[244] Fortnightly Review, vol. vi and vii. N. S. [245] The Origin of Civilization and the Primitive Condition of Man, 1870. [246] Strabo, xiii, 1. [247] 1 Chronicles, xix, 2. [248] Indian Myths, p. 44. [249] The History of the Heavens. Translated from the French by J. B. de Freval. Two volumes. London, 1741, vol. i, p. 42. The first volume is a very able and interesting mythological production. [250] Beginnings of History, p. 114. [251] Myths of the New World, p. 120. [252] “The Origin of Serpent Worship,” in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. ii, p. 373. [253] By Plutarch, in Isis and Osiris. [254] In an extant fragment from Sanchoniathon, after the statement that “Taautus first consecrated the basilisk and introduced the worship of the serpent tribe, in which he was followed by the Phœnicians and Egyptians,” it is said of the animal that it is “the most inspired of all the reptiles and of a fiery nature, inasmuch as it exhibits an incredible celerity, moving by its spirit without either hands or feet or any of those external organs by which other animals effect their motion.” See Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 22. Edition by Hodges. [255] Proverbs, xxx, 19. [256] Mr. Spencer says: “The rudimentary form of all religion is the propitiation of dead ancestors, who are supposed to be still existing and to be capable of working good or evil to their descendants.” “Origin of Animal Worship, etc.,” in Fortnightly Review, vol. vii, p. 536. N. S. [257] Uarda, vol. ii, p. 249. [258] Myths of the New World, p. 108. [259] _Op. cit._, vol. ii, p. 38. [260] Comparative Mythology and Folk-lore, p. 148. London, 1881. [261] See Exodus, vii, 10-13. [262] The spinal marrow was believed by some in ancient times to be the seat of life. Plato entertained that view. See Timæus, 74, 91. [263] In that hoary Egyptian work, The Book of the Dead (ch. 155), occurs this remarkable passage: “All creation is, when dead, turned into living reptiles.” [264] Rev., xvi, 9. [265] Pantheon, p. 271. Am. edition. Baltimore, 1830. [266] For much of interest about the laurel, see Plant-lore Legends and Lyrics, p. 404, by Richard Folkard, Jr. London, 1884. [267] Thessaly. [268] The literal meaning of Telesphorus is “bringing to an end;” of Euemerion, “prosperous, or glorious;” and of Acesius, “health-giving.” [269] Pantheon. [270] Tooke states that by _genius_ is generally meant “that spirit of nature which produces all things, from which generative power it has its name.... The images of the genii resembled, for the most part, the form of a serpent. Sometimes they were described like a boy, a girl, or an old man.” Pantheon, p. 240. [271] Zend Avesta. [272] Herodotus, i, 140. [273] See Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology, vol. ii, p. 245. [274] Phædo.