Mr Max Müller (comp. "Myth.," "Chips.," ii. 12), incidentally speaking of the legend of Deucalion, treats it with great contempt. "What is more ridiculous," he says, "than the mythological account of the creation of the human race by Deucalion and Pyrrha throwing stones behind them (a myth which owes its origin to a mere pun on [Greek: laos] and [Greek: laas])." And ridiculous it certainly is from any point of view from which Mr Max Müller could regard it, _i.e._ either as the invention of a mythic period, or as a fugitive allegory arising out of some astral or solar legend: _per contra_, I shall submit that there is nothing forced in supposing that this legend arose out of some one of the processes of corruption to which all tradition is prone, of the known fact that the human race was re-propagated by Deucalion or Noah.[189] If I am asked to explain how it came about that there should have been this identity between the word for a "man" and a "stone," I must simply confess my ignorance. Perhaps if Mr Max Müller could be brought to look at things more from the point of view of biblical traditions, he might be enabled to see it. All that I can suggest is, that perhaps it may have a common origin with that Homeric expression quoted by Mr Max Müller at p. 175 (_vide supra_), "Thou art not sprung from the olden tree or from the rock." I consider that I shall definitely establish, however, that it originates in a tradition and not "a mere pun," and at any rate that it is not local, it is not Greek. It is no doubt singular that the word for man, [Greek: laos], populus, should so closely resemble the word for a stone, [Greek: laas]; but not only is this coincidence found in the Greek, but we shall see that it is widely spread in all parts of the world. In proof, I adduce the following extract from Dr Hooker's inaugural lecture at Norwich in 1868, (since the publication of Mr Max Müller's work):-- "It is a curious fact that the Khasian word for a stone, 'man,' as commonly occurs in the names of their villages and places as that of man, maen, and men does in those of Brittany, Wales, Cornwall, &c.; thus Mansmai signifies in Khasia the Stone of Oath; Manloo, the Stone of Salt; Manflong, the Grassy Stone; and just as in Wales Pen mæn maur signifies the Hill of the Big Stone; and in Britanny a Menhir is a standing stone, and a Dolmen a table stone," &c.[190] [189] Let the significance of the following coincidence be considered in connection with the evidence at p. 244, Boulanger, "Ces fêtes (Atheniasmes, 'Anthisteries') avoient pour objet une commémoration (of the Deluge) et l'on en _attribuoit la fondation à Deucalion_; elles étoient _aussi_ consacrées à _Bacchus_, ce qui les a fait nommés les _anciennes_ ou les _grandes Bacchanales_."--Comp. ch. xi. p. 244, also _supra_, 213.