scholars and philologists, whose study of the formation and growth of languages has thrown so much light on the ante-historical periods. These myths, the germs of which were embodied in their language, embellished by the supposed inspired genius of the poets, formed the literature and theology of the early historic nations, and were received as undisputed truth. 9. The first migration of the Aryan family appears to have occurred through the passes of the Caucasus, northwest to the northern part of Asia Minor and Southern Europe. The Turanian nations, or “barbarians,” were everywhere found in advance of them, in a very degraded condition, and the native spirit and ambition of the Aryan people rendered them the uniform conquerors. Afterward, another migration southward peopled India, and, in the earliest historic times, the part of the family still remaining in the ancient home of the race established the brilliant empire of the Medes and Persians, who extended their sway over all the central and western parts of Asia, broke down the ancient monarchy of Egypt, and, in the height of their power and glory, swept like a tempest into Europe with the purpose of subjugating a few self-governing tribes of their own race dwelling on the shores and among the mountains of the small peninsula of Greece. The failure of the mighty empire in this effort, through the indomitable resolution of a handful of hardy republicans, forms one of the most glorious pages of history. It was a grand era in the development of civilization, and Grecian culture became the inheritance of the world. SECTION II. THE DIRECTION OF PRE-HISTORIC GROWTH.