[Sidenote: =Comparative Religion.=] The study of comparative religion, though not originated by Max Müller (1823-1900), owed much to his energy. His lectures on Comparative Mythology (1856) were followed by lectures on the Science of Religion (1870), and on the religions of the world (1873). He inaugurated the annual series of the Hibbert Lectures with a study of the origin and growth of Religion, as illustrated by the religions of India; and as Gifford lecturer at Glasgow (1888-1892), discussed Natural Religion, Physical Religion, Anthropological Religion, and Theosophy or Psychological Religion. His _Contributions to the Science of Mythology_ appeared in 1897. His method of investigation was almost entirely linguistic, based on phonetic laws which later research has discredited; and his theory of “mythology as the disease of language” is no longer tenable. The charm of the writings of Max Müller, and the interest which they awakened in Vedic studies, gave a new impulse to the study of the history of religions. The hymns of the Rig-Veda are by no means the product of a simple society, as he supposed; in his view hymns and myths were dissociated from ritual religion, and gods were identified with natural objects. The death-blow to this method of studying religion in our country was given by the keen criticism of Andrew Lang (1884, 1887). The too-narrow basis of Max Müller’s theories was overthrown by arguments derived from comparative ethnology; “the silly, senseless, and savage element” (as he termed it) in classical mythology proved to be the stumbling-block over which he fell. A firmer foundation for the study was laid by Tylor and Lubbock. Though Max Müller originated the name Science of Religion, it was Tylor who first introduced into it a scientific method, and so laid the foundations for future investigation. Later workers in the field fall naturally into two groups. Some make intensive studies of particular forms of religion, either historical, such as Robertson Smith (1846-1894), or living, such as Codrington in Melanesia, J. O. Dorsey[117] in America, Spencer and Gillen in Australia, and many others. Footnote 117: “Omaha Sociology,” _Ann. Rep. Bur. Am. Ethn. Rep._ iii., 1884; “Siouan Sociology,” xv., 1897. Other workers attempt, by correlating the mass of material, to discover the fundamental religious conceptions of man, and to trace their subsequent development. Among these may be noted Grant Allen, Crawley, Frazer, Hartland, Jevons, Andrew Lang, Marett, and many others. To those who are acquainted with the modern study of comparative religion in this country it is unnecessary to point out the influence of such workers as Mannhardt, Tylor, and Robertson Smith on subsequent writers; nor is it needful to draw attention to the vast erudition and eloquent writing of Professor J. G. Frazer, whose monumental work on _The Golden Bough_ has become a classic, or to the memorable _Legend of Perseus_ by E. S. Hartland.