. By some, as for

example Aristotle, it was identified with the Caucasus, and
it was asserted that its height was so prodigious that after
sunset its head was illuminated a third part of the night, and
again a third part before the rising of the sun in the morning.
This identification explains the later legend, according to
which, in order to prove his rightful lordship of the world,
80
James i:17.
EGYPTIAN MYTHS 237
Alexander the Great plucked 'the shadowless lance' (the

peak of the Taurus Moun-
earth's axis) out of the topmost
tains. More commonly the mount is called Atlas, or the
Atlantic mountain. Proclus, quoting Heraclitus, says of it:
*
Its
magnitude is such that it touches the ether and casts a
shadow of five thousand stadia in length. From the ninth

hour of the day the sun is concealed by it, even to his perfect
demersion under the earth." 21
This shadow-mountain, which only appeared at night,
seemed to stand in the inverted heavens; to the right and
left of its cone were two great wings of light, with their
apexes downward.
"Draw me (the nocturnal sun), infernal ones! . . .
" Retreat towards the eastern towards

heavens, the dwell-
ings which support Sar, that mysterious mountain that

spreads light among the gods (or, that I may spread light
among the gods?), who receive me when I go forth from
amongst you, from the retreat."
" To the inverted infernal mountain seem
to apply the
e
expressions in chapter one hundred and fifty of the Book
"
of the Dead:'
We have said that
it is not likely that the ancients, unac-
quainted with Newton's law of gravitation, could have pic-

tured a pendent under-surf ace to the earth, so it follows that
the midnight appearance of the mountain is here referred to.
"
Oh, the very tall Hill in Hades The heaven rests!
upon
it. There is a snake or dragon upon it: Sati is his name,"
etc. The presence of the snake and the fact that heaven rests
on the Hill of Hades confirms our supposition that a world
under the horizon was not dreamt of.
" In another
chapter of the same book a place is spoken
'
of as the inverted which is Hades.'
" As
precinct, place
heaven, according to the text cited above, rests on Hades, the
locality of this precinct is fixed in the inverted night-sky.
21
William F. Warren, "Paradise Found," pp. 135-136.
'
The translator of another text, called the Book of Hades/
(
describes a pendent mountain/ which can hardly be any-
thing other than Ap-en-to, the inverted mountain of Hades.
On the other hand, the expression ' underworld is con- '
tinually used in the writings and lore of the ancients, so

that beyond question the great inverted wings of light shin-
ing up from below gave the peoples of those days an inkling

of a region lying beneath. Our contention is that this place
is not the mythological abode of the shades. The following
shows the confused notions relative these two regions, the
night-mountain, Hades, and the true underworld.
" The "
god advancing in a reversed position (in a certain
"
New Zealand legend) is the sun in the Underworld. The
image exactly accords with an Egyptian scene of the sun
passing through Hades, where we see the twelve gods of the
earth, or the lower domain of night, marching towards a
mountain turned upside down, and two typical personages
are also turned upside down. This is an illustration of the
passage of the sun through the Underworld. The reversed

on the same monument are the dead. Thus the Osirified
deceased, who had attained the second life, in the Ritual,
'
says exultingly, I do not walk upon my head.' The dead,
as the Akhu, are the spirits, and the Atua (of the New
Zealand legend) a spirit who comes walking upside down.
is
Massey elsewhere states that the earth 'was considered flat

by the first myth-makers,' who in his scheme appear to have
been Egyptians." 22
A flat world does not bring any support
to those who believe Hades was located in the nether hemi-
the Osirified dead says, " I do not
' '
sphere. In the Eitual
walk upon my head." Had a pendent world been dreamt of,
everything would have been considered upside down.
In Genesis i 16 there are two great lights mentioned
:
;
the greater ruled the day and the lesser the

night. Egyptian
IUd., pp. 124, 125, "Records of the Past,"
126. vol. x, p. 88.
" The
Natural Genesis," London, 1883, vol. i, p. 529.
EGYPTIAN MYTHS 239
mythology is full of references to the night-time as a time

of shade:
A weird a fearful time, those hours of night,
With spook-like spectres shivering in the sky,
The canopy a sheeted envelope,
Ghosts and hobgoblins drifting in mid-air,
The ka or double visiting the tomb.
The shadow, or dark mountain, seemed much higher at

night, and as its mass seemed to rise out of the realm of
shades, it was only a step for the ancients to associate it with
the dead, hence when they made patterns of it, these pyra-
mids or likenesses naturally became tombs. The chambers,
built into them, wherein the withered mummies awaited the
coming back of their ka, were simply imitations of the halls

wherein the dead sun hid himself in the dismal mountain.
We erect memorials in our graveyards to-day in the shape
of broken columns or shafts, which signify to us a life cut
short by death. The pyramids suggested to the ancients
pretty much the same thought, hence they built them over
the chambers of their dead.
The same rectangular arrangement of temples which pre-
vailed in Egypt held also in Chaldea. They lifted their eyes
'
to the mountain in the sky the Father of Countries/ and
imagined it the abode of the gods, the future home of every
'
great and good man, a land with a silver sky.' The story
of the building of the tower of Babel is the story of an effort
on the part of the people to get into this home, as it were,
surreptitiously. In the New World there were similar tales.
Donnelly says:
" There is also a
clearly established legend which singu-
Tower of Babel.
larly resembles the Bible record of the
"Father Duran, in his MS. ' Historia Antiqua de la
Nueva Espanaf A. D. 1585, quotes from the lips of a native
of Oholula, over one hundred years old, a version of the
legend as to the building of the great pyramid of Cholula.
It is as follows :
" In
the beginning, before the light of the sun had been
created, this land (Cholula) was in obscurity and darkness,

and void of any created thing; all was a plain, without hill
or elevation, encircled in every part by water, without trees
or created thing; and immediately after the light and the
sun arose in the east there appeared gigantic men of deformed
stature and possessed the land, and, desiring to see the nativ-
ity of the sun, as well as his Occident,proposed to go and

seek them. Dividing themselves into two parties, some jour-
neyed to the west and others toward the east these travelled
;
until the sea cut their road,whereupon they determined to

return to the place from which they started, and, arriving at
this place (Cholula), not finding the means of reaching the
sun, enamoured of his light and beauty, they determined to

build a tower so high that its summit should reach the sky.
Having collected materials for the purpose, they found a

very adhesive clay and bitumen, with which they speedily
commenced to build the tower; and, having reared it to the
greatest possible altitude, so that they say it reached to the

sky, the Lord of the Heavens, enraged, said to the inhabitants
of the sky, Have you observed how they of the earth have
'
built a high and haughty tower to mount hither, being

enamoured of the light of the sun and his beauty? Come
and confound them, because it is not right that they of the
earth, living in the flesh, should mingle with us.' Imme-
diately the inhabitants of the sky sallied forth like flashes of
lightning; they destroyed the edifice, and divided and scat-
tered builders to all parts of the earth." 23
its
Another enigma of the pyramids is the fact that they are

usually orientated roughly according to the cardinal points.
However, when we consider the evidence that their builders
naturally followed the design in the heavens, this result is
logical.
28
Ignatius Donnelly, "Atlantis/' 21st ed., pp. 200-201.
EGYPTIAN MYTHS 241
The fact that the four faces do not exactly conform to

the cardinal points has been set down
bad management or
as
neglect on the part of the builders, but when it is remem-

bered that they built according to the pattern in the sky, and
that they viewed this pattern from various angles and at
various stages of its collapse, it will be seen that this accusa-
tion is unjust. The oldest of the pyramids, as shown by the
texts, is located north of Abydos. It belonged to Sneferu
and was erected in the Fourth Dynasty; the latest belonged
24
to the princes of the Twelfth Dynasty. The construction
of these monuments was therefore a continuous work, lasting
some thirteen or fourteen centuries.
During this long period
the orientation of the cloud-mountain, which was ever drift-
ing northwards, must have varied considerable. Tombs

known as mastabas, which conveyed the same idea as the
pyramids, were built before the Fourth Dynasty. Their
angle is 75 and the pyramid angle from 50 to 55.
Piazza Smyth contended that the angles of the* Great
Pyramid of Cheops contain factors from which can be cal-
culated the distance of the sun from our earth. Unwittingly,
if the ancient builders built true, to their model, this- data
has been handed down to us.
Another remarkable piece of testimony from this ancient
pile atGhizeh is found in the fact that if one should go down
the entrance passageway and then turn around and look out
he would find himself gazing into the northern sky, which
was probably the only spot of the clear blue visible at the
time of the erection of this great monument. Perhaps Alpha
Draconis, which was then (2170 B. 0.) the North Star, and
which was a very distinguished feature of the polar-egg or
may have shone right down this
opening, passageway when
M G.
Maspero, "Manual of Egyptian Archaeology," trans. Amelia
B. Edwards, 1895, p. 132, see also p. 140.
16
the pyramid was built. Be this as it may, this egg-shaped
opening is recorded in the myths of nearly all the ancients.

"
It is called by the Greeks Isles of the Blessed."
The poets have mistaken the locality of this sky-hole,
owing to the fact that they naturally associated it with the
sunset glory. We say naturally, for after the fall of the
canopy was the only sky-scene that could be compared to
it
the original ruddy isle of Erytheia, on which the bright oxen
(clouds) of Geryon were pastured. It was the isle of the
Hesperides, and the apples were the stars seen in its clear
'
expanse. Job draws a distinction between The Island of
?
the Innocent and the other countries of the world (xxii :
' '
30). Ovid draws one between The Earth and the rest of
the globe. Plainly the ancients had an idea that terra firma
was in some way united with the canopy.
" On the- western margin, of the- earth, by the stream of
Ocean, lay a happy place named the E-lysi-an Plain, whither
mortals favored by the gods were transported without tasting
of death, to enjoy an immortality of bliss. This happy region
' '
was also called Fortunate Fields and the '
Isles of the
Blessed.'
" 25
They need not the moon in that land of delight,

They need not the pale, pale star;
The sun is bright, by day and night,
Where the souls of the blessed are.
They till not the ground, they plow not the wave,
They labor not, never! oh, never!
Not a tear do they shed, not a sigh do- they heave ;
*
They are happy for ever and ever !
Wherever pyramid worship is found, one or more of these

features is in evidence. The teocalli of Cholula covers more
than twice the ground-space of Cheops. It is orientated, and
in a vast hollow chamber under the structure- was found two
skeletons. The Mexican pyramids at Cholula and at Tula
are said to resemble marvelously certain Assyrian and Chal-
"
of Fable," Scott, p. * Pindar.
Bulfinch, Age 3.
EGYPTIAN MYTHS 343
dean temples. 27 One of these teocalli glorified Quetzalcoatl

the good canopy who as a god was reputed to have made
flowersgrow profusely. Originally Mexicans offered fruits
and flowers to him, but afterwards his nature changed, so to
propitiate him they offered human sacrifices. Quetzalcoatl
reminds the investigator of the prince of Tyrus, the covering
cherub.
The Spaniards also found two pyramids at San Juan
Teotihuacan, one of which was dedicated to the sun and the
other to the moon, but evidence was found that an older cult
had been superseded. In one of these a passageway ter-
minated in two small pits or wells, showing that they were
used as tombs. Nearby are many smaller mounds. The two
great ones are orientated east and west.
The great pyramid mound of the Incas on the banks of
the Moche River is 800 feet long and 150 feet high, and has
preserved up to this time the secret of its erection. The

Mound Builders have left similar relics in the North Ameri-
can Continent. In western Illinois, at about the centre of
the river flats known as the American Bottom, are a number
of mound-groups. Cahokia, a truncated pyramid, is the
largest individual mound; it covers over fourteen acres, or
more than is covered by the largest Egyptian Pyramid.
" The
great mound at Seltzertown, Mississippi, is of such
dimensions as almost to preclude the belief of its artificial
origin. It is a truncated pyramid, about 600 feet long and
400 broad at its base, and covering nearly six acres of ground.
It is placed very nearly in reference to the cardinal points,
its greater length being east and west. Its height is forty
feet, accessible by a graded way which leads to a platform of

four acres on the summit. From this platform rise three
conical mounds, one at each end and one in the centre. Both
"Prescott, "Conquest of Mexico," book iii, ch. vi. Scientific

American Supplement, No. 645. Foster, " Prehistoric Races of the
United States of America," 6th ed., p. 345.
of the extreme mounds are truncated, the westernmost ris-
ing to the height of forty feet, and the easternmost is some-

28
what less."
Our author
goes on to show that certain of these mounds
"
were used as burialplaces. He says The temple-mounds
:
were also used as sepulchres. In that at Seltzertown, Dr.

vast quantities of human skeletons/ and
'
Dickeson found
Mr. Hill, the former owner of the Cahokia Mound, in sink-
ing a well on its platform, encountered charcoal at the depth
of twenty-five feet. The Grave Creek Mound, which is in
the form of the flattened area on top being
a truncated cone
fifty feet in diameter,and therefore coming under the classi-

fication of temple-mounds was found to enclose two vaults
originally constructed of wood, which contained human skele-
29
tons."
" The
Grave Creek Mound, twelve miles below Wheeling,
in West Virginia, is the most notable of all those in the Ohio
Valley.
" It
seventy feet in height by nine hundred in circum-
is
ference, and is destitute of lines of circumvallation. In 1838

Mr. A. B. Tomlinson, the owner of the premises, carried a
drift along the original surface of the ground to the centre
of the mound, and sank a shaft from the summit to intercept
'
it. At the distance of one hundred and eleven feet/ he
states, in a pamphlet published after the completion of the
'
exploration, we came to a vault, which had been excavated
before the mound was commenced, eight by twelve feet and
seven in depth. Along each side and across the ends, upright
timbers had been placed, which supported timbers thrown
across the vault as a ceiling. These timbers were covered
with loose unhewn stone, common to the neighborhood. The
timbers had rotted and had tumbled into the vault.
* J. W. Foster,
"
Prehistoric Races of the United States of America,"
6th ed., p. 112.
"Hid., pp. 186-187.
EGYPTIAN MYTHS 245
In this vault were two human skeletons, one of which had no

ornaments; the other was surrounded by six hundred and
fifty ivory (shell) beads, and an ivory (bone) ornament, six
inches long.
"
In sinking the shaft, at thirty-four feet above the first
or bottom vault a similar one was found, enclosing a skeleton
which had been decorated with a profusion of shell-beads,
30 7
copper-rings, and plates of mica.'

All this goes to show that the same idea of death was
associated with the dismal cloud-mountain by the Mexicans,
Peruvians, Mound Builders, and Egyptians. So it was also
in Babylonia, the colossal zikkurats lifting their lofty sum-
mits in honor of the same cloud-mountain.
Herman Y. Hilprecht says "I
have recently found
:
evidence that, like the Egyptian pyramid, the Babylonian

stage-tower (or step-pyramid) without doubt was viewed in
the light of a sepulchral mound erected in honor of a god."
Our author adds " I am also inclined to see a last remi-
:
niscence of the Babylonian zikkurat in the meftul, the char-

acteristic watch-tower and defensive bulwark of the present
Ma dan
7
tribes of Central Babylonia." 31
Daniel G. Brinton tells of a like tower built by the lord
of Tezcuco, which to our minds also reflects the old source
"
of inspiration. Brinton says Nezahutal erected a temple
:
nine stories high to represent the nine heavens, which he

dedicated to the Unknown God, the Cause of Causes. This
' 7
temple, he ordained, should never be polluted by blood, nor

should any graven image ever be set up within its
77 32
precincts.
The type of the holy cloud-mountain was reproduced in
80
IUd., pp. 190-191.
81 "
Explorations in Bible Lands During the Nineteenth Century/
p. 287.
82 " New
The Myths of the World," 3d ed., p. 73.
33
every palace and temple of Babylonia, sometimes by build-
ing it as an artificial mound with trees and plants watered
from above; again, on a larger scale by the zikkurat or
'
Mountain Peak/ the later device being a sort of pyramid of
three, five, or seven stages.
" One of these is the zikkurat to Nin-girsu at Lagash,
'
which Gudea describes as the house of seven divisions of the
the other, the tower at Uruk, which bore the name
'
world ;
'
house of seven zones.' The reference in both cases is, as
Jensen has shown, to the seven concentric zones into which
the earthwas divided by the Babylonians. It is a conception
that we
encounter in India and Persia, and that survives in
' ?
the seven climates into which the world was divided by
Greek and Arabic geographers. It seems clear that this
interpretation of the number seven is older than the one

which identified each story with one of the planets." 34
This leads us into another field of research, and in pass-
ing be well to glance at the significance of this mys-
it may
"
tical number.
Jastrow adds The suggestion is worthy
:
'
of consideration whether the name seven directions of
'
heaven and earth may not also point to a conception of
seven zones dividing the heavens as well as the earth. One
seven heavens of Arabic theology." 35
f '
is reminded of the
One is also reminded of the seven ropes that twirled the sky-
mountain of the Hindus.
Heaped were the mountains in heaps. The serpents began to twine
'
There were seven of these Fiery Phantoms/ that twirled away at the
line,
Over them rushed heaven's ocean, Anu a river broad
Which flowed round this world of ours, around where the monster clawed.
83
The palaces were veritable terrestrial paradises. The name shows
the origin, for paradise (in Sanskrit, para desa) means literally high
land.
84
Jastrow, "Keligion of Babylonia and Assyria," ch. xxvi, pp.
619-620.
EGYPTIAN MYTHS 247
'
Ea, alias the House of the Waters,' lived in this ocean vast,
An * Exalted Fish ' they called him, in the story of Vishnu cast.
Thefact that this great mountain always turned upon

its axisin an easterly course is probably the reason why the
following strange passage occurs in the Book of the Dead.

"
It's written in the
'
Ritual ' Retreat,
"
Retreat," it says, Unto the eastern heavens,
Unto the dwellings which support the mount
That great mysterious mountain that spreads light
Among the gods," high in the northern sky.
Such was the substance of the direction given to the
'
dead to guide them on their skyward journey to the Blessed
Land.' In the pyramid built for King Teta (about 3300
"
B. C.) the following text occurs: Teta comes to the two
heavens, Teta arrives at the two earths, Teta treads upon
the herbage growing under the feet of Seb, he traverses the
36
road of Nu-t."
The mountain chambers, the Hall of Two Truths, and
Set or
Seb, verdanttheearth, are all depicted before
the departed Teta, and he is told that he must traverse the
road of ISTu-t; that is, the sky-road. This sky, according to
some, extended overhead like an immense iron ceiling, and,
according to others, like a huge shallow vault. For this
"
reason iron, like many other things in Egypt, was pure or
impure according to circumstances. If some traditions held
it up to odium as an evil thing, and stigmatized it as the
(
bones of Typhon,' other traditions, equally venerable,
affirmed that was the very substance of the canopy of
it
heaven. So authoritative was this view, that iron was cur-

'
37
rently known as Ba-en-pet/ or the celestial metal."
It was plain even to the ancients that such a sky could not
remain unsupported in space, therefore Nu-t was supposed
"Scientific American Supplement No. 1075.

87
G. Maspero, "Manual of Egyptian Archaeology," trans. Amelia B.
Edwards, 1895, p. 196.
to be sustained in her lofty position by her arms and legs.

These made four pillars; accordingly their temples were
"
planned to illustrate this idea. The columns, and if need-
ful the four corners of the chambers, stood for the pillars.
The roofj vaulted at
Abydos, flat elsewhere, corresponded
exactly with the Egyptian idea of the sky. Each of these
parts was, therefore, decorated in consonance with its mean-
ing. Those next to the ground were clothed with vegetation.
The bases of the columns were surrounded by leaves." 38
The vaulted roof sometimes contained stars. At others ser-
' '
pents, the various names of which are Fire Face/ Flaming

< 39
Eye/ Evil Eye/ etc.
The Egyptians kept a festival to commemorate the sus-
'
pension of the sky by the ancient god Ptah, the Opener/

who was venerated as creator of the world. J. Norman
Lockyer says:
"
About 5300 B. C. we seem almost in the time of the
divine dynasties, and begin to understand how it is that in
the old traditions Ptah precedes Ka and is called the father
'
of the beginnings, and the creator of the egg of the Sun and
Moon.' " 40 After Ptah came the great Sun-god Ka, whose
father was Nu or E"u-t. Ka waged war against the demon
of darkness called Apap or Apapi, who was a serpent. He
journeyed over Nu-t's back, traversed over the road of Nu-t.
This Nu-t is represented in her drawings as a female
figure spanning the heavens, her finger-tips touching the one
horizon and her toes the other. !N"u-t, like all the canopies,
(
was the mother of the gods. In the Hindu and Babylonian
7
myths we have seen that the vapor-belt was credited with

being the source of life both in the heavens and in the earth.
The canopy diffused the solar rays and diffusion seems to
38 m llid., 164.
Ibid., p. 90. p.
40
"The Dawn of Astronomy," ch. xxxi, p. 318. Brugsch, "Religion
" Salle
und Mythologie," p. 111. Pierret, Historique de la Galerie
Egyptiewne" (du Louvre), p. 199.
EGYPTIAN MYTHS 249
have made confusion, for with each new aspect of light a

new god was born. Thus the list was ever being increased,
and yet, after all, how many gods were there? Many were
closely related and many more may be proved to be actually
identical. For instance, Hathor, the cow-headed (i.e., cloud-
headed) was worshiped at Denderah. She was born out from
and in the cloud, and is certainly only another aspect of the
arched Nu-t. She also, like Nu-t, is said to have been the
i
mother of all living/ but what is of more importance is
that she is identified with Aphrodite and corresponds to
Jshtar, and some enthusiasts have even gone so far as to say

that her cult can be traced in the worship of the aborigines
of North America, but this similarity is only a witness of the
common phenomenon personified and deified both in the east
and in the west. As Aphrodite was the goddess of eternal
probable that Hathor was

light, it is that aspect of perpetual
illumination seen in Nu-t and which the Hindus recorded by
"
saying that Agni was Yaruna and was Indra too."
Sometimes Nu-t is represented double, a larger stretching
over a smaller one. The outer one is studded with stars.
The inner one, however, is plainly a band of water. These

wheels within wheels suggest a firmament above and below,
and they show us the evolutionary process by which it came
'
about that the vapor-belt was looked upon as the mother.'
Ascending and descending on E"u-t's curved back, athwart
the vaulted sky, are boats containing the gods. These, of
course, were shells of light (halos) surrounding the heavenly
orbs.
These boats or halos seen ascending and descending on
Nu-t's body were the origin of many customs and myths. At
first baris or barks sustained on the priest's shoulders were
carried in procession.
" hidden from the
In these, sight of every profane eye,
were supposed to be stationed those renowned gods descended
from the Yedic Aria upon the land of Kemi at successive and
unknown epochs: Ph-t-ah, or Agny, meaning fire; Ph-Ra,

an equivalent of Re, Ra, Ri, La, El, the sun (i.e., shiner) ;
Jom, an equivalent of Om, Aom, and Homa; Sevek, i.e.,

Siva; and Asiri, the equivalent of Asura. These were the
Indian deities and titles with which the analogy of the Egyp-
tian gods and goddesses is thus indicated." 41
These baris also contained the local conceptions of the
gods, many of them half monster, half woman.

Menes, according to the historical record, is the first king
of the first dynasty. He was reputed to be " the successor
of Asiri, the son and god of the dead ; he belongs to the first
Vedic tradition, like the Sanskrit Manu, son of the Sun and
brother of the Asura Yama, the god of the dead; like the
Manes of Lydia, son of Cronus like the Cretan Menos, son
;
of Zeus; the Minyas of lolcus, son of Titan, and the Manus

of Germany, son of Chaos." 42
But to return to the custom of taking the gods around in
boats. In Egypt the display naturally sought the waters of
the Nile, and as the whole procedure was associated with
death, it was not long before funeral rites began to develop

along the same lines. Thus sacred barks were built, after
the model of the bari, in which the was conveyed to
mummy
its last resting place, the idea being that as the gods floated
in boats over the canopy-sea, so also their sacred dead were

"
In their effort to restore the dead
required to journey.
men to the happy island-home, the heavenly land beyond the
water, the Norsemen actually set their dead heroes afloat in
boats on the open ocean." 43 The world wide conception
being that the canopy-sea was connected with the terrestrial
ocean. The island-home refers to the Isles of the Blessed,
the egg-hole of the north.
41
F. De Lanoye, "Wonders of Art and Archaeology in Egypt 3300
Years Ago," p. 78.
"Ibid., p. 287.
48
Poor, "Sanskrit and Kindred Literatures," pp. 371, 372.
EGYPTIAN MYTHS 251
In the boat in which the sun-god of Egypt took his daily

ride on the Nile, a shrine was placed amidships, which was
covered with a veil to conceal him from the eyes of the
spectators.
Looking at the original diurnal journey of the sun across
the canopy, the record shows that he was at one time lost, as
"
it were, in the folds of Apapi. G. Maspero says After :
the fifth hour, the heavenly ocean became a vast battle-field.

The gods of light pursued, captured, and bound the serpent
Apapi, and at the twelfth hour they strangled him. But this
triumph was not of long duration. Scarcely had the sun
achieved this victory when his bark was borne by the tide
44
into the realm of the night hours."
It is interesting to find that this custom has continued
down to the present day, and it is instructive, for it shows
us with what tenacity an idea is passed from one generation
to another. We may well surmise that any such relics sur-
viving the last thousand years may have come down through
indefinite ages. Two illustrations of the present-day sur-
vivals will suffice. The khedive of Egypt still sends to Mecca
as an annual gift a tabernacle, known as Mahmal, that pre-
sents the outline of a ship. We find the other illustration in
India. Frank Dobbins says:
S.
" As of almost all the
gods, Ganesha (the elephant god)
has his festivals, when the people come together in great
crowds to do him honor. At one of these annual festivals
they bring forth the god Ganesha, place him in a boat, and,
accompanied with other boats containing priests and musi-
cians, theyrow up and down the Ganges. The great crowds
of people lining the shore fill the air with their shouts and
4a
songs, and the occasion is one of exuberant joy."
Modified by art, beautiful stories have grown from the
44
"Manual of Egyptian Archaeology," trans. Amelia B. Edwards,
p. 164.
""Gods and Deyils of Mankind," p. 269.
'
same myth. Lohengrin
'
is one of these. With a few alter-
ations, we give it as told by Charles De B. Mills. He tells
us that:
"
Lohengrin is one of those heroes, half unearthly, who
come, men know
not whence, and are first seen sleeping in a
boat upon a river. Lohengrin was son of Percival, and he
heard once the peal of a bell far away, untouched by human
hands, in the temple of the Grail at Montsalvatch. That
peal was a signal that help was needed. He arose and was
starting, notknowing whither he should go. Foot in stirrup,
ready mount
to his horse, he saw a swan on the river, drawing
'
a ship along. Take back the horse to its stable/ said he.
'
I will go with the bird, whither it shall lead.' Five days
he was on the water, drawn in his boat not only, but supplied
with nourishment by the faithful bird. At the end of this
time, they came where the lists were opened by Frederick
Von Telramund, a brave knight,
fight against any who would
champion she might bring forward for possession of Elsa of
Brabant, who had refused his suit. Lohengrin undertook
the defense of the Lady, fought, prevailed, slew Frederick,
and in return was offered her hand and the duchy. He
accepted it on condition she must never ask his
: race. Hap-
pily they lived together for a time, but one night, piqued with
curiosity and stung with insinuations and reproaches she
had heard, she did put the fatal question.
"
Lohengrin sorrowfully called his children together,
e
kissed them, and said Here are my horn and my sword,
:
keep them carefully; and here, my wife, is the ring my

mother gave me never part with it.' At break of day, the
;
swan reappeared, drawing the boat, Lohengrin reentered and

disappeared, nevermore to return.
"
This story ought to be transparent enough. It is the
reproduction of the old, old tale, the prince wedded to the

dawn (or, rather, the sun wedded to the canopy, for it seems
that the original myth dealt not with the daily occurrence
EGYPTIAN MYTHS 253
but with the yearly phenomenon). He had rescued the

maiden, marries her, but cannot remain with her; he comes
in a boat (a shell of light, a halo), and he also goes in a
boat, drawn by the faithful swan that swims the cerulean

seas. There is a close relation of this tale with those of
Melusina, of Undine, of Pururavas and Urvasi, Eros and

' '
Psyche, etc. Lohengrin is one of a family of stories cele-

46
brating Knights of the Swan."
46 "
The Tree of Mythology," pp. 91-93.
CHAPTER XVII
MYTHS OF GREECE AND ROME
News what news ?
! Has it in truth then ended,
The term appointed for that wondrous sleep?
Has Earth so well her fairest brood defended
Within her bosom? Was their slumber deep?
Not this our dreamless rest that knows no waking,
But that to which the years are as a day?
What! are they coming back, their prison breaking,
These gods of Homer's chant, of Pindar's lay?
Olympia? Yes, strange tidings from the city

Which pious mortals builded, stone by stone,
For those old gods of Hellas, half in pity
Of their storm-mantled height and dwelling lone,
Their seat upon the mountain overhanging
Where Zeus withdrew behind the rolling cloud,
Where crowned Apollo sang, the phorminx twanging,
And at Poseidon's word the forests bowed.
Ay, but that fated day

When from the plain Olympia passed awayj
When ceased the oracles, and long unwept
Amid their fanes the gods deserted fell,
While sacerdotal ages, as they slept,
1
The ruin covered well !
JUST as in the case with the other nations, the beings

called gods by the Greeks are only personifications of the
powers and objects of nature, and the legends likewise are
only representations of the courses of nature and its
operations.
The farther back the myths are traced, the more closely
the gods become associated with the scenes of the canopy.
Thus the Greek sky-god, Zeus, corresponds to the Hindu sky-
god, Dyaus. The word is derived from the root dyu/ which
'
'Stedman's "News From Olympia.'

254
MYTHS OF GREECE AND ROME 255
means to shine.' He was the Heaven father called by the

' ' '
Hindus Dyaus-pitar, by the Romans Diovis-pater or Jupiter,

by the Greeks Zeus-pater. Uranus means the coverer.' His
i
name is derived from the root var.' He is identified with '
2
the Hindu Varuna, the vault of heaven. Hera comes from
' '
the Sanskrit root the bright sky. Cannes, half man,
svar
half fish, was an Eastern god, the Lord of Darkness. His
name is derived from the Hindu Anu. Apollo may be
derived from a Sanskrit form, Apa-var-yan or Apa-val-yan,
and may mean one who opens the gate of the sky.' 3 At
(
some remote period, probably, the ancestors of the Greeks

"
said : The one who opens
the gate of the sky pursues the
burning one (Dahana)." This soon assumed the form,

Apollo courted Daphne and she fled from him and was turned
into a laurel tree. The significance of the tree in mythology
will be enlarged upon later when we come to consider the
World-ash of Scandinavia.
Some other scholarsSchroder, for instance- think that
Apollo is derived from the Yedic Saparagenya, an epithet
of Agni. This again brings us to the canopy, as Agni was
the light seen in the great world-blanket. It is strange, but
the theft of fire seems to be the theme-root in both cases.
"
Herodotus says Whence each of the gods sprung,
:
whether they existed always, and of what form they were,

was, so to speak, unknown till yesterday. For I am of
opinion that Hesiod and Homer lived four hundred years
before time, and not more, and these were they who
my
framed a theogony for the Greeks, and gave names to the
gods, and assigned to them honors and
and declared arts,
their several forms." * * * "
Indeed, the names of
almost all the gods came from Egypt into Greece; for that
they came from barbarians I find on inquiry to be the case ;
and I think they chiefly proceeded from Egypt." 4
'Hopkins, "Religions of India," pp. 166, 167.

3
Max Mtiller, ii, 692-697. 4
B. ii, 50, 53, Gary's translation.
The astronomical systems of the Egyptians and the

Greeks clearly the effects of a common origin, the
also show
"
original sky-canopy ring system. F. A. Paley aids the
imagination of his readers as follows

'
We
might familiarly
:
illustrate the Hesiodic notion of the flat circular earth and

the convex overarching sky by a circular plate with a hemi-
spherical dish-cover of metal placed over it and concealing it.

Above the cover (which is supposed to rotate on an axis)
live the gods. Bound
the inner concavity is the path of the
5
sun, giving light to the earth below."
Aristotle tells plainly that the sky was solid. The great
"
philosopher of Stagia said The universe is a fixed point ;
:
the central point is earth, and above it is a bounding field."

" "
Stars," he added, are fixed to it like studs." Euclid and
Cicero also taught that the stars were fixed in a solid sphere.
The astral note from Egypt comes from Claudius Ptolemseus.
' '
His Heavens of the Spheres
were composed of nine con-
centric circles, including the fire ring. All of which were
of glass. This latter, or fire-ring, seems to have been a remi-
niscence of the fire or sunlight seen in the old canopy when
Agni was Yaruna and was Indra too. It was located nearer
to the earth than any of the other spheres. This whole
peculiar astronomical conception undoubtedly grew out of
the old method of thought, and it was not until the time of
Seneca that the question was raised against it. How heret-
" Is
ical the following must have sounded the sky solid:
"
and of a firm and compact substance ? They had always
been taught that it was.
In connection with the idea of concentric rings, it is
interesting to find that the Finn cosmogonists actually be-
lieved that the world was one huge egg, the sky the shell, and
the yolk the earth. The Norsemen contended that the sky
was Ymer's skull, the earth his flesh, and the rocks his bones.
8
"The Epics of Hesiod, with an English Commentary," London,
1861, p. 172.
It is significant that Ymer

seems originally to have meant
the sea the word being akin to the Latin mare. 6 The
Hindus supposed that the world stood on a turtle's back.
"
Ruskin says : The tortoise shell, the image of the dappled
"
concave of the cloudy sky." Cooper says With reference
:
to the turtle, there is probability in the view that the name

of this animal was given as a symbol of the world, the
first
upper shell representing the sky, the under shell the earth,
and the body between the two the atmosphere." 7
Between the shells of the turtle we can imagine that
Chaos ~Nox and Darkness reigned. Erebus, or blackness,
was a veritable existence. All the cosmogonies begin with
"
this
'
Age of Darkness.'
Orpheus says From the begin- :
ning the gloomy night enveloped and obscured all things that
were under the ether. The earth was invisible on account
of the darkness, but the light broke through the ether and
illuminated the earth."
Sanchoniathon was a Phosnician and only fragments of
"
his writings survive. He tells us that the beginning of all
things was a condensed, windy air, or a breeze of thick air,

and a chaos turbid and black as Erebus. Out of this chaos
was generated Mot, which some call Ilus, but others the
putrefaction of a watery mixture. And from this sprang all
the seed of the creation, and the generation of the universe.
* * * And when the air
began to send forth light, winds
were produced and clouds, and very great defluxions and
torrents of the heavenly waters."
Berosus, the Babylonian whose records have been pre-

"
served in the temple of Belus, says : There was a time in
which there existed nothing but darkness and an abyss of
waters, wherein resided most hideous beings, which were pro-
duced of a twofold principle."
8 "
Cooper, Serpent Myths," p. 17.
"
7
Charles De B. Mills, The Tree of Mythology," pp. 34, 35.
17
" we
From the
'
Laws of Menu/ of the Hindus, learn that
the universe existed at first The following text
in darkness."
"
is taken from the Vedas : The Supreme Being alone ex-
isted; afterward there was universal darkness; next the
watery ocean was produced by the diffusion of virtue."
The Thlinkeets of British Columbia say " Very dark, :
damp, and chaotic was the world in the beginning; nothing

with breath or body moved there except Yehl in the likeness ;
of a raven he brooded over the mist; his black winds beat

down the vast confusion; the waters went back before him
and the dry land appeared. The Thlinkeets were placed on
the earth though how or when does not exactly appear
while the world was still in darkness, and without sun, moon,
8
or stars."
Pythias, in the early times, before the mariner's compass

was invented, coasted from Marseilles to the Shetland Isles.
On one occasion, when he returned, he declared that his
progress was stopped by an immense black clam or oyster,
which was suspended in the air. And he further declared
that if any ship advanced toward it it would be swallowed
up in its gigantic shell.
In the Greek cosmogony Chaos gave way to Uranus, the
shining canopy or coverer, and to Pontus, the sky-ocean.
It is recorded of Uranus that he hated all his children,
and directly after their birth he placed them under the
Tartarian pall; that is, he hid them in darkness. Cronus
then dethroned him, the new forms supplanting the old. But
in turn he did even worse by his offspring, for it is said that
he devoured the first five. In order to save the sixth, Rhea,
"
his wife, succeeded in duping her husband by giving him a
stone (perhaps rudely hewn into the figure of an infant)
wrapped in swaddling-clothes, which he swallowed, believing

he had got rid of another danger.
'Bancroft, "Native Races," vol. iii, p. 98. Ignatius Donnelly,

"
Ragnarok," pp. 208, 209, 213.
"
While the husband was being deceived in this fashion,
Zeus, the newly-born child (the true sky), was conveyed to
the island of Crete, and there concealed in a cave on Mount
Ida. The nymphs Adrastea and Ida tended and nursed him,
the goat Amalthea supplied him with milk, bees gathered
honey for him, and in the meantime, lest his infantile cries
should reach the ears of Cronus, Jlhea's servants, the Curetes,
were appointed to keep up a continual noise and din in the
neighborhood by dancing and clashing their swords and
shields.
"
When Zeus (the true sky) had grown to manhood he
succeeded by the aid of Gaea, or perhaps of Metis, in per-
suading Cronus to bring back into the light the sons whom
he had swallowed and the stone which had been given him in
deceit. The stone was placed at Delphi as a memorial for
all time. The liberated gods joined their brethren in a league
to drive their father from the throne and set Zeus in his
9
place."
'
The age of Cronus is called the Golden/ for he was the
protecting god, blanketing the earth as under a greenhouse
roof. His name means the ' Dark One.' But as this signi-
fies nothing in this age, it being unintelligible to modern
thought, confusion has naturally followed. Thus, Max
Miiller says he is Time ( ?) Kuhn, Midnight-sky; Sayce,
;
the sun ;
Canon Taylor, Star-swallowing sky Tiel, Midnight-;
sky, Under-world, etc. Hartung, Sun scorching spring.

;
Thus the authorities are set in confusion. Now, in the light

of the present hypothesis all is clear: the new-born scenes
were smothered by the dark one, and thus hidden from the
earth. Bright Zeus (Jupiter), the true sky, alone escaped
this fate.
As we have seen, the liberated gods, according to the
legend, now decided to enthrone Zeus in his rightful place,
but the Titans, the elder gods, did not acquiesce to this
"Murray, "Manual of Mythology," 20th ed., pp. 45-46.

change of government. These giants sprang from the blood

of Uranus, the old ring; they were of such monstrous size,
being closer to the eye than the other sky-forms, and they
were of such fearful appearance, that it is no wonder that
the people of Greece thought that they were swallowing up
all the other gods. They were twelve in number. Amongst
them were Oceanus, whose very name suggests water, and
whose children were all mythological rivers, Alphesu, Peneus,
etc.; his daughters were called the Oceanides. Hyperion
was another one of the twelve. He seems to have been the
light in the canopy, for he is credited with being the father
of Helios, the sun; Selene, the moon; and Eos, or Aurora,
the dawn. Of course all these lights were first seen in the
canopy. lapetos, or Japetus, was the father of Atlas, whom
all know so well because of his bearing the vapor globe on
his back. lapetus was imprisoned with Cronus, the old vapor
sky in Tartarus, the black canopy. Cronus is also one of
the Titans. His wife, Ehea, whose Latin name is Cybele,
' ?
like all the canopies was called the mother because she
was the mother of the gods, the Magna Mater. She is of
the same nature as !N~u-t, with whom she may be identified.
We have mentioned the fact that the Titans did not
acquiesce in the change of government brought about by the
gods liberated from the maw of Cronus, hence war broke out.
In other words, though the clear sky had appeared, remnants
of the old canopies still lingered, and these vapor-forms were
said to be warring with the new gods, who time and again
slew them. Yet, nothing fearing, these great giants of the
fallen canopy ever returned to the attack.
It is said that they took up Ossa (a cloud mountain) and
piled it on the top of Mount Pelion (another cloud moun-

tain), and from this great height they sprang upon Olympus,
the home mountain of the new race of gods. 10It is then said
The cloud-mountains, of which Olympus was the mightiest, were

10
permanent features in the upper atmosphere, and are not to be con-

that these giants drove the gods and heroes down into Egypt,
that is, into the southern sky, which alone remained clear and
open from their black, gigantic forms. Apollo, the sun, was
changed into a crow, a ka, or kaw, a soul separated from its
is, an outcast hidden
body; that in the vapor. Zeus (Jupiter,
Jove), the pure sky, was changed into a raven; that is, black
cloudlets floated athwart his fair face. Disguised thus, he
was watery waste. Hera
sacrificed unto the spirit of the
(Juno) was turned into a red-cow, which recalls to our mind

the fact that in the Hindu myths lowing kine were clouds.
Venus, like Ea, was changed into a fish.
The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills

Like lambs, or young sons of the flock, the clouds.
No wonder that the Psalmist asked the sea
What ailed it, that it fled away and fell.
The Giants falling covered the pure sky,
And solid flint was changed into a stream.11
After many days Pallas Athene (Minerva), who was the

offspring of Zeus, without a mother, and whom the records
tell us sprang from his head
completely armed, invented for
her father thunderbolts.With these he hurried back to the
war. The open sky brought our modern storm with it, thus
thunder was a newly invented thing, and it is further re-
corded that with its might he subdued the
giants one and all.
O Thunderer! O mighty Thunderer!

O wondrous blue sky that hast come to stay!
We scarce may think of thee when thou didst dwell
Above Olympus, when the mind of man
Knew not and saw not save by sound in ear.
He heard thy infant voice as thunder speak,
And, hearing, knew a change was coming soon.
It seems so strange, O Zeus, that once there was
A curtain hanging o'er thy face, a veil,
fused with the fleeting storm forms. These mountains held their
position under the uplifting influence of a zonal canopy-belt which
prevented the radiation of their heat, and thus the lighter than air
vapors were drawn to immense heights.
11
Ps. cxiv:4-8.
And man, so puny, knew, but saw you not!
To see a god was death to mortals then.
Behold thy glory filled his troubled dreams!
A nightmare grand, and yet perchance he waked,
And, waking, found thy dreamy vapors real!
Clouds piled on clouds on top of other clouds,
As mountains heaped on mountains reaching high
A ladder which the hosts of heaven used.
So dreaming of a daily sight to him
Young Jacob felt the God of Nature near.
Unveiled, uncloaked the Titans all have gone,
But thou, Thunderer, hast come to stay!
Personified. Hie! Storm King, rule each shower!
Pallas Athene, the goddess of Wisdom, it will be remem-

bered, sprang from her father's head fully equipped for the
fray. Wisdom burst upon man when the clear sky caused
their gods to evaporate. 12
'
She was Queen of the Air/
as Ruskin says :
Full many arrows did she turn aside,

And many heroes by her arrows fell.
Thus waged the war of falling canopies,

Thus waged the battle of the changing sea,
And changes brought with them the light of wisdom.
Minerva-like, thought after thought sprang up
From the true sky in burning eloquence
The visions of the past were now no more.
Perhaps the greatest event in this last battlefield of the
gods Apollo's (the sun's) victory over the serpent-ring,

is
Python. In honor of his victory Byron sings:

"The lord of the unerring bow
The God of life, and poesy, and light
The Sun, in human limbs arrayed, and brow
All radiant from his triumph in the fight,
The shaft hath just been shot the arrow bright
12
In our chapter on " Genesis " it will be remembered that the
cause of the removal of the Eden Canopy was to bring wisdom to man.
He had eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Natural
things had therefore to pass away, that he might be led to see the
spiritual; that he might be led to worship the Creator instead of his
works.
With an immortal's vengeance; in his eye

And nostril beautiful disdain, and might
And majesty, flash their full lightnings by
13
Developing the glance of Deity."
This picture of the sun personified

Portrays the universal scene again
A wheeling and a whirling glory hid
By heaven's curtains drawn about a lamp,
Much magnified to many times its size,
And mock suns keeping company with the real
All girt with halos and diffused light
Like luminous bright circles born of fire.
A heaven-wide battlefield all bloody red
Revolving world-clouds and a misty haze,
And towards the pole a helix spinning round
The Isle of Delos, or the serpent's egg.
Known in the myths as the waste floating rock,
The cave-hole of the north, the starry sea.
This open place is of such mythological interest that our

readers will pardon us if we digress from our subject in
"
order to investigate some of its beauties. In ancient cos-
' '
mology the door of heaven was situated at the North Pole
7 14
of the sky.'
Job refers "
open place as the
to the Island of the Inno-
" 15
cent. The Tacullies say, God first created an island.
Greek traditions fix the Upa-Merou as the birthplace of the
human race, and the Egyptians claim that their ancestors
came from the Island of Mero. Among the Hindus Meru
was the land of the gods, the place where deity was shrouded
in darkness and mystery. Phaeton, whose story was told in
our last chapter, was a scorching canopy. He was the son
of Merops, and Theopompus tells us that the people who
inhabited Atlantis were the Meropes, the people of Merou.
In the Hindu legends the great battle between Kama and
Havana, the sun and the canopy, took place on the island of
u " Childe Harold," iv, 161. Certain liberties taken with the last line.
14
Khandogya-Upanishad, xxiv, 3, 4, 7, 8, 11, 12. "Sacred Books of
the East," vol. i, pt. i, pp. 36, 37. "Job xxii:30.
Lanka. Kama built a stone bridge which reminds us of the

Bif rost bridge of the Scandinavians. It was sixty miles long
and reached to the island. This island again carries us to
the North Land. It reminds us of Asgard, which lay to the
west of Europe and was reached by the Bridge. It was to
the east and west that the pillars of the canopy were seen
dipping, or, we should say, rising and setting, against the

horizon. In the Arabian legends we have the scene of the
world catastrophe described as an island. Here the gods of
Scandinavia met their doomsday. It was the place where
the three cloud-mountain chains went out as three roots of
the great tree Ygdrasil. It was the place of the sacred tree
'
of the world-mountain
'
that the Hindu legends refer to.
And topits we
was Olympus, below it was hell, and in
see
between was the open-eye, Ymer, where Odin left his precious
eye in pawn. It was the Island of Meru or Merou.
The Ojibways cross to paradise on a great snake, which
serves as a bridge. The Choctaw bridge is a slippery pine-
log. The South American Manacicas cross on a wooden
bridge.
" '
Among some of the North American tribes the souls
' c
come to a great lake (the eye-hole or cave) where there is
a beautiful island, toward which they paddle in a canoe of

white stone. On the way there arises a storm, and the wicked
souls are wrecked, and the heaps of their bones are to be
seen under the water, but the good reach the happy island."
" The Slav believed in a
pathway or road which led to
the other world; and, since the journey was long, they put
boots into the coffin (for it was made on foot), and coins to
pay the ferrying across a wide sea, even as the Greeks ex-
pected to be carried over the Styx by Charon. This abode
of the dead, at the end of this long pathway, was an island,
a warm, fertile land, called Buy an." 16
16 " 362.
"
Sanskrit and Kindred
Tylor, Early Mankind," p. Poor,
"
Literatures," pp. 371, 372. Donnelly, Ragnarok," pp. 386, 387.
"
And along
Ovid's earth was surrounded by the ocean.
the outer strand of that sea they gave lands for the giant-
races to dwell in, and against the attack of restless giants
they built a burg within the sea and around the earth."
This the spot where Apollo, or the sun, first appeared,
is
hence itwas said that he was born there (Isle of Delos).

His father was Zeus, the pure sky, and his mother Latona,
or the shade, from whence he was seen to emerge. Latona
was the concealing hiding thing, the canopy.
This eye-hole spot where Apollo was born is also the
Diktaian cave in which the infant Zeus, his father, the clear
sky, was born. The Lake and the Cave in our nursery tale
the Lady descending into the Lake and rising from the Cave,
etc., etc. are in every sense the far-north land, the country
of the Hyperboreans, from whose caverns the piercing blasts
of the north wind are said to have issued.
Many we have just cited referred to this

of the myths
lake as an island. We would now point out that it was like-
wise of necessity a cave. The Greeks and Egyptians con-
sidered it the birthplace of their respective races. The fol-
lowing legends throws some light on the reason why this
clear-spot was regarded as the beginning place.The Choc-

taws say that in Nanih waiga, the sloping hill " was a cave,
the house of the Master of Breath. Here he made the first
men from the clay around him, and, as at that time the waters
covered the earth, he raised the wall to dry them on. When
the soft mud had hardened into elastic flesh and firm bone,
he banished the waters to their channels and beds, and gave
the dry land to his creatures." 17
The Indians, along with the rest of the inhabitants of the
earth that then was, saw new conditions
continually arising
in the egg-hole. They saw hordes of animals and even
strange
races of their fellow beings coming down from the far
north,
driven forward by some last advance of the
departing Ice
"Brinton, "Myths of the New World," p. 247.
age. They saw all this and imagined that these creatures,
like the sky scenes, had all originated up there in that cave-
hole region, hence it was to them the beginning place.
" A the
parallel to the legend just cited occurs among
Six Nations of the North. They with one consent looked
to a mountain near the falls of the Oswego River, in the
State of New York, as the locality where their forefathers
'
saw the light of day ;
and their name, Oneida, signifies the
people of the stone.'

" The cave of
Pacarin-Tampu, the Lodgings of the Dawn,
or the Place of Birth of the Peruvians, was five leagues dis-
tant from Cuzco, surrounded by a sacred grove, and inclosed
with temples of great antiquity.
" From its hallowed " the
recesses," says Balboa, mythical
civilizers of Peru, the first men, emerged, and in it, during
the time of the flood, the remnants of the race escaped the
18
fury of the waves."
Though the Place of Birth in the above myths has been
assigned to specific geographical localities, yet it is evident
from the context that originally the place of beginning had a
mythological horizon. The egg-hole of the Peruvians may
have been in the Southern sky.
also gives the following
" The
Donnelly :
philosopher
of Oraibi tells us that the people climbed a ladder or magical
tree from the cave-hole to this world. The firmament, the
ceiling of this world, was low down upon the earth the
floor of this world. This was an age of cold and darkness
and there was as yet no sun or moon."
Naturally darkness is associated with this cave-hole,
Latona; the shade kept drawing in closer and closer until
at last the inner edge was precipitated. During this stage,
" it
as the Oraibis say, was an age of cold and darkness."
The ancient Britons tell us of the same conditions. They
say that:
M"
Ragnarok," pp. 201, 202.
"
The mankind provoked the great Supreme
profligacy of
to send a pestilential wind upon the earth A pure poison
descended, every blast was death. At this time the patriarch,
distinguished for his integrity, was shut up, together with

his select company, in the inclosure with the strong door.
Here the just ones were safe from injury. Presently a
tempest of fire arose. It split the earth asunder to the great
deep. The its bounds, and the waves of the

lake Llion burst
sea lifted themselves on high around the borders of Britain,
the rain poured down from heaven, and the waters covered
19
the earth."
The vapor indicates the dispersion of
blast of poisonous
the gaseous canopy, which in our scientific chapters was
figured as floating above the atmosphere. It may have con-

sisted in part of carbon dioxide, but be this as it may, its
rupture meant the fall of the cloud-vapors and belts, which

had attained great heights in the atmosphere, carried upward
by their own buoyancy. Water-vapor being lighter than
air, and radiation, and hence condensation, being prevented
by the overruling blanket, these phenomena of raised moun-

tain-clouds, and an open lake space in the north, were
inevitable. When the canopy itself was ruptured, the above
myth goes on to tell us, Lake Llion, the sky-hole, burst its
bounds. Many other tribes and tongues and peoples have
recorded this same break-up.
"
The Algonquins believed in a world, an earth, anterior
to this of ours, but one without light or human inhabitants.
A lake burst bounds and submerged it wholly." 20
its
The Aztecs prayed to Tezcatlipoca, who was represented

as a flying serpent that
is, they prayed to the canopy, to the
" Is it
god of the black waters and their cry was :
possible
that this lash and chastisement are not
given for our cor-
rection and amendment, but only for our total destruction
18 <(
Mythology of the British Druids," p. 226.
"Ragnarok," p. 222.
and overthrow; that the sun will never more shine upon us,
but that we must remain in perpetual darkness ? * * *
It is a sore thing to tell how we are all in darkness. * * *
O Lord, * * * make an end of this smoke and fog.

Quench also the burning and destroying fire of thine anger ;
let come and clearness, let the small birds of the
serenity
21
people begin to sing and approach the sun."
"
The Chinese historians say that P'an-ku came forth in
the midst of the great chaotic void, and we know not his
origin that he knew the rationale of heaven and earth, and

;
comprehended the changes of the darkness and the light."

These annals tell us further of the " Ten Stems " or stages of
"
canopy development At Wu the Sixth Stem the Dark-
:
ness and the Light unite with injurious effects; all things
become solid (frozen), and the Darkness destroys the growth
of all things. At Kung the Seventh Stem the Darkness
nips all things. At Jin the Ninth Stem the Light begins
to nourish all things in the recesses below. Lastly, at Tsze,
22
all things begin to germinate."
This last myth hints at the coming birth of the sun. The
edges of the cave-hole began to grow bright, so, naturally,
when the sun did appear they said (in Greece) " Latona or
the shade was his mother." This part of the development is
beautifully set forth in the Oraibi legend, some portions of
which we have already quoted, but, after all, it will be seen
that the Indians departed further from the ways of nature
than did the Greeks. We
will now cite that portion which
pertains to the creation of the sun and moon " Machito, one :
of their gods, raised the firmament on his shoulders to where

it is now seen. Still the world was dark, as there was no
sun, no moon, and no stars. So the people murmured because

of the darkness and the cold. Machito said, " Bring me
21 "
Bancroft, Native Races," vol. iii, p. 204.
** " "
Compendium of Wong-shi-Shing," as quoted in Ragnarok/
pp. 210-211.
"
seven maidens and they brought him seven maidens and
; ;
" "
he said, Bring me
seven baskets of cotton-bolls and they
;
brought him seven baskets of cotton-bolls; and he taught the

seven maidens to weave a magical fabric from the cotton,
and when they had finished it he held it aloft, and the breeze
carried it away toward the firmament, and in the twinkling
of an eye it was transformed into a beautiful and full-orbed
moon and the same breeze caught the remnants of fluctuant
;
cotton, which the maidens had scattered during their work,

and carried them aloft, and they were transformed into
bright stars. But was cold and the people murmured
still it ;
"
again, and Machito said, Bring me seven buffalo-robes,"
and from the densely matted hair of the robes he wove
another fabric, which the storm carried away into the sky,
and it was transformed into the full-orbed sun. Then
Machito appointed times and seasons, and ways for the
heavenly bodies and the gods of the firmament have obeyed
;
the injunctions of Machito from the day of their creation to

the present." 23
The Thlinkeets of British Columbia say that their hero-
god, Yehl, opened three mysterious boxes, letting out the sun,
"
moon, and When he set up the blazing light (the
stars.
sun) in heaven, the people that saw it were at first afraid.

Many hid themselves in the mountains, and in the forests,
and even in the water, and were changed into the various
kinds of animals that frequent these places." 24
" The Gallinomeros of Central
California also recollect
'
the day of darkness and the return of the sun. In the
beginning, they say, there was no light, but a thick darkness
covered all the earth. Man stumbled blindly against man
and against the animals, the birds clashed together in the
air, and confusion reigned everywhere. The Hawk, happen-
ing by chance to fly into the face of the Coyote, there fol-
28
Popula/r Science Monthly, October, 1879, p. 800.
84
lowed mutual apologies, and afterward a long discussion on

the emergency of the situation. Determined to make some
effort toward abating the public evil, the two set about a
remedy. The Coyote gathered a great heap of tules (rushes),

rolled them into a ball, and gave it to the Hawk, together
with some pieces of flint. Gathering all together as well as
he could, the Hawk flew straight up into the sky, where he
struck fire with the flints, lit his ball of reeds, and left it
there whirling along all in a fierce red glow, as it continues
to the present;
for it is the sun. In the same way the moon
was made, but as the tules of which it was constructed were
rather damp, its light has always been somewhat uncertain
and feeble." 25
Naturally, the next stage in these nature-myths sets forth
the complete triumph of the sun. Innumerable legends cover
this point, from which we select the following: Cacus was
a huge giant which inhabited the cave with which we have
become so familiar. By profession he was a robber, and, as
the records show, he stole certain swift cows, the oxen of
Geryon (clouds). His true character is revealed as the fall-

ing cloud obscuring belt. It is said that he vomited smoke
and flame when Hercules attacked him. The whole scene
simply depicts a falling canopy drawing nearer and nearer
to the eye of the beholder, and so eclipsing the other sky
forms which floated higher up. He stole them away, hid them
under his wing, carried them into his cave, etc. Hercules,
the conquering sun, dispelled all this gloom, killing Cacus
with his unerring arrows (shafts of sun-light), and so releas-
ing the cows or canopy forms, which floated higher up.
The < Popul Yuh/ the book of the Quiches, has a very
full description of this whole panorama. The final scene is
" And
as follows: the sun and the moon and the stars were
now all established that is, they now become visible, moving
;
in their orbits. Yet was not the sun then in the beginning
* Power's Porno "
Native Races,"
MS., Bancroft, vol. iii, p. 86.
the same as now ;

his heat wanted force, and he was but as a
reflection in a mirror; verily, say the historians, not at all
the same sun as that of to-day. Nevertheless, he dried up
and warmed the surface of the earth, and answered many
good ends."
Artemis (Diana), the silver moon, Apollo's sister, waa
born at the same time that her brother was. And seven days
the sacred swans flew around, encircling the island and the
lake seven times. It is recorded also that a sacred light was
diffused over the lake a golden blaze from the holy flaming
torch or sun The Oraibi legend introduced the thought
itself.
of the seven maidens weaving the seven cotton-bolls, and here

we have the seven sacred swans guarding the open place, or,
the lake/ and we know also, from the myths
'
as it is called,
quoted, that this lake was in the sky. Hera (Juno) was
the jealous spouse of Zeus (Jupiter), and it is recorded that
she drove Leto (Latona), the mother canopy, from the twins.
Hera, like Pallas Athene, was a goddess of the air, and, to

allappearances, the air did drive the vapor shadow away,
but before her departure the mother entrusted her children
Themis, whose name signifies Justice.' In
'
to the care of
other words, she placed them under the care of inevitable
law.
It was from this spot, where the sacred light of the new
born sun was seen burning, that Prometheus stole fire
first
which he gave to man, a Titan's gift of love caught from

the bright sun itself; yet for the act Yulcan chained him to
the rock-like canopy, and one of the evil birds connected
therewith daily fed upon his liver.
Man, however, in this case was not ungrateful. In honor
of his deed, each year they sent a ship to Lemnos to bring
back new This ship sailed to Delos to fetch the gift,
fire.
and meanwhile for nine days all the fires in the country were
extinguished, so that they could be rekindled by the new-
born flame.
One of the early adventures of Apollo occurred when he

was only one year old. Python, a great snake, was coiled in
nine folds around Parnassus, where the Muses dwelt. The
bright sun killed him with his arrows, but as Juno had created
him, this deed only increased her anger against the new-born
infant.
' '
Time passed and the or wide expanse in the
templum
space marked out, the egg-hole or the eye, was cleared.
'
Phoebus Apollo, or the golden-haired/ came from the sum-
mit of Olympus and dwelt in this creation of his hand, the
temple of the sky, the open way, and there as an oracle he
spoke to man, telling him of the true astronomy and the way
of creation. Following this pattern, man established the
Delphic oracle, and many such in imitation of the heavenly.
Connected with the thought that the old sky was a laby-
'
rinth, or puzzle, which the clearing away of the templum/

or wide expanse, solved to the satisfaction of the early in-
quirer into the ways of nature, is the great labyrinth which
was constructed by Daedalus. It was like the lost sky river,
Mseander, for which the Grecian river is named, which flows
back on its course, returning to itself. It was a ring or
spiral vapor-belt, and Daedalus built it for a certain king
named Minos, a sky-king, though called a Creton. Somehow
the builder lost the king's esteem, and the evil monarch
forthwith imprisoned him in a high tower. From this he
escaped, only to find that he could not leave the island, as
Minos was keeping a strict watch on all departing vessels.
Now, Daedalus said of the king that though he might control
the land and sea, yet he could not rule the regions of the
crystal air. With that he set himself to fabricate wings for

himself and his young son, Icarus, that they might fly away.
When these contrivances were finished, he said unto his son :
" Now follow

me, my Icarus, and you will be quite safe. I
warn thee, fly along the middle track ;
nor low, nor high ;
if
low thy plumes may flag with ocean's spray ;

if high the sun
may dart his fiery ray." 26 But Icarus, like all the old
sky
phenomena, fell. It is recorded that he flew overly high,
and that the sun melted the wax which attached his wings
to his body.
Minos confined in his labyrinth a fearful sky-monster

which was reputed to be half a bull and half a man that is,
half a cloud and half a halo. This bloody creature, known
as the Minotaur, as the story goes, was fed by his
master with human victims. For this purpose Minos made
the Athenians furnish him each year with seven youths and
seven maids. The poor Athenians submitted to this yearly
tribute for a long time, until Theseus, a sky-revolving hero
of the vapors, decided to put an end to the infamous practice.
He sailed away, promising to return with white sails set in
token of victory. Arrived at his journey's end, he killed the
bull and found his way back again through the labyrinthian
mists by means of a thread given him by the good Ariadne,
the daughter of the old king. This child of Minos was the
light, and when once outside the walls of the great sky prison
or labyrinth he took her with him. Landing on an isle, he
abandoned her, and in doing so made a great mistake. He
had promised to return with white sails set, but when he left
the light behind, all was darkness. Seeing this blackness
while the ship was yet afar, his father, thinking him dead,
killed himself.
There much
difference between the flying ship that
is not
conveyed Theseus and the boats that carried Ha and Osiris

across Nu-t's back. Celestial cattle like the bull, Miotaur,
are common in the myths of all the ancients. We have
already seen how the swift flying vapor-belt was compared
to a stag, a hare, and to flying horses. Pegasus was one of
this kind. By a turn of speech, we now say of the camel
'
that he is the ship of the desert/ therefore it does not seem
86
Ovid (Elton's tr.), slightly altered.
18
strange, after all, that in the olden time the flying cloud ships
'
were called 'ships of the canopy ' or racing steeds.'
Pegasus, the winged horse, was one of the most beautiful
and bright of these. We can picture him in our minds as he
stood with nostril smoking in disdain of man, for, be it
remembered, he never allowed any but the gods to ride on

his back. Yet because Pallas Athene commanded him so to
do,he departed from his custom and allowed Bellerophon to

mount. Forthwith they went to battle with the bloody dragon
of the fiery tail, known as Chimsera. From her pitchy throat
issued flame smoke and sulphurous mist. Pegasus seemed
willing to enter this battle for Athene's sake, for these mists
were working havoc with her sky. It will be recalled that she
was the blue-eyed goddess of the free breeze, the air of heaven
itself, and naturally she could not endure this polluting
Chimsera any longer. Chimsera was nothing but a vile, fire-
breathing lion, dragon, or goat vapor-form, any way. Beller-
ophon and the bright sun-horse of course conquered her.
Ofthe ancestry of this horrid creature which we have
just seen despatched, Hesiod says:

"
And she brought forth another monster, irresistible,
nowise like to mortal men or immortal gods, in a hollow
cavern; the divine, stubborn-hearted Echidna (half nymph,
with dark eyes and fair cheeks and half, on the other hand,
;
a serpent huge and terrible and vast), speckled, and flesh-
devouring, 'neath caves of sacred Earth. For there is her

cavern, deep under a hollow rock, afar from immortal gods
as well as mortal men there, I ween, have the gods assigned
:
to herfamous mansions to inhabit. But she, the destructive

Echidna, was confined in Arima beneath the earth, a nymph
immortal, and all her days insensible to age. With her they
say that Typhaon associated in love, a terrible and lawless
ravisher for the dark-eyed maid. And she, having con-
ceived, bare fierce-hearted children. The dog Orthus first
she bare for Geryon, and next, in the second place, she
brought forth the irresistible and ineffable flesh-devourer

Cerberus, dog of hell, with brazen voice and fifty heads, a
bold and strong beast. Thirdly, again, she gave birth to the
Lernsean Hydra, subtle in destruction, whom Juno, white-
armed goddess, reared implacably, hating the mighty Her-
cules. And it Jove's son, Hercules, named of Amphitryon,
along with warlike lolaus, and by the counsels of Pallas the

despoiler, slaughtered with ruthless sword. But she
(Echidna) bare Chimsera, breathing resistless fire, fierce and
huge, fleet-footed as well as strong: this monster had three
heads one indeed of a grim-visaged lion, one of a goat, and
:
another of a serpent, a fierce dragon in front a lion, a dragon

;
behind, and in the midst a goat; breathing forth the dread

strength of burning fire. Her Pegasus slew the brave
27
Bellerophon."
^"The Theogony," 285-325, Bank's tr.

CHAPTER XVIII
HERCULES
HEECULES, like Apollo, was simply another sun deity.

The myths being derived from two different sources, thus
to one tribe or people the sun was Apollo and to another
Hercules. The former people seem to have lived far to the
north, where they first saw Apollo and Diana born in the
egg-hole land. The latter people seems to have lived to the
south, for Hercules was born in the equatorial canopy slit,
the two pillars of the canopy extending on either side. Ovid
"
describes the palace of the sun, which he says was raised
high on stately columns, bright with radiant gold and car-

buncle that rivaled the flames. Polished ivory chested its
highest top, and double folding doors shone with the brightest
of silver." 1 The reference to the doors is to the slit in the
canopy.
The fact that the myth of Hercules comes from a
southern source is also borne out by etymology. The origin
of the word Hercules is said to be the Phoenician word
rakal/ the root Ra being common to the sun-god through-
' ' '
out the east and the south. Ra was the Egyptian god of
the sun. Again, in the Hindu legends, Ra-ma, the sun-god,
had with Ra-vana, a giant accompanied by
a terrible fight
the Ra-kshaas or cloud demons, who had stolen away his
wife. B-ra-hma the Hindu creator also contains this root
in his name.
The Hebrews likewise were once sun-worshipers, as would
appear from their names. Thus we find the root ra in
' ?
Ab-ra-ham, and his father Te-ra-h, and in his wife, Sa-ra-h,

or Sa-ra-i. Also in Ra-chel the daughter of E"ahor, the
brother of Abraham. This root is also found in the name
J
"The Metamorphoses," bk. ii, fable i.
276
HERCULES 277
Ha-ra-n, where Terah died, and in Padan-ra-m, where Jacob

dwelt. After the introduction of the worship of the true
God, this root was dropped and does not appear again, except
in the of Eph-ra-im, who was an adopted son from
name
Egypt, the land of Miz-ra-im.
The Druids carried the sun worship with them to Ire-
land, where it is incorporated into the name of the famous
hall of Ta-ra.
But to return to the history of our Grecian hero. The
adventures of his ancestors also show that the myth of Her-
cules came from a southern source.
Perseus, who was his great-grandfather, like Osiris was
thrust into a chest. But, unlike Osiris, the lad had the
company of his good mother, Danae, who was entombed with
him. They were carried by the box to the island of Seri-
phus, where a fisherman, not unlike Ea, the fish-god of
2
Babylonian and Bel-Dagon of the Philistines, rescued them.
But though rescued, their troubles' were not ended, and the
account of these adventures woven together makes one of the
most beautiful of the: many romances of the vapor-ring which
have come down to us from the Greeks.
Briefly, Polydectes, king of the island and brother of
Dictys the fisherman, fell in love with Danae. Eesisting
this love, she was closed up by the disappointed king in a
brazen tower, but as Zeus, the clear-sky, could look in over
the top of this tower, he also fell in love, and, changing him-
self into a shower of pure gold, successfully wooed her with
his sunshine.
But let us return to the family tree of Hercules. Perseus
had a son whose name was Electryon. Alcmene, daughter
of the latter, was the mother of Hercules. Thus we see that
he had illustrious annular ancestry. When he was a babe
scarcely two months old, he showed his solar character and
the blood that was in him by strangling the two serpents or
2
"Dag" in Hebrew means "a fish."
pillars between which he was born. It is said correctly that

the jealous Juno (Cybele, the Magna Mater of the gods,
hence a canopy) sent these harmful snakes into the chamber
of the sleeping child, but thfe awakening sun was equal to the
emergency. Defeated in her vengeful deed, Juno then made

him subject to Eurystheus, who was the owner of the sky.
Thus it came about that to free himself he had to perform
twelve labors. He was in subordination to the power of
annular and vapor-canopy conditions.
Before considering the labors, it will be well to look
between the pillars into the slit or opening where the sun
firstappeared in the equatorial sky. In the Babylonian
Genesis tablets we have an account of this southern slit. It
is as follows :
The positions of the gods Bel and Hea he fixed with him,
And he opened the great gates in the darkness shrouded.
The fastenings were strong on the left and right.
In its mass (that is in the canopy) he made a boiling.
The god Uru (the moon) he caused to rise out of the night he over-
shadowed,
To fix it also for the light of the night until the shining of the day.
That the month might not be broken, and in its amount be regular,
At the beginning of the
month, at the rising of the night,
His (the sun's) horns are breaking through to shine on the heavens.
On the seventh day to circle he begins to swell,
And stretches toward the dawn further,
When the god Shamas (the sun), in the horizon of heaven, in the east,
* * * * * *
formed beautifully and
* * * 8
to the orbit Shamas was perfected.
At this point the tablet becomes illegible; however, the

meaning seems plain, the great gods opened the slit or gate
in the darkness of the canopy, and through this Shamas, the
sun, appeared; his beams in horns at first broke through

imperfectly, then he swelled to a circle or halo, but from
this on he advanced more rapidly, approaching nearer and
8 " "
The Fifth Tablet," as translated in Proctor's Pleasant Ways,'
p. 393.
HERCULES 279
nearer to his perfect estate. The movements of the moon were

also seen, and once more man was able to count time. In
"
the line that reads, When the god, Shamas, in the horizon
of heaven, in the east," we see that the separating process of
the two halves of the canopy has progressed so far that the
sun's orbit can be traced continuously through the clearing
heavens, all the way from the east, where he had at last
appeared on the horizon ;
that is, they could trace him from
the early morning until the sunset.
In the Eussian skazaks the same scene is depicted. Many
of them tellof a healing and vivifying water. One of the
stories is as follows:
" A princeexposed to various dangers by his sister,
is
who is induced to plot against his life by her demon lover,

the Snake. The hero is sent in search of ' a healing and a
vivifying water/ preserved between two lofty mountains
'
which cleave closely together, except during two or three
minutes of each day. He follows his instructions, rides to
'
a certain spot, and there awaits the hour at which the moun-
'
tains fly apart. Suddenly a terrible hurricane arose, a
mighty thunder smote, and the two mountains were torn
asunder. Prince Ivan 4 spurred his heroic steed, flew like
a dart between the mountains, dipped two flasks in the waters,
and instantly turned back.' He himself escapes safe and
sound, but the hind legs of his horse are caught between the
closing cliffs and smashed to pieces. The magic waters, of
course, soonremedy this temporary inconvenience.
" In a Slovak version of
this story, a murderous mother
sends her son to two mountains, each of which is cleft open
once in every twenty-four hours, the one opening at midday
and the other at midnight the former disclosing the Water
;
of Life, the latter the Water of Death. In a similar story

from the Ukraine, mention is made of two springs of healing
*Ivan was the sun, as we shall see later in chapter xxi, on the
Russian Myths.
and life-giving water, which are guarded by iron-beaked

ravens, and the way to which lies between grinding hills.
The Fox and the Hare are sent in quest of the magic fluid.
The Fox goes and returns in safety, but the Hare, on her way
back, is not in time quite to clear the meeting cliffs, and her
tail is jammed between them. Since that time hares have
5
had no tails."
first appeared in this opening between the

Hercules
snakes, but afterwards, as we have seen, he was made subject
to Eurystheus. Under him, his first task was to slay the
Nemean Lion of the skies. This cloud-lion was so thick that
no solar arrows could penetrate through him, and as he did
not live on earth no iron could pierce him. Hercules, after
his victory, wore his skin as a trophy. It was a sun-obscuring
veil, and, though conquered, was still in evidence. The shirt
given him by his wife, Dejanira, was of the same char-

acter, but as it fitted more closely its venomed poison is said
to have caused his death, the canopy burning as a funeral
pile.
The lurid storm-cloud in Finnish poetry is somewhat
similar to this conception. It is Ukk's fiery shirt. Again,
in Homer, Ino is given by Odysseus a scarf veil, which line
of light* was afterwards seen issuing from her bright face
across the waters; it guided the hero to land.
" "
Zas, i.e., Zeus," says Pherekydes of Skyros, makes a
"
6
W.
R. S. Ralston, Russian Fairy Tales and Muscovite Folk-Lore,"
" and
ch. iv. Magic Witchcraft," Afanasyeff, vi, p. 249. For a number
of interesting legends, collected from the most distant parts of the
world, about grinding mountains and crashing cliffs, etc., see Tylor's
"
Primitive Culture," pp. 313 ff. After quoting three mythic descrip-
tions found among the Karens, the Algonquins, and the Aztecs, Mr.
Tylor remarks, "On the suggestion of this group of solar conceptions
and that of Maui's death, we may perhaps explain as derived from a
broken-down fancy of solar-myth, that famous episode of Greek legend,
where the good ship Argo passed between the Symplggades, those two
huge cliffs that opened and closed again with swift and violent
collision."
HERCULES 281
veil large and beautiful, and works on it Earth and Ogenos,

"
i.e., Ogen includes here, the Oversea, and we
Okeanos."
"
have again in this the starry pepl&s." The veil," says
"
Pherekydes, Zas hangs on a winged oak."
" In Veda '
weave a coat for their bright
the the mothers
sons
?
; Penelope plies at her loom upon the web that is never
'
finished, the clouds and in the Finnish poetry the fair

;
virgins of the air, the rich and gorgeous sun, the gentle beam-
'
ing moon/ wove with the golden shuttle and the silver
comb/ This, the clouds, was the garment that envelops the
dying hero. The death was like the departure of Quetzal-
coatl on Mount Orizaba, like that of the hero in Beowulf,
'
who, as the historians say, burnt by the seashore wand to
6
wolcum/ curled to the clouds."
A similar myth to that of Hercules, which also begins
with wrapping the infant sun up in a lion skin, has been pre-
served by the North American Indians in the account of
'
whose name "
'
Tulchuherris (sun-child), etymologically,"
says Curtin, "means a person or thing that has been dug
7
up." That is, he was brought forth out of the canopy and
was found by an old woman, Pom Pokaila, who immediately
"
took the buckskin apron (lion skin) from her back, laid it
on the ground, put the little boy in it, and wrapped him up
carefully."
When " the
found, baby's head, as she raised him to the
surface,was to the east, his feet to the west; underground
hishead was to the south, and his feet to the north." 8 Tak-
'
ing some liberties with the word underground,' we under-
stand the passage as follows: Before he was dug out from
under the canopy his light or head was daily seen; first in
the south, where naturally the cloud-blanket was first illu-
minated by the hidden sun shining from the under world,
6
Charles De B. Mills, "The Tree of Mythology," pp. 54, 172.
7
"Creation Myths of Primitive America," p. 122.
*IUd., p. 122.
2S2 THE ZONAL-BELT HYPOTHESIS
and day advanced spread towards the north

this light as
(his feet). After he was dug up, of course, he was seen to

rise in the east and set in the west (his feet).
Tulchuherris also accomplished certain wonderful labors.

We will enumerate thirteen of them. First, he came to a
place where there was a great rock standing straight up in
front of him in his road. He looked everywhere for a pas-
sage, but could see none. He looked on the left side all
was dark; on the right all was dark. Clearly this is a
description of the equatorial canopy split. Many were killed

here, the danger being that the rock would sway to and crunch
the adventurer.
"
In one flash," the myth says, " you will
be thrown into a dark place, at the side where you cannot see
bottom." Tulchuherris kicked the rock over. 9
10
In the second labor he wounded a man in the big river.
In the third he jumped between the crunching tree, which

is another simile for the equatorial opening. The legend
" When
says :
any one was passing, and half-way through
the cleft, the pine closed and crushed him." n Fourth, his
12
dogs grizzly bears and rattlers
killed (cloud-forms).
Fifth, he killed spiders and smoked with Sas, the old canopy
shiner or original sun. Sas could not stand Tulchuherris's
pipe; the smoke choked him a veritable reality. 13 Sixth,
he killed Sas's old woman. 14 Seventh, he dodged knives,
shafts of bright light. 15 In the myths of a great many
i.e.,
other lands we have this same scene depicted. The shafts

of light being called arrows, swords, etc.
Special reference may be made to the magic sword.

" Perseus is armed with
it, Tiarpe, the gift to him of Hermes,
and it slays whatsoever it falls upon. Theseus has it welded

of the same metal with the spear of Achilles, the arrows of
Phoibos, the good sword Gram, buried to its hilt in the tree
9 *
Ibid., pp. 130, 131. Ibid., pp. 132, 133. Ibid., p. 134.
12
Ibid., pp. 135, 136. "Ibid., pp. 136-138. "Ibid., p. 138.
, p. 139.
HERCULES 283
trunk and waiting for Volsung to draw it out ; it is Arthur's

brand Excalibur, and Roland's Durandal, and the enchanted
sword with which Beowulf kills Grendel. And we find it
(
again in the sword Tirfing in the fairy tale. It is the Glaive

'
of Light in the Scotch story, obtained for the giant by the
young king Easaidh Ruadh. In the case of Excalibur, the

weapon was thrown by command of Arthur about to die,
into the lake; a hand and arm were seen to rise from the
water, flourish it thrice, and then sink into the lake, where it
was seen no more." 16
But it is not necessary to go outside of the Indian legend
for illustrations of the bright sun-shafts. Tulchuherris's
weapons include a sky spear-pole, a sky spear-head, a sky-

strap, a spear-pole, his quiver, and his bow. 17 In connection
with the quiver Curtin says:
" In Indian
myths from ISTew York to California the
porcupine is ever connected with light; in some cases it is
the sun himself. In ' Tulchuherris ' * * * Sas (the
sun) carries a porcupine quiver, and is advised never to lay
it aside, for as long as he keeps it on his shoulder he is safe
from his children, the grizzlies, (the clouds), who wish to

18
kill him."
In the eighth labor Tulchuherris escaped from the sweat-
"
house. I swim in the river every morning. We will sweat,
and then swim," said Sas. 19 Ninth : killedHe more rattlers
(' pets ') in a tree. After this act he got down from the tree
e
by using a sky-strap.' In the legend the scene is depicted as
follows :
"
Tulchuherris stretched his hand toward the west, where
his grandmother was, and immediately something came with
a whirr and a flutter, and settled on his arm like a bird. It
was a sky-strap, blue like the sky, narrow and very strong.
"Charles De B. Mills, "The Tree of Mythology," pp. 162-163.

17 "
Creation Myths of Primitive America," p. 28.
18 u Ibid.
Ibid., p. 500. 9 p. 139.
He fastened one end of it to the limb, knotting it in such a
way that he could untie it with a jerk at the other end. He

slipped it, and when on the ground jerked it loose.
down on
He strung the snakes on the long bone, they were all dead,
and carried them to Sas's house." 20
Tenth He killed grizzly bears (clouds) in a narrow pass,
:
which may be identified with the canopy slit. 21 Eleventh:

He killed bears (clouds) and snakes (vapor-belts or annular
ultra atmospheric arcs) at a spring, evidently located in the
sky land. All these doings seem to be associated with water,

but as water did not exist in the sky except as vapor belts
at great altitudes, held in suspension under the canopy, and
also as at present in the form of ordinary clouds, it follows
that the appearance alone is the real reason why the ancients
believed that they were covered by a firmament of water. In
this labor Tulchuherris opened the spring, bringing forth a
22
clear, cold stream.
Twelfth:He killed Supchit, Sas's son, who was a fish
" i
likeEa, of the Babylonian pantheon. Very well/ answered
Tulchuherris, who put his foot on the end of the bridge and
crossed with one spring. On the other side he went to the
fishing-hut, fixed so that a man could look up and down the

river while fishing. Tulchuherris had his own spear-shaft,
a sky-pole the string was a sky-strap. He had his own point,
;
too. He waited for fish, and at last saw something come

* * * " I am
slowly from the south." sorry for you,
" I
my brother-in-law," said Tulchuherris. hate to kill you,
but I must, for my father-in-law sent me to kill you." 23
Like Hercules, Tulchuherris had to obey his master, so he
speared Supchit.
Thirteenth: He played with the springing tree and
divided old Sas, the false and vain (canopy shiner) chief of
24
Saskewil, into his present form of sun and moon.
n
"JfttU, pp. 142-145. n>id., 145-146. Ibid., p. 148.
28
Ibid., p. 150. "*/&*&, pp. 152-157.
HERCULES 285
Another legend which resembles the Hercules myth is

found amongst the Yamas. It is entitled, " The Dream of
25
Juiwaiyu, and His Journey to Damhauja's Country/' but
we cannot take the space for its proper analysis.
It is wonderful how many details of canopy-decline our
Amerinds have retained. These same Yamas tell us in the
" " "
myth of The Winning of Halai Auna that the great
sweat-house of the sun is the dome of heaven." It is a
description of the canopy drifting slowly northwards, and

again, had we space, its analysis would be very profitable.
" The
In this legend says Curtin :
shooting of Wakara into
the sky is a curious variant of the tree-bending by Tulchu-
herris and Sas in the Wintu myth. 26
Upturning to the myth of our Grecian Hero, we find that
in his second labor he had to fight against the Hydra, the
many-headed serpent of the clouds. This monster was the

offspring of Typhon and Echidna, with whom we have
27
already become acquainted. The fight began by Hercules
cutting off the heads of some of these serpents, but he soon
found that for every head cut off two fresh heads started up,
and to increase his difficulties a huge crab (emblem of the
backward motion of the canopy) fastened on his heel.
Changing his form of attack, Hercules now took sun-fire
with which he seared each head as he cut it off, thus pre-
venting its
regrowth. When he camehead he to the last
found invulnerable (our present storm clouds cannot be
it
conquered), so he took this last head and cast it down from
25
Hid., p. 425 if. /&?., p. 520.
27
It will be remembered that Echidna was not only the reputed
mother of the Hydra, but also of Chimera, and of the many-headed dog
Orthos, of the three hundred-headed dragon, of the Hesperides, of the
Colchian dragon, of the Sphinx, of Cerberus, of Scylla, of the Gorgons,
of the vulture that gnawed away the liver of Prometheus, and of the
Nemean lion; in fact, the mother of all adversity and tribulation. In
one word, she was the canopy, and, like Ishtar of Chaldea, was the
mother of all evil.
its high position, burying it under a rock by the road-side,

whence it waters all the regions of the earth.
This last storm-head is vividly pictured by the Shoshone

"
Indians, who conceive the domed firmament to be ice It :
has the color of ice, and from time to time, as they have it,
a monster serpent-god coils his immense back up against the
firmament, and with his scales scratches and wears off its
face. The ice-dust that falls we see in the winter as snow;
in the summer season, melting during its descent, it comes
as rain." 28 It was natural for the succeeding generations
to attempt to find the old canopy scenes still in the sky, for
all their legends told them so plainly of the past.
Our heroes' third labor was to bring back alive a certain
wild boar. The furrowed sky was called in those times a
boar. In the Hindu legend we read of a similar exploit.
Rama, the sun-god, lost his wife, whose name was Sita, which
'
signifies a furrow.' The demon who stole her away bore
her struggling through the air. 29 Hercules in the same
manner carried his boar to Eurystheus, the master of the sky
(and his master also), but the wild nature of the thing so
alarmed him that he, the timid Eurystheus, hid himself
behind the brazen clouds. Some say he placed himself inside
a large bronze vessel. This brazen receptacle of the canopy
was also called a hogshead. In the case where Danae was
shut up by her father, it was called a tower of brass. Into
this hogshead Hercules then threw the porcus plowed land of
celestial scenes.
28
Charles De B. Mills, "The Tree of Mythology," p. 23.
29
The battle was a terrible one. Thedetails show clearly that the
legend is derived from the same source as the Hercules myth. It is
the battle of our Grecian hero with Hydra over again. The terrible
monster's name who thus away was Havana. He had ten
stole Sita
heads, and as fast as Rama, the sun-god, cut them off, another grew
in its place. Finally it was necessary to consume his body by fire,
and Sita, the furrowed sky, had to undergo this ordeal also, but she
came out of it purified and redeemed from all taint.
HERCULES 287
On
way back from this labor a story is told of how he
his
visited a Centaur named Phohis. While they were dining
in his cave home the strong aroma of the wine attracted the
other Centaurs, who forthwith collected together and offered
Hercules battle. Their mothers, who are plainly called the
clouds, helped them by sending a flood of water. 30
In the fourth labor the stag which belonged to Diana,
31
vapor-moon, goddess of the silver-crescent ring, was chased
for one whole year by our hero. The stag who was ' fleet
'
of foot was the hurried skies, and yet he was tamed and in
the end brought into subjection by Hercules, who, like
'
(Edipus, was slow of foot.'
In the next labor the Stymphalides birds were driven
away by sun-darts. Their character as vapor monsters of the
"
sky is shown by the statement that their great wide wings
30
Hellas has two versions of a flood, one associated with Ogyges,
the other, of a far more elaborate form, with Deucalion. This latter
name is only another name for Noah. Jupiter summoned the gods to
council and told them that he had resolved to drown the earth. " The
north wind, which scatters the clouds, was chained up; the south was
sent out, and soon covered all the face of heaven with a cloak
* * * "
of pitchy darkness." Jupiter, not satisfied with his own waters,
calls on his brother Neptune to aid him with his. He lets loose the
'
rivers, and pours them over the land. At the same time he
heaves the land with an earthquake, and brings in the reflux
of the ocean over the shores." (Bulfinch, "The Age of Fable,"
tr., 24-25.)
Scott, pp.This all recalls to mind the secondary
causes mentioned in our scientific chapters. The story goes on to say
that this flood swept away the whole human
race except one pair,
Deucalion and Pyrrha, who, as the waters abated, landed on Mount
Parnassus.
It is interesting to note that in India also there are accounts of
"
two different floods. In the Varaha, or third avatar, Vishnu appeared
as a boar to save the earth when it had been drowned a second time.
The boar went into the sea and fished the earth out on his tusks."
(Murray, "Manual of Mythology," 20th ed., p. 380.)
81
Originally the moon, so-called, was a crescent form of the canopy.
After the precipitation of the vapor the only crescent form left in the
sky was our satellite.
stretched across the heavens and obscured the sun." When

the cloud winds blew every line became a flying spear sun-
darts.
The sixth labor describes the clearing out of the Augean
"
Stables. Augeus means a being of pure streaming light."
At one time the canopy was the only source of light it was ;
known to the ancients as the sun and at night was their

moon. The cattle were clouds. To clean out their stable
Hercules simply opened the wall of the canopy (stable) and
rushing sky-stream flow through which quickly washed
let a
away the filth, dark clouds and all.

Hesiod says: "Poseidon (Neptune) was a bull/' and
we have found out that bulls were guardians or haloes accom-
panying the glowing sun. In the seventh labor Hercules
was required to bring the Cretan Bull bound into Mycenne.
He forced the beast, who was the offspring of Neptune, to
leave the herd of celestial cattle sacred to Helios (Sol), and
then made it swim across the canopy, the great sea of waters ;
thus he performed his task. The eighth labor was similar:
our hero conquered the swift horses of Diomedes, which were
fleeting vapors of the canopy.
Terrific grandeur and destructive power
Marked their career as rushing on they went,
Fire breathing, plunging, dashing, snorting loud
The soul of the great deep was in their might,
As sound of many waters, hoof on hoof.
The ninth was to procure the girdle of Hippolyta,

task
Queen of the Amazons. This girdle was a present from
Ares (Mars), god of war and of the storm. Eurystheus,
owner of the sky, wanted it for his daughter, Admeta. No
doubt he thought she would look very fine girdled with the
'
world-ring or, as it is often called, the serpent coil of cloud/
She was the goddess of the lower air, and when Hercules
brought it to her she put it on and has worn it ever since,
signifying that the storm-fiend had descended into the lower

regions, where now the tempest raves.
HERCULES 289
Admeta or the deadly shade has passed

The girdles gone, and yet it still remains,
For, like the Hydra's one immortal head,
It waters, yea, still waters, all the earth.
To conquer
the flesh-eating oxen (clouds) of Geryon,
Eurystheus sent our hero to the Western Isle. This locality
is the cave-hole of northern mythology, the egg-hole, the
place of the one eye, the Cyclops, etc. The mighty and brave
Hercules took a ship (halo-boat) in order to reach this far-off
region, as he had to pass back of the great belt that encircled
the middle regions of the earth. When he arrived at his
destination he fought against the owner of the strong black
cattle with his fire, and it is recorded that a sun-shaft finally
killed him. On his way home a gadfly caused his cattle to
mountains of the canopy (the great
scatter in the great cloud
middle Zeus was the clear-sky, and the record says
belt).
they ran to him.
In the eleventh labor we have another adventure con-
nected with the egg-hole land of the north. Here the golden
apples of the Hesperides were seen to glitter on the world-
tree. These were the stars seen in their purity in the blue
sky. This incident is no doubt derived from the same
phenomena as those which gave rise to the Babylonian myth.
In the Ninth Tablet of Gilgamesh, that hero is represented
as goingon a long journey to see his ancestor, Tsit-napishtim.
It was a very difficult excursion, and he was forced at one
time to march onwards for the space of twenty-four hours
through a region of thick darkness, which we understand as
portraying a country darkened by a falling vapor-belt (the
great middle belt, that is, of middle latitudes). But at the
end of this long, dreadful journey he came out once more
into the light of the sun, and, behold, there was a beautiful
tree, the top of which was lapis lazuli, and it was laden with
fruit which dazzled the eye.
These stars are connected with a great many myths.
"
Ignatius Donnelly says This is the same legend which
:
19
we see appearing in so many places and in so many forms.

The apple of Paradise was one of the apples of the Greek
legends, intrusted to the Hesperides, but which they could

not resist the temptation to pluck and eat. The serpent
Ladon watched the tree.
"
It was one of the apples of Idun, in the Norse legends,
the wife of Brage, the god of poetry and eloquence. She
keeps them in a box, and when the gods feel the approach of
old age they have only to taste them and become young again.
Loke, the evil-one, the Norse devil, tempted Idun to come

into a forest with her apples, to compare them with some
others, whereupon a giant called Thjasse, in the appearance

of an enormous eagle, flew down, seized Idun and her apples,
and carried them away, like Havana, into the air. The gods
compelled Loke to bring her back, for they were the apples
of the tree of life to them without them they were perishing.
;
Loke Idun from Thjasse, changed her into a nut, and

stole
fled with her, pursued by Thjasse. The gods kindled a great

fire, the eagle plumage of Thjasse caught the flames, he fell
to the earth, and was slain by the gods." 32
But the consideration of these legends is leading us away
from the eleventh labor. Eurystheus demanded that our
hero should procure these apples (stars) for him. Before
Hercules could accomplish this feat he found it necessary to
kill a great dragon snake which guarded the tree whereon the
apples grew. Some say
that Atlas plucked the fruit for him
while he upheld the great hill of the middle canopy. How-
ever this may be, when the apples were procured Hercules
presented them to his master, the first fruits from the great
realworld beyond.
The twelfth and last labor was to bring from Hades
(which, it will be located in the canopy)
remembered, is
Cerberus, the three-headed dog, with the tail of a serpent

and with bristling snakes round his neck. This description
82 "
Ragnarok," p. 324.
HERCULES 291
shows what manner of sky-dog he was. As he brought this

monster forth, the shades of darkness fled in terror, never-
theless Hercules kept straight on through a chasm which he
rent right through the canopy. This done and all vapor-forms
conquered, of course our hero, the sun, came forth free from
the enthralling belts. It is recorded that he joined the
Argonauts and sailed in their ship, the Argo, which was a

vapor-arc, arch or ark. He brought back with
him the golden
fleece, the bright sunshine like sky-gem,
and was free indeed.
And yet the story of his captivity has lived on down through
the ages.
In Persian literature the great hero Eustam accomplishes
the same series of victories that marked the career of Her-
cules. Poor says of him:
"
He is a compound of Herakles the Greek and Eoland
of the Middle Ages, as we shall see later. His infancy is
protected by a marvelous bird the Simurgh. He is like the
bird Garuda in Sanskrit, and develops into the roc of the
Arabian ISTights. When an infant only he performs prodigies
of valor, like Herakles; when a child, he kills an elephant.
When grown up, the king and his army being shut up in the
demon country by the king of Turan and his Divs, Eustam,
all alone, performs seven labors and frees the king. This is
again like Herakles. But Eustam is as pious as he is brave.
He prays to his god before every encounter, and gives thanks
after every victory. He has a marvelous horse, whom he
loves more than wife or child. These traits suggest Eoland.
He in fact, a perfect type of the mediaeval hero, except in
is,
one thing, his indifference to women: he leaves his young

wife, the daughter of a king, to look for his horse, which had
strayed away, and never goes back to her, although he kindly
sends once to inquire for her. !N"ow, many of these traits
identify him at once as a solar myth. If he is so much more

pious than the Greek hero, it is that he expresses the simple
faith of the noble Persian character. His marvelous strength
when an infant is the power of the sun, resistless even at its
rising; the seven labors which he performs for the good of

others, the demons which he slays, are the dark clouds which
obstruct his path. When in the middle of his life, Rustam
feels that his labors for others have not been appreciated,
and he sits apart, gloomy and sullen, in his tent, while the
war goes on. This will at once suggest the wrath of Achilles.
It is the dark cloud again obscuring the beneficent sun."
* # * a
^n( j a f.
la^ wnen Rustam dies, he is not killed
in fair fight, but in ambush like Siegfried, slain from
33
behind."
Poor goes on to say " There is another hero in the
:
Shah Nameh, named Isfendiyar also a solar myth, because

he can be slain only by an arrow from a particular tree, the
thorn; this is the same thorn which killed Siegfried in
German, the mistletoe which killed Balder in Norse, the thorn
which pricks the sleeping beauty." 34
It is interesting to see how the legend of Roland has been
handed down to the Middle Ages. It illustrates the process
by which these myths have survived and been embellished
up to our own time. Poor tells us that:
"
Roland has the characteristics of the solar myth. True,
he may have really lived ;
but no real man, no real weapon,
could ever have performed the prodigies of valor which
Roland and his good sword did. The sword, too,was brought
to him in a miraculous way. It is not the pagan way in
which Perseus and Sigurd got their swords. It is the Chris-
tian way, which performed all the other miracles of the
Middle Ages. And the Song of Roland is so delightful
because it has this new tone, and because it sustains this
tone so perfectly throughout all the prodigies are impressed ;
with it. Still, they are prodigies, not natural acts. ~No hero
could, single-handed, kill four hundred men at a stroke,
88
"Sanskrit and its Kindred Literatures/' pp. 159-160.
p. 161.
HERCULES 293
after his skull was split open. But if you look at Roland as
a solar hero, the work would be easy indeed for the irre-
sistible power of the sun. Roland's death, too, is super-
natural. He has not one scratch on his body, though his
armor is pierced with a thousand darts. His skull splits
open from excessive toil; his brains ooze slowly out. With
his death his sword must go too. No other can wield it.
With the death of the sun, its rays no longer shoot across the
35
sky."
We will be pardoned if we again quote from Poor. Our
"
author says Another hero of the Charlemagne cycle is
:
Olger the Dane, the national hero of Denmark; and he rep-

resents many other features of the solar myth."
* * *
"
Olger grows up beautiful and strong, but is sent as a
hostage to the court of Charlemagne. Here he labors for
others, like the other solar heroes, and fights for beings
meaner than himself." * * * " A Saracen giant appears,
and Olger kills him. Then the. emperor does him a wrong ;
and his anger, like the wrath of Achilles and Rustam, makes
itself felt. He goes out into the world as a wanderer, and
travels far and wide, like Odysseus. Finally, he longs to see
his land again, and sets sail but the ship is wrecked.
;
The
waves bear him to a strange land, where a stately palace
stands ;
on Kirke's isle. At morning he
this like the palace
finds a flowery valeand Morgan le Fay comes to him, and
;
welcomes him to Avalon, and takes him to the palace, where

he finds Arthur healed of his wound. Then Morgan gives
him a wreath of forgetfulness for his forehead, and an
enchanted ring for his hand while he wears these, he never
;
grows old.By and by the wreath slips from his forehead,

and he remembers Charlemagne, and longs to go back and
fight the Saracen. So he reappears, like Rip Van Winkle.
That is, the sun comes back, after being carried away by the
''Hid., pp. 356-357.

darkness. Morgan le Fay had given him a torch, which is
the measure of his days, like the firebrand of Meleagros in

Greek. While it burns, he can never die. He fights as
bravely as before,though the world has changed; for hun-

dreds of years have gone by while he was gone in Avalon.
When he is about to wed the Empress of France, Morgan
le Fay appears and bears him away. But the torch is still
burning in an abbey crypt, and therefore he is expected to

return; like Sebastian of Portugal, and Frederick Bar-
barossa, and Arthur of Brittany. When Denmark is in
danger, then the Danish peasants are sure that Holger Danske
will return.
" This
is substantially the story told in Germany, later,
of Tannhauser. Venus carries him away into the middle of

a hill, called Horselberg. There he lives in forgetf ulness ;
but he longs at length to return to a life of virtue, and goes

out of the hill. He meets a priest and confesses his sin;
but the horror-stricken priest tells him that his own oaken
staff may as soon bud and blossom into roses as his sin be
absolved. So the poor Tannhauser goes back to the enchant-
ress. Eight days after, the staff does bud and blossom into
roses and all the people expect Tannhauser to reappear." 36
;
It is interesting to note what Poor has to say about
Arthur, so we select the following:

"
Arthur, the Christian knight, the blameless king, was
first a Keltic hero, sung by the Druid bards. Shall I say
more, or is it already guessed that Arthur, like so many other
Aryan heroes, is only the sun and its course personified in
a human form ? beyond doubt that Arthur lived, a date
It is
is even fixed for him at 542 but the mind of his race could
;
not invent new facts about him. Those very circumstances

which happen to each Aryan hero fasten themselves upon
him, with a monotony which would become wearisome had
., pp. 357-359.
HERCULES 295
it not a great principle lying underneath it. Certainly, if

the Kelts had imagined a hero, they would have found some
new thing for him to do. That they did not proves that they
simply formulated the thoughts which lie dormant in each
branch of the race, brought from its home." * * *
"
We will therefore separate Arthur from the knights
who surround him, and look at his story. His birth was
supernatural as soon as he was born he was wrapped in gold-
:
colored glittering raiment, and taken away from his

mother." * * *
The supernatural manner in which he procured his bright
"
sun-shaft sword was as follows The lords came into a
:
church-yard, and there stood an anvil of stone, and stuck

therein a fair sword, naked at the point, and letters of gold
"
were written about the stone, that said Whoso pulleth out
:
this sword out of this stone and anvil

is rightwise born king
of England.' All the great lords try, but of course none can
pull out the sword but Arthur. This is exactly the story of
the sword in the Volsung Saga, and somewhat like that of
the sword of Theseus in Greek. The beard and hair of
Arthur shine like gold, and the nobles are forced to make the
beautiful youth their king. Then enemies attack the land,
but Arthur draws the f sword that flashed in the eyes of his
enemies like thirty torches,' and kills them all. Finally, in
battle, this sword snaps, like the sword in the Yolsung Saga.
Then a maiden out of the water, like Thetis in
Greek, like
Hiordis in Norse, brings him another sword. While she
keeps the scabbard, his life is safe he can neither bleed nor
;
die Arthur thus becomes another of the invulnerable heroes.

;
He has miraculous powers over nature an owl, a blackbird,;
and a stag talk to him, and do his bidding; these are the
same talking animals which we meet in other Aryan litera-
tures."
* * *
"
Merlin warns him that he will be destroyed by his
sister's son, who will be born on May-day; and he orders all
the children born on May-day to be drowned. But Mordred

escapes, and grows up to kill his father. This brings
Arthur
* * *
still more closely within the mythical framework."
It is the old story of the sun marrying the canopy of
one canopy-light day or period destroying the day which

"
preceded it and shows; very clearly that Arthur was a
*
pagan demigod before he became a Christian king."
" The
Arthur, according to the tale, weds. invading
kings ravage the land again, scarce one month after Arthur
(
is married : and he cries out like the wanderer, Never have
I had one month's rest since I became king of the land/
So Arthur's life goes on in fighting; finally Lancelot plays
the part of Paris in the Iliad. He makes Gwennivar untrue
to her husband, and a last great battle comes between the
forces of the two. Here the myth brings in the snake. There
was be no fighting until a sword should be raised; but a
to
snake bit one of the knights ; he raised his sword to slay it,
and the two armies, supposing it to be the signal, came to
battle. His son, the traitor Sir Mordred, wounded the bright
king, because the scabbard of his sword had been stolen. Yet
Arthur cannot die till the sword has been thrown into the
water, for the sun must set in the waters (behind the canopy-
bank). But Arthur is one of those heroes who do not die.
The three mystic queens, like the three fates or three furies,
bearhim away in the ship of the dead (the canopy ship), but
he will return. All Wales and Brittany look for his coming.
He has only gone to the land of Avalon to be healed of his
grievous wound. Now, the word Avalon means the island
of apple-trees. The paradise of the Kelts was always an
island far over the blue seas." 37 The fact will be recognized
that he went to the egg-hole land, and that the apples are the
stars in the open place of the sky where he was to be healed.
, pp. 245-248.
CHAPTER XIX
PLATO'S CONTRIBUTION
THE Platonic Drama consists mainly of argumentative

conversation, however the element of the myth is frequently
introduced, and in some of the Dialogues it becomes so strik-
ing that a just consideration of Plato's philosophical style

is impossible without taking it into account. To understand
this philosophy in its fullness, then, it is all-important to
catch the true notes of the echo from the forgotten past. The
Belted Canopy Hypothesis does this ; it brings the vibrations
of the past down to the present. Let us make a connection
with this long-distance telephone and place our ear at the
receiver.
Here and there we catch a sound that seems to have
pierced right through the whole gap of history. The Phsedo

Myth vibrates with the rush of many waters. Channels are
bored under the Earth, forming bowls, and measureless floods
of perennial rivers, some broad, some shallower, also much
fire floweth, and there are great rivers of fire (rivers illu-
minated by sun-fire) and many rivers of running mud, some

,
clearer, some thicker. Plato naturally compares them to the

rivers of Sicily. Then note the significant language that
"
follows : With
these floods therefore each place is filled
according as at each time the stream floweth round unto

each." The ebb and the flow of the tides resounds through
the whole passage, but the beat of the waves still has the
sound of the storm of canopy decline. And they flow < afar
off, where deepest underground the Pit is digged' (the
Tartarus of the poets). Now, from this cavern the rivers
A. Stewart's " The

1
The translation quoted in the text is from J.
Myths of Plato."
297
"
flow in, and from it they flow out. The cause of all streams
flowing out and flowing in is that this flood hath no bottom
or foundation. Wherefore it swingeth and surgeth up and
"
down, and the air and the wind surge with it." Some
waters there be that, coming forth out of the Earth at one
side thereof, flow in at the contrary side; and some that go
in and come out on the same side ;
and some there be that go
round the whole Earth and are wound about it once yea,
perchance, many times like serpents. These rivers pour
their waters back into Tartarus as low down as water can
fall. Now, it can fall as far as the centre in each way,
but no further: each half of the Earth a hill against the
is
stream that floweth from the side of the other half." The
' '
four rivers are called Acheron/ which floweth the
Ocean/
contrary way (a very significant statement, as the canopy
belts, owing to their different positions in the heavens, ap-
peared to flow or move at different rates of speed; to an

observer in the south the belts in the north must have even
appeared to have a retrograde movement), Pyriphlegethon

of the fiery floods, and the Styx, whose waters hath wholly
the color of blue steel, and which issues forth first into a
fearful, savage place.
Another sound comes over the ' phone from the Myth '
of Er. Here we have the Spindle of Necessity, a pillar of
light in the sky. The souls after sojourning a thousand years

in Tartarus and Heaven journey aboveground from the
Meadow " Rainbow-colored
till they come to a light, straight
like a pillar, extended from on high throughout the Heaven
and the Earth." There seems to be a great system revolving
above, and the Earth remains fixed in the centre. The des-
tination of the Pilgrim Souls appears to be that part of the
surface of the globe which supports the hemisphere of fire,
and the Spindle of Necessity. " Now, when both companies
had been seven days in the Meadow, Er said that they were
constrained on the eighth day to arise and journey thence,
PLATO'S CONTRIBUTION 299
and came on the fourth day to a place whence they could

behold a Straight Light extended from above through the
whole Heaven and Earth, as it were a pillar, for color most
like unto the rainbow, but brighter and purer. Unto which
they came when they had gone forward a day's journey, and
there, at the middle part of the Light, beheld extended from
the Heaven the ends of the bonds thereof; for this Light is
that which bindeth the Heavens together ;
as the under-girths
hold together ships, so doth it hold together the whole round
of Heaven and from the ends extendeth the Spindle of Neces-
;
sity, which causeth all the heavenly revolutions, whereof the

shaft and hook are of adamant, and the whorl is of adamant
and of other substances therewith."
"
Now, the whorl is after this fashion. In shape it is as
one of our whorls, but from what he said we must conceive
of it as a great whorl, carved hollow through and through,
wherein is set, fitting it, a smaller whorl of like kind, as
caskets are set fitting into one another; and then in this a
third whorl is set, and then a fourth, and then four others;
for the whorls are together eight, set one within another,
* * * And the
showing their lips as circles above.
whole spindle goeth round in the lap of Necessity." The
whole matter resolves itself into a natural law.
Still another vibration comes down the thread of time
from the Politicus Myth. The cosmic periods, come, and the
cosmic periods go. When
the controlling agency of some all
powerful sky-god go the
lets helm, then the Cosmos begins
of itself to revolve backwards. The Golden Age of Cronus
was brought about by a good god, an all-protecting canopy,
under which the children of men basked in security and
plenty. But when this god was dethroned, the Cosmos
changed the direction of its revolution, the-
change being
accompanied by great earthquakes, which destroyed all but
a few men and animals. This was no doubt the ending of
the cataclysm which is known to science as the Ice age. Then
the Cosmos calmed down, but it is said that it revolved in

its owndirection, which evidently means that it did not
revolve with the same movement that it did under the good
god Cronus. It went from bad to worse, till the god of the
great expanse of heaven, in his goodness, saved struggling
men by means of the fire of Prometheus. Zeus triumphant
let the light of the new-born sun shine in on the darkened
earth.
'
The doctrine
of periodical terrestrial catastrophies/ as
' '
set forth in this myth, was a part of the science and
'
philosophy' of Plato's day. The reason for this bent of
mind is accounted for by the closer association of his age
with that which went before, but it must be kept constantly

in view that when Plato lived he only caught, as we do, these
echoes from a distance; the distance of course was meas-
urably shorter, but the interpretation of the vibrations was
in some ways more difficult than it is with us, owing to the
fact that his general knowledge was much more limited than
ours of to-day. Thus in the Myth of the Golden Age he
puts into the mouth of the Athenian Stranger these words:
"It is told that there was a Government and Settlement when
Cronus was King; whereof the blessedness was great." Plato
"
goes on to state that this, then, is the tale which we have
received concerning the blessed life of the men who lived in
those days It telleth that they had all things, without stint,
:
spontaneously."
Let us hear more of what this Stranger has to say he is ;
"
speaking in the Politicus Myth. Hearken This Universe,
!
for a certain space of time, God himself doth help to guide

and propel in the circular motion thereof; and then, when
the cycles of the time appointed unto it have accomplished
their measure, he letteth it go. Then doth it begin to go
round in the contrary direction, of itself, being a living
creature which hath gotten understanding from him who
fashioned it in the beginning. This circuit in the contrary
direction belongeth of necessity to the nature of the Universe.
Now, that which we call Heaven and Universe hath been

made, through him who begat it, partaker of many blessed
* * * Whereof it is not possible that it should
possessions.
be wholly set free from change, albeit, as far as possible, it
revolveth in the same place, with one uniform motion: for
this reason, when it changed, it took unto itself circular
motion in the contrary direction, which is the smallest pos-
sible alteration of the motion which belongeth unto it." Then
follows a philosophical deduction that shows how this con-
dition of the heavens naturally gave rise to the supposition
that there was more than one god. In Plato's time the true
significance was already lost, so the Stranger did not think
the argument in favor of there being two gods was strong.
From all this"
The philosophical remarks are as follows :
it followeth that we must not say that the Universe either
of itself moveth itself alway, or again is alway wholly moved
by God to revolve now in one direction and then in the con-

trary direction; nor must we say that there be two Gods
which, being contrariously minded, do cause it so to revolve ;
but we must hold by that which was just now said and alone
remaineth, to wit, that at one time it is holpen and guided
by the power of God supervening, and hath more life added

unto and receiveth immortality from the Creator afresh;
it,
and then, at another time, when it is let go, it moveth of

itself, having been so opportunely released that thereafter it
journey eth in the contrary direction throughout ages innu-

merable, being so great of bulk, and so evenly balanced, and
"
turned on so fine a point." Now have I told thee, Socrates,
of the life which was when Cronus reigned; as for the life
which now is, which they say is under the rule of Zeus, thou
art here thyself and knowest what it is."

The
subject of the Timseus Myth is the Creation of the
Universe. Over the * phone ' comes the question : " Have
we rightly called the Heaven One ? Or were it more right to
"
say that there are Heavens nay, infinite in number ?
many
The discussion goes on to prove that there is only one. But
why was the question asked ? In Plato's time, just as in our

own time, sane men knew there was only one Heaven. Were
there ever conditions that gave rise to this question, or were
Plato's ancestors insane?
The Atlantis Myth is perhaps the most germane to the
present hypothesis of any of the Platonic Myths. It is
recorded in the Critias, which, though it is only a fragment,
isa very bulky fragment of the Timseus Myth. It is so long
and so well known that we omit it. Another version of the
story is given by Theopompos, who wrote in the fourth cen-
tury before Christ. According to him, the information con-
cerning Atlantis was given by Silenus to the ancient king of

Midas. 2
Herodotus mentions the matter and in connection with
the cloud-mountain he says:
"
The inhabitants say that it is the Pillar of Heaven.
From this mountain these men derive
their appellation, for
they are called Atlantes. They are said neither to eat the
flesh of any animal nor to see visions. As far, then, as these
Atlantes, I am able to mention the names of the nations that
inhabit this ridge, but not beyond them. This ridge, how-
3
ever, extends as far as the pillars of Hercules."
But to return to the Platonic exposition. The shape given
to the Living Creature, our Earth, as described in the
"
Timaeus Myth, makes it appear like a ball, round with
boundary at every point equally distant from the centre."
And furthermore, there was nothing outside this boundary
or canopy, because man in the early ages could not see beyond
"
it. Wherefore He turned it round and round, with the
8
See Aristotle, cited by Plutarch, Consolatio ad Apollonium, 27,
ed. Didot-Diibner, p. 137. Compare Preller, Griechische Mythologie,
1st ed., vol. i, p. 453.
B. iv, c. 184, Gary's tr.
same quickness, in the same place, about itself." At this
point in the myth the idea of a later age intrudes itself upon
the circular motion. When the canopies fell the true heaven
was revealed, but the idea of circular motion was retained;
however, to fit it to the new conditions, it was subdivided
into the seven concentric circles, representing the seven
planets, the fire-ring and the primum mobile.

Of Earth and Heaven, the myth goes on to say, the
"
various gods were born both gods visible in their heavenly
courses, and gods which make themselves visible as it pleaseth
them then spake unto them the Begetter of this Universe,
saying Gods of gods whose Maker and Father I am, ye are
:
the creatures of my handiwork, and without me are ye not

loosed asunder, for verily that which is bound together can
alway be loosed; but none save an evil one would desire to

loose asunder that whereof the parts are well joined together
and the whole state is goodly.
Wherefore, being creatures,
ye are not altogether set apart from death so that ye cannot
be loosed asunder." Then follows a description of the crea-
tion of soul, and a mixed idea that the Immortal partakes of
the nature of the Universe.
"
of the Soul, having been bound within
!N"ow, the circuits
the Eiver of the Body which floweth mightily, neither had
the mastery over it, nor were they mastered, but were pushed
about, and did push with violence, so that the whole creature
was moved, and went hither and thither disorderly, by
chance, without forethought, having all the six motions; for
forward and backward, and to the right and to the left, and
down and up, did the creatures go, wandering towards all
the six points; because that the flood was great which did
swell up over them, supplying their nourishment, and then
again did flow away from them; and yet greater was the
commotion that was made in them by the blows of those
things which did strike against them."
"The Young Gods, taking for a pattern the shape of the
Universe which is a globe, bound the Divine Circles, which

are twain, within this corporeal ball which we call Head.
* * * For Head belonged
they perceived that unto the
all the motions which should be. Wherefore, that it might
not go rolling upon the earth, which hath heights and depths
of every sort, finding no way of getting over those or out of
these, to this end gave they unto it the Body for a carriage,
to make the way easy for it. Wherefore the Body got length,
and put forth limbs which were able to be stretched out and
to be bent, four in number; for thus the Gods devise means
of going about, so that the Body, therewith taking hold and
pushing off, could go through all places, bearing aloft the
temple of that which in use is the most divine and the most
holy."
This same comparison of the soul to the old-time canopy,
was known of yore, occurs in the Phsedrus
the universe, which
4 "
Myth. Let it then be said of the Soul, that she is like
unto a Power composite of two Winged Horses harnessed,
and a Charioteer. All the Horses and Charioteers of the
Gods are themselves good, and of good stock." The chariots
of the gods were the vapor shells or halos (in mythology
these are often called boats) which accompanied the sun,
moon, and stars in their courses.

The myth goes on to state that " the nature of wings
consisteth in the power of lifting that which is heavy up into
the height where the generation of the Gods dwelleth; and
unto wings, amongst the bodily parts belongeth the largest
portion of that which is of God.
"
Zeus, the great Captain of the Host of Heaven, mounted
upon his winged chariot, rideth first and disposeth and over-
* "
There can be no doubt, I think," says J. A. Stewart in his
observations on the Phaedo Myth ("The Myths of Plato," p. 107), that
the lofty terrestrial Paradise of the Phaedo Myth answers to the ' Island
'
of the Blessed in the Gorgian Myth, to ( these ) heights of the
Phsedrus Myth, and to the 'heaven* of the Myth of Er." Dante's
Mount of Purgatory is founded on the same echo.
seeth all things. Him followeth the army of Gods and

Daemons in eleven orders for Hestia alone abideth in the
House of Gods; but all the other Gods which are of the
number of the Twelve go forth and lead each one the order
whereof he isappointed to be captain.
"
Many holy sights there be for eye to behold of blessed
Gods in their courses passing to and fro within the firmament
of Heaven, each one doing his own business and whosoever
:
willeth, and is able, followeth ; for Envy standeth afar from

the Heavenly Choir.
"
Now, as often as they go to eat at the banquet, their
path is ever up by the steep way close under the roof of the
Heaven. The Chariots of the Gods, going evenly and being
alway obedient to the hand of the Charioteer, accomplish
their journey easily; but the other Chariots hardly, with
great labor, for the Horse, which is by nature froward, is as

a weight, and ever inclineth towards the Earth, and, except
the Charioteer hath brought him into subjection, draweth
the Chariot down. * * * The Souls which are
called
immortal, when they are come to the top of the Heaven,

journey out therefrom and stand upon the Roof thereof
without, and, standing, are carried round by the circuit, and
behold those things which are without the Heaven."
These immortal souls reach the place which is above the
Heaven, that is, the place above the canopy. Plato states
that "no poet here hath ever praised, nor shall praise
* * * The
worthily, this locality. Substance which
Verily Is, which hath no color and no shape, and hand cannot
touch. * * *
Round about this Substance, in this
Place, dwelleth True Knowledge." This fact is indeed true,
when the canopy fell the true nature of the universe was
revealed and the day of the gods passed forever
away.
The Phsedrus Myth next depicts the condition of the
those which could not reach this
other classes of souls ;
region
above the canopy where all truth was revealed. " This is the
20
life of the Gods. Of the other Souls, whichsoever followeth

God best, and is made most like unto Him, keepeth the head
of her Charioteer lifted up into the Place without the firma-
ment, and carried round with the circuit thereof, heing

is
troubled by the Horses, and hardly beholding the Things

Which Are; after her cometh the Soul, which for a space
keepeth the head of her Charioteer lifted up, and then again
sinketh down, and because of the violence of the Horses,
seeth some of the Things Which Are, but some she seeth not.
"
Beside these follow other Souls, which all do strive
after that which is above, but are not able to reach unto it,
and are carried round sunken beneath the face of the Heaven,
trampling upon one another, running against one another,
and pressing on for to outstrip one another, with mighty great
sound of tumult and sweat of the race and here, by reason
;
of the unskilfulness of the Charioteers, many Souls are
maimed, and many have their wings broken ;

and all, greatly
travailling, depart uninitiated, not having seen That Which
Is, and turn them to the food of Opinion."
The two Symposium Myths next hold our attention, and
we quote the following from the one told by Aristophanes.
"
Describing a sky-born phenomenon, the record says !N"ow, :
the genders were three, and of this sort, because the male
gender was in the beginning sprung from the Sun, and the
female gender from the Earth, and that which partook of
both from the Moon for the Moon partaketh of both Sun
and Earth (the moon of mythology is the crescent canopy) :
so it came to pass that they themselves and their manner of

progression were circular after the likeness of their parents :
and they were terrible by reason of their strength and valor ;
and were proud, and they made assault upon the

their hearts
Gods, for that which Homer telleth concerning Ephialtes and

Otus is told concerning them that they essayed to go up
into Heaven for to lay hands on the Gods."
Attention is directed to the fact that Plato in the above
quotation distinctly compares this matter to a Homeric tale.

In other words, it has come down to him from the distant
"
past, and he only catches the jangling echo. Wherefore
Zeus and the other Gods took counsel what they should do
(with these sky-forms), and were in doubt; for they were
not minded to slay them, as they slew the giants, with
thunderbolts."
myth depicts round people, children of round

Briefly, this
parents, are who
very swift and strong, attacking Zeus and
the other gods in their stronghold. Instead of destroying
them as they did the giants, Zeus cuts them in two. Then
follows philosophical deductions, etc. Plainly, the idea pre-
vailed of old that the vapor heavens and the earth were one
body, and that this body had life made up of other life.
Human life was compared to the body-life of the universe,
hence the analogy in the myth.
The other Symposium Myth, or the Discourse of Diatima,
"
asks :
What, then, he Mortal ? " The answer
is Eros ? is
is that he is a Daemon,
something betwixt God and Mortal.
The ephemeral sky scenes were likened to the flitting condi-
tions which surround a human soul. The Daemons, Hesiod
'
said, dwell in the parts about the Earth/ and more espe-
'
cially in the Air.' They were souls of disembodied spirits
inhabiting the celestial vault. Some lived on earth in the

Golden Age. Some died in the Silver Age. Others were
Copper Men of the third age. While others, again, were the
Heroes of the fourth age those who had fought at Thebes
and Troy. These last battles were primarily encounters
between the sky-forces; afterwards they became associated
and mixed in with actual history. The fifth age, or that of
Iron, is the present.
CHAPTER XX
MYTHS OF THE AMERINDS
THE Indians of the Americas, like the peoples of the
Old World, recognized the fact that in times long past some-
thing divided up the cycles of duration and separated the
"
one from the other. 1 Neither Jews nor Aztecs, nor indeed
"
any American nation," says Britton, appear to have sup-
posed, with some of the old philosophers, that the present was
an exact repetition of previous cycles, but rather that each
was an improvement on the preceding, a step in endless
progress. JSTor did either connect these beliefs with astro-
nomical reveries of a great year, defined by the return of
the heavenly bodies to one relative position in the heavens.
The latter seems characteristic of the realism of Europe, the
former of the idealism of the Orient both inconsistent with
;
the meagre astronomy and more scanty metaphysics of the

red race.
" The
expectation of the end of the world is a natural
complement to the belief in periodical destructions of our
globe. As at certain times past the equipoise of nature was
and the elements breaking the chain of laws that bound
lost,
them ran riot over the universe, involving all life in one
1
As an instanceof Old -World thought on these divisions, we would
recall the fact mentioned in chapter xvi, that " Epictetus favors the
opinion that at the solstices of the great year not only all human beings,
but even the gods, are annihilated; and speculates whether at such
times Jove feels lonely (Discourses, b. iii, ch. 13). Macrobius, so far
from coinciding with him, explains the great antiquity of Egyptian
civilization by the hypothesis that that country is so happily situated
between the pole and equator, as to escape both the deluge and con-
flagration of the great cycle (Somnium Seipionis, lib. ii, cap. 10).
"The Myths of the New World," 3d ed., p. 234. By way of comment,
we might add that Macrobius has hit the nail on the head.
308
MYTHS OF THE AMERINDS 309
mad havoc and desolation, so in the future we have to expect

2
that day of doom."
The Aztecs believed in four ages. Brinton thinks that
" Doubtless the
theory of the Ages of the world was long in
vogue among the Aztecs before it received the definite form
in which we now have it ; and as this was acquired long after
the calendar was fixed, it is every way probable that the
latter was used as a guide to the former. Echevarria, a good
authority on such matters, says the number of the Suns was
agreed upon at a congress of astrologists, within the memory
3
of tradition."
The Quiches also believed in four ages. The legend of
"
these aborigines is to this effect By the will of the Heart
:
of Heaven the waters were swollen and a great flood came
upon the manikins of wood. Tor they did not think nor
speak of the Creator who had created them, and who had
caused their birth. They were drowned, and a thick resin
fell from heaven.
" The bird Xecoteovach tore out their
eyes the bird ;
Camulatz cut off their heads the bird Cotzbalam devoured

;
their flesh; the bird Tecumbalam broke their bones and

sinews and ground them into powder." 4
These four birds, whose names have lost their signifi-
cation, no doubt originally represented four different vapor-
"
belts, or, as Brinton says, the four rivers, which, as in so
many legends, are the active agents in overwhelming the

world in its great crises." Probably at a later date, when
the canopy-belts were forgotten, these birds came to repre-
sent the four winds.
In the Iroquois narrative, their ancestor was kicked from
the sky by her irate spouse. When she fell there was as yet
no land to receive her, but suddenly it began to bubble up
under her feet and waxed bigger and bigger. The Algonkin
2 " New
The Myths of the World," 3d ed., p. 253.
Ibid., p. 252. *IUd., p. 242.

tribes had similar ideas, but their cosmology was of a recon-

"
structive rather than a constructive nature. A reconstruc-
tion supposes a previous existence. This they felt, and had
something to say about an earth anterior to this of ours, but
one without light or human inhabitants. A lake burst its
bounds and submerged it wholly." 5

The thought of a dark world is one of the commonest to
"
mythology. The Egyptians said : The heaven rests upon
6
the earth, like a goose brooding over her egg." Naturally,
among the less enlightened peoples the blackness under the
shroud-like canopy must have been appalling. There was
"
indeed something brooding over them. Even the Bushmen
of South Africa have the strange idea that the sun did not
shine on their country in the beginning. Only after the
children of thefirst Bushmen had been sent up to the top of
the world and had launched the sun was light procured for
this South African region. A similar myth was found among
the Australian aborigines." 7
" In
the cosmogony of the Hidery Indians, the creator
of the world, !N~ekilstluss, in the shape of a raven, existed
from all eternity. Before the world came into being, he
brooded over the intense darkness that prevailed, until, after
aeons of ages, by the continual napping of his wings he beat
the darkness to solid ground. For a long time the only
down
light in the world was a dim, hazy one, given off by the earth.
When the earth was in a condition to receive the stronger
light from the sun, moon, and stars, he set out to get hold
of them. They were in possession of a great chief, who had
them in three separate boxes, kept them only for his own
use, and refused to part with them. !N"ekilstluss, having
obtained one of the boxes by a ruse, broke it open. It hap-
IUd., pp. 231, 232.

6 "
Tiele, History of the Egyptian Religion," p. 67.
7 " Paradise "
Bushman Folk-
William F. Warren, Found," p. 200.
lore," by W. H. J. Bleek. "Parliament Report," Cape Town and
London, 1875: p. 9.
pened to be the sun that he had got, and this he took in his
beak, and, flying up, placed it in the heavens, where it has

been ever since. After this he obtained the two other boxes
by another ruse, and, having broken them open, let out the
moon and stars, which he placed in the heavens, where they
8
have ever since continued to shine."
The Thlinkeets, an Alaskan tribe, say that Yehl is the
maker of wood and of water; undoubtedly he was origi-
" at that
nally the canopy. The story tells us that time the
sun, moon, and stars were kept by a rich chief in separate
boxes, which he allowed no one to touch. Yehl, by strategy,
secured and opened these boxes, so that the moon and stars
shone in the sky. When the sun-box was opened, the people,
astonished at such an unwonted glare, ran off into the
9
mountains."
Ignatius Donnelly is responsible for the following in-
stances of a somewhat opposite nature, where the sun is
caught in the canopy-net instead of being liberated. It will

be seen they are of the same character as the boxing of Osiris
in the coffin, and of Perseus and his mother in the chest.
They phenomenon of the disappearance

illustrate the yearly
of the sun beneath the great black obscuring thing. The
first tale says:
"
There was once, according to the Ojibway legends, a
boy; the sun burned and spoiled his bird-skin coat; and he
swore that he would have vengeance. He persuaded his sister
to make him a noose of her own hair. He fixed it just where
the sun would strike the land as it rose above the earth's
disk and, sure enough, he caught the sun, and held
;
it fast,
so that it did not rise.

" The animals who ruled
the earth were immediately put
into great commotion. They had no light. They called a
council to debate upon the matter, and to appoint some one
8
F. S. Dobbins, "Gods and Devils of Mankind," p. 371.
to go up and cut the cord, for this was a very hazardous

enterprise, as the rays of the sun would burn up whoever
came so near. At last the dormouse undertook it, for at this
time the dormouse was the largest animal in the world when ;
it stood up it looked like a mountain. (The dormouse

undoubtedly was a vapor-form.) When it got to the place
where the sun was snared, its back began to smoke and burn
with the intensity of the heat, and the top of its carcass was
reduced to enormous heaps of ashes. It succeeded, however,
in cutting the cord with its teeth and freeing the sun, but it
was reduced to a very small size, and has remained so ever
since.
* * *
"
Among the Wyandots a story was told, in the seven-
teenth century, of a boy whose father was killed and eaten by
a bear, and his mother by the Great Hare. He was small,
but of prodigious strength. He climbed a tree, like Jack
of the Bean-Stalk, until he reached heaven.
"
He set his snares for game, but when he got up at night
to look at them he found everything on fire. His sister told
him he had caught the sun unawares, and when the boy,
Chakabech, went to see, so it was. But he dared not go near
enough to let him out. But by chance he found a little
mouse, and blew upon her until she grew so big she could set
the sun free, and he went on his way. But while he was
held in the snare, day failed down here on earth. (It was
the age of darkness, under the canopy.) * * *
"
The Dog-Rib Indians, far in the northwest of America,
near the Esquimaux, have a similar story. Chakabech be-
comes Chapewee. He too climbs a tree, but it is in pursuit
of a squirrel, until he reaches heaven. He set a snare made
f
of his sister's hair and caught the sun. The sky was in-
stantly darkened.' Chapewee's family said to him, 'You
must have done something wrong when you were aloft, for
we no longer enjoy the light of day.' 'I have,' replied he,
'but it was unintentionally.' Chapewee sent a number of
animals to cut the snare, but the intense heat reduced them
all to ashes. At last the ground-mole, working in the earth,
cut the snare, but lost its sight, and its nose and teeth have
ever since been brown as if burnt." The same myth is
current in other lands. Thus :
" He
Maui the Polynesian god of the ancient days.
is
10
concluded, as did Ta-wats, that the days were too short.
He it would not.
wanted the sun to slow up, but So he pro-
ceeded to catch in a noose, like the O jib way boy and the
it
Wyandot youth. The manufacture of the noose, we are told,

led to the discovery of the art of rope-making. He took his
brothers with him; he armed himself, like Samson, with a
jaw-bone, but instead of the jaw-bone of an ass, he, with
much better taste, selected the jaw-bone of his mistress. She
may have been a lady of fine conversational powers (the
canopy it will be remembered was the source of many terms
and root words and also the cause of the confusion of
tongues). They traveled far, like Ta-wats, even to the very

edge of the place where the sun rises. There he set his noose.
The sun came and put his head and fore-paws into it; then
the brothers pulled the ropes tight, and Maui gave him a
great whipping with the jaw-bone he screamed and roared ;

;
they held him there for a long time (the Age of Darkness),
and at last
they let him go; and, weak from his wounds
(obscured by the canopy), he crawls slowly along his path.
Here the jaw of the wolf Fern-is, which reached from earth
to heaven, in the Scandinavian legends, becomes a veritable
jaw-bone which beats and ruins the sun." 11 * * *
" It is
a curious fact that the sun in this Polynesian
legend is Ea, precisely the same as the name of the god of

the sun in Egypt, while in Hindustan the sun-god is Ea-ma.
10
See chapter xvi.
"This pendent jaw-sky-bone is similar to the gigantic clam-shell
which Pythias declared could have swallowed up his ship. See chapter
xvii.
" In another
Polynesian legend we read of a character
'
who was satisfied with nothing even pudding would not
'
content him and this unconscionable fellow worried his
family out of all heart with his new ways and ideas. He
represents a progressive, inventive race. He was building a
great house, but the days were too short; so, like Maui, he
determined to catch the sun in nets and ropes but the sun ;
went on. At last he succeeded he caught him. The- good

;
man then had time to finish his house, but the sun cried and
'
cried until the island of Savai was nearly drowned.'
* * *
"
And these myths of the sun being tied by a cord are,
strange to say, found even in Europe. The legends tell us :
"
In North Germany the townsmen
of Bosum
sit in up
church-tower and hold the sun by a cable all day long ;
their*
taking care of it at night, and letting it up again in the

e
morning. In Reynard the Fox/ the day is bound with a

rope,and its bonds only allow it to come slowly on. The
Peruvian Inca said the sun is like a tied beast, who goee
ever round, in the same track." In the days when the
ephemeral vapor-forms were ever changing their courses the
fact that the sun, seen in his halo-boat, seemed to journey
in a fixed or tied-up path must have been especially noticeable.
" Let us
change the scene again to the neighborhood of
the Aztecs. We are told of two youths, the ancestors of the
Miztec chiefs, who separated, each going his own way to
conquer lands for himself.
"
The- braver of the two, coming to the vicinity of Tilan-
tongo, armed and bow, was much vexed and

with- buckler
oppressed by the ardent rays of the sun, which he took to be

the lord of that district, striving to prevent his entrance
therein. Then the young man strung his bow, and advanced
his buckler before him, and drew shafts from his quiver. He
shot these against the great light even till the going down of
the same; then he took possession of all that land, seeing that
he had grievously wounded the sun and forced him to hide
behind the mountains (canopy and vapor-belts). Upon this

of Mizteca,
story is founded the lordship of all the caciques
and upon their descent from this mighty archer, their ances-
tor. Even to this day, the chiefs of the Miztecs blazon as
their arms a plumed chief with bow and arrows and
shield,
12
and the sun in front of him setting behind gray clouds."
Another class of these uncanny, cold-blooded reminis-
cences actually portrays primeval man living in a cave under
a world-roof; the darkness of the cave is depicted, and the
cave is said to be so big that all the animals of the world
live in it with man. Bancroft says:
"
The Navajos, living north of the Pueblos, say that at
one time the nations, Navajos, Pueblos, Coyoteros, and
all
white people, lived together underground, in the heart of a

mountain, near the river San Juan. Their food was meat,
which they had in abundance, for all kinds of game were
closed up with them in their cave; but their light was dim,
and only endured for a few hours each day." The Indians
were aware that this grotto covering was water (vapor).
Bancroft goes on to tell how the Moth-worm (the totemic
" and bored
emblem of a family) mounted into the breach,
and bored till he found himself suddenly on the outside of
the mountain, and surrounded by water." The story goes on
" when these nations lived
to relate that underground they
all spake one tongue ; day and the level
but, with the light of
of earth, came many languages. The earth was at this time
very small, and the light was quite as scanty as it had been
down below, for there was as yet no heaven, no sun, nor
moon, nor stars. So another council of the ancients was
held, and a committee of their number appointed to manu-
facture these- luminaries." The " dum fluter
"
is said to
"
Ragnarok," pp. 181-185. Brinton, "Myths of the New World,"
18
"
pp. 165, 217. Tylor's Early History of Mankind," pp. 348, 347, 352.
Richardson's "Narrative of Franklin's Second Expedition," p. 291.
have been given the charge of making these orbs. Then

final
we are told that the increasing size of the earth necessitated

the putting back of the sun from the earth, by which we
understand that the old shiner gave place to the true sun as
the atmosphere cleared, thus the source of light appeared to
be moved farther away.' 13
7
As
the canopy approached its last stage its increased size
was apparent to all, the world-mountain seemed to be about
"
to swallow everything in its fearful maw. The Karens
say that Twa Wya, going to the Sun (shiner) that he might
make him grow, was so increased by the Sun (shiner) that
his head touched the sky (he was the true sun). He went
forth on various adventures over the earth, and was after a
time swallowed by a snake. The reptile being cut open,
Twa Wya came back to life (like e Osiris Found ). The 7
Basutos tell that Litaolane, their hero, was swallowed by a

monster, but that he cut his way out, and set free all the
inhabitants of the world. The Zulus say the maw of the
monster that devoured the Princess, and men, dogs, etc., has
forests, rivers, hills, cattle, and people living there, and when
at length he is cut open, out come they all the cock appears
;
(
first, and he cries out in his rapture of joy, Kukuluku,
7
I see the world. In the Algonquin, Manabozho, angling for
the King of Fishes, was swallowed up, canoe and all; he
belabored the monster with his war-club until he would fain
have cast him out again, but Manabozho set his canoe across
the fish's throat inside and despatched him; the fish drifted
ashore and the gulls pecked a place by which the hero could
77 14
come out.
It should be remembered that there were at least two
7
caves in the heavens
(cavemous-like places) Calypso s :
cavern and the equatorial slit. The Peruvians have a legend
""Native Races," vol. iii, p. 81.

Charles De B. Mills, " The Tree
11
of Mythology," pp. 96-97.
of their god Ataguja sending to the earth the first of mortals,

who there seduced the sister of a certain Guachemines, or
rayless one, a darkling. The sister proved pregnant, and died
in her labor, giving birth to two eggs, the sun and moon.
From these emerged the two brothers, Apocatequil and
15
Piguerao. It is significant that this Ataguja came from
the east and disappeared in the Western Ocean, four civ-
ilizers following him, who emerged from the cave of the
House of Birth.
" All the tribes on the Northwest
Coast," says Brinton,
" attribute the creative act to the
original Raven (canopy),
who lived before the sun was formed. He found it by one or
'
another accident, and, picking it up, placed it in the heavens,
where it has been ever since.' With the Kootenays it is
either the coyote or the chicken hawk who manufactures the
sun out of a ball of grease and sets it in the sky to pursue
its course rude fancies, but serving as well as any to show
that these tribes did not regard the sun as the visible creator
or the highest divinty." 1G
"
Donnelly very truly remarks great solar-myth
: A
underlies the ancient mythologies. It commemorates the
all
death and resurrection of the sun. It signifies the destruc-

tion of the light by the clouds, the darkness, and the eventual
return of the great luminary of the world.
" The
Syrian Adonis, the sun-god, the Hebrew Tamheur,
and the Assyrian Du-Zu, all suffered a sudden and violent
death, disappeared for a time from the sight of men, and
were from the dead." 17 But we would add that
at last raised
these disappearances were due to the zonal vapor-belts in the
higher atmosphere and to the canopy that soared above all.

Among the Mexicans is the following legend of the return-
"
ing of the sun Now, there had been no sun in existence
:
for many years ;

so the gods, being assembled in a place called
"Brinton, "Myths of the New World," 3d ed., p. 184.

18
IUd., p. 166.
"" 233.
Kagnarok," p.
Teotihuacan, six leagues from Mexico, and gathered at the

same time around a great fire, told their devotees that he of
them who should first cast himself into that fire should have
the honor of being transformed into a sun. So one of them,
* * *
called Nanahuatzin, flung himself into the fire.
Then the gods began to peer through the gloom in all direc-
tions for the expected light, and to make bets as to what part
of heaven he should first appear in. Some said
e
Here/ and
but when the sun rose they were all
' '
some said There ;
proved wrong, for not one of them had fixed upon the
east." 18
"
Donnelly, commenting on the myth, says In the long- :
continued darkness they had lost all knowledge of the car-

dinal points." 19
The arrival of the bright one, like the advent of Osiris,
was no doubt heralded with great joy. Mills says :
" American Indians the term Michabo, lit-

the
Among
'
erally the Great White One,' means also in some connec-
tions the Great Hare, and so manifold tales have sprung up
in the attempt to explain why this appellation should have
been used for the supreme. So a like illusion in Greece was
'
due Zeus Lykaios, literally the Light
to the impression that
One/ was Zeus Lupine, from the resemblance of LuJcaios to

'
Lukos; as Phoibos Lykegenes, literally offspring of light/
20
was supposed wolf-born."
" on attentively "
appears/' remarks Brinton,
Now, it
examining the Algonkin root wab, that it gives rise to words

of very diverse meaning, that like many others in all lan-
guages, while presenting but one form, it represents ideas
of wholly unlike origin and application; that in fact there
are two distinct roots having this sound. One is the initial
syllable of the word translated hare or rabbit, but the other
"Bancroft, "Native Races," vol. iii, p. 46.

19 "
Ragnarok," p. 216.
20 "
The Tree of Mythology," pp. 38-39.
21
means white." From the light
shed by the present hypothe-
sis it is clear that these two roots are from one common
' '
source. The White One/ or the sun, was also The Swift
One/ the hare. The dialect forms, according to Brinton in
Algonkin, for white are wabi, wape, wompi, waubish, oppai
:
;
for light: oppung; for hare: wab, etc., etc.

When the old sky passed away, words lost their meaning,
and the echo that has come down to us is robbed of much of
"
its poetry. The California tribes spoke of their chief deity
e
the Old Man above.' * * * In the
as legends of the
'
Aztecs and Quiches such phrases as Heart of the Sky/
'
Lord of the Sky/ Prince of the Azure Planisphere.' He
' c
above all/ are of frequent occurrence; and by a still bolder

metaphor, the Araucanians, according to Molina, entitled
'
their greatest god the Soul of the Sky.'
" 22
Let us endeavor to catch the fleeting breath of at least

one of these myths before the ( Soul of the Sky ' perishes
forever. The one selected is that of the legend of Olelbis.
'T was a light that gleamed on the hilltops,

'Twas a light that gleamed afar,
Away in the distant purple west
Where the Wintu people are.
Such light belongs to the cloud-lands,

To the regions high above
Where heaven's ocean reels around
And floats forth as a dove.
Like a beacon it seemed to flutter,

Like a beacon it seemed to wave,
And ever anon it caught new life
And flickered forth from the grave,
Calling me, in the spirit, with the

Hurried sigh of death,
"The Wintu people perish, come
Catch their parting breath."
"
21
The Myths of the New World," 3d ed., p. 198.
p. 65.
THE ZONAL-BELT HYPOTHESIS
And I found upon the hilltops
In the spirit that breathes the air
A freedom from the earth-chains,
A freedom everywhere.
And the winds sighed back in sorrow,
And the winds sighed back again,
Telling in accents softly of
The truths that still remain.
These whispered of the wondrous past

Before the Wintus were
When the first people walked the earth;
Heaven's amphitheatre.
Then like on Mount Olympus,

I saw a palace fair
O'erhanging and o'ershadowing

The world beneath, four-square.21
To this my soul by Siriwit was

Lifted up on
high.
And the beauty of that marvelous hut
Entranced my eager eye.
Siriwit the whirlwind whistled

And whisked away in a race
While I in leisure viewed the scene
And entered the holy place.
Perfumed were all the breezes

Which came from the " Central Blue,"
From the mansion of Olelbis,
Laden with the flower-dew.
Olelpanti Hlut was covered all

Over within and without
With flowers whose roots immortal
Bloomed from every sprout;
98
"In the Olelbis song," says Jeremiah Curtin, "the great one
above is the cloud-compeller, as in classic mythology." The song of this
"
spirit is, I am great above. I tan the black cloud ( there ) ." In those
"
days there were Kahsuku, cloud dogs, cloud people. Creation Myths
of Primitive America," pp. 36, 516.
Bloomed, and blazed in glory on

The living oak-tree frame,
As the world-ash of Scandinavia
Whose flowers existed in flame,
And above and all around it

The acorns ripened and fell.
Panti Hult with these was covered
As all the heroes tell. 24
Breathing this air ethereal

I looked from the "Central Blue"
From the mansion of Olelbis
And from there I saw anew:
Down on the earth the battle with

The water element,
And thefirst people looking up
At the troubled firmament.
Peace had reigned for ages, but

Behold now the end had come,
And with terror they beheld the "Swift"
The sky become quarrelsome.
Katkatchila, the racing hunter,

Who upheld the ring-world cloud,
Who ran in his broidered garment,
Who always beat the crowd.
Katkatchila now was angry for
Red-fox had taken his flint,25
He had shot at a deer with Dokos
And Hau beat him out in the sprint.
Hau stuck the stone in his left ear

To hide it away from " Swift's " sight,
But the latter rose in his anger
And travelled away in the night.
24
"That house stood in the morning dawn," says Curtin, "a
mountain of beautiful flowers and oak tree branches; all the colors of
the world were on it outside and inside. The tree in the middle was
far above the top of the house, and filled with acorns; a few of them
had fallen on every side." Ibid., p. 19.
K Flint in Indian
Mythology represents fire. In this action we have
sun-fire breaking through the sky-roof, which ends the Golden
Age.
21
THE ZONAL-BELT HYPOTHESIS
Hau took the stolen flint-stone
To the sweat-house and showed it there,
But all of the first people
Began to see the snare.
Titchelis, the little

ground squirrel,
Attempted to take it home,
But meanwhile Katkatchila had
Eaised the sea in a foam.
It tossed around in anger.

Poharamas, shooting star,
And Yonot, his Buckeye sister,
Unloosed a sky-prop spar.
Then he took Pohila (fire-child)

And with pine that was full of pitch
He started a flame in the clean swept place ;
Which leapt o'er the hill and ditch.
Southeast Poharamas went

And Tilikus to the southwest rushed
Each with a brand of the burning pine,
Each by the crimson flushed.
And these set fire to the firmament as

Phaeton did in Greece
The Golden Age was ended
And war had succeeded peace. 27
As watched from Olelphanti

I
I saw
all these things below
Olelbis looked down on the burning world,
On the scene of fire and woe:
"
26
The " egg-hole "
of classic mythology, the empty place,"
"
Tarn-
muz bleeding," etc. The ruddy glow diffused over this place gave
rise to the belief that thecanopy was burning. The Scandinavians saw
it and knew that Ragnarok, " the twilight of the gods," was at hand.
27 "
Soon all saw that the fire was coming toward them from the
east and the west, like waves of high water, and the line of it was
going northward quickly. The fire made a terrible roar as it burned;
"
soon everything was seething." Creation Myths of Primitive
America," p. 13.
Nothing but waves of flame we saw,

And the sparks mounting up to the skies,
Which there became kolchituh,
28
The shining stars (sky-eyes).
We watched this fire together with

The old women who made his bread:
Pakchuso and Pokaila,
As one, advised and said:
"
Grandson," said the old women,
"
If you want this wakpohas put out,
There's a very old man, Kahit Kiemila,
Who lives in the north, thereabout.
"He lives outside of the first sky.

He stays there in one little place.
Ask him to send us Mem Loimis,
For water must red-fire chase."
Olelbis called Lutchi and Sutunut.

"
Go, Lutchi, pry up the sky.
"
Go, Sutunut, carry these feathers
To Kahit to signify
"
That I wish him to send Mem Loimis through
The hole which Lutchi pries up.
I have given a sky prop to help him.
"
Now, hurry, the world dries up!
Lutchi took the sky-pole

And placed the prop underneath,
Mem Loimis rushed through the open place"
And quenched the fire beneath.
28 " and smoke were rising

Great rolls, piles of ; fire flew up toward
the sky in flames, in great sparks and brands. Those sparks became
kolchituh (sky-eyes), and all the stars that we see now in the sky
came from that time when the first world was burned. The sparks
stuck fast in the sky, and have remained there ever since the time
of the wakpohas (world fire)." Ibid., p. 15.
29 "
Of this open place Curtin says There was so much water
:
outside that could not come through that it rose to the top of the sky
and rushed on toward Olelpanti." Ibid., p. 22.
She rushed like a crowd of rivers, and
Covered all the earth,
And naught was left but a wilderness
There was nothing left of worth.
Then Kahit, the force centrifugal,

Quickened the speed of the ring,
And she fell backward coming,
Which stopped the great sky-spring.
So Kahit drove her backward to

The cloud-bag from whence she came.
(A bag that could carry everything
The earth itself, some claim).30
Thus she retreated backward

Into the very north,
Where she sought again the region
From which she had sallied forth;
But when she reached the sun-fish,

She divided, east and west,
And came to the hut of Olelbis
And became his wife which was best.
81
There from their home of flowers, they

Looked down on the fleshless earth
Down, down on the dreadful barren dust
On the scene of fire and dearth.
30
borrowed from the myth of Nbrwanchakus and
The cloud-bag is
Keriha. In this the existence of Puriwa, darkness, and Sanihas,

myth
daylight, before the sun was in the world, is very instructive, and the
fact that the Polar-star, Waida Werris, was seen in the sky-hole in
the north is Light and darkness existed outside of the
remarkable.
sky, and were stolen from that place. Under the cloud-bag it was
very dark. Keriha went beyond the sky on the southeast.
31
In the myth of Olelbis and Mem Loimis, the sons of these mighty
parents pass beyond the third horizon in search of their mother
(water), who had been stolen away. Wokwuk, their companion, had
tied the hair on the top of his head with a young grapevine; he had a
"
bone stuck through it, and with this bone he raised the sky. When
they had passed the third sky, they could see far east. Everything
was nice there and looked clear, just as it does here at daylight, when
all is bright and beautiful." Hid., p. 60.
" O " cried

! out Olelbis, " we
Must start all things afresh."
So he made the sky into a sieve,
A net of the finest mesh.
Through this he sifted the sunshine,

And then again the rain
Throwing down all of his flowers, and
The seed of the corn and grain.
Transforming all the first people,

He made them over anew,
And 't was thus the earth was peopled,
Wokwuk to the forest flew.
"
Jeremiah Curtin says Olelbis took a great sky net
:
(kolchi koro), and it spread out; it reached to the ends of

the sky in every direction; it was full of small, fine holes,
like a sieve." 32 Beneath this canopy the earth was bare.
" "
There is nothing on it. What can we do for it ? cried
Olelbis. Clover, beautiful grasses, and plants of all kinds
were growing around his own sweat-house, so at his grand-
mother's suggestion he transferred them to earth. 33
" '
Next morning Olelbis said Now, my grandmother, :
what do you think best ? What are we to do with the people

'
here ? Is it best for them to stay in Olelpanti ?
" (
Our grandson/ answered '
the old women, send all that
are not needed here to the lower world ;
turn them into some-
thing good for the people who are to come soon those fit for
the place up here. The great people, the best ones, you will
keep in Olelpanti, and send down only a little part of each of

them to turn into something in the world below and be of
" 34
use to people there.'
"
It is also recorded in the myth that different bits of
Wokwuk came down to the earth and were turned into elk
35
and various valuable creatures." The Indians believe
82
Ibid., p. 27. "Ibid., pp. 33-34. "Ibid., pp. 43-44.
/&*., p. 495.
Wokwuk to be a large bird. But we can see in the legend

the great wings of the upper canopy. Bits of this Wokwuk
came to the earth. The reclothing and repopulating of the
devastated area with new species shows that even the
Amerinds have retained some knowledge of the great under-
lying principle which is to evolution as the governor is to
the steam-engine.
The only who escaped the destruction was
living being
Sedit, the coyote, and he did so by going south. This is in
harmony with all that we have said about the distribution of
animals. The danger of the conflagration was of course first
seen in the pillars of the canopy to the east and to the west.
We read in the legend that Olelbis sent his uncle up on the
"
west side of his sweat-house to look, saying, We are going
to have trouble." He also sent his brother up on the east
side for thesame purpose. Lutchi, however, was watching
the north, and it was from this quarter the world-storm
36
finally came.
The Yanas, who were especially fond of astronomical
myths, have left us a somewhat similar legend to that of
"
Olelbis. It is called The First Battle in the World." In
this myth, the Master of Flint, Kaltsauna, afterwards trans-
formed into a lizard or kind of Midgard serpent, prized his
weapon so highly that when it was stolen he did not hesitate
37
to set the whole world on fire.
Another beautiful myth of the Yanas sets forth a deadly
feud between the flint-people, that is, fire, and the grizzlies,
lbid., p. 20.
37
Fromparts of the world we have like tales.
all Hesiod says :
" Prometheus stole the far-seen

ray of unwearied fire in a hollow stalk
1
of fennel" (Theogony 566). Some say he stole it from the altar of

"
Zeus, others that he lit his rod at the sun, i.e., the canopy shiner."
The Australians have a" similar fable: a black fellow climbed by a rope
"
to the shiner." Birds and animals play the leading roles everywhere.
A bird brings fire in the Andaman Isles, and among the Ahts it is
said that a fish, which would remind one of Ea, owned fire; other
beasts, or canopy-forms, stole it.
that the cloud-people, denizens of the canopy.

is,
In this
myth the sunlight has a series of adventures which resemble
'
the labors of Hercules. Baby Tsawadi Kamshupa, young
red flint clover fire/ like the infant Hercules, grew very fast.
His labors were: First, he broke a great bow, that is, a
vapor arch. Second, he broke a great many bows. In fact,
he seems to have had quite a fancy for this amusement, as
he broke all that there were but one. Third, he wrapped
himself in a deerskin, as Hercules did in the skin of the
demean lion. This third labor also mentions his arrows,
the sun-shafts. Fourth, he killed one Tenna woman, that is,
a grizzly, a cloud. Fifth, he killed fifty. Sixth, he killed
fifty more. Seventh, he disposed of fifty more, and finally
we find that in his next labor, the eighth, he killed all that
were left outside of the sweat-house. Ninth, he entered the
sweat-house and did his killing inside. Only four Tennas
remained alive. Tenth, he showed these how he could jump.
Eleventh, he shot three of these creatures with arrows. The
fourth Tenna, however, escaped, and from that cloud come
all the storms that are in the world in our time. Twelfth,
"
Ilhataina, the thunder, was born. Ilhataina began to talk,"
" He shouted ;
says Curtin, and the sweat-house trembled.
38
the whole earth shook. He was thundering."
Another beautiful allegorical picture represents this boy
as trying to break a very ugly old bow whose owner had been
killed by Gowila, the terrible and strong lizard. To break
this bow Ilhataina took a stone, intending to crush it. The
bow flew out of his hand, and the stone fell. One may
almost imagine that they hear the sound of the thunder-clap.
In the Wintu myths, Walskit, lightning, is the child of Wima
Loimis, grizzly-bear, the cloud-maiden and the sun.
The Algonquin hero Michabo is also somewhat of a noisy
fellow. He slew the shining prince of serpents with a sun-
K
llid., p. 310.
dart, and, further, the conqueror then clothed himself with

the skin of his foe and drove the rest of the serpents to the
south to the land of the lightnings. A
like hero-god of the
Iroquois destroyed with a thunderbolt the great horned ser-

pent. The God of Waters was the Thunder Bird. 39
Innumerable myths are connected with the thought of the
waters and a flood. " The two gods of the universe/' said
O-dig-i-ni-ni'-a, the relater of the mythic lore of the Hava-
supais (Amerinds of the Southwest), "are Tochopa and
Hokomata. Tochopa he heap good. Hokomata heap han-
a-to-op'-o-gi heap bad all same white man's devil. Him
Hokomata make big row with Tochopa, and he say he drown
the world.
"
Tochopa was full of sadness at the news. He had one
daughter whom he devotedly loved, and from her he had
hoped would descend the whole human race for whom the
world had been made. If Hokomata persisted in his wicked
determination, she must be saved at all hazard. So, work-
ing day and night, he speedily prepared the trunk of a pinion
tree by hollowing it out from one end. In this hollow tree
he placed food and other necessaries, and also made a lookout
window. Then he brought his daughter, and, telling her
she must go into this tree and there be sealed up, he took a
sad farewell of her, closed up the end of the tree, and then
sat down to await the destruction of the world. It was not
long before the floods began to descend. Not rain, but cata-
racts, rivers, deluges, came, making more noise than a thou-
sand Hack-a-tai-as (Colorado Elver) and covering all the
earth with water. The pinion log floated, and in safety lay
Pu-keh-eh, while the waters surged higher and higher and
covered the top of Hue-han-a-patch-a (the San Franciscos),
"
These are the same old-world stories elaborated in the struggles
89
of Ormuzd and Ahriman, of Thor and Midgard, of St. George and the
"
Dragon, and a thousand others." Brinton, The Myths of the New
World," 3d ed., pp. 139, 140.
Hue-ga-w66l-a (Williams Mountain), and all the other moun-

tains of the world.
"
But the waters of heaven could not always be pouring
down, and soon after they ceased the flood upon the earth
found a way to rush into the sea. And as it dashed down it
cut through the rocks of the plateaus and made the deep
Chic-a-mi-mi (canyon) of the Colorado River (Hack-a-tai-a).
Soon all the water was gone.
" Then Pu-keh-eh found her
log no longer floating, and
she peeped out of the window Tochopa had placed in her
boat, and though was misty and almost dark, she could see
it
in the dim distance the great mountains of the San Francisco
range. And near by the canyon of the Little Colorado, and

to the north was the Hack-a-tai-a, and to the west was the
canyon of the Havasu.

" The flood had lasted so
long that she had grown to be
a woman, and, seeing the water gone, she came out and began
to make pottery and baskets, as her father long ago had
taught her. But she was a woman. And what is a woman

without a child in her arms or nursing at her breasts ? How
she longed to be a mother But where was a father for her
!
child ? Alas there was no man in the whole universe

! !
"
Day day longings for maternity filled her heart,
after
until one morning glorious happy morning for Pu-keh-eh
and the Havasu race the darkness began to disappear, and
in the far-away east a soft and new brightness appeared. It
was the triumphant Sun coming to conquer the long night
and bring light into the world. Nearer and nearer he came,
and at last, as he peeped over the far-away mesa summits,
Pu-keh-eh arose and thanked Tochopa, for here, at last, was
a father for her child. She conceived, and in the fulness of
time bore a son, whom she delighted in and called In-ya'-a
the son of the Sun." 40
40
George Wharton James, "The Indians of the Painted Desert
Region," pp. 209-211.
Here is another story, told by Shaman of the Havasupais.

Note the points of similarity and also the differences.
"
In the days of long ago a man and a woman (Hokomata
and Pukeheh Panowa) lived here on the earth. By and by
a son was born to them, whom
they named Tochopa. As he
grew up to manhood Pukeheh Panowa fell in love with him
and wished to marry him, but he instinctively shrank from
such incestuous intercourse. The woman grew angry as he
repelled her,and she made a number of frogs, which brought
large volumes of water. Soon all the country began to be
flooded with water, and Hokomata found out what was the
matter. He took Tochopa and a girl and placed them in the
trunk of a pinion tree, sealed it up, and set them afloat on
the waters. He stored the tree with corn, peaches, pumpkins,
and other food, would not be hungry, and for many
so they
long days the tree floated hither and thither on the face of
the waters. Soon the waters began to subside, and the tree
grounded near to where the Little Colorado now is. When
Tochopa found the tree was no longer floating he knocked
on the side, and Hokomata heard him and came and let him
out. As he stepped on the ground he saw Huehanapatcha
(the San Francisco Mountains), Huegadawiza (Eed Butte),
Huegawodla (Williams Mountains), and he said: "I know
these mountains.This is not far from my country." And
the water ran down the Hack-a-tha-eh-la ('the salty stream,'
or the Little Colorado) and made Hack-a-tai-a
(the Grand
of the 41
Canyon Colorado)."
The Wallapais (Haulapais) of Arizona have the follow-
ing Origin Legend :
u
In the days of the long ago, when the world was
young,
there emerged from Shi-pa-pu two gods, named To-cho-pa
and Ho-ko-ma-ta. When these brothers first stood upon the
surface of the earth, they found it impossible to move around,
IUd., pp. 213-214.

as the sky was pressed down close to the ground. They

decided that, as they wished to remain upon the earth, they
must push the sky up into place. Accordingly, they pushed
it up as high as they could with their hands, and then got
long sticks and raised it still higher, after which they cut
down trees and pushed it up higher still, and then, climbing
the mountains, they forced it up to its present position, where
it is out of reach of all human kind, and incapable of doing
them any injury." 42
IUd., p. 188.
CHAPTER XXI
RUSSIAN MYTHS
IN most of these Kussian stories the orignal idea has

been greatly obscured by the process of repetition and the
course of travel from one region to another. Yet notwith-
standing this smoothing off of the rough edges, the nature
myths of this people, and especially their folk-tales, are rich

in reminiscences of the forgotten lore of the heavens. Take
"
the legend of Yelena the Wise " as a sample.
A hero by the name of Ivan was wrecked on an island,
which in the long forgotten past was probably located in the
canopy-sea. Here he wandered, whether was long or short,
it
till he found a passage to the

underground kingdom, which
also in the long forgotten past was probably located in the
canopy. In this kingdom the six-headed serpent lived and

reigned in a white walled castle. Ivan represented himself to
this being as his son, and was accepted as such.
" Some time
passed, and the six-headed serpent said :
'
My dear son, here are the keys of all the chambers go ;
wherever thy desire may lead thee, but do not dare to look
into that chamber which is fastened with two locks, one of
gold, the other of silver. I will fly around the world, will
look at people, and amuse myself. 7
" He
gave, the keys, and flew away out of the underground
kingdom to wander through the white world. Ivan Tsarevich
remained all alone. He lived a month, a second and a third
month, and the year was coming to an end, when it became
dreary for him, and he thought to examine the chambers;
he walked and walked till he came straight in front of the
forbidden chamber. The good youth could not restrain
332
RUSSIAN MYTHS 333
himself he took out the keys, opened both locks, the gold and
;
the silver, opened the oaken door.

"
In that chamber were sitting two maidens riveted in
chains: one was Tsarevna Yelena the Wise, and the other
her maid. The Tsarevna had golden wings, and her maid
'
silver wings. Said Yelena the Wise Hail, good hero
: !
Do us a service not great give us each a glass of spring water

:
to drink/
"
Ivan, looking at her unspeakable beauty, forgot all
about the serpent, pitied the poor prisoners, poured out two
glasses of spring water, and gave them to the beautiful
women. They drank, shook themselves the iron rings were ;
broken, and the heavy chains fell. The beautiful women

clapped their wings and flew through the open window then ;
only did Ivan come to his mind. He shut the empty chamber,
came out on the porch, sat on the step, hung his stormy head
below his mighty shoulders, and grew powerfully, powerfully
sad. How was he to give answer ? Suddenly the wind began
to whistle, a mighty storm rose up, the six-headed serpent
flew home.
" i
dear son
'
Hail, my !
"
Ivan answered not a word.
" '
art thou silent or has something happened ? '
Why ;
" '
I did not obey thy command. I looked
Evil, father,
into thatchamber where two maidens were -sitting riveted in
chains I gave them spring water to drink, they drank, shook
;
themselves, clapped their wings, and flew out through the

open window.'
" The
serpent was terribly enraged he began to abuse ;
and curse in every fashion. Then he took an iron rod, heated

it red hot, and gave Ivan three blows on the back. '
It is
'
thy luck,' said he, that thou art my son if thou wert not, ;
"
I should eat thee alive.' 1
1
Jeremiah Curtin, "Myths and Folk Tales of the Russians, etc./
pp. 220-221.
Ivan then asked the serpent's permission to go in search

of Yelena the Wise, whom he wished to marry. He was
allowed to go, but learned that whoever would marry her
must hide three times, and if found each time, he would then
have his stormy head cut off. He accepted the conditions, and
the first time he mounted on a blue-winged eagle's back
above the third range of clouds which language is very
suggestive of the canopy but by the aid of her looking-glass

Yelena discovered him. " Ivan came to the earth, slipped
off the eagle, went and put it to
to the seashore, struck fire,
the blue sea. Suddenly, from wherever he came, a giant

'
pike swam to shore. Well, good youth, creep into my
mouth I ;
'11 hide thee in the bottom of the sea.' He opened
his jaws, took in the young man, sank with him in the abyss
of the sea, and covered him with sand.
" ' '
it will be all right.'
Now,' thought Ivan, perhaps
But the point was not there.
" Yelena the Wise
barely looked in the mirror, and saw
'
everything at once. Stop, cunning fellow I see thou hast

!
gone into the giant pike, and thou art sitting now in the
abyss of the sea, beneath rolling sands it is time to come to ;
shore.' The pike swam to shore, threw out the good youth,
and vanished in the sea." 2
Ivan now placed himself behind the mirror, which was
"
nothing else than the shining canopy itself. A little later
Yelena the Wise ran to the chamber, looked and looked in
the mirror. She could not see her bridegroom the appointed ;
time had passed. She grew angry, and with vexation struck
the glass it fell into fragments, and before her stood Ivan,
;
the brave youth.

"
There was no help for it, she had to yield this time.
At the house of Yelena the Wise there was no need of wait-
ing to make mead or wine; that day they had a noble feast
3
Ibid., p. 226.
RUSSIAN MYTHS 335
and a wedding. They were crowned, and began to live to

3
live on and win wealth."
There are a great many myths of this character, and
closer acquaintance shows that in their primitive form they
simply portray Ivan, the sun, conquering the snake, or

canopy. Here is another illustrating this point :
"
Once there was an old couple who had three sons. Two
of them had their wits about them, but the third, Ivan, was
a simpleton. K"ow, in the land in which Ivan lived there
was never any day, but always night. This was a snake's
doing. Well, Ivan undertook to kill that snake. Then came
a third snake with twelve heads. Ivan killed it, and de-
stroyed the heads; and immediately there was bright light
throughout the whole land. The myth is pushed on, and
there is monster who devours maidens, called a
also the
' '
Norka and Perun takes the work of Indra and Saint
;
George, enters the castle (dark clouds), and rescues her.

But the dark power takes a distinctive Russian appearance
in the awful figure of Koshchei, the deathless." 4
The Russian skazkas describe Perun, the god of light,
as sometimes lying for a while veiled in a shroud the fog
or floating over dark water in a coffin the cloud. He is the
thunder-god, the Thor of the Slavonian tradition. The snake-
canopy dies when the sun and moon finally establish them-
selves.
In the tale of " Kiss Miklos and the Green Daughter of

the Green King," a certain kingdom was in unbroken dark-
ness, without sun and without moon, by which we know that

it was located under the canopy. Three brothers went out
to find the missing luminaries. The youngest was Kiss
3
Ibid., p. 227. The Russian title ofAfanasyeff's work, from which
the above myth and most of those which follow are culled, is " Naro-
"
diya Russkiya Skazki." Yelena the Wise " is found in part vii, p.
304.
*L. E. Poor, "Sanskrit and its Kindred Literatures," p. 390.
Miklos, or, as we would say in English, Nicholas Little.

This young one was probably one of the least of the new-
born little scenes in the vapor-sky. He travelled on a magic
six-legged steedwhich was unquestionably a sun-dog, or halo,
for was said of him that he ate live coals. Nicholas Little
it
"
carried a sun-sword which when he said to it, Cut, my dear
sword," forthwith cut down whatever he wished.
Now, the three brothers moved on beyond the
their way,
glass mountains, and beyond where

that, to were the little
short-tailed pig roots (vapor cloud), and farther than that, and
still farther, till they came to the silver bridge (upper bright
belt). Here Nicholas Little encountered the twelve-headed
dragon, conquered him, and gave the liberated moon to one

of his brothers to carry. Then they went on to the golden
bridge, which was still higher. Here Nicholas Little killed
the twenty-four-headed dragon and liberated the sun, which
he gave to his other brother to carry.
On the way home the two wives of the serpents, and the
old woman, their mother, conspired to kill the heroes. The
old woman was the canopy. She asks her two daughters-in-
" Just
law, telling :them prop up my two eyes with that iron
bar, which weighs twelve hundred pounds, so that I may look
around." The great size of this bar shows us how tenaciously
the truth regarding the immensity of the old hag lived on.
Her two daughters-in-law then took the twelve-hundred-
pound iron bar and opened the old woman's eyes; then she
(
spoke thuswise If that cursed Nicholas Little has killed
:
my two sons, I will turn into a mouth, one jaw of which will
be on the earth and the other I will throw to the sky, so as to
catch that cursed villain and his two brothers, and grind
them as mill-stones grind wheat.'
The dragon's wives changed themselves into other objects.
The first became a bubbling water, but Nicholas recognized
her and killed her; the second became a fruit tree; but
Nicholas also recognized her and killed her.
RUSSIAN MYTHS 337
"
Jeremiah Curtin says : Now
they journeyed and trav-
elled through forty-nine kingdoms, till at last Miklos saw
from a distance that an unmercifully great mouth, one jaw
of which was on earth and the other thrown up to the heavens,
was nearing them like the swiftest storm, so that they had
barely time left to run into the door of the Lead Friend's
house. And a thousandfold was their luck that they got in;
for the unmercifully great mouth stood before the threshold
of the Lead Friend, so that whoever should go out would
fall into it, and be swallowed that minute."
To make a long story short in the telling, Lead Friend

and Nicholas poured eighteen tons of boiling lead into the
old witch's mouth and burned out her stomach. But after
doing this, Lead-Melting Friend, like Eurystheus in the
Hercules myth, kept Nicholas under his power until he
should perform the labors connected with bringing the Green
Daughter of the Green King to him.
The other two sons returned home. Curtin says " Then :
they let out the steed of the bright moon and the steed of the
shining sun on the highway of the heavens, but both the

moon and the sun shone sadly. For this reason they shone
sadly: that he was without merited reward who had really
freed them from the dragons, for Kiss Miklos (Nicholas)
was now in never-ending slavery to the Lead Friend.
" Once the Lead Friend called Miklos and
found this to
tell him :
'
Well, Miklos, if thou wilt bring me the Green
Daughter of the Green King, I will let thee go free, and I
will strike from thee the three-hundred-pound ring and the
twelve-hundred-pound chain. Therefore, good friend Miklos,

I advise thee to start in the morning with the bright shining
sun, and bring me my heart's desire."
After many labors and the use of great magic, Nicholas
secured the Green Daughter, but desiring her for himself,
they then contrived to find Lead Friend's life, which he did

not carry in his own person. This they took from him and
thus obtained their freedom.
The clear sky, the personification of which was our hero,
was now freed, so he and his wife immediately started for
"
home. Now, the shining sun had shone so sadly, and the
bright moon had beamed so sadly, that it could not be more
so; but the moment they beheld Miklos and his wife in the
chariot of glass and gold, the bright sun shone joyously, and
so did the clear moon." 5
In the above skazka it is stated that Lead Friend does not
carry his life in his own person. Koshchei the Deathless has
like immutability. He is merely one of the many incarna-
tions of the spirit of the great dark canopy-belt. Sometimes
he is described as altogether serpent-like. His life to the
ancients seemed to be apart from the manifestation of his
being, and therefore from their viewpoint he could not be

killed until this hiding-place should be broken into and the
true sun should appear.
To illustrate that the death of the
canopy appeared to be,
not in was conquered by Ivan the sun, we
itself, but that it
give an abridgment and interpretation of the skazka of

Koshchei Without-Death as follows:
" Ivan
Tsarevich was a precocious infant that would not
go to sleep unless rocked by his father the Tsar, who, speak-
'
ing to him, would say Sleep, little son, sleep, and when
:
thou art grown up a man I will get thee Peerless Beauty as

bride.' The Tsarevich would then fall asleep and sleep three
days and three nights at a time. This happened three times,
and then, waking up, he asked his father's blessing, saying:
e
I am going forth to marry.' The father replied ' Whither :
canst thou go ? Thou art but nine days of age in all.'

'
Ivan, having been thus cradled and rocked in the canopy,
Jeremiah Curtin, " Myths and Folk Tales of the Russians, Western
8
"
Slavs, and Magyrs," pp. 475-516. Afanasyeff, Narodiya Russkiya
"
Skazki," part i, p. 1. In the original, The Lead Friend."
RUSSIAN MYTHS 339
was indeed a very active hero. He procured for himself,

as all good sun-heroes should, a magic horse, and forthwith
sallied out into the white world to find Peerless Beauty as
bride. He
rode far, far. The day was growing short, night
was coming on. A
house stood like a town each room was
;
a chamber. He went in to a
tied his horse to a copper ring,
sun-obscuring chamber and spent the night.

The next morning he rose early, rode far with distance,
the day was shortening. There stood another house like a
town, each room a chamber. He tied his horse to a silver
ring, went in, spent the night in a sun-obscuring chamber.
The third day and night passed in like manner, but at this
last cloud mansion he tied his horse to a golden ring. Appar-
1
ently these three rings were three different belts in the vapor
cloud homes.
Next morning the old grandmother who furnished him
the last night's lodging called all the fishes (fish-gods) of the
great sea and all the animals of the land (gods-terrestrial)

and asked them for information of Peerless Beauty, but the
fishesand creatures could give no information. The birds
were called and they also gave answer " We have not seen
:
her with sight, we have not heard her with hearing." They
had just spoken when in came the Mogol bird, fell on the
"
ground, and, as the tale says, there was no light in the
6
window." This great canopy-bird was a light extinguisher
and knew all about Peerless Beauty. She took Ivan on her
back, and as she flew she fed on the cloud-oxen and vessels of
water.
In the Norka Skazka (Afanasyeff i, No. 6) a like bird is men-
"
tioned. The text reads,Presently there came a bird flying such a
big one, that the light was blotted out by it. It had been dark there
before, but now it became darker still." In the story of Usuinya we
"
have another instance of a great bird. The Usuinya Bird is a
"
twelve-headed snake," says the text. The monster is not so much a
bird as a flying dragon." He stole the golden apples (stars) from a
monarch's garden (the egg-hole of the north), but was killed by Ivan
(the sun). Erlenvein No. 41.
To make a long story short in the telling, he obtained

Peerless Beauty, and was returning with her, but, being
wearied, he lay down and slept exactly nine days
to sleep,
and nights. Meanwhile Koshchei Without-Death bore away
Peerless Beauty to his own kingdom.
It will be noted that the time-periods of the infant sun's
slumbers amounts to the same total as this later instance; it
is therefore natural to find that when he awoke he had to do
hiswork all over again. The routine of nature repeats itself.

He came to the kingdom of the Deathless one, now
determined to find out where his death was. He asked Peer-
lessBeauty to find out. Koshchei fooled her once, fooled
"
her twice, then he said unto her, Oh, simple woman, I
was joking with thee My death is in
! an egg, the egg is in
a duck, and the duck is in a stump floating on the sea."
When Koshchei wentwar, Peerless Beauty baked
off to
cakes for Tvan Tsarevich, and told him where to look for
the death of Koshchei. He found it and returned to the
canopy-darkened home of the Deathless. Koshchei Without-
Death was sitting at the window, cursing.
" '
Oh, Ivan Tsarevich, thou wishest to take Peerless
Beauty from me and so thou wilt not live.'
;
" '
Thou didst take her from me thyself,' answered Ivan
Tsarevich, took the egg from his bosom, and showed it to
Koshchei.
'
What is this ? >
" The
light grew dim in the eyes of Koshchei then he ;
became mild and obedient. Ivan Tsarevich threw the egg

from one hand to the other. Koshchei Without-Death stag-
gered from corner to corner. This seemed pleasant to the
Tsarevich. He threw the egg more quickly from hand to
hand, and broke it then Koshchei fell and died.
;
" Ivan Tsarevich attached the horses to his

golden car-
riage, took whole bags filled with gold and silver, and went
7
to his father."
7
Cm-tin, "Myths and Folk-Tales of the Russians, etc.," p. 106 ff.
Afanasyeff pt. vii, p. 72.

RUSSIAN MYTHS 341
It is not a stretch of our imagination that places this

skazka in the ranks of the snn myths. Professor A. de
Gubernatis sees in the duck the dawn, in the hare (which
some of the variants of this story substitute for the log) the
8
moon sacrificed in the morning, and in the egg the sun.
This interpretation is in the right direction, but its author
lacked the knowledge of the hypothesis under consideration.
Ivan, the hidden sun, who rode on the magic-steed, brought
into the presence of a darkened world the true sun, the egg,
and forthwith Koshchei, the serpent, died.
"
W. E. S. Ealston, of the British Museum, says : In one
of the descriptions of KoshcheTs death, he is said to be killed
by a blow on the forehead inflicted by the mysterious egg

that last link in the magic chain by which his life is darkly
bound. In another version of the same story, but told of a
Snake, the fatal blow struck by a small stone found in the
is
yolk of an egg, which is inside a duck, which is inside a
hare, which is on an island (i.e., the fabulous island Buyan).

In another variant Koshchei attempts to deceive his fair
' ?
captive, pretending that his death resides in a besom, or
in a fence, both of which she adorns with gold in token of her
love. Then he confesses that his ( death ' really lies in an
egg, inside a duck, inside a log which is floating on the sea.
Prince Ivan gets hold of the egg and shifts it from one hand
to the other. Koshchei rushes wildly from side to side of
the room. At last the prince breaks the egg. Koshchei falls
on the floor and dies."
Our author "
goes on to say : This heart-breaking epi-
sode occurs in the folk-tales of many lands. It may not be
amiss to trace it through some of In a !N"orse story
its forms.
a Giant's heart lies in an egg, inside a duck, which swims
in a well, in a church, on an island. With this may be com-
pared another Norse tale, in which a Haugebasse, or Troll,

who has carried off a princess, informs her that he and all
his companions will burst asunder when above them passes
8 " 269.
Zoological Mythology," i,
6
the grain of sand that lies under the ninth tongue in the
ninth head of a certain dead dragon. The grain of sand
'
is found and brought, and the result is that the whole of the
monstrous brood of Trolls or Haugebasser is instantaneously

' '
destroyed. In a Transylvanian- Saxon story a Witch's life

is a light which burns in an egg, inside a duck, which swims
on a pond, inside a mountain, and she dies when it is put
' '
out. In the Bohemian story of The Sun-horse a Warlock's
' '
strength lies in an egg, which is within a duck, which is

within a stag, which is under a tree. A Seer finds the egg
and sucks it. Warlock becomes as weak as a child,
Then the
'
for all his strength had passed into the Seer/ In the
' (
Gaelic story of The Sea-Maiden/ the great beast with three
heads,' which haunts the loch cannot be killed until an egg
is broken, which is in the mouth of a trout which springs
out of a crow, which flies out of a hind, which lives on an

island in the middle of the loch. In a Modern Greek tale
the life of a dragon or other baleful being comes to an end
simultaneously with the lives of three pigeons which are

shut up in an all but inaccessible chamber, or inclosed within
a wild boar. Closely connected with the Greek tale is the
' '
Servian story of the dragon whose strength (snaga*) lies in
a sparrow, which is inside a dove, inside a hare, inside a
boar, inside a dragon (aj day a) which is in a lake, near a
royal city. The hero of the story fights the dragon of the
lake, and after a long stuggle, being invigorated at the crit-
ical moment by a kiss which the heroine imprints on his fore-
head, he flings it high in the air. When it falls to the ground

it breaks in pieces, and out comes the boar. Eventually the
hero seizes the sparrow and wrings its neck, but not before
he has obtained from it the charm necessary for the recovery
of his missing brothers and a number of other victims of
9
the dragon's cruelty."
"Russian Fairy Tales and Muscovite Folk Lore," chap, ii, Myth-
ological.
RUSSIAN MYTHS 343
Another tale telling of a rescue is told of how Mirko, the
king's son, went forth to battle with the overpowering enemies

of his father's friend, the Hero of the Plain ; succoring him,
he brought him to his sire in triumph. The tale is so full of
the romance of the sky that we give it as follows:
To begin with, like Nicholas Little, Mirko also came into
possession of a magic mare. When she had eaten the glowing

coals of the sun, she became such a golden-haired steed as
the Star of the Dawn. On this creature Mirko passed over
the copper, silver, and golden bridges of the sky, beyond this
they climbed the summitless, high glass mountain and forth-

with they crossed that very mountain.
(
The horse stamped, and said, Open thy eyes master !
"
What dost thou see ?
' i
I see,' said Mirko,
'
when I look
behind, something dark, as large as a great plate.'
" '
Oh, my master, that is the round of the earth. But
what dost thou see before thee ? '
" '
I see a narrow glass road, rising like a half circle.
On both sides of it is emptiness of bottomless depth.'
" '
My dear master, we must pass over that road but the ;
passage is so delicate that if one of my feet slip the least

bit to one side or the other, there is an end to our lives. But
trust thyself to me, and close thy eyes. Hold fast, I will
manage.'
" and in an instant stamped
With that she swept on,
again.
i
Open thy eyes ! What dost thou see ?

'
" '
I see behind me,' said Mirko, a faint light in front
'
;
of me is darkness so dense that when I hold my finger before
my eyes I cannot see it.'
" '
we must go through that also shut thy eyes
Well, ;
and hold firmly.'

" She '
sped on anew, and again stamped. Open thy
dost thou see now ?
'
eyes !What
" '
said Mirko,
i
the most glorious, light, beautiful,
I see,'
snow-covered mountains, and in the midst of them a silken

meadow ;
meadow something dark/
in the centre of the silken
" ' '
This silken meadow/ said the steed, belongs to the
Hero of the Plain; and the dark object in the middle is his
tent, woven from black silk. Now close thy eyes or not as
may please thee. We shall go there directly/ Mirko spurred
the steed, and they were at the tent in a twinkle."
The Hero of the Plain said " ' This great silken
: meadow
which thou seest is every day filled with enemies, and every
day I cut them down; but to-day as thou art with me, we
shall not hurry. Come, let us eat and drink let them crowd.'
;
Then the two went in, ate and drank till the enemy had so
increased that they reached almost to the tent. The Hero
'
of the Plain sprang then to his feet and said Up, my :
comrade, we '11 soon finish.' Both leaped into their saddles

and rushed to the centre of the enemy, crying out, Sword '
'
from the sheath The swords hewed off the heads of the
!
countless multitude, so there was scarcely room to move for

bodies. Twelve of the opposing warriors now flee from the
rear, the Hero of the Plain and Mirko pursuing. They
come to a glass mountain where there is a nice, level space;
he sees them running upon it. He gallops after them; but
all at the ground had swallowed them.
once they are as if
Mirko springs to the place where they disappear, finds a

breach and a deep opening with winding steps. His steed
rushes into the opening and down the stairs; they are soon
in the lower world (lower canopy region).
"
Mirko looks around the lower world and sees a shining
diamond castle, which serves instead of the sun down there.
The twelve fleeing warriors rush towards the castle, he after
them, and, ordering his sword out of the sheath, cuts off
their heads in amoment. The next instant Mirko stands
before the diamond castle. Within, there is such a clatter
and pounding that the whole interior trembles and shivers.
He dismounts and enters. Inside is an old witch weaving,
RUSSIAN MYTHS 345
and the racket is deafening. The building is full of armed

men. The infernal old witch weaves them. When she
throws her shuttle to the right, two hussars spring out on
horseback; when she throws it to the left, two men on foot
jump out armed.
"
Meanwhile Sword out of the Sheath cuts down the
newly made soldiers, but the old witch weaves more. (She
is a canopy ever giving birth to new clouds.)
'
Well/ thinks
'
Mirko to himself, I shall never get out of here, at this rate ;'
but he commands the sword, and it cuts the old witch into
small pieces (which shows that it was a good sun-shaft).
Then he carries the loom into the yard, where there is a
pile. He throws everything on the pile and sets fire to it;
but when all is burned one of the old witch's ribs springs out,
begins to turn round in the dust, and she rises up again
entire.
* * *
" '
If I leave the old witch alive, she will put up her loom
again, and the Hero of the Plain will never be able to free
himself from his enemies.' Again he orders his sword to
cut the old witch in pieces; he throws the pieces into the
fire, where they are consumed, so that she can never rise
again. (This scene is identical with the burning heavens

at Ragnarok. ) He mounts his sieed and searches the under-
ground world, but nowhere does he find a living soul.
" Then he
puts spurs to his steed, springs up the circular
stairs, and issues forth into the upper world. Straightway
he comes down from the glass mountain, and, passing over
the silken meadow, returns to the Hero of the Plain, who
thought Mirko had left him. But when he saw his friend
returning, he went out to meet him with great joy, and took
him into the tent, where they feasted together gloriously.
And when the prince rose to go, he offered him his silken
meadow and all the royal domains; but Mirko answered:
6
My dear elder brother, I have finished thy enemies they ;
will never attack thy kingdom again. I have this now to ask,
that thou come with me to my father the king, who has long
been waiting for thee.' * * *
"
At that time the old king was sitting at the window of
his palace next the rising sun, and lo he beholds two horse- !
men riding towards him. Straightway he takes his field-

glass, and sees that it is his trusty old comrade, the Hero of
the Plain, together with his son Mirko. He runs out, and
from the tower commands that a twelve-year-old ox be killed ;
and when Mirko and the Hero arrive, the great feast is ready.
He receives them with joy, kisses and embraces them; this
time both his eyes are laughing. Then they sat down to the
feast, ate and drank with gladness. Meanwhile the Hero of
the Plain spoke of Mirko' s doings, and, among other things,
'
said to the old king Well, comrade, thy son Mirko will
:
be a better hero than we were he is already a gallant youth.

;
Thou hast cause to rejoice in him.'

" 10
There is no questioning of the fact that this class of

skazkas belong to the sun-myths. One of them even bears the
evidence in its title. It is called " The Witch and the Sun's
Sister." It begins with an account of Ivan fleeing from his
witch-sister (another name for Koshchei, the canopy). Of
course she followed him.
Before proceeding, it may be well to remark that this
incidentis common to
nearly all the sun-myths; thus in the
skazka of Koshchei the Deathless, after Ivan had carried
away Peerless Beauty, the Deathless one followed them and
carried her away as Ivan slept. Again, in the legend of
" The Green "
Daughter of the Green King the daughter
herself on the homeward way plays tricks, some of which
"
are as follows : The Green Daughter of the Green King
(
beckoned Miklos to her and asked him Hei my heart's : !
beautiful love, renowned Kiss Miklos, tell me, on thy true
soul, art thou taking me for thyself or for another ? If thou

10
"Myths and Folk-Tales of the Russians, etc.," pp. 434-448.
Afanasyeff's collection, pt. i, p. 436.
RUSSIAN MYTHS 347
art not taking me for thyself, I will play tricks with thee.'
" (
I am taking thee for myself ; I am taking thee for
another/ answered Kiss Miklos.
Well, no more was said. Once, when turning and wind-
ing, they look in the coach ;
it is empty. The beautiful girl
is gone. In a moment they stop, search the coach, but find
her nowhere.
" ' '
Here, good friend Far Seer,' said Kiss Miklos, look
'
around Whither has our beautiful bird flown ?
!
"
Far Seer did n't let that be said twice. In the turn of
an eye he surveyed the round earth, but he saw not the beau-
tiful maiden.
" e
She is not on the dry earth/ said Far Seer.
" '
Look into the sea/ said Kiss Miklos.
"
Far Seer surveyed the deep sea, and saw her hiding
in the belly of a three-pound whale, near the opposite shore
of the sea.
" ' '
Ah, I see where she is !
" '
'
Where ? asked Miklos.
" '
Hidden
in the belly of a three-pound whale.'
" ' c
Here, good friend Great Drinker/ said Miklos, come
'
hither, and drink up the water of this deep sea !
"
Great Drinker was not slow. He lay face under by the
sea, and with three draughts drank up all the water (evapo-
ration drinking up the vapor-belt). The three-pound whale
was lying then in a bay near the opposite shore.
" '
Now, good brother Swift Runner/ said Kiss Miklos,
'
step out and bring me that three-pound whale which is
lying near the opposite shore.'
"
Swift Runner rushed in a moment across the bottom,
of the sea, and brought back the three-pound whale. Miklos
opened the whale, took out its stomach, cut it carefully, and
out fell the Green Daughter of the Green King. Then he
seated her in the coach, and they drove on."
This was not the only effort put forth by the Green
Daughter to escape. They looked into the six-horse canopy

coach, and she was not there. Far Seer was called and he
discovered her in her own home, "
in the very centre of the
garden, hidden on the highest top of an apple-tree, in the

"
middle of a ripe red apple. Swift Runner was sent and
fetched the apple, or star, containing her. Kiss Miklos seated
her in the coach, and they fared farther. 11
But to return from this digression to the skazka of " The
Witch and the Sun's Sister " "
Prince Ivan heard a loud
:
noise and looked back. chasing him. So

There was his sister
he waved his handkerchief, and a deep lake lay behind him.

While the witch was swimming across the water, Prince Ivan
got a long way ahead. But on she came faster than ever;
and now she was close at hand! Vertodub (a cloud-giant)
guessed that the Prince was trying to escape from his sister,
so he began tearing up oaks and strewing them across the
road (heaped up the world-tree). A regular mountain did
he pile up! There was no passing by for the witch! So
she set to work She gnawed, and gnawed,
to clear the way.
and at length work to bore her way
contrived by hard
through but by this time Prince Ivan was far ahead.

;
" On she dashed in

pursuit, chased and chased. Just a
little more and it would be impossible for him to escape. But
Yertogor (another cloud-giant) spied the witch, laid hold of
the very highest of all the mountains, pitched it down all
of a heap on the road, and flung another mountain right on
top of it. While the witch was climbing and clambering,

Prince Ivan rode, and found himself a long way ahead. At
last the witch got across the mountain, and once more set
off in pursuit of her brother. By-and-by she caught sight of

him, and exclaimed:
" shan't get away from me this time And now
'
You !
'
she is close, now she is just going to catch him!
"Curtin, "Myths and Folk-Tales, etc.," pp. 501-504.

RUSSIAN MYTHS 349
"
At that very moment Prince Ivan dashed up to the
abode of the Sun's Sister and cried:
" '
Sun, Sun! open the window!' (' Old sun canopy-

shiner open a hole! ').
"
The Sun's sister opened the window, and the Prince
bounded through it, horse and all.
"
Then the witch began to ask that her brother might be
given up to her for punishment. The Sun's Sister would
not listen to her, nor would she give him up. Then the witch
said:
" '
Let Prince Ivan be weighed against me, to see which
is the heavier. If I am, then I will eat him but if he is,
;
then let him kill me.'

" This was done. Prince Ivan was the first to get into
then the witch began to get into the other.
one of the scales ;
But no sooner had she set foot in it than up shot Prince

Ivan in the air, and that with such force that he flew right up
into the sky, and into the chamber of the Sun's Sister.
" for the Witch-Snake, she remained down below
But as
12
on earth."
The Sun's
Sister may be identified with a bright upper
cloud-belt, and because she is bright she is the true sister of

Ivan the sun. In the dawn the Witch-Snake, or false sister,
steps into the lower heavens, which are the mythical pair of
scales, and forthwith the sun flies up into his true sister's
shining abode.
In the Russian skazkas these palaces of the canopy fre-
quently contain hidden or forbidden chambers from which
sky-scenes are released by the sun-heroes. The Tale of
" Yelena the Wise " is of this
character. Usually the hero
and heroine are chased by the parent canopy, which is the
captor in the cases above cited. Ralston gives a number of

instances of a like nature, from which we select the
following :
12
W. R. S. Ralston, "Russian Fairy Tales," chap, ii, Mythological.
"
The
story of Immortal Koshchei is one of frequent
occurrence, the different versions maintaining a unity of
idea, but varying considerably in detail. In one of them,
in which Koshchei's part is played by a Snake, the hero's
sisters are carried off by their feathered admirers without his
leave being asked an omission for which a full apology is

i
afterwards made. In another, the history of Fedor Tugarin
and Anastasia the Fair/ the hero's three sisters are wooed
and won, not by the Falcon, the Eagle, and the Raven, but
by the Wind, the Hail, and the Thunder. ^Modern storm
heroes supplanted the old canopy warriors.) He himself
marries the terrible heroine Anastasia the Fair, in the for-
bidden chamber of whose palace he finds a snake hung up
by one of the ribs. He gives it a lift and it gets free from
its hook and flies away, carrying off Anastasia the Fair.
Fedor eventually finds her, escapes with her on a magic foal
which he obtains, thanks to the aid of grateful wolves, bees,
i
and crayfish, and destroys the snake by striking it on the
'
forehead with the stone which was destined to be its death.
In a third version of the story, the hero finds in the forbidden
'
chamber Koshchei the Deathless, in a caldron amid flames,
boiling in pitch.' There he has been, he declares, for fifteen
years, having been lured there by the beauty of Anastasia
the Fair. In a fourth, in which the hero's three sisters
marry three beggars, who turn out to be snakes with twenty,
thirty, and forty heads apiece, Koshchei is found in the for-
bidden chamber, seated on a horse which is chained to a
caldron. He begs the hero to unloose the horse, promising,
in return, to save him from three deaths." 13
It has been shown that Koshchei was the personified
canopy-belt. In one skazka, he is even called a snake. Now,

when the sun first appeared as a dim light in this blanket, no
doubt it was thought to be a part of the same cloud-being, the
soul or life as it were of Koshchei the Deathless then as the
;
18
Hid.
RUSSIAN MYTHS 351
orb of day came into clearer view it was a horse chained to

the caldron of flame and heat. Later developments disclosed
the fact that the sun was not a part of the old canopy, and
the accepted storieshad to be recast with the sun as a separate
hero, making war on the decrepit serpent. Ralston says :
"
All the monstrous forms which figure in the stories
we have just been considering appear to be merely different
species of the great serpent family. Such names as Koshchei,
Chudo, Yudo, Usuinya, and the like, seem to admit of ex-
change the will of the story-teller with that of Zniei
at
Goruinuich, the many-headed Snake, who in Russian story-

14
land represented as the type of all that is evil."
is An evil
canopy was an evil thing indeed!
Another name given to such a canopy or snake was ' Baba
Yaga.' One of these canopy mothers ordered a servant to
swing the cradle of her infant son. The Baba Yaga's children
were horrible creatures, but this maid performed her task
faithfully, so the old woman sent her home with a blue coffer
filled with money. The
bright-colored blue canopy brought
the greenhouse conditions along with plenty on the earth
beneath. Another servant followed, did badly, and was dis-
missed with a red-coffer, out of which issued fire. The good
canopy had turned Ragnarok, or the day when the
evil.
canopy had descended into the atmospheric region and ap-

peared bloody red, had arrived.
The evil Baba Yagas brought 'on the Ice age. One of
these individuals is represented in the skazkas as petrifying
her victims, 15 which trait connects her with Medusa. There
were three sister Baba Yagas that may be likened to the three
'Gorgons.
"
Yasilissa, or Golden Tress," was visiting one of these
creatures, and it appears that she wanted to grow wise. To
14
ibid.
15
KoshcheTs name is said to be derived from host,' a bone, whence
'
comes a verb signifying to become ossified, petrified, or frozen. Ibid.

"
grow wise one must ask questions. Ask away," the Baba
" '
Yaga said ; only it is n't every question that brings good.

Get much know, and old soon you '11 grow/
to
" '
I only want to ask you, granny, about something I
saw. As I was coming here, I was passed by one riding on
a white horse; he was white himself, and dressed in white.
Who was he ? '
" ( '
That was my
bright Day ! answered the Baba Yaga.
" '
Afterwards there passed me another rider, on a red
horse ;
red himself, and all in red clothes. Who was he ? '
" e
That was my red Sun !
?
answered the Baba Yaga.
" e
And who may be the black rider, granny, who passed
by me
'
just at
your gate ?
" '
That was my dark Night they are ;
all trusty servants
16
of mine."
The following incident connected with a Baba Yaga
occurs in the story of Mara-Morenna. Prince Ivan, the sun,
went to one of the old women to ask for a heroic steed. This
seems natural, for if we put the question ourselves, where
else could the sun go to in order to procure a vapor-arc or
shell for his steed ? The canopy-vapor, or Baba Yaga, alone
could supply them. Ivan had to pass over this world-roof
each day; it follows that he could get such a steed as he
required only from her. She set him the task of watching
her mares for three days, promising him the steed he desired
if he brought them back safely to the stable. At the end of
the appointed time, though he had performed the task suc-
cessfully, a bee told him to steal a certain colt and depart

in the night. As the story goes; :
"
The Baba Yaga went to sleep. In the dead of the night
Prince Ivan stole the sorry colt, saddled it, jumped on its
back, and galloped away to the fiery river. When he came

to that river he waved the handkerchief three times on the
lUd.
RUSSIAN MYTHS 353
right hand, and suddenly, springing goodness knows whence,

there hung across the river, high in the air, a splendid bridge.
The Prince rode across the bridge and waved the handker-
chief twice only on the left hand ; there remained across the
river a thin ever so thin a bridge 1T !
" When Baba Yaga

the got up in the morning, the sorry
colt was not to be seen! Off she set in pursuit. At full
speed did she her iron mortar, urging it on with the
fly in
pestle, sweeping away her traces with the broom. She dashed
up to the fiery river, gave a glance, and said,
'
capital A
bridge She drove on the bridge, but had got only half-
!
'
way when the bridge broke in two, and the Baba Yaga went
flop into the river. There truly did she meet with a cruel
" 18 The
death !
appearance of the sun brought about the
cruel death of the canopy. Heaven's bridge fell under her.
Of the general character of the Russian snake, Ralston
" His
says : outline, like that of the cloud with which he is
so frequently associated, and which he is often supposed to
typify, is seldom well-defined. "Now in one form and now in
another, he glides a shifting shape, of which it is difficult
to obtain a satisfactory view.

* * *
"But in most cases he is a serpent which in outward
appearance seems to differ from other ophidians only in being
winged and polycephalous, the number of his heads gen-

* * *
erally varying from three to twelve.
" In one
story he appears to have stolen, or in some way
concealed, the daylight in another the bright moon and the
;
19
many stars come forth from within him after his death."
One of the skazkas embracing some of the above concep-
e
tions is as follows. It is entitled Ivan Popyalof .'
"
Now, in the land in which Ivan lived there was never
"Irradiation made the annular bridge appear larger as the sun

rode over it, just as the filament in the incandescent electric light
seems to grow in size when the current is passing.
23
any day, but always night. This was a Snake's doing. Well,
Ivan undertook to kill that Snake, so he said to his father,
'
Father make me a mace five poods in weight.' And when
he had got the mace he went out into the field and flung it
straight up in the air, and then he went home. The next day
he went out into the fields to the spot from which he had
flung the mace on high, and stood there with his head thrown
back. fell down again it
So when the mace hit him on the
forehead. And
mace broke in two.
the
"
Ivan went home and said to his father,
Father, make
'
me another mace, a ten-pood one.' And when he had got it

he went out into the fields and flung it aloft. And the mace
went flying through the air for three days and three nights.
On the fourth day Ivan went out to the same spot, and when
the mace came tumbling down he put his knee in the way,
and the mace broke over it into three pieces.
"
Ivan went home and told his father to make him a third
mace, one of fifteen poods weight. And when he had got it,
he went out into the fields and flung it aloft. And the mace
was up in the air six days. On the seventh Ivan went to the
same spot as before. Down fell the mace, and when it struck
Ivan's forehead, the forehead bowed under it. Thereupon
he said, This mace will do for the Snake.' 20 * * *
'
"
Presently there rode up a Snake with three heads. His
steed stumbled, his hound howled, his falcon clamored. Then
cried the Snake:
"
Wherefore hast thou stumbled, O Steed ? hast thou
'
howled, O Hound ? hast thou clamored, O Falcon ?

'
" '
How can I but stumble,' replied the Steed, '
when
'
under the boarding sits Ivan Popyalof ?
" Then said the c
Come forth, Ivanushka
Snake, Let !
us try our strength together.' Ivan came forth, and they
20
the same weapon as the magic cudgel found in so many
This is
It is a kind of degraded form of the myths
of the Slavonic folk-tales.
which tell of the hammer of Thor and the lance of Indra.
RUSSIAN MYTHS 355
began to fight. And Ivan killed the Snake, and then sat
down again beneath the boarding.

"
Presently there came another Snake, a six-headed one,
and him, too, Ivan killed. And then there came a third,
which had twelve heads. Well, Ivan began to fight with him,
and lopped off nine of his heads. The Snake had no strength
left in him. Just then a raven came flying by, and it
croaked :
"<Krof! Krof!'
" '
Then the Snake cried to the Raven, Fly, and tell my
wife to come and devour Ivan Popyalof.'
" But
Ivan cried '
and tell 21
: brothers
Fly, my to come,
and then we and give his flesh to thee.'
will kill this Snake,
"
And the Raven gave ear to what Ivan said, and flew to
his brothers and began to croak above their heads. The
brothers awoke, and when they heard the cry of the Raven,
they hastened to their brother's aid. And they killed the

Snake, and then, having taken his heads, they went into his
hut and destroyed them. And immediately there was bright
* * *
light throughout the whole land.
"
After killing the Snake's daughters, Ivan and his
brothers went on homewards. Presently came the Snake's
Wife flying after them, and she opened her jaws from the
sky to the earth, and tried to swallow up Ivan. But Ivan
and his brothers threw three poods of salt into her mouth.
She swallowed the salt, thinking it was Ivan Popyalof, but
afterwards when she had
tasted the salt, and found out
it was not Ivan she flew after him again." 22
And again
the battle with the canopy was renewed.
The Skazka of Ivan Buikovich contains a variant of a
part of this story. The name Buikovich means '
Bull's
23
In "
son.' this story, however, the dragon which the
21 * lUd.
Mock-suns, halos.
2S
Afanasyeff, vol. vii, p. 3.
Slavonic St. George kills' is called, not a snake, but a Chudo-

Yudo. Ivan watches one night while his brothers sleep.
'
Presently up rises a six-headed Chudo-Yudo,' which he
easily kills. The next

night he slays, but with more diffi-
eulty, a nine-headed specimen of the same family. On the
'
third night appears a twelve-headed Chudo-Yudo,' mounted
'
on a horse with twelve wings, its coat of silver, its mane and
tail of gold.' Ivan lops off three of the monster's heads, but
they, like those of the Lernsean Hydra, become reattached

'
to their necks at the touch of their owner's fiery
* * *
finger.'
"
Presently Ivan smites off six of his antagonist's heads,
but they grow again as before. * * *
" His
brothers awake, and hasten to his aid, and the
Chudo-Yudo is destroyed. The ' Chudo-Yudo wives,' as the
widows of the three monsters are called, then proceed to play
* '
the parts attributed in Ivan Popylof to the Snake's
24
daughters."
Children of the parent snake, the great world-environing
cloud-belt, are common in the tales of
all peoples, tongues,
and nations. Persia represents the good and the evil prin-
ciples of life by two serpents. Cashmere, it is said, had at
least seven hundred places where this vapor-creature in some
form or another was worshiped. China is the kingdom of
the serpent, over which floats the Dragon-flag.' On the pots
'
and clothing of its humblest citizen the original sky-serpent's

children are found.
How we
account for this universal and persistent
shall
worship of a creature neither beautiful, wise, nor beneficent,

if we do not accept the hypothesis under consideration?
Hindustan gave to the worship of this creature a grim and

awful power. The merciless Juggernaut is a seven-headed
dragon descendant of the old original sky-parent, and in that
94
W. " Russian
R. S. Ralston, Fairy Tales, etc.," ch. ii, Mythological.
RUSSIAN MYTHS 357
country the day of the month Srvana is still sacred to

fifth
those gods which bear the form and manner of serpents.

In the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman mythologies the
prominence given to the serpent may well startle the uniniti-
ated. In our next chapter the most marvelous of all the
accounts, the history of the Midgard Serpent, will be set
forth. In the Old Testament the serpent and his children
lived as a part of the story of sorrow. Out of the serpent's
root has come forth a cockatrice, or adder, and his fruit has
been a fiery flying serpent. 25
'
In America the traces of the universal trail of the ser-
'
pent is equally prominent, as we have just seen in our last
chapter. Mexico and Peru had their serpent gods, and the
cult had deteriorated to that extent that human sacrifice was
offered. The great mounds of Ohio and Iowa are really ser-
e '
pent images. Purchase in his Pilgrimage found among
the Virginian Indians the snake head-dress of their priests
to be almost similar to those worn by the priests of Isis and
Bacchus.
To this may be appended the remark Yes, serpent wor-
ship has girded the earth, even as the prototype did of old !
s
lsa. xiv: 29.
CHAPTER XXII
SCANDINAVIAN MYTHS
THE Scandinavians in a fuller sense than any other

people seem to have realized that their gods were dead. The
priestly influence in the other nations endeavored to keep
alive the children of the serpent, but the free life of the
northern races had schooled them to observe nature and think
for themselves, therefore it was not so easy to dictate to them.
They knew that their gods were dead. Ragnarok was fol-
lowed by regeneration.
Since little effort was made to keep the system alive, the
tales of this land have suffered less by interpolations than
any other. The missionaries of a new
religion have always
endeavored to blend the old things in with the new, in order
to make it easier for their recruits to accept their way of
thinking. Scandinavian mythology did not suffer from this

source until the introduction of Christianity. As a result,
the drama of the ages is perhaps more clearly set forth by
the Nature myths of our ancestors than by any other people.
" it seems a very strange-looking thing, this
Surely
" almost
Paganism," says Carlyle ;
inconceivable to us in
these days. A
bewildering, inextricable jungle of delusions,
confusions, falsehoods, and absurdities, covering the whole
field of life ! A
thing that fills us with astonishment ; almost,
if it were possible, with incredulity for truly it is not easy
to understand that sane men could ever calmly, with their
eyes open, believe and live by such a set of doctrines." A lit-
tle reflection tells us that true, they could not have so
it is
lived; neither, according to the words of our author, could

"
they have fashioned for themselves such a distracted chaos
of hallucinations by way of Theory of the Universe." From
358
SCANDINAVIAN MYTHS 359
the standpoint of the old interpretation of mythology, as our

" l
author says, it all looks like an incredible fable."
As intimated above, our ancestors have left us not only a

theogony, or birth of the gods, but also a theoktony, or death
of the gods. The Babylonians and Greeks saw their gods
gradually drift away northwards. The Scandinavians, since
they lived nearer the last scene, actually saw their downfall.
No wonder their myths are sterner and more rigorous !
Five unfold the various stages of canopy decline as

acts
recognized by this northern mythology First The mother

:
of creation, the canopy from whence all new things seemed to

emanate. Second The time preceding Baldur's death, which
was the golden age under the greenhouse roof. Third The
death-scene of Baldur, the sun-lit shiner. Fourth The time
of transition immediately after Baldur' s death. Fifth The
Ragnarok, The Twilight of the Gods,' when the
'
last time,
skies fell and all things were made anew.
Not only is the Scandinavian record of the order of events
connected with canopy decline preserved in truer chrono-
logical sequence, but their cosmological scheme also is purer
and of a far finer texture. Nine worlds are located in their
plan of the universe. But it must be remembered that the

universe as they knew it was our earth and its swaddling-
bands of dust, gas, and vapor, with which it was bound
roundabout.
Of the nine worlds the highest of all was Asgard, the
home of the JSsir. There were twelve of these gods. Odin
was the thirteenth. He was called the
(
All-father/ and his
throne rose above the other twelve.
Asgard was the snowy summit of the cloud-canopy, the
Olympus of Northern mythology. Above it, the records say,
was stretched the Bridge Bifrost. Now, it may be well to
revert to the general principles on which this hypothesis is
founded.
" Heroes and Hero
Worship," lecture i.
It is postulated that above the atmosphere there existed

until quite recent times a very attenuated ring-blanket of fine
planetesimal dust, accompanied by a gaseous envelope more

or less divided into zonal belts. This upper structure was
nearly transparent, and with the exception of the ring-blanket
was invisible. The latter was the Bridge Bifrost. 2 It is
further postulated that the upper structure was the imme-
diate cause of all the peculiar cloud-phenomena in the atmos-
phere beneath.
Take the great Krakatoa Eruption in July and August,
1883, and see the lesson that it has taught us on the consti-
2
After the old system of zonal-belts passed away and the new
conditions came into existence Bifrost became associated with the
rainbow. We may infer from this that the original structure had a
very delicate appearance.
The Japanese speak of 'The Floating Region.' In their myth of
creation the story runs that, "The sun, earth, and moon were still
attached to each other like a head to the neck, or arms to the body.
They were little by little separating, the parts joining them growing
*
thinner and thinner. This part, like an isthmus, was called Heaven's
Floating Bridge.'"
From Izanafli, the Creator's right eye, appeared Susa-noO, the
'
Ruler of the Moon
'
that is, of a crescent- vapor-arc.
; The account
goes on to tell us that he had also a wonder-child named Amaterasu.
This maiden was ' The Heaven Illuminating Spirit.' " At that time
the distance between Heaven and earth was not very great, and he
sent her up to the blue sky by the Heaven-uniting pillar, on which
the heavens rested as on a prop. She easily mounted it, and lived in
the sun (the shining canopy), illuminating the whole heavens and
earth. The sun (the shiner, afterwards the true sun) now gradually
separated from the earth, and both moved farther and farther, until
they rested where they now are. Izanagi next spoke to Susa-noO, the
Ruler of the Moon (crescent canopy arc), and said, 'Rule thou over
the new-born earth, and the blue waste of the sea with its multitudi-
nous salt waters.' * * * In sending her to her dominion (i.e., present
dominion after the vapor-canopy had thinned to such an extent as to
show the true lunar orb through it), Izanagi gave her the necklace
of precious stones from his neck, and told her to go up by way of
the floating bridge. As the sun (canopy shiner) was then near, she
"
ascended without difficulty." Frank S. Dobbins, Gods and Devils of
Mankind," pp. 308, 311, 312.
tution of our atmosphere. Before the occurrence, but few

had the slightest suspicion that twenty miles over our heads
a mighty tempest is incessantly hurrying with a speed much
greater than the most awful hurricane. All that Krakatoa

did was simply to provide the charges of dust by which for
one brief period this wind was made visible. In the autumn
of 1883 the newspapers were full of -accounts of strange ap-
pearances in the heavens. These came from Ceylon, the West

Indies, and other tropical places. All had the same tale to
tell. All these phenomena were due to Krakatoa. It was in
the late autumn that the marvelous series of celestial phe-
nomena connected with the great eruption began to be
displayed in our own country. Then it was. that the glory

of the ordinary sunsets was enhanced by a splendor which
has dwelt in the memory of all those who were permitted to
see it. The dust from Krakatoa produced this. Three times
round went the glorified dust-cloud, and then drifted like the
canopies of old towards the poles. What would it have done

if it had been elevated to yet greater heights ?
It is postulated that infalling planetesimal material from
the upper structure, and vapors sucked up to far greater
heights than can now be attained', floated in this border-land

of the outer atmosphere. This was the first world of the
Scandinavians, Asgard, the land of the ^sir. It is a matter
of record that the celestial bridge touched the outer edge of
the home of the gods. Sleipnir, Odin's marvelous sun-horse,
used to rush unhesitatingly upon the bridge, 3 which trembled
8
Other Scandinavian sun-horses were Glad (bright), Gyller (gilder
or golden), Gler (the glassy, the shining one), Skeidbrimer (fleet-
foot), Silfrintop (silver top), Gisl (the sunbeam), and Goldtop,
HeimdalFs steed of beauty, whose mane shone like the sun. Anderson's
Norse Mythology, 6th ed., p. 189.
Along with these rapid ones may be mentioned Frey's boar, which,
like the Boar of Erymanthus, which Hercules brought to his master,
was a vapor-form. His golden bristles flashed in the sunlight, and he
is said to have been so swift that Sleipnir with his eight legs could
not outstride him.

beneath his weight. flimsy material was

In other words, its
seen to vibrate and quiver in the strong light of the sun.

The second world of the Scandinavians was Midgard,
the world of men. The Midgard serpent was a clean-cut belt
of cloud extending, like all these forms, east and west in the
lower atmosphere ; its contour being due to the zonal belts in
the outer gaseous envelope. It is recorded that the river
Ocean flowed around the world of men. In the original con-
ception this Ocean river was the Midgard serpent, it was
supposed to be united with the terrestrial ocean. Thus when
Thor the storm or ' Thunder god ' was in the hall of the
giant Utgard-Loki, he was obliged to drink from a horn, large
at the top, but exceedingly long, winding coil after coil to
such a distance that the end could not be distinguished.
" the end of the horn
Indeed, says the record, which could
not be seen reached to the great river." Thor drank so deeply
that the men on Midgard thereafter called it the ebb of the
tide.
The third world was Jotunheim, the upper giant world,
which was said to be on the same plane as Ocean. The giant-
cloud forms sometimes broke loose from the controlling zonal
provinces, obscured the whole sky, and made war on the gods
above. At the time of the end, commonly called Ragnarok,
all zonal restraint was removed.
Norse mythology, like the mythologies of other lands,
does not take muchnotice of regions not seen. The great
under-world contained four more of the nine worlds, but
these localities existed on the horizon, not beneath it. The
world of the ancients was supposed to be flat, and it was
not until later ages, when the gods had been swept away,
and knowledge began to be diffused, that the idea of subter-
ranean passages and cavities became general. These passages
were finally introduced in order to account for the reappear-
ance of the heavenly bodies each day in the east. Though
not especially emphasized, northern
mythology does mention
two worlds that were said to be lower still than the horizon-
worlds. These were the land of subterranean fire, and the
world of torture. From Surt's deep fiery dales the light of
the midnight sun was reflected on the upper regions of the
belted sky, hence since fire came from this direction these
worlds were known to exist. The one was in the east and
4
the other in the west.
The four horizon-worlds were Mimir's Kealm, Niflheim,
Vanirheim, and the Realm of Urd.
Mimir's region was originally the eye-hole or open place
in the northern sky, hence the beginning-place of the true sky
scenes, but as time went on and the heavens cleared the east
was seen be the beginning-place, or birth-place, of the new
to
scenes, hence confusion ensued and Mimir's Realm was said

to be in the east.
Vanir's land was probably originally in the south, where
another cloud-belt system was seen on the distant horizon.
This land of the Yanir was the home of a noble race of gods
akin to the Êsir. 5
From the other two realms, which we believe were orig-
inally located in the east and the west, the great Ygdrasil's
roots sprang high into the sky, the one from Urd's realm, the
other from Niflheim. Niflheim, according to our deductions,
was in the east. It was the lower giant-world, cold, dark, and
misty. Urd's realm was in the west, the land of departing
day, thekingdom of the dead.
The mighty ash-tree, Ygdrasil, was supposed to support
the whole universe; its third root penetrated Asgard. This
same thought permeates Greek mythology.
4
It is interesting to note that in some accounts the realm of Surt,
instead of being the lowest, is said to be the highest world, topping
even Asaheim. " Muspelheim," says Anderson, "the fire-world, is the
highest Gimle (heaven)." Norse Mythology, 6th ed., p. 187. How
could our ancestors tell where it was situated? Fire was seen in the
highest regions, and yet again it seemed to come directly from below.
6
Another name given to the gods, which is yery suggestive of their
'
nature, is tivar/ the beaming ones.
" Thus the universe
definitively organized by Zeus, with
the assistance of Harmonia, was depicted by Pherecydes as
an immense tree, furnished with wings to promote its rotary
motion, a tree whose roots, were plunged into the abyss,
and whose extended branches sustained the unfolded veil of
the firmament, decorated with the types of all terrestrial and
6
celestial forms."
" "
Everywhere," says Daniel G. Brinton, we find traces
of the world-tree, the primal growth which lifted man from
from the earth to heaven.
his dark anterior dwelling-place, or
The Mbocobis of Paraguay tell of such a one which existed
in the good old times, and by which the souls of the departed
could climb commodiously to the delightful streams of Para-
dise but a wicked old woman, angered at her luck in fishing
;
in the celestial waters, changed herself into a rat and envi-

ously gnawed the roots of the tree, so that it fell and could
7
no more be raised."
The fact that this beautiful tree is supposed to have
existed in the heavens is readily explained by the laws of
perspective. To an observer, the 'striated or banded belts
appearing to rise from beneath the horizon to the east or to
the west necessarily appeared to diverge as the bands or belts
ascended towards the zenith. Hence, to the imagination of
man, the whole scene bore a decided resemblance to an im-
mense tree, its trunk on the earth, its 'spreading branches
overhead. We all know how the sun, moon, and stars when
they approach the horizon are magnified by the increased
thickness of the atmosphere through which we view them;
so it was with the roots of Ygdrasil. 'No wonder that the
ancients thought that the stumps were rooted on mother
earth !
the world-tree, or, as Eagozin says, " the majestic

Such is
conception of the Cosmic Tree, which has its roots on earth

8
Lenormant, "Beginnings of History," p. 549.
"
7
The Myths of the New World/' 3d ed. p. 118.5
and heaven for its crown, while its fruit are the golden apples
the stars, and Fire, the red lightning (or rather reflected
and refracted sunlight).
" All these
suggestive and poetical fancies would in them-
selves suffice to make the tree-symhol a favorite one among
so thoughtful and profound a people as the old Chaldeans.
But there is something more. It is intimately connected
with another tradition, common, in some form or other, to all
nations who have attained a sufficiently high grade of culture
to make their mark in the world that of an original
ancestral abode, beautiful, happy, and remote, a Paradise.
It is usually imagined as a great mountain, watered by
springs which become rivers, bearing one or more trees of

wonderful properties and sacred character, and is considered
as the principal residence of the gods. 8
Again the tree is commonly associated with the serpent.

The serpent and the tree! That is the conjunction we find
in every race and every faith. Indeed, a serpent coiled at
the root of a tree is the design found on one of the oldest
Tyrian medals. They are united on the cylinder seals of

9
Babylon and in the story of the fall of man in Genesis.
The association of the thought of the world-tree with
the cosmic mountain and the serpent fixes its place beyond
question in the trestled sky over which Odin ruled. He was

the All-canopy. His queen, enthroned by his side was Frigy,
the loving canopy of the golden age. She, like all the
canopies in the myths of other lands, was the mother of the
"
The Story of Chaldea," 2d ed., ch. vi, p. 274, 9-10.
" The
8
inscriptions tell us of a primitive sacred garden, in which
there was a tree of life. This tree is seen frequently on the seals of
prominent personages of Babylon. It also appears among the Alabaster
reliefs found on the wainscoting of the royal palaces. Approach to it
seems to have been limited to the gods or to distinguished persons.
Its fruit also contained qualities capable of granting and maintaining
life perpetually." Ira Maurice Price, "The Monuments and the Old
Testament," p. 88.
mighty gods. Her personified being moved about in a golden

cart drawn by two cats in the familiar manner common to
the halo-boats of Egypt, Babylon, and Greece.
Her husband sought wisdom from Mimir, and though
some say he left his eye in pawn in her well-hole in exchange
for his enlightenment, the old Eune-song of Saemund's Edda
makes no mention of the sacrifice. If it be true, however,
that the god suffered in this way, the meaning to be attached
to the occurrence is that the All-canopy as it opened at the
well revealed to the view of man a bright star which it was
seen the All-father or canopy could never again recover.
At Mimir's well, in the cave-cloud-hole of the shining
north the true sky was rendered visible by the lifting of the
veil. Here the Alfadur (All-father) took a great draught of
the water of revelation. The golden age was passing away,
and Thor the young ' Thunderer,' Odin's son, was heard
at times. This thunder never disturbed the Eden world, so
its personified introduction shows a change was coming. In
the fullest sense, Thor was the sky as we now see it, both
clear and stormy.
Our forefathers saw all these changes coming, and, inas-
much as they involved the home of their gods, they felt that
the denizens of the great canopy-deep must be fearfully con-
cerned. Therefore in their stories of the events everything
partakes of this coloring and they say when Odin returned
from Mimir's well, a council of the gods was called to con-
sider their impending doom. They also say that no car
could carry the clear sky, Thor, to the summit of Mount
Asgard to this council, so he was obliged to walk. It was
also decreed that he should not walk over the Bridge Bifrost,
*
the bridge of trembling/ so called. The other gods, how-
ever, were seen to float, as it were, to Asgard in their vapor-
boats or shells. These were the hidden sun, the hidden moon
and stars. But the clear sky had to walk there by himself,
and furthermore he had to wade through streams and across

rivers in the silver sky sea. This is the record of the Elder
Edda:
Kormt and Ormt,
And the two Kerlaugs;
These shall Thor wade
Every day,
When he goes to judge
Near the Ygdrasil ash;
For the Asa-bridge
Burns all ablaze
The holy waters roar." 10
These rivers, Kormt and Ormt and the two Kerlaugs,

were no doubt canopy streams which crisscrossed the bridge.
It is a difficult matter to represent their perspective, espe-
cially in mythological language. Apparently they revolved

not only in a lower sphere, but also in -a slightly different
plane, hence the canopy or bridge was at places eclipsed by

them. The statement that, " Asa-bridge burns all ablaze "
shows that the sky was becoming ruddy at times, indicating
Ragnarok was indeed at hand.
But though at hand, the time had not yet fully come, so
another great cloud-monster spread on the plane of the
itself
sky, which was spanned by the Midgard serpent, and people

"
said of it, The giants have deprived Thor of his power, they
have stolen his hammer." This was said because the Titan-
clouds obscured the clear-sky from their upturned gaze. Thor
now went out against the invaders, and not only recovered
M joiner, as the hammer was called, but also made the giant
Thrym, who had stolen it, pay the penalty with his life.
Thomas Carlyle says in substance that the old name of
the giant Thrym, Hrym, or Rime is now nearly obsolete in
England, but that it is still used in Scotland to signify hoar-

frost. Rime was
not then, as now, a dead chemical thing,
but a living Jotun, or Devil; the monstrous Jotun Rime
10 "
Grimner's Lay," 29.
drove home his horses at night, sat combing their manes

which horses were Hail-clouds, or fleet Frost- winds. 11
To this interpretation it may be well to add that the
effect of the Kime-cloud canopy was to produce a bitter chill
on the earth ;
this frost afterwards came to bear the name of
the giant who originally produced it.
Another one of the frost giants was named Hymir. His

cows, the critics say, were icebergs. This myth has an
'
affinity with those of the Hindus, the cow Adumbla, lick-
ing the rime from the rocks/ has the hall-mark of being a
nature myth portraying a cloud-bull licking the chill-black
rime producing giant-invading zonal vapor rocks. 12 Hymir
was the giant of the canopy sea, and a great, deep place
he was. In order to brew their ale the gods sent Thor to
procure from him his famous kettle, Mile-deep.'
'
Snatch-
ing it from the giant, he placed it on his head, and immedi-
ately the true sky was hidden.
Naturally, the gods were thrown into great consternation
every time their stronghold was assailed by the giants, or, to
state more scientifically, every time their domain was
it
obscured from the sight of man by the breaking of the bonds

of the zonal vapor-belt. It was said at such times that the
giants were making war on the gods. The populace imag-

ined their gods were thrown into great -consternation.
At one of these times Baldur, the shining canopy whom
everybody loved, and beneath whose greenhouse roof every-
13
thing was verdant bright and beautiful, was slain by
""Heroes and Hero-Worship."
12
Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva possess attributes akin to those of the
Scandinavian gods. Kishma destroying the serpent reminds us of Thor
and his adventures with the Midgard serpent. The Thunder-god is
more or less common to all lands. A cylinder-seal in the British
Museum (No. represents the good Marduk, armed with the
89,589)
thunderbolt, standing on the back of the serpent-monster Tiamat and
slaying her.
18 '
Baldur's Hall was called Breidablik, Hall-of -broad-shining-
splendor.*
14
Hoder, the blind one, to wit, darkness, instigated by Loke,
who was a go-between, a spirit akin to the evil hidden in the
15
giant-canopy. Vali, the god of eternal light, brother of
Baldur, slew Hoder and avenged his brother's death. The
old conditions, however, were gone, therefore Hermond
was sent to Hel to ask his return. Hermond went forth
as Isis in Egypt went forth in search of her husband,
16
Osiris, the dead sun-god. She rode on Sleipner, the sun-
horse, and passed over the Gjallar bridge covered with glit-
17 which
tering gold, spanned the Gjol River which flowed in
Elivagar, near the gate of the horizon, at Hel's abode. She
told Hel that all things in the world were grieving for the
"Hoder's weapon was the mistletoe. The Nemean lion which

Hercules slew was also proof against the weapons of this earth. As he
was a sun-hiding canopy, no iron could pierce his side.
15
Some scholars argue that Loke is to be identified with Pluto of
the Greeks, Siva of the Hindus, Ahriman, the evil one of the Persians,
and also the devil of the Hebrew Bible. The old dragon of Kev. xx 1-2 :
still remains with us unbound. He

throughout this age in myth,
lives
Rev. xii:15. When the gods chased Loke to punish him for causing
Baldur's death, like Ea of Babylon he changed himself into a fish, a
salmon, but, notwithstanding his cunning, he was captured in his own
gill-net the criss-cross, vapor, stringy, fluid sky. It is interesting to
note that, like all the evil canopies, Loke was originally good. Poor
"
says his name comes from the word lukos, bright, and at first he
meant mild warmth, and was all good. ("Sanskrit and its Kindred
Literatures," p. 280.) He became a kind of fallen angel.
16
The demon Set, or Seb, of Egypt comes to us as Surt of Scan-
dinavia. Baal, the canopy fish-god of the south, is the Baldur of the
north. What more is needed to prove that the nature marvels of the
one land were the wonder talk of the other, and that both originated
from the same sky-scenes?
"The Gjallar bridge, like Bifrost, was a ring-belt circulating above
the atmosphere. Owing to the intervening phenomena, it was only
visible at or near the horizon, where it caught and reflected the sun-
light from Surfs domain. Another like bridge was named Mundilf are.
In no other place, known to man, than in the sky, can inanimate objects
like a bridge have offspring. It is stated in the Younger Edda that
Mundilf are had two children; they were Maane, the moon, and Sol,
the sun. Sol married Glener, the shining one, which was another sun-lit
sky-belt.
absence of the shining canopy. 18 All things indeed were
grieving, but the great, black canopy itself. The giantess

(gygr), supposed to be no other than Loke Laufeyarson,
refused. Because of this interception of light, Baldur
naturally could not return.
His body is said to have been burned in the Ringhorn
ship. How could language be more precise ? Anderson says :
"
The tops of the mountains are the masts of this ship, which
is round (ring) as the whirling world." 19 The gods placed
the beloved one's body on this ring-ship, and then desired to
set it adrift, but it was so large that they were unable to
move it. In this predicament they called upon a certain
giantess (the smoking fire), who came
named Hyrroken
riding on a wolf, using twisted serpents for her reins. With
a single push, this mighty personification shoved the ship
forth. The ruddy glow of reflected light from its under
surface was that of the appearance of fire. Smoking fire was
20
at hand, Ragnarok the end.
In the legends of the Russians, a golden ship sails across
the sea of heaven. It breaks into fragments, and none are
able to put it together again. The custom of burning the
bodies of the old sea kings originated as a memorial of this
event. Boyesen has put it in song:
In the prow with head uplifted

Stood the chief, like wrathful Thor;
Through his locks, the snow-flakes drifted,
Bleached their hue from gold to hoar,
*
Mid the crash of mast and rafter
Norsemen leaped through death with laughter
Up through WalhaPs wide-flung door.
18
for Baldur and weeping for Tammuz are one and the
Weeping
same Baldur's body was placed in a ship and burned.
thing. The
sky opening was bloody-red. A survival of the custom is found in the
Chinese day of weeping, which comes in mid-summer and is called the
'dragon boat festival/ The bewailing of Adonis was in memory of
the same phenomenon.
19 " 20
Norse Mythology," 6th ed., p. 295. Ibid., p. 287.
The Marquis de Nadaillac notes how the practice of

cremation suddenly became popular with our ancestors, but
of course he is not aware of the cause. The Norsemen saw
their gods cremated in the sky and in this way learned the
lesson. The Marquis says:
"
About the time of the beginning of the Bronze age, or
perhaps even earlier, however, a remarkable change took
place in the ideas of man, and the dead, instead of being
buried intact, were consumed by fire on the funeral pile.
"
What can have been the origin of this custom ? What
race first ? It has long been supposed by many
practiced it
archaeologists that was the Aryans from the lofty Hindu

it
Koosh Mountains, who first introduced into Europe a civili-

zation more advanced than that which had hitherto obtained
there, and taught the people to cremate instead of bury

their dead. This theory was accepted for a considerable time
without question, but of late years a new school, headed by
Penka, has arisen, who claim that the reformers came not
from the East, but from the North. The Marquis de Saporta
had indeed before suggested that the primitive races who
were the contemporaries of the mammoth and the rhinoceros
came originally from the polar regions, where the remains
of a luxuriant vegetation prove that climatic conditions pre-
vailed in remote times of a very different character to those
21
of the present day." .
Skinblader (Frey's ship) was another famous canopy-

arc. In it the gods sailed forth to the final conflict. Naglfar,
Loke's ship, was even larger than Ringhorn.
Loke was the father of the Fenris-wolf, of the Midgard-
serpent, and of Hel, all of which were god-obscuring canopy-
22
forms. Tyr or Tiu gave his hand to the wolf as a pledge
21 "
Prehistoric Peoples," p. 366.
22
The etymology of the name Tiu or Zio identifies the god with
the old Indo-European sky-god Dyaus, Zeus, Jupiter. Max Miiller,
"Lectures on the Science of Language," 2d series, p. 425.
while the other gods were binding him. The wolf devoured
it. Swallowed by the canopy, the god was said to have lost
his hand. But the binding of the wolf could not hold the
great black thing forever in check. At the last day he broke
loose and overspread the heavens, devouring the sun or rather
the swift sun, the canopy, the shining glass of Job xxxvii :18.
While he was doing this his brother wolf or dog, Moongarrn,
23
as he is called, swallowed the moon.
By this time it will be seen that a large proportion of all

the myths of Scandinavia portray the lower canopy or giant
forms obscuring or devouring the zonal belt-bridges and other
possessions and structures floating above the true atmosphere
in the home of the gods.
One of these forms, like the Grecian account of Phaeton
driving the chariot of the sun, brought great heat upon the
region beneath. Now, the goddess Sif presided over the
destinies of the earth,and when her grass was burnt up,
"
people said, Loke has burnt her hair, he has changed it into
24
golden thread!"
23
"A
number of interpretations of Tyr's struggle with Fenrir, on
the basis of nature-myths, have been proposed," says De La Saussaye,
" "
but none of these is at all satisfactory." The Religion of the
Teutons," p. 247. Satisfactory explanations, we may add, follow the
understanding of nature.
24
Perhaps this is a wrong interpretation. Jeremiah Curtin says :
"
Hair in Indian mythology, as in other mythologies, is the equivalent
of rays of light when connected with the sun and with planet lumi-
naries." Then he gives as an illustration the song of the shirt of Waida
Werris (the Polar Star) :
The circuit of earth which you see,

The scattering of stars in the sky which you see,
All that is the place for my hair.
"Creation Myths of Primitive America," p. 516. This view seems

more in harmony with the legend of the smithy of the dwarfs, where
the bright golden hair of Sif was made. This smithy was evidently
a sky scene, and from it the golden streamers of glowing hair were
seen extending into the skies.
The end of the old conditions was close at hand, and

another vapor-form was to follow which would produce the
opposite effect. The picture is perfect; Odin stood with

bowed head, for the Twilight of the Gods was now imminent,
and prophesied as follows :
"
The great Fimbul winter shall come, when snow shall
fall from the four corners of heaven; deadly will be the
frosts, and piercing the winds, and the darkened sun will
impart no gladness. Three such winters shall come, and no

summer to gladden the heart with sunshine. Then shall
follow more winters, when even greater discord shall prevail.
Fierce wolves shall devour the sun and moon, and the stars
shall fallfrom heaven. The earth shall tremble, the stony
be dashed together, giants shall totter, and dwarfs
hills shall
groan before their stony doors. Men shall seek the paths
leading to the realms of death; and earth, in flames, shall
25
sink beneath the seething ocean."
(
Odin's ring, Draupner, from the verb meaning to drop/
for the reason that at stated periods new rings dropped from
it, echoes this prophecy; each time a ring fell from it a

fearful cold ensued.
Another legend fits in at this stage and advances the
scene still closer to the time of the end. The gods, seeing
that their days were limited, engaged a certain artificer to
build for them a residence which was to be so strong that all
the giants could not hope to drive them from its refuge. At
Loke's suggestion, the wages they agreed to give the workman
in consideration of the building being finished in a certain
time was the goddess, Frey, the sun and the moon. The gods
looked upon the whole matter as a joke, for they felt that no
workman unaided could do such a task in so short a time,
and it was stipulated that this strange being should be aided
only by his horse. Great was the consternation of the gods
25
Litchfield, "The Nine Worlds/' p. 153.
when they found their joke taking a serious turn and they
came to realize that the edifice would be finished on time.
The great horse was doing a stupendous amount of work, so
the gods turned to Loke, the cause of all this mischief, and
demanded that he rectify it. Now, one of the features of
Loke reminds us of (Edipus, the slow-foot of Greek myth-
ology. The physical feature connected with the whole story
is that the canopy was settling down, falling and obscuring
the sky. Only one cure would answer: faster speed was
needed to whirl the canopy up higher into the sky; so the
legend goes on to say that Loke changed himself into a mare

and incited the strong workman's horse to run away. The
artificer, seeing that he could not npw complete his task in
the time specified, cast off his veil and grew in size, that he
might finish the building without the aid of his horse but ;
this revealed his true character, the gods saw that they were
dealing with a mountain-giant and went immediately to bat-
tlewith him. Thor cracked open his skull with his hammer.
The clear sky did this, but the
'
Twilight of the gods

'
was
very near.
Alegend of the clear sky tells how the charming Idun
(blue-sky) with a basket of golden apples (stars) of youth
was stolen by the giants. Summer gladness was carried off
to the south, and the sun itself shone with a pale sickly light ;
all the gods began to grow old for want of the and
apples,
the time at hand was one great long dark Loke was
night.
sent to recover the fair one, but, after securing her, was
chased by her captor, the giant Thjasse, who assumed the
form of an eagle. The race was long and as they neared
Asgard it looked as though the giant would overtake the
fugitives, but once they had passed safely over the walls of
their sky-home, the gods lighted chips; the eagle, unable to
check his flight, burned his wings as he passed over, thus he
fell dead in their midst. The sun, as though suddenly grown
young, gleamed out in the radiance of his beauty, the crape-
ring turned into gold, and Gladsheim glittered again as of

old. Idun, with her apples of youth, was in their midst
again.
But as the end was nowhand the conditions above
at
could not last. Ragnarok, or, as the word means, the dark-
ness, the death of the gods, was now inevitable. The wolf
Fenri burst his bonds and hurried gaping to the battle scene,
with his lower jaw scraping the quaking earth, and his nose
pointed high into the sky.
The great feature of the heavens now was its ruddy glow.
The world-tree was burning.
Just mark the tree talks of mythology.

The world-ash covered all this earth of ours.
Apollo, the true sun, chased Daphne, the
Bright lovely nymph across the arching sky.
He cried for her to stay, but still she fled,
And when he caught her she changed to a tree.
The sun-beams catching in the vapors spread
And made an arbor of a tree-like growth.
The golden apples were the little stars,
And Hercules procured these by his strength.
The sun-god threw the canopy to earth
And thus obtained for them an open space.
Another tree tale in the south we find

Osiris, theEgyptian sun-god strong,
Was placed within a chest, and then was thrown
Into the current of the sweeping stream.
The chest was washed ashore, then round it grew
A mighty tree, enclosing in itself
The coffin came
of the god, till Isis
With thunder and with lightning to the spot.
Then, striking the great column with her wand,
She caused a split, and forth the coffin came.
She seized and then concealed it in a forest
The sun was seen, and then was hid again.
And Typhon, the fierce monster, split it up.
In Indiaanother, similar tale describes a great tree held

up by the Varuna-canopy. In the case of this tree the top
was down and the roots up. " The Bright one was born of
the Dark one." Light from the clouds, it seems, the sun-
beams being the roots. A mighty tree was this, with foliage
queer !
The ash Ygdrasil was the tree-of-life ;

under its spreading
arches the golden age existed physically for man. But he
who worshiped the creature, to wit, the tree itself, partook
of forbidden fruit. There was no life in the tree except
in the type. He who saw this and worshiped God in spirit
and in truth found in the tree a revelation, hence through the
creature, or creation, he was led to the Creator, and in this
way the tree became a means of life, spiritually.
Ancient tree worship was the perversion of God's way.
There was the tree which stood on top of the pyramid (i.e.,
the midnight shadow cone) in the island birthplace (i.e., the
cave-hole) of the Aztec race. There was the tree referred to

in the Hindu
legends, etc., etc., but all alike are perversions.
The three-pronged trident of Poseidon links the three roots
of the world-ash to the water world of the overcast vapor-sky.
From Babylon and Syria the story is the same. The
sacred tree is carved on many a stock and many a stone. A
cylinder now in the British Museum shows the fall of man ;
a tree, a serpent, and two figures reaching for forbidden

fruit.
The Bible is thus verified again.

Two trees are spoken of in Genesis;
The fruit of one is error born of snakes
To worship the belt-system, and not God
Is what has been done since the Eden times
By nearly all the peoples of the earth.

To worship the true tree of promise, though
(The second tree which Genesis sets forth)
Is God's way and not man's way.
Let us see,
In type, He set before our infant race
The things of truth and life, but not of death,
He showed that all first things must pass away
The canopy was good and yet it proved
To infant man that flesh and blood brought death.

Yea, first things had to perish to show this
That God is Spirit. They that worship Him
Must worship in the spirit and in truth.26
But our first parents worshiped what they saw,
So punishment was bound to follow swift.
The canopy was rent in twain to prove
It was the creature, not the Great Creator.
The flaming sword burst through and turned each way
To keep the tree of life, to show the truth,21
On down the ages unto us poor mortals.
The way of death is error's first-born light;

The way of life is spiritand is truth.
Yea, light as learning is a dangerous thing
If little of it at a time be seen.
A but a twilight dim,
little light is
And those who
venture to go forth by it
May drop into a pitfall on the way.
A flood of light the whole truth makes all plain,
And those who wait on this will worship Him.
The way of life is spirit and is truth.
In Eden when the canopy was whole
The evidence was not yet all in hand.
Our parents worshiped only what they saw,
So God in judgment sent the sword to throw
More light upon His purpose for the world,
And Halcyon days were over then for man.
On through the ages new conditions stalked:
First ring, then canopy, then clear sky came.
The deluge of Deucalion brought down
A system probably the last of all,
And never was the earth destroyed again.
"
In the Egyptian history, as preserved by Plato, the
Deluge of Deucalion, which many things prove to have been
identical with the Deluge of Noah, was the last of a series
of great catastrophes.
" In the Celtic
legends the great Deluge of Ogyges pre-
ceded the last deluge.
26
John iv:24. "Gen. Hi: 24.
"
In the American legends, mankind have been many
times destroyed and as often renewed." 28
Philosophers have noted these facts from a very early
date. Thus, according to the Scriptural theory of compara-
"
tive mythology, Deucalion is only another name for Noah,
Hercules for Samson, Arion for Jonah, etc. Sir Walter
'
Ealeigh, in his History of the World, says, Jubal, Tubal,
and Tubal-Cain were Mercury, Vulcan, and Apollo^ inven-
tors of Pasturage, Smithing, and Music. The Dragon which
kept the golden apples was the serpent that beguiled Eve.
Mmrod's tower was the attempt of the Giants against
" 29
Heaven.'
All those who have followed the argument as set forth by
the hypothesis under consideration, however, see that a new
element has been brought into the field, and it cannot be
doubted that the Scriptures have revealed the truth (about
nature's working) to man in all and through all past ages.
The perversion of the type has ever been man's error.
After this long digression it behooves us to return to the
matter of the burning of the world-ash. The furrowed sky
had the semblance of a tree, and at the same time the appear-
ance which connected it with the porcus-plowed field of the
Hercules myth and with Frey's boar.

"
In the legends of the Hindus we read of the fight be-
tween Kama, the sun-god (Ea was the Egyptian god of the
sun), and Havana, a giant who, accompanied by the Raks-
hasas, or demons, made terrible times in the ancient land
where the ancestors of the Hindus dwelt at that period. He
c
carries away the wife of Rama, Sit a ;
her name signifies a
furrow,' and seems to refer to agriculture, and an agricultural

race inhabiting the furrowed earth. He bears her struggling
through the air. Rama and his allies pursue him. The
"
Îgnatius Donnelly, Ragnarok," p. 404.
/' Scott's ed., p. 375.
monkey-god, Hanuman, helps Kama ;

a bridge of stone, sixty
miles long, is built across the deep ocean to the Island of
i
Lanka, where the great battle is fought: The stones which
crop out through Southern India are said to have been
dropped by the monkey builders !
'
The army crosses on the
bridge, as the forces of Muspelheim, in the Norse legends,
'
inarched over the bridge Bifrost.'
"
The battle is a terrible one. Havana has ten heads, and
as fast as Rama cuts off one, another grows in its place.
Finally, Rama, like Apollo, fires the terrible arrow of

* * *
Brahma, the creator, and the monster falls dead.
"
The body of Havana is consumed by fire. Sita, the fur-
rowed earth (sky), goes through the ordeal of fire, and comes
out of it purified and redeemed from all taint of the monster
Havana; and Rama, the sun, and Sita, the earth (sky), are
separated for fourteen years; Sita is hid in the dark jungle
(canopy), and then they are married again, and live happily
together ever after.
" Here "
we
have," says Donnelly, the battle in the air
between the sun and the demon (canopy) the earth is taken :
possession of by the demon; the demon is finally consumed

30
by fire(the ruddy canopy), and perishes."
This rudy glow was one of the final features of the decline
of the zonal-belt system. The ancients saw the skies being
consumed and thought the world was going to be destroyed
by fire, but the cataclysm turned out to be of a watery nature,
as the following accounts show:
"
Monan
(the Maker, the Begetter), without beginning
or end, author of all that is, seeing the ingratitude of men,
and their contempt for him who had made them thus joyous,
withdrew from them, and sent upon them iaia, the divine fire,
which burned all that was on the surface of the earth. He
swept about the fire in such a way that in places he raised
"Ragnarok," pp. 171, 172.

mountains, and in others dug valleys. Of all men one alone,

Irin Mage (the one who sees), was saved, whom Monan car-
ried into the heaven. He, seeing all things- destroyed, spoke
thus to Monan :
'
Wilt thou also destroy the heavens and
their garniture ? Alas ! henceforth where will be our home ?
'
Why should I live, since there is none other of my kind ?
Then Moran was so filled with pity that he poured a delug-
1
ing rain on the earth, which quenched the fire, and, flowing
from all sides, formed the ocean, which we call parana, the
31
great waters."
Bulfinch says that Jupiter summoned the gods to council.
"
They obeyed the call, and took the road to the palace of
heaven. The road, which any one may see in a clear night,
stretches across the face of the sky, and is called the Milky
Way. Along the road stand the palaces of the illustrious
gods; the common

people of the skies live apart, on either
side. Jupiter addressed the assembly. He set forth the
frightful condition of things on the earth, and closed by
announcing his intention to destroy the whole of its inhabi-
tants, and provide a new race, unlike the first, who would
be more worthy of life, and much better worshipers of the
gods. So saying, he took a thunderbolt, and was about to

launch it at the world, and destroy it by burning but, recol- ;
lecting the danger that such a conflagration might set heaven

itself on fire, he changed his plan, and resolved to drown
32
it."
J. W. Eoster gives the following account and abridged

remarks on the Amerind legends bearing on the last great
"
cataclysm Among the Indian tribes of North America,
:
Catlin found the tradition of such a cataclysm. The tribes

further south relate that the waters were seen coming in
waves like mountains from the east, and of the tens of thou-
"
31
Brinton, Myths of the New World," 3d ed., pp. 245-246.
82
"The Age of Fable," Scott's ed., p. 24.
sands who ran for the high grounds to the west, according
to some traditions, one man only, and according to others,
two, and according to others, seven, succeeded in reach-
still
ing places of safety, and from these have descended the

present races of Indians.
"
The
tribes in Central America and Mexico, in Venez-
uela, and in British and Dutch Guiana, distinctly describe

these cataclysms one by water, one by fire, and the third by
the winds. The tribes nearer the vicinity of the terrible
convulsions were cognizant of the whole effects of fire and
winds, when the remote tribes were sensible only of the

flood of waters which went to the base of the mountains.
"
From amidst
t
the thunder and flames that came out of
'
the sea,' whilst mountains were sinking and rising/ the
terror-stricken inhabitants sought every expedient of safety.
Some fled to the mountains, and some launched their rafts
and canoes upon the turbulent waters, trusting that a favor-
able current would land them upon a hospitable shore, and
thus in this elemental strife this ancient civilized people
became widely dispersed.
" ( '
The festival of Izcalli was instituted to commemorate
'
this terrible calamity, in which
princes and people humbled
themselves before the Divinity and besought Him not to
renew the frightful convulsions.'
"
It is claimed that by this catastrophe an area larger
than that of the kingdom of France became engulfed, includ-
ing the Lesser Antilles, the extensive banks at their eastern
base, which
at that date were vast and fertile plains; the
peninsulas of Yucatan and Guatamala, went down the

splendid cities of Palenque and Uxmal, and others whose
sites are now
in the ocean bed, with most of their living in-
habitants; and the Continent has since risen sufficiently to

restore of these ancient * * *
many sites.
" The
authority of Charles Martins is appealed to, show-
'
ing that hydrography, geology, and botany agree in teach-

ing that the Azores, the Canaries, and Madeira, are the re-
mains of a great continent which formerly united Europe
33
to North America."
Plato's description of Atlantis, as received by Solon from
the Egyptian priests, bears repetition again, it was as'
follows :
" There was an island situated in front of the straits
which you columns of Hercules; the island was

call the
larger than Lybia and Asia put together, and was the way
to other islands, and from the islands you might pass
through the whole of the opposite continent, which surrounds

the true ocean."
The rupture of the Midgard serpent caused the agita-
tion in the mind of primitive man which gave rise to the
wildly exaggerated reports and stories of the above catas-
trophe. It must be remembered that, after all, our fore-
fatherssaw only the remnants of the mighty annular system
which had been the time-maker of the geological ages. The
periods of cold and the great flood of Deucalion were only
echoes of the last stages of the. Ice age, or, more properly,
"
ages."
The Midgard serpent girded the whole earth, and it is
recorded that his tail, finding no other place, grew down his
throat. This is the language of the Younger Edda:
The eagle screams,
And with pale beak tears corpses.
Mountains dash together,
Heroes go the way of Hel,
And heaven is rent in twain.
All men abandon their homesteads
When the warder of Midgard
In wrath slays the serpent.
83 " The Prehistoric Races of the

United States of America," 6th ed.,
pp. 396-398. Catlin, "The Lifted and Subsided Rocks of America,"

London, Triibner & Co., 1870. Revue des Deux Mondes, March, 1867.
The sea grows dark,

The earth sinks into the sea,
The bright stars
From heaven vanish;
Fire rages,
Heat blazes,
And high flames play
'Gainst heaven itself.
The Mexican account says:

"
Quetzalcoatl, deity, learning that his
the Toltec
father had been slainby the cloud-snakes, rose upon them
and rushed into their temple with his tigers. He slew
many, the them he hewed and hacked, and,
guiltiest of
throwing red pepper on their wounds, left them to die. This

is the explanation they give of the ruddy and crimson hue
"
of the clouds in the eastern sky. * * * And his funeral pile
is on top of Orizaba, where, overcome at length by his ene-
mies, he lay down to die. Wrapped in the flames, his body

rose up to heaven. We
have the like in the Greek mythology
in the tale of Herakles." 34
The skies were strangely peopled in those days

With gods, and goddesses, and giants strong,
With heroes, witches, demigods, and dwarfs.
Yea, many mortals also dwelt on high,
For after death Valkyries brave were sent
To bring the warrior chieftains to Valhalla,
Where Odin kept an open door for them.
From thence deep music seemed to issue forth

The sound of all its tumult Wagner heard:
The clear horn-call of many waters rang.
A mighty hero known as Siegfried fell,
And Brunehild seized a torch and lit his pyre.
Then, as the flames rose high, she jumped upon,
Her horse's back and raised him for the leap.
O Siegfried Siegfried " rang her cry. She sprang
! !
Into the rising, eating flames, which flew

And, gaining volume, mounted higher, higher,
84
De "
Charles B. Mills, The Tree of Mythology," pp. 29-30.
Unto the very heavens, to the clouds,
That naming canopy, all ruddy red,
The fiery wall between the earth and sky.
'T was then the bright ring fell back to the earth.
The Maidens of the Rhine swam to the shore
And caught the circlet as it reached its home.
The faggots of the world-ash now caught fire

Through the green trellis shot the crimson rays,
And all the world was bathed in bloody glow.
Then wildly, still more wildly, leaped the flames.
Valhalla was surrounded with red fire;
It could no longer from the earth be seen
The fearful glow and smoke filled all the air.
Lo! the last twilight of the gods had come

The faggots of the world-ash flared and blazed,
And all the gods came rushing to the war.
The earth itself was frightened and did shake.
The sea above flowed from its basin strong,
And the firm heavens were thus torn asunder
And many men did perish from the earth.
The eagles of the air fed on themselves,
Their quivering bodies being yet alive.
The great wolf Fenris broke his bands and rushed.
The Midgard serpent rose out of the sea,
And Loke burst his bonds and joined the giants.
Then all rushed to the war against the gods.
" In
the midst of this clash and din the heavens are rent
in twain, and the sons of Muspelheim come riding through
the opening." Muspelheim, according to Anderson, means
e
the day of judgment.' So that this passage means that the
heavens are and the eanopy falls, or appears to
split open,
fall, to earth. first, and before him and after him

Surt rides
flames burning with the appearance as it were of fire lighten
the canopy. Surt isthe personification of this fire feature
of canopy decline. He is the same as the destructive god of
the Egyptian mythology, Set, or Seb, who destroys the sun.
The gods came forth across the Bifrost bridge.

Their horses' hoofs made clashing din and noise
As they rushed o'er the bridge, then trembling.
And as they rushed a fearful crash rang out.

The Bifrost bridge fell under them, a wreck.
But on they rode, regarding not its fall,
To meet their enemies in force arrayed,
The followers of Hela and the giants.
And all this time the faggots blazed away
O fearful was the bonfire that they made!
This mighty ash-tree was supposed to hold
The world-wide universe upon its limbs.
So now in terror all the earth beheld
And saw it burning O the fearful sight!
The gods advanced, great Odin led them on.

Alone he rushed against the Fenris wolf,
And, rushing, fell a victim in his jaws.
(The canopy in falling did this thing.)
Then afterwards by Odin's son he fell.
For Vidar, who could walk upon the air,
Survived the falling vapor thing, of course.
Then Thor engaged the Midgard serpent vile,
And great renown was his for killing him;
Yet by its death, he killed himself also
The venom of the monster caused his death."
The Frost giants fought, and Loke met his fate

88
By Heimdall, the bright rainbow of the sky.
And Heimdall lived, and yet he died because

The rainbow dies when all the war is o'er.
fearful was the fighting everywhere!
'T was Surtur, the fire-giant, threw a dart
Which killed poor Frey. Some say that he did start
The fire which burned the universal tree.
The world-ash has returned unto its source

The doomsday of the gods like smoke is gone,
And dissolution of the well known facts
Has followed in the thoughts of modern man.
Mythology, however, still retains
The bone and substance of the facts entire,
35
of Ice put an end to thunder storms.
The Age
Heimdall was originally the keeper of the bridge Bifrost. In the
86
new order of things, he became associated with the rainbow, the only
vapor bridge left in the sky.
As has been shown by raking up the dust
Which fiction has deposited so thick.
But all this web can never hide the truth
' '
If one will pick it from its mother lode.
The end had come:

" '
And is there no hope, Odin ? Does
Finally Tyr spoke :
all end in darkness ? At these words Odin's face changed

'
;
i
a gleam of sunshine seemed to fall upon it, and he said I :
see arise, a second time, earth from ocean, beauteously green.

I see waterfalls where leap the fish, and eagles flying over
the hills. I see Baldur and Hodur, the rulers of a purer
race of mortals, mortals who have long served Baldur in
the lower world, and near them Yidar and the sons of
Thor. Ida's plains, and call to memory the
They meet on
mighty deeds of the old gods, and their ancient lore. They
speak of the serpent, the great earth-encircler, and of the
deeds of Loke and of Thor. Unsown shall the fields bring
forth, and all evil shall be done away with when Baldur and
Hodur reign.'
"
He ceased, while his gaze seemed penetrating through
37
the misty ages."
"Litchfield, "The Nine Worlds/' p. 155.

INDEX OF AUTHORS -
Abbot, C. C., 128, 132 Carlyle, Thomas, 358-359, 367-368

Adhemar, 93, 99 Carter, R. Kelso, 6, 69
Afanasyeff, 279-280, 332-357 Gary, Henry, 143-144, 255
Agassiz, L., 3, 60-61, 83, 100 Catlin, George, 380, 382
Amos, 173 Cayeux, L., 61
Ampelius, Lucius, 202 Chamberlin, T. C., 7, 13-14, 15, 18-19, 35,
Anderson, Rasmus B., 361, 363, 370, 384 77, 85, 98, 99, 105-106, 108, 112, 118-
Andree, 165 119, 120, 125
Andrews, Dr. E., 128, 130 Champollion, Jean Francois, 226
Angot, Alfred, 28 Chandler, Dr., 35
Angstrom, 16 Cicero, 156, 256
Argyll, Duke of, 48-49 Clerke, Agnes M., 23, 29, 33, 35-36, 38, 39,
Aristotle, 201, 236, 256, 302 41, 72, 232
Arrhenius, 15 Coan, 123
Collet, John, 126-127
Balboa, Vasco Nunez de, 266 Cooper, 257
Ball, Sir Robert, 101, 115, 116 Cortez, 148
Bancroft, George, 170, 190-191, 258, 267- Creech, 57
270, 315-316, 318 Croll, James, 93, 99, 101, 116, 124
Barker, George F., 21 Curtin, Jeremiah, 280-285, 320-328, 332-
Barrande, 52 335, 337-338, 340, 343-348, 372
Barrois, M. Chas., 61 Cuvier, 59
Basil, St., 156
Bean, Dr. Tarleton H., 54, 94 Dana, James D., 6, 24, 59, 66-67, 71, 75-
Beche, Sir. H. de la, 55 76, 77-78, 99, 101, 109, 110, 112, 122
Bell, Dr. Robert, 131 Daniel, 173
Bergaigne, 175 Dante, 304
Berosus, 167, 257 D'Anvers, N. (Nancy Bell), 139
Bertrand, J. L. F., 61 Darwin, Charles R., 53, 61, 100, 103, 124
Berzelius,Baron J. J., 14 Darwin, Erasmus, 147
Blake, John F., 209 Darwin, Prof. G. H., 41
Blank, Rev. J., 143, 274-275 Dastre, A., 60-62
Bleek,W. H. J., 310 Dawson, Sir J. W., 47-48, 90-91, 157
Bonney, T. G., 116 Delitzsch, 210
Bourbourg, Brasseur de, 222-223 Dellenbaugh, Frederick S., 117-118, 133,
Boyesen, H. H., 370 134-137, 150
Bradbury, Robert H., 65 De Vries, 60, 63, 71, 89, 125
Brinton, Daniel G., 135, 162-163, 245, 265, Diaz, Bernal, 148
308, 309-310, 315, 317, 318-319, 328, Dickeson, Dr., 244
364, 379-380 Dobbins, Frank S., 251, 311, 360
Brugsch, Dr. H. de, 162, 248 Donnelly, Ignatius, 4-5, 46, 148-149, 151,
Bryant, William Cullen, 233-234 239-240, 258, 264, 266, 267, 268, 289-
Buckland, Dr. William, 55 290, 311-315, 317, 318, 378-379
Budge, E. A. Wallis, 220 Dove, Heinrich Wilhelm, 26
Biihler, 189 Duram, 239-240
Bulfinch,Thomas, 225, 242, 287, 378, 380
Byron, Lord, 262-263 Edwards, Amelia B., 139, 241, 247-248,
251
Csesarius, St., 156 Elton, 272-273
887
388 INDEX OF AUTHORS
Emerson, B. K. 130-131
f James, St., 159, 236
Epictetus, 223, 308 James, George Wharton, 328-331
Euclid, 256 Jamieson, T. F., 94, 120
Ezekiel, 169, 171, 173, 199 Jastrow, Morris, Jr., 164, 196, 197-198,
203, 205, 209, 210, 211, 212, 214, 215-
Fairchild,Herman Le Roy, 7-8, 21, 44-45 218, 264
Farrington, Dr. Oliver C., 33 Jensen, 246
Fisher, 120 Jeremiah, 156, 158, 172, 173
Fiske, A. K., 148 Job, 20, 145-146, 151, 153, 157, 159, 163,
Flammarion, M., 209 172, 173, 198, 208, 225, 242, 263, 372
Floegel, 28 Joel, 173
Foerste, A. F., 78-79 John, St., 159, 172, 173, 377
Fontenelle, 158-159 Johns, C. H. W., 205
Foster, J. W., 137-138, 243-244, 245, 380- Josephus, 201
382 Joshua, 158, 173, 235
Frere, J. H., 143
Kant, Emanuel, 4, 6, 38
Gardner, J. Starkie, 5, 96 James E., 36, 37, 232
Keeler,
Geikie, Archibald, 17-18, 24-25, 84-87, Kemp, James Furman, 17
89-90, 116, 120, 122-123 Kepler, Johann, 30
Geikie, James, 42-43, 87-88, 93-94, 101, King, L. W., 200-202, 205, 206, 207
109, 114-115, 138, 141 Kotzebue, Otto von, 54
Gilbert, G. K., 129, 131 Kuhn, Adalbert, 259
Gratacap, L. R., 62-63 Kuntze, 97
Gray, Asa, 84, 95, 97, 104
Grey, Sir George, 178-181 Lakes, Arthur, 76-79
Groneman, 32 Lamarck, 63, 65
Gubernatis, A. de, 341 Lang, Andrew, 168
Gudea, 203, 246 Langley, S. P., 21, 72
Lanoye, F. De., 132, 162, 226, 250
Habakkuk, 158, 173 Lapham, 149
Haggai, 173 Laplace, 38
Hann, 16 Lartet, 77
Hansew, 126 Le Conte, Joseph, 17, 20-21, 43, 60, 68, 81,
Harrison, Frederick, 155 102, 122, 129
Hartung, 259 Lemstrom, Prof., 91-92
Hayne, 46 Lenormant, 5, 364
Heer, Oswald, 5, 76 90, 96, 97 Lesser, Isaac, 208
Heilprin, Angelo, 52, 53, 140 Lewis, Carville H., 125
Heraclitus, 237 386
Litchfield, 373,
Herodotus, 144, 203, 255, 302 Lockyer, J. Norman, 248
Hesiod, 143-144, 231, 255, 256, 274, 275, Logan, Sir William, 131
288, 307, 326 Lucas, Frederick A., 62
Hilprecht, Herman V., 45-46, 145, 196, Lyell, Sir Charles, 21-22, 46, 48, 54-55,
209, 245 60, 101, 104-105, 124
Homer, 201, 224, 231, 233-234, 254, 255,
280, 306, 307 Mackintosh, D., 131
Hooker, Sir J., 97, 115 Macrobius, 308
Hopkins, Edward Washburn, 174-175. Manilius, 202
Manson, Marsden, 7, 51, 97
176, 177, 186-187, 193-194, 255
Howe, Herbert A., 36 Martins, Charles, 381
Humphrey, 132 Maspero, G., 227, 241, 247-248, 251
Huygens, Christian, 33 Massey, 238
Hyginus, 202, 229 Matthew, Dr. W. D., 99
Maurice, 147, 194-195
Ideler, 236 Metz, 128
Isaiah, 151, 156, 158, 172, 173, 198, 200, Meunier, M. Stanislas, 25-26
357 Miller, Hugh, 56-58
INDEX OF AUTHORS
Mills, Charles De B., 151, 178-181, 185- Rice, William North, 81
186, 213, 234-235, 252-253, 257, 281, Richardson, 315
283, 286, 316, 318, 383 Richtofen, 18
Milton, 153 Rogers, 80
Moore, Thomas, 212 Roscoe, H. E., 14-15
Moses, 172, 216 Ruskin, John, 257, 262
MOller, Max, 168-169, 182, 183, 186, 230- Russell, Israel C., 112, 131
231, 255, 259, 371 Rutherford, E., 52
Murray, Alexander S., 185, 259, 287
Sachs, 65
Nadaillac, Marquis De, 139, 371 Salisbury, Rollin D., 15, 18-19, 35, 77, 85,
Newton, Sir Isaac, 224, 237 98, 99, 105-106, 108, 110-111, 112, 118-
Nolan, James, 41 119, 120, 121-122, 132
Nordenskjold, 5, 28, 54, 96 Sanchoniathon, 257
Saporta, Marquis de, 99, 371
Origen, 156 Sardeson, P. W., 51
Orton, James, 97 Saussaye, De La, 372
Ovid, 228-229, 235, 242, 265, 272-273, Sayce, A. H., 140, 198, 199-200, 211, 259
276 Schardt, 85
Schloesing, 14
Paley, F. A., 256 Schorlemmer, C., 14-15
Pearson, H. W., 92-93, 117 Schroder, 255
Penck, 117 Schuchert, Charles, 99
Penka, 371 Schwartz, Ernest H. L., 79-80
Peter, St., 156, 165, 173 Scipio, 308
Phene", John S., 148 Scott, Rev. J. L., 225, 242, 287, 378, 380
Pherekydes, 280-281, 364 Scribner, G. Hilton, 5, 97
Pierret, 248 Scrope, 122
Pindar, 242, 254 Seeley, H. G., 70
Plato, 219, 229, 297-307, 377, 382 Seneca, 256
Plutarch, 302 Shakespeare, 143
Poor, L. E., 147, 153, 250, 264, 291-296, Shaler, N. S., 78-79, 106, 120
335, 369 Smith, Angus, 15
Powell, Major J. W., 118 Smyth, Piazza, 241
Powers, 270 Socrates, 301
Pozzi, G., 119 Solon, 219, 229, 382
Preller, 302 Spencer, Herbert, 65
Prescott, William H., 191, 192-193, 242- Standfuss, Dr. Max, 74
243 Stedman, Edmund Clarence, 254
Prestwich, Joseph, 46, 47, 125, 141, 165- Stewart, J. A., 297-307
166 Stokes, Frank Wilbert, 27, 29
Price, Ira Maurice, 365 Suess, E., 60
Proclus, 237
Procter, Bryan Waller, 278 Taylor, Canon, 295
Ptolemaeus, Claudius, 169, 256 Tennyson, Alfred, 174
Purchase, 357 Theognis, 143
Pythias, 258 Theopompos, 302
Tiele, 259, 310
Ragozin, Ze'naide A., 175-176, 177, 185, Tomlinson, A. B., 244
200, 203, 213, 364-365 Tylor, 222-223, 264, 280, 315
Raleigh, Sir Walter, 378 Tyndall, John, 12-13, 19, 26-27, 72, 102
Ralston, W. R. S., 279-280, 341-342, 348-
356 Upham, Warren, 127-128, 129, 130-132,
Ramsay, Sir Andrew, 80 133
Rassam, 144
Rawlinson, George, 159, 167, 220-222, Vail, Prof. Isaac N., 6, 7
225-226 Very, 16
43
390 INDEX OF AUTHORS
Vezian, A, 85 Winchell, Alexander, 80-81, 82, 111-112,
Virgil, 57 141-142
Winchell, N. H., 129, 130
Wagner, 383 Woodwbrth, J. B., 78-79, 129
Wallace, 96, 97 Wright, G. Frederick, 6, 44, 48, 81-82, 84,
Waltershausen, Sartorius von, 123 94-96, 100, 101, 106-107, 109, 112, 114,
Warren, William F,, 5, 96, 97, 188, 201- 119-120, 126-127, 128-129, 130, 137,
202, 229-230, 236-237, 310 138, 141, 166-167
White, Dr. Charles A., 62
White, I. C., 126, 127 Zechariah, 173
INDEX OF SUBJECTS
Abou Mohammed, 151 Ami, 200, 206, 207, 210, 211, 212, 216,
Absorption, atmospheric, 21-22, 53, 63, 246, 255
72, 98 Anubis, 225
Achilles, 234, 282, 292, 293 Anunnaki, 217
Actinic rays, 72, 161-162 Apapi, 248, 251
Acvins, 146, 177, 187, 198 Ap-en-to, 238
Adad 196 Aphrodite, 249
Adamite Race, 5, 137, 161, 166 Apocatequil, 317
Admeta, 288, 289 Apollo, 231, 254, 255, 261, 262, 265, 271,
Adonis, 153, 221, 317, 370 272, 276, 375, 378, 379
Adrastea, 259 Apophis, 148, 225, 226, 227
Adumbla, 368 Apples, see Golden and Star-eyes, 146,
Êsir, 359, 361, 363 242, 289-291, 348
African myths, 165, 310, 316 Apsu, 200, 201, 204, 211
Afrites, 151 Arabian tales, 151, 172, 264
Age of darkness, 151, 154, 178-181, 183, Archaeology, 12, 19, 45-46, 132-142, 148,
190, 191, 257, 313 155, 371
Agni, Agny, 174, 175, 176, 249, 250, 255, Archaeozoic, 45
256 Archean, 80
Ahi, 185 Argo, 280, 291
Ahriman, 141, 328, 369 Argonauts, 291
Ahura-Mazda, 141 Ariadne, 273
Akhu, 238 Ariconte, 153
Alcmene, 277 Arid regions, 98, 140
Algonkin age, 80 Arion, 378
Algonkin myths, 234-235, 267, 280, 309, Arthur, 283, 294 ff.
316, 318, 319, 327 Artemis, see Diana, 271
Alphesu, 260 Aryan myths, 141, 144, 168, 169, 174,
Alternating seasons, 50-51, 97-98, 103 185-186, 219, 371
Amalthea, 259 Asa-bridge, 367
Amazons, 288 Asaheim, see Asgard, 363
Amenti, 226 Asgard, 264, 359, 361, 366, 374
Amerinds, 134-136 Ashur, 219
Amerind myths, 149, 150, 151, 154, 162- Assyrian myths, 171, 196-218, 231, 242-
163, 168, 170, 174, 190 ff., 196, 222-223, 243, 317
227-228, 231, 234-235, 240, 243 ff., Astral aeon, 6
249, 258, 264 ff., 281 ff., 308-331, 364, Astronomical hypothesis, 101 ff.
372, 376, 378, 379-382, 383 Astronomical knowledge, ancient, 143-
Ammon-Ra, 220-221 144, 147, 170, 182, 208-210, 223, 241,
Anamorphic zone, sympathetic earth 256 ff., 272
movements, 42, 75, 122-123 Asura, 175, 176, 187, 250
Ananta, 150, 189 Asva, 186, 230
Anastasia the Fair, 350 Ataguja, 317
Ancient astronomical knowledge, see As- Aten, 220, 221
tronomical knowledge. Athene, 261, 262, 271, 274, 275
Annihilation of the gods, 223, 308 Atlantis, 237, 263, 302, 382
Annular systems, 30 ff., 38, 40, 42, 69 Atlas, 146, 147, 237, 260, 290
Annular theory, 6 Atmospheric blanket, 7, 11, 12, 20 ff., 51,
Antigone, 233 70-71, 98
391
892 INDEX OF SUBJECTS
Atmospheric hypothesis, 101 ff. |
Buried organic matter, 126-127
Atua, 238 Burning canopy, see Conflagration, Olel-
Augeus, 288 bis, and Ragnarok, 280 ff.
Aurora, the goddess, 260 Bushmen, 310
Aurora Polaris, 22, 27 ff., 32, 91-92 Butterfly experiments, 73-74
Australian myths, 165, 310, 326 Buyan, see Egg-land, 341
Avatar, 189, 193, 194-195, 196, 211. 247,
287 Cacus, 234, 270
Axial-rotation, 35-38, 39 Cadmus, 153
Azoic, 61 Caf, Mount, 196
Aztecs, 150, 151, 191 ff., 267, 280, 308, Calypso, 170, 316
309, 314, 319, 376 Camaxtli, 150
Cambrian, 52, 61, 77, 80, 98, 119
Baal, 169, 369 Canaanite myths, 227
Baal-peor, 169 Canopus, 143
Baba Yaga, 351 ff. Capitoline, 153
Babel, 167-169, 173, 176, 239 ff. Carbonaceous meteorites, 34
Babylonian myths, 164, 167, 182-183, 185- Carbon-dioxide blanket, 12, 15 ff., 21, 34
186, 193, 196-218, 239, 242-243, 245 Carbon dioxide in atmosphere, 13-14, 72,
ff., 257, 277, 284, 285, 289-290, 365, 74, 98, 102, 113, 267
366, 368, 369, 376 Carbon dioxide, limitations for life, 14-15,
Bacchus, 357 74
Bal, 185 Carboniferous age, 14, 44, 45, 52, 62, 69,
Balder, 234, 292, 359, 368, 369, 370, 386 71, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 84, 116, 117
Barbarossa, Frederick, 294 Catastrophic changes, 46, 48, 50, 53, 54,
Basutos, 316 56, 59 ff., Ill, 166, 299, 379 ff.
Bau, 203 Caucasian race, 5, 137, 166
Behemoth, 152 Cave, see Egg-land
Bel, 169, 197, 198, 202,204 205, 206, 207, Celestial bridge, 361
209, 210, 211, 216, 217, 257, 278 Celestial vault, 230
Bel-Dagon, 277 Celtic legends, 377
Bel's sanctuary, 45-46 Cenozoic, 59, 98
Belit, 197 Centaurs, 287
Bellerophon, 274-275 Centrifugal force, 16, 23, 29, 34, 103, 214,
Beowulf, 153, 185, 281, 283 232, 324
Bes, 227 Cerberus, 275, 285, 290
Biela's comet, 23 Cesha, 188-189
Bifrost-bridge, 264, 359-360, 361, 366, Chaldean, see Babylonian
369, 379, 384, 385 Champlain period, 77
Big-headed animals, 67 ff. Chaos, 154, 204, 250, 257, 258
Biological crisis, see Suddenness, 63 Chape wee, Chakabech, 312-313
Bird (sun), see Winged sun, 174 Chariots, 158, 182, 186, 204, 211, 219, 228-
Birth of the Myths, 4 ff., 12, 19, 358-359 232, 304 ff.
Boar, 152, 194-195, 287 ff., 336, 342, 361, Charon, 264
378 Cheops, 158, 241 ff.
Boat, see Halo-boat and egg, 222, 224- Cherubim, see Good cherub, 170-171, 173
225, 226, 249-250, 251 ff., 273 Chimaera, 152, 274, 275, 285
Book of the Dead, 223 ff., 237-238, 247 Chinese myths, 165, 182, 209, 268, 370
Brage, 290 Choctaw, 168, 264, 265
Brahma, 141, 187-188, 194, 276, 368, 379 Chudo, 351, 356
Briareus, 152 Clam-shell canopy, 258, 313
Bronze age, 47, 138 Climate, solar, 50-51, 97-98, 103
Brooks's comet, 35 Climate, vagaries, 5, 13, 49, 53, 63, 75 ff.,
Brunehild, 383 89 ff., 103, 109-110, 119
Bull, see Cows, 170, 210, 212, 273, 288, Cloud-mountain, see Mountain, 151, 196,
355, 368 210, 213, 223, 236, 245, 260, 264, 289,
Buoyant atmosphere, see Density, 69-70 302
INDEX OF SUBJECTS 393
Cloud-snakes' mountain, 150, 383 Density of atmosphere, 53, 63, 65-69

Complex organisms, 66 Descent of man, 136-137
Concentric zones, 246 ff., 256 ff. Desiccation, 98, 118-119, 159
Conflagration of heaven, see Olelbis and Deucalion deluge, 165, 219, 230, 287, 377,
Ragnarok, 219, 230, 319-325, 326, 351, 378 382
365, 367, 370, 375, 379 ff. Deva Surya, 141, 186
Confusion of tongues, 167-169, 249, 313 Development of the races, 136-137
Conglomerates, 44, 45, 78, 79, 80, 85, 86, Devonian, 50, 52, 61, 63, 71, 80, 85
116 Dew, 159, 173
Connecticut River flood, 109 Diana, 271, 276, 287
Controversy, astronomers and physicists Dibbarra, 217
with geologists, 42 Dicktain cave, 265
Controversy of geologists and mathema- Dimiriat, 153
ticians, 11 Dinosaurs, 67 ff., 71, 73
Copper bridge, 343 Diomedes, 288
Copper ring, 339 Disagreement amongst physicists, 16
Cosmos, 299-300 Disintegration, 126-127
Cows, cattle, see Bull, 152, 162, 176, 177, Disk-worship, 219 ff.
184, 185, 211, 217, 222, 249, 261, 270 Distribution of species, see Migration, 52
Coxcox, 192 ff. ff., 89 ff., 140
Coyoteros, 315 Doctrine of isostasy, see Weight of ice

Crab, 286 Doctrine of uniformity, 46, 54, 60, 66, 105,
Creation epic, Babylonian, 204 ff. 124
Cremation, 370-371 Dog of hell, 152, 275
Cretaceous, 53, 59, 67, 71, 76, 85, 91, 99, Dog Rib Indians, 312
125 Dokos, 321
Critias, 302 Dome of Heaven, 200-202
Cronus, 167, 250, 258 ff., 299 ff. Doomsday, see Ragnarok, 264, 267, 385
Crow, see Ka, 261 Dragon, 146, 151-152, 153, 175, 185, 204,
Curetes, 259 205, 213, 234, 237, 274, 275, 285, 290,
Cybele, 260, 278 328, 336, 339, 342, 355, 369, 370, 378
Cyclonic areas, 14, 20, 102, 105, 107-108, Dragon-fly, 356
112-114 Dragons of the air, 70-71
Cyclops, 289 Draupner, 373
Druids, 277, 294
Dadhikravan, 186, 230 Drunkenness, Noah's, 161-162
"
Daedalus, 272
Dumb fluter, " 315
Demons, 286, 291, 305 Dust-clouds, 17 ff., 24 ff.
ff., 369, 378-379
Dahish 153 Dust, ferruginous, 29, 32, 33
Danae, 255, 277 286 Dust, inter-planetary, 34-35, 45, 50
Danish myths, 293-294 Dust, meteoric, 32, 47
Daphne, 255, 375 Dust, planetesimal, 32, 47, 71, 360
Darkling, 154, 317
Du-Zu, 317
Dark world, Dwarfs, 372, 383
151, 154, 178-181, 183, 190-
191, 225, 257-258, 268, 310, 315, 373,
Dyaus, see Zeus, 144, 175, 177, 184, 254-
375 255, 371
Date, withdrawal of ice, 125 ff. Ea, 196, 200, 203, 206, 207, 210, 211, 214,
Day, Biblical, 156, 157 ff. 215, 247, 261, 276, 278, 284, 326, 369
Day, Joshua's, 158, 173, 235 Eagle, 171, 290, 350, 374, 382, 384
Deathless One, see Koshche*i Early record of solar and stellar phenom-
Declination of the heavens, 219, 230, 359 ena, 143-144, 147, 170, 183, 208-210,
Deer, 152, 154 223, 241, 256 ff., 272
Delos, Isle of, 263, 265, 271 Echidna, 232, 274, 275, 285
Delphic oracle, 231-232, 259, 272 Echo, 144, 169, 195, 208, 222, 307
Deltas, 132 Eden-like conditions, see Greenhouse, 142,
Deluge, see Noachian and Deucalion 147, 160, 161, 162, 170, 171, 172, 201,
Deluge of Ogyges, 287, 377 366, 377
Egg, see Halo-boat, 149, 174, 202, 248- Flaming sword, 163, 170, 173, 282 ff., 295-
249, 310, 317, 340 ff. 297, 336, 345, 377
Egg-land, 169, 170, 241 ff., 250, 263 ff., Floating Bridge, 360
272, 289, 297, 315, 322, 339, 363, 366, Floating Region, 360
376 Flood, see Noachian, Deucalion, and
Egyptian myths, 143, 144, 145, 148, 149, Deluge of Ogyges, 192 ff., 230
162, 165, 176, 182, 185, 187, 196, 203, Fortunate Fields, 242
213, 219-253, 255, 256, 260, 263, 265, Four ages, 190 ff., 309
273, 276, 277, 308, 310, 314, 318, 357, Four rivers, 188, 201, 299, 309, 367
366, 369, 375, 377, 378, 382 Freshness of glaciated surfaces, 125
El, 250 Frey, 361, 371, 373, 378, 385
Electric expulsion, 23 Frigy, 365
Electric stimulus, 91-92 Frog monster, 149, 150, 152
Electryon, 277 Furies, 296
Elivagar, 369
Elliptical systems, 29, 38 Gaea, 259
Elysian Plain, 242 Gallinomeros, 269
Enceladus, 152 Ganesha, 251
Environment, see Mutation, 63, 65 ff., 73- Gaps in the biological record, 53, 59-60,
74, 136 62-63, 66, 67, 70-71
Eocene, 85, 89, 92, 93 Garden of Hesperides, 146
Eocene continent, 5, 92, 96 Geological ages, 11, 35, 39, 41, 49 ff., 52,
Eos, 260 67, 108, 382
Epeirogenic theory, 101 German legends, 250, 294, 314
Epic of Gilgamesh, 211 ff.
Geryon, 234, 242, 270, 274, 289
Epigene agencies, 45 Giants, see Titans, 260 ff., 265, 290, 293,
Er, Myth of, 298 ff. 307, 341, 348, 362, 367, 368, 369, 370,
Erebus, 257 372, 373, 374, 378, 383, 384, 385
Eros, 253, 307 Gigantic life, 67-71
Erymanthus, 361 Gilgamesh, 164, 211 ff., 215 ff., 289
Eskers, 130 Gimle, 363
Eskimo, 133, 168, 312 Gisl, 361
Etana, Legend of, 201 Gjallar bridge, 369
Eurystheus, 278, 280 ff., 287 ff., 337 Glacial centres, see Cyclonic areas, 108,
Evolution, see Mutation, 52, 60, 61 ff., 63, 165
89 ff., 124 Glaciation in remote ages, 78 ff., 98-100,
Evolution of man, 136-137 117, 120
Exogens, 50-51, 98 Glad, 361
Explosions of life, see Suddenness, 61, 62 Gladsheim, 375
Extermination of species, 48, 52, 54-58, 71 Glaive of light, 283
Glener, 369
Fafnir, 185 Gler, 361
Falcon, 350, 354-355 Gods annihilated, 223, 308
Falls of St. Anthony, 129 ff. Golden age, 151, 189, 192, 259, 299 ff.,
Fates, 296 307, 321, 322, 359, 365, 366

Fedor, 350 Golden apples, 289, 339, 365, 374, 375, 378
Fenris-wolf, 152, 313, 371, 372, 373, 375, Golden bridge, 336, 343
384, 385 Golden car, 187
Fimbul-winter, 373 Golden fleece, 291
Finn cosmology, 256, 280, 281 Golden germ, 174
Fire ring, 152, 174, 175, 185, 301, 255, Golden ring, 339
256, 297, 298, 303, 363 Goldtop, 361
Fire worship, 174, 176 Gondwana Land, 99
Firmament of water, 4, 7, 16, 19, 23-24, Good cherub, 171, 173, 199, 227, 243, 369
30, 37, 97-98, 111, 143, 145, 146, 156, Goose, brooding, 310
157, 158, 173, 177, 200, 205, 206, 249, Gorgian Myth, 304
321 Gorgons, 285, 351
Gowila, 327 Hero of the Plain, 343 ff.

Gram, dog, 152 Hesperides, 144, 242, 285, 289, 290
Gravity, 11, 18 ff., 23, 30, 40, 41 ff., 43, Hestia, 305
49, 63, 69, 75, 92, 93 ff., 106, 224, 232, Hidery Indians, 310
237 Hindu myths, 146, 147, 150, 152, 165, 174-
Grecian myths, 144, 146, 163-164, 165, 168, 195, 198, 231, 248-249, 254-255, 257,
170, 186, 196, 201, 204, 205, 208, 211, 258, 261, 263, 264, 276, 286, 287, 313,
213, 219, 221, 224, 228 ff., 236, 242, 356, 368, 369, 375-376, 378-379
254-275, 276-296, 297-307, 318, 322, Hippolyta, 288
342, 357, 359, 363-364, 366, 369, 374, Hoder, 233, 369, 386
383 Hokomata, 328 ff.
Green Daughter, 335 346 ff. ff., Holger Danske, 294

Greenhouse-roof, see Golden age and Horses, steeds, 173, 176, 177, 182, 186,
Eden-like conditions, 6, 12, 20 ff., 91, 187, 204, 211, 219, 228-232, 252, 273 ff.,
97, 159, 192, 199, 211, 224-225, 233, 291 ff., 304 ff., 336, 339, 342, 343 ff.,
259, 359 352, 354, 361, 374, 384
Grendel, 153, 185, 283 Horsemen, 177
Grizzlies,282 ff., 326 Horns, 220, 221, 225, 226
Guachemines, 154, 317 Hydra, 178-182, 185, 275, 285 ff., 289, 356
Gukumatz, 150 Hymir, 368
Gyller, 361 Hyperboreans, 265
Gypsum beds, 98, 118 Hyperion, 260
Hypogeic geology, 7, 75
Hades, 224, 237-238, 291 Hypsometric hypothesis, 101 ff .
Hagene, 234 Hyrroken, 370

Halcyon days, 192, 377
Hall of Two Truths, 222, 223, 226, 239, 247 lapetos, the god, 260
Halo-boats, see Egg, 145, 146, 147, 149, lapetos, the satellite, 32
151, 170, 175, 176, 182, 203, 207, 249 Iblis, 147
ff., 252 ff., 263, 273, 278, 288, 289, 314, Icarus, 272-273
336, 355, 361 Ice ages, see Glaciation in remote ages,
Hanuman, 379 14, 15, 43, 48, 50, 78-79, 80 ff., 94 ff.,
Hare, 152, 227-228, 231, 234, 273, 280, 98, 101 ff., 112 ff., 124 ff., 147, 178, 299,
312, 318, 319, 342 351, 373, 382, 385
Hannonia, 364 Ice recession, 109, 124-142
Hathor, 249 Ida, 259, 386
Hau, 321 Idun, 290, 374, 375
Haugebasse, 341-342 Ilhataina, 327
Havasupais, 328, 330 Ilus, 257
Heat a requisite to an ice age, 15, 102, Impregnated water, 53, 63
112-115 Indian myths, see Amerind myths
Heavier-than-air canopy, 16, 22, 34 Indra, 153, 174, 175-176, 177, 178, 184,
Hebrews, see Firmament, 145, 155-173, 185, 249, 256, 335, 354
201, 204, 213, 225, 317, 357, 365, 369 Ino, 280
Hector, 233 Inundation mud, 48-49
Heimdall, 361, 385 Inverted world, 224, 237-238
Hel, 369, 371, 382, 385 lolans, 275
Helios, 219, 260 288 Irin Mage\ 380
Heliotropism 61 Iroquoi myths, 149, 309, 328
Hell, 152, 264 Irradiation, 353
Hera, 255, 261, 271 Isfendiyar, 292
Hercules, 146, 147, 153, 163-164, 170, 177, Ishtar, 164, 199, 209, 211, 212, 215, 218,
178, 185, 211, 213, 270, 275, 276-296, 249, 285
327, 361, 369, 375, 378, 382, 383 Isis,221, 222, 224-225, 357, 369, 375
Hermes, 282 Island, see Egg-land.
Hermione, 153 Island of the Innocent, see Egg-land, 242,
Hennond, 369 263
Isle of Ogygia, see Egg-land, 170 Lead Friend, 337-338
Isles of the Blessed, see Egg-land, 242, Lenape", 162-163
247, 250, 304 Leto, see Latona, 271
Isostasy, see Weight of ice, 43, 93 ff., 119, Leviathan, 152, 198
120, 121 ff. Lexell's comet, 35
Ivan, 153, 279, 332-356 Lias, 54, 55, 125
Izdubar, 211 Light dispensed with by plant-life, 21-22,
Izanagi, 360 73, 96, by animals, 73
Light One, 318
Jack of the Bean-Stalk, 312 Limitations of ice, 107-108, 112-113
Jacob's ladder, 163, 262 Linguistic measles, 168-169
Japanese myths, 165, 360 Lion-snake, 154
Japetus, 260 Litaolane, 316
Jasher, 235 Lithological record, 50
Jaw, 204-205, 313, 337, 355, 375, 385 Load, see Weight of ice, 121
Jonah, 378 Loess, 46-47, 48-49
Joshua's long day, 158, 173, 235 Lohengrin, 252-253
Jotun, 367 Loke, Lok, Loki, 290, 362, 369, 370, 371,
Jotunheim, 362 372, 373, 374, 384, 385, 386
Jove, 153, 177, 223, 228, 231, 261, 275, Longevity, 162, 233
308 Lot, 214
Juggernaut, 356 Lower Carboniferous, 62
Juno, see Hera, 147, 233, 261, 271, 272, Lower Cretaceous, 67
275, 278 Lower Silurian, 51, 59, 61
Jupiter, the god, see Zeus, 209, 229, 255, Lower world, 344 ff .
259, 261, 271, 287 Lutchi, 323, 326

Jupiter's system, 6, 16, 30, 34, 35, 36-37,
38, 39, 72, 371, 380 Maane, 369
Machito, 268-269
Ka, 239, 261 Magna Mater, see Mother, 260, 278
Kaffirs, 168 Mammoth, 54, 68, 78, 111, 112, 138,
Kahit Kiemila, 323, 324 371
Kaltsauna, 326 Mammoth age, 47
Kames, 127, 130 Manabozho, 316
Karens, 280, 316 Mandara, 196
Katkatchila, 321, 322 Manes, Menes, Menos, Minyas, 250
Khem, 221 Manitu, 162, 235
Khepra, 220 Man's relics, see Archaeology, 132-142
Khonsu, 221 Manu, 193, 194, 211, 250
Kishma, 368 *
Maoris, 168, 178-181
Kiss Miklos, 335 ff ., 346 ff .
Marduk, 197, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207,
Kneph, 221 209, 210, 211, 368
Kootenays, 317 Mars, 34, 38, 39, 209, 288
Koshche"i, 153, 335, 338, 340 ff., 346, 350, Maruts, 177-178
351 Mathematical calculation, stability of
Krakatoa, 17, 24, 360-361 rings, 30-32, 41
Ku-Meru, 187 Mani, 280, 313, 314
Kwasind, 235 Maut, 221
Maw, see Clam and Jaw, 233, 260, 316
Labyrinth, 271-273 Medusa, 351
Ladon, 290 Melusina, 352
Lake filling, 127-128, 130 Mem Loimis, 323, 324
Lake Llion, 267 Mentu, 220
Land bridges, 5-6, 43, 63, 92, 94, 95, 96 ff ., Mercury, 209, 378
99, 134, 135 Meru, Mero, Merou, Meropes 187-188, 263,
Laramide, 59 264
Latona, 265, 266, 268, 271 Mesozoic, 41, 53, 59, 67, 71, 98
Meteoric falls, 29, 33, 34, 35 Nabu, 203, 209, 217

Meteoric hypothesis, 34, 41 Nagalfar, 371
Methuselah, 162 Nanahuatzin, 318
Metis, 259 Nannar, 215
Mexican myths, 151, 154, 243, 245, 317- Natural preservation, 64, 68
318, 357, 381, 383 Natural selection, 66
Michabo, 318, 327 Navajos, 315
Middle heaven, 148, 289 Nebo, 196
Middle world, 148, 291 Nebulae, 34-35
Midgard Serpent, 148, 152, 326, 328, 357, Nebular hypothesis, 7-8, 44, 45, 75
362, 367, 368, 371, 382, 384, 385 Nekilstluss, 310
Midgard world, 362 Nemean lion, 164, 170, 280, 285, 327, 369
Migrations, 43, 49, 63, 96-97, 103 ff., 110 Neolithic relics, 134, 137, 138, 141
8., 115, 134, 140, 166 Nephthys, 225
Miklos, 335 ff. Neptune, see Poseidon, 153, 287, 288
Mile-deep, 368 Neptune, the planet, 38, 39
Mimir, 366 Nergal, 209
Mimir's Realm, 363, 366 New Zealand myths, 178-181, 238-239
Minerva, 261, 262 Niagara gorge, 128 ff., 132, 133
Minos, 272 ff. Nicholas, 336 ff ., 343
Minotaur, 273 Niflheim, 363
Miocene system, 68, 81, 84, 85, 90 Night, 183-184, 185, 237-239, 257
Mirko, 343 ff. Night, canopy darkness, 153, 335
Missing links, 53, 66 ff . Nin-gal, 203
Miztecs, 154 Nin-girsu, 203, 215, 246
Mjolner, 367 Nin-gish-zidu, 215
Mock suns, see Halo-boats, 170, 263, Ninib, 196, 203, 209, 215, 216, 217
356 Nin-lil, 203
Modern storm, see Hydra, 178-182, 261- Nin-shaka-kuddu, 215
262, 356 Nin-shakh, 215
Mogol bird, 339 Noachian flood, 48, 54, 165, 166, 173, 193,
Mohammedan myths, 196, 251 211, 214 ff., 229 308, 377, 379 ff.
Monan, 379-380 Noah, 161-162, 192, 193, 214, 287, 378
Monstrous growths, 67-71 Norka, 153, 335, 339
Moon, canopy disk, 158, 159, 203, 214- Nox, 257
215, 227, 287, 306, 360, 369, 372, 373 Nubi, 227
Moon, origin of, 40-41, 45 Nu-t, 145, 146, 176, 226, 247 ff., 260, 273
Moongarm, 372 Nymphs, 189, 259, 274, 375
Morgan le Fay, 293-294
Moses, 172, 216 Cannes, 255
Mot, 257 Oceanides, 260
Mother, 199, 205, 210, 211, 248, 249, 260, Ocean-river, 146, 188, 200 ff., 242, 246,
285, 359, 363, 366 250, 258, 260, 265, 297 ff., 362
Mound Builders, 148, 149, 243 ff.
Oceanus, 260
Mount Petee, 17 Odin, 264, 359, 361, 365, 366, 373, 385 386
Mountains, 151, 158, 163, 171, 187-188, Odysseus, 170, 280, 293
194, 196 ff., 203, 210, 213, 214, 217, 223, (Edipus, see Crab, 233 ff., 287, 374
233, 236 ff., 247 ff., 259 ff., 279, 287, Ogygia, 170, 287
289, 304, 312, 316, 331, 342, 343, 345, Ojibway legends, 264, 311, 313
348, 365, 370, 374, 381, 382 Old Red Sandstone, 56
Mundilfare, 369 Olelbis, 319 ff.
Muses, 272 Olelphanti, 320 ff.
Muspelheim, 363, 379, 384 Olger, 293
Mutation theory, 60, 61, 63-64, 71, 89, Olympus, 151, 163, 196, 228, 233-234, 254,
125 260 ff., 272, 320
Mystery of good and evil, 160-161, 162- Ombo, 227
163, 169-170, 172 ff., 376-378 Omoroka, 204
Oolite, 58, 125 Phobos, satellite of Mars, 38
Open zones, 20, 51, 73, 103, 104 ff., 119 Phoebus, see ApoUo, 231, 272, 282
Oracles, 231-232, 254, 259, 262, 272 Phoenician myths, 163-164, 185, 225, 257,
Ordovician, 80 276
Orientation, 240 ff. Phthah, 221, 250
Original sin, 161, 163, 169-170 Piguerao, 317
Origin of satellites, 35-36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 45 Pillar of cloud, 173, 183-184
Origin of species, 73 Pillars of Hercules, 145-146, 163, 169,
177,
Origin of the Greek gods, 255 207, 208, 213, 214, 222, 225, 264, 276^
Orizaba, 151, 383 302, 360, 382
Ormuzd, 328 Planetesimal deposits, 39, 44-45, 47, 71,
Orographic movements, see Sympathetic 75, 361
earth movements, 59 Planetesimal hypothesis, 7-8, 16, 30 ff.,
Orpheus, 257 34, 40
Orthus, 274, 285 Pleistocene, see Ice ages, 47, 81, 85, 112,
Osiris, 153, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224-225, 116, 120, 124
226, 227, 236, 238, 273, 277, 311, 316, Pliocene, 84, 85
318, 369, 375 Pluto, 304, 369
Ossa, 163, 260 ff. Poharamas, 322
Oxen, see Bull, Cows, etc., 270, 289 Pohila, 322
Oxen of Geryon, 234, 242 Poisoned air, see Carbon dioxide in at-
Oxygenation, 69 mosphere, 267, 385
Oyster canopy, 258 Pokaila, 281, 323
Politicus myth, 299 ff.
Pakchuso, 323 Polydectes, 277

Palseocosmic age, 47, 48 Polynesian myths, 165, 178-181, 313, 314
Paleolithic relics, 128, 133, 134, 137, 138, Pontus, 258
141, 166 Poseidon, see Neptune, 153, 254, 288, 376
Paleozoic, 53, 59, 77, 80, 86, 90, 98 Post-Cretaceous, 59
Pallas Athene, 261 262, 271, 274, 275 Post-Pliocene, 6, 71, 82
Pani robbers, 184 Post-Tertiary, 85
Pan-ku, 268 Precession of the equinoxes, 93, 99, 101,
Papa, 178-181 115-116, 124
Paradise, 246, 364, 365 Precipitation, 103-104, 119
Parjanya, 176 Pricni, 177
Parnapistim, 214 ff. Prince of Tyre, 171-172
Parnassus, 272, 287 Prometheus, 271, 285, 300, 326
Peerless Beauty, 338 ff., 346 Psyche, 253
Pegasus, 231, 273 ff. Ptah, 248, 250
Pelion, Mount, 163, 260 Ptolemy's rings, 169, 256
Penelope, 281 Pueblos, 315
Peneus, 260 Pu-keh-eh, 328-330
Percival, 252 Punctuation of geological time, 3, 31, 35,
Period of rotation, 36-38 49-51, 52, 59-60
Permian, 77, 79, 80, 81, 86, 99, 102, 118, Pururavas, 187, 253
119 Pyramids, see Shadow-mountain, 158,
Perseus, 185, 277, 282, 292, 311 173, 196, 236, 239 ff., 242 ff., 376
Persian legends, 147, 154, 291 ff., 356, 369 Pythias, 258, 313
Perun, 153, 335 Python, 262, 272
Peruvian myths, 148, 245, 266, 314, 31 6-
317, 357 Quaternary period, 81, 95, 99, 120, 131
Phsedo myth, 304 ff . Quetzalcoatl, 150, 151, 192, 243, 281, 383
Phaedrus myth, 304 ff . Quiches, 150, 190 ff., 222, 270, 309, 319
Phaeton, 219, 228-231, 263, 322, 372 Quiescent state of nature, 60, 64, 66
Phenomena due to remnants of vapor-
belt, 22, 24, 27-29 Ra, 220, 227, 248, 250, 273, 276, 313, 378,
Philistines 177, 213, 277 379
INDEX OF SUBJECTS
Ragnarok, 124, 322, 351, 358-386 Scylla, 285
Rainbow, 173, 385 Seasons, alternating, 50-51, 97-98, 103,
Raised beaches, 92-93 154
Rakshaas, 276, 378 Seb, see Set, 145, 153, 227, 247, 369, 384
Rama, 263-264, 276, 286, 313, 378, 379 Sebastian of Portugal, 294
Ramman, 217, 264 Secondary cloud-system, 7, 16, 19 ff., 23-
Rangi, 178-181 24, 30 ff., 37, 103 ff., 145-146, 157, 202-
Rapid suns, 151, 152, 171, 182, 186, 211, 204, 260-261, 360 ff.
230, 231, 274, 304 ff., 319, 372 Sediments, 44, 61, 127, 369
Ratri, 183 Sedit, 326
Ravana, 276, 286, 290, 378, 379 Selective absorption, 19-22, 53, 72
Raven, 261, 317, 350 Selene, 260
Rayless one, 154, 317 Serpent, 19-20, 24, 141-142, 143, 145-154,
Recent submergence, see Noachian flood 160, 162, 163, 169, 172, 173, 175, 176,
Red beds, 47, 119 177, 185, 188-189, 195-196, 198, 204-
Reindeer age, 47, 77, 137 207, 211, 213, 225, 226, 237, 248, 262-
Remnants of the zonal belt, 22-23, 27-29, 264, 267, 272, 274, 277, 279, 284, 289-
32, 124 291, 298, 326, 328, 332 ff., 338, 339, 350,
Reptilian age, 41, 73 351, 353 ff., 365, 367, 368, 370, 371, 376,
Retrograde motion, see Crab, Slow-foot, 378, 382
Swollen-foot, and GEdipus, 286, 300-301 Set, 221, 225-227, 247, 369, 384
Retrograde satellites, 38 Seven, significance of, 85, 212, 233, 246,
Rhea, 258 ff. 271
Rigidity of earth, 42 Shadow-mountain, see Pyramid, 158, 159,
Ringhorn, 370, 371 173, 236-239, 376
Rip Van Winkle, 293 Shamash, 145, 164, 196, 203, 213, 214, 217,
Ritual, see Book of the Dead, 223-224, 278, 279
237-238, 247 Sharru, 217
Roc, 70, 291 Shifting of the waters, 40-43, 54
Rock-flowage, see Sympathetic earth Shiner, 144, 150, 158, 173, 186, 187, 215,
movements, 42 227, 231, 235, 250, 278, 316, 326, 328,
Roland, 283, 291 ff. 349, 359, 360, 361, 366 368
Roof of heaven, 305 Ships, 203, 370-371
Rubble-drift, 46, 165 Shoshone Indians, 286
Rupture of the canopy, 12, 13, 16, 23-24, Shrinkage hypothesis, 11
97-98 Shu, 220
Russian tales, 153, 168, 279-280, 332-357, Siegfried, 234, 292, 383
370 Sif, 372
Rustam, 234, 291 ff.
Signs of the zodiac, 210
Sigurd, 185, 292
Saint George, 153, 185, 186, 328, 337, 356 Silfrintop, 361
Samson, 163-164, 177, 213, 313, 378 Silurian, 49, 51, 52, 86
Sani, 147 Silver age, 307
Sanskrit, 168, 175 Silver bridge, 336, 343
Sar, 237 Silver ring, 339
Sarama, 184 Simultaneous appearance, see Suddenness,
Sas, 282 ff . 60 ff.
Saturn, 39, 209 Sin, 196, 203, 214, 215
Saturn's ring system, 4, 6-7, 8, 16, 29, 30, 31 Sippara, 144
ff., 33, 34, 35, 37, 72, 147, 158-159, 232 Siriwit, 320
Savitri, 182, 186, 187, 230 Sita, 286, 378, 379
Saxon legends, 153 Siva, 250, 368, 369
Scandinavian myths, 152, 177, 196, 205, Skeidbrimer, 361
226, 250, 256, 264, 290, 292, 313, 322, Skeletons not adapted to environment, 68
341, 358-386 Skidblader, 371
Scorpion-men, 213 ff. Sleipnir, 361, 369
Scripture texts, 173 Slow-foot, see CEdipus, 233-234, 374
Smoking mirror, 150 Teta, 247
Sol, 228, 288, 369 Texts, Scripture, 173
Solar climate, 50-51, 97-98, 103 Tezcatlipoca, 150, 151, 267
South African myths, 310 Tezpi, 192
Spectra, 22, 37, 63, 72, 232 Thebes, 233, 307
Sphinx, 213, 233, 236, 285 Themis, 271
Spindle of Necessity, 298 ff. Theogony, 151, 326, 359
Spiral nebula, 34 Theoktony, 124, 223, 308, 359
Stag, 287-288 Theseus, 273, 282, 295
Star-eyes, see Golden apples, 170, 323 Thjasse, 290, 374
Stone age, 47, 134, 138, 139 Thlinkeets, 258, 269, 311
Stratagraphic record, 49-50 Thor, 177, 328, 335, 354, 362, 366, 367,
Streams, sky, 188-189, 200-202, 297-298, 368, 370, 385, 386
366-367, 369 Thoth, 221
Stymphalides birds, 287 Thrym, 367
Styx, 264, 298 Thunderer, 177, 217, 219, 226, 228, 231,
Submergence, recent, see Noachian Flood, 261, 262, 327, 328, 350, 362, 366, 368,
43, 48, 93, 99, 165, 166 375, 381, 385
Suddenness in the appearance of species, Tiamat, 204, 205, 206, 207, 210, 211, 368
59, 60 ff., 65, 157, 165-166 Tidal retardation, 36, 39, 40 ff ., 63
Suddenness of extinction, 48, 52, 54 ff., Tiger-snake, 154
67, 111-112, 119, 166 Tilikus, 322
Su-Meru, 187 Timadonar, 153
Supchit, 284 Timseus myth, 301 ff.
Surt, 363, 369, 384 Time-clock, geological, 11, 35, 39, 41, 49
Surtur, 385 ff., 52, 382
Survival of the fittest, 63-64, 67 Titans, 167, 250, 259 ff., 271, 367
Surya, 187 Titchelis,322
Susa-noO, 360 Tochopa, 328 ff.
Sutekh, 227 Toltec myths, 150, 151, 382
Sutunut, 323 Treasures of snow, 173
"Swift, "231, 321 Tree, see World tree, and Ygdrasil, 163,
Swollen-foot, see (Edipus, 233 ff. 225, 226, 255, 290, 364-365, 375 ff., 378
Sympathetic earth movements, 42, 59, 63, Triassic, 41
75, 122-123, 152, 287, 299, 381-382, 384 Trolls, 341, 342
Sympathetic glaciation, 113, 114, 118 Tsawadi Kamshupa, 327
Symplegades, 280 Tubal-Cain, 378
Symposium myths, 306 ff. Tulchuherris, 281 ff.
Synthetical work, 155 Turn, 220

Tu-ma-tauenga, 178, 180
Tamheur, 317 Turtle, 149, 257
Tammuz, 169, 212, 322, 370 Twa Wya, 316
Twilight, see Ragnarok, 322, 359, 373,
Tane-mahuta, 179-181
Tangaroa, 180 374, 384
Tannhauser, 294 Two Truths, see Hall of, 222 ff., 226
Tara, 277 Typhon, 152, 153, 224-225, 226, 227, 232,
Tartarian pall, 258 236, 247, 274, 285, 375
Tartarus, 224, 237, 260, 298 Tyr, 371, 372, 386
Ta-vi, 227 Tyre, Prince of, 171-172, 173
Ta-wats, 227-228, 313
Tawhiri-ma-tea, 178-181 Ukk's fiery shirt, 280
Temperature, narrowness of range, 11, 73- Underground kingdom, 332
74, 77 Underworld, 201, 224, 237-239, 259
Temple, sky, 164, 272 Undine, 253
Temples, Babylonian, 45-46 Unglaciated regions, 112-113
Tertiary, 53, 62, 67, 81, 83, 84, 89, 90, 91, Upper Cretaceous, 84
95-96 Upper Silurian 59, 61
Uranus, the god, 255, 258, 260 Weight of atmosphere, 53, 63, 69, 122-123
Uranus, the planet, 38, 39 Weight of ice, 43, 93 ff., 119, 120 ff., 165
Urd, 363 Wheels, 171, 173, 211, 249, 263
Uru, 278 White One, 149, 151, 318, 319
Urvasi, 253 White World, 332
Usuinya Bird, 339, 351 Wima Loimis, 327
Ute, 227-228 Winged sun, 151, 152, 171, 174, 182, 186,
Utgard-Loki, see Loke, 362 215, 219-220, 230, 231, 274, 304 ff., 319,
372
Vagin, 186, 230 Wintu, 285, 319 ff., 327
Val, see Vritra, 185 Wisdom, see Oracles, and Mystery of good
Valhalla, see Walhalla, 383, 384 and evil, 262
Vali, 369 Witch-snake, 213, 342, 344-345, 346, 348
Valkyries, 383 ff., 383
Vanir, 363 Withdrawal of ice, 125 ff.

Vanirheim, 363 Wokwuk, 324
Varuna, 144, 174, 175, 176, 177, 182, 188, World-roof, 147, 315, 352
249, 255, 256, 375 World-tree, see Ygdrasil, 146, 226, 255,
Vassilissa, 351 264, 289, 348, 364-365, 376, 378, 384,
Vasuki, 195 385
Vault of heaven, 144, 174 Wyandots, 312, 313
Venus, the goddess, 261, 294
Xecotcovach, 309
Venus, the planet, 34, 35, 209
Vertodub, 348 Yama myths, 285
Vertogor, 348 Yama's realm, 182, 187, 250
Vidar, 385, 386 Yana myths, 326-327
Vishnu, 188-189, 193-195, 211, 247, 287, Yehl, 258, 269, 311
368 Yelena the Wise, 332 ff., 349
Voice of waters, 173 Ygdrasil see World-tree, 153, 226, 264,
Volcanic action, sympathetic, 54, 63, 119 281, 363, 364, 367, 376
ff., 122 ff., 166 Ymer, 256-257, 264
Volcanic ejections, 16, 17 22 24 ff ., 29,
ff.,
Yonot, 322
33, 34 Yudo, 351, 356
Vritra, 153, 177, 185
Vulcan, 234, 271, 378 Zas, 280-281
Zeus, see Dyaus and Jupiter, 175, 235,
Waida Werris, 324, 372 250, 254-255, 259, 260, 265, 271, 280,
Wakpohas, 323 289, 300, 301, 304, 307, 318, 326, 364,
Walhalla, 370, 383, 384 371
Wallapais, 330 Zikkurats, 196 ff., 245 ff.
Walskit, 327 Zmî Goruinuich, 351

Warlock, 342 Zohak, 147
Waters of Life and Death, 279 Zoroaster, 141, 142
Waves of translation, 42, 47-48 Zulus, 316
J
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The Zonal-Belt Hypothesis - A New Explanation of The Cause of The Ice Ages 1908

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BERKELEY

A NEW EXPLANATION OF THE CAUSE

Published November8 1908

Printed by J. B. Lippincott Company

planetesimal or gaseous matter.

northern Europe and North America were the product of

up to the present date a scientific mystery.

Now, presenting the belted-canopy or zonal-ring

hypothesis the cause or causes which brought them into exist-

This is not the first time that an hypothesis somewhat

the critical eye of the investigator. In fact, there have been

years ago, belongs the distinction of being the first modern

sky, the firmament of the Scriptures. Not that the substance

appearance of things to the ancients. Because the theory

legitimate ancestor, and the myths and hero-tales that have

covery of the lost phenomena has been very gradual.

Kant's Cosmology, pp. 129-131.

of a comet, is too radical. Yet in spite of this absurdity

The fossil thought of the by-gone days cannot be ignored,

Again, a similar work was published in 1885, entitled

North Pole." Its author was William F. Warren, S.T.D.,

Chaldean, Persian, and Indian traditions all point to the

hypothesis. Speculations such as are introduced by these

tudes. The purely scientific aspect of the question is pre-

sented in Gr. Hilton Scribner's monograph, " Where Did Life

Ancient History of the East and Beginnings of History."

land which once united Europe with North America was

not followed up long ago. It is true that geologists of the

state, postulated some form of cloud-blanket. Dana men-

envelope containing the future waters of the globe or its dis-

sociated elements, and other heavy vapors and gases, was

Vail, that these rings were composed of aqueous and metallic

Captain R. Kelso Carter, C.E., a friend of Professor Vail, has pub-

It has been proved that Saturn's rings would disrupt if they

envelope, the hypothesis about to be introduced might have

time, geologically speaking. It is purposed to expand these

ideas, and further to connect these belts with the Planetesimal

hypothesis is essential to a clear understanding of the idea

parison of the nebular and plantesimal hypotheses will

while yet existing in the loose form, as rings or zones or wisps

formed by the slow accretion or infalling of cold, discrete

'Extract from the paper of Herman Leroy Fairchild, read at the

prevailed since the beginning of organic existence. This fact

sight of it, but it is difficult to reconcile their requirements

on the one side and the aforementioned geologists and biolo-

not, the fact of the existence of this long time period of

stant, then a factor must be discovered that from time to

planetesimal structure has entered into the question of the

sary to conserve this dissipation.

a canopy floating high above the present cloud-belt, and

probably outside the existing atmosphere. The evidence

perature of a shell of olefiant gas, surrounding our planet at

parent to the solar rays, allowing them, without sensible

as to preclude the possibility of human life in the more

mitting them to reach the earth, but preventing their escape.

vapor of sulphuric ether, would offer very little resistance

a protecting envelope of this kind, permitting the heat to

Again, the continuance of arctic and tropic life shows that

only accounts for the physical phenomena, but it also explains