The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-03-02
| Babylon. where cuneiform inscriptions have
preserved hymn In which Ishtar (Astarte0

| will raise tho dead to be devourers OF tho
living:
Upon the living shall tho dea feed
Thr widespread custom If Offering feed for
the dead Ia mn attempt to crafty these
demons. 10 the demons OF fire we may Mt
tribute the fires of TophAt, and most OF our
current deas of hell So n place Of unan"nch-
nble fire Mr.. Conway points out tho fact that
He'll Is tbs same word as Kali, the Thug god
dess, and was originally IL place OF Intense
cold Shakespeare, he reminds us, makes
the split "dweIl In fiery Hoods or thrilling
regions Of thick ribbed ice" Some theolo-
gians, Milton for example, make these two
bells alternate, and thus represent tutife
punishment as n severe ease 81 fever hDn
ngue. To primitive man lightning srofnen
the emblem of ail destruction. and the demons
who hurled the thundstbolts were much W ~
feared In quite modern times tho bHil,f
thnt witches could raise storms has prevailed.
The old demon OF the waters, Mike, oech',o
ChriStihni2rd into st. Nicholas, our Sintn
CIntls whose servant KlaubHuf, carries on
naughty children, but his old name stl sur.
wives IN tho legend Of Nick Of the Woods and
Old Nick.
Mr. Conway, In discussing his nth class OF
demons, gives us some very curious Hnyths'
| The lion, n symbol 81 majesty ana of inc sun
| In It's glory, soon appears as demon, soIn.'-
times destructive, sometimes beneficial. IN
the north Of Europe the lion degenerated
| Into the more familiar cat which draws the
| cur of Frpya. The Kilkenny cats, Mr. Con
wnv following the Italian De GubrrnatiS,
traces back To the German superstition that
| n fipht between cats presaRes death To the
spectator, and gives us n Russian legend that
| tells how Paradise was originally guarded
nv n eat and n dog how the devil tried to
creep In under the form of n mouse, and how
| the dog neglected to notice him, while the
cat went for him. H"uee dogs are unlucky;
| their bowling IL an omen of death. Mephis-
| topheles appears TO Faust as q poodle, ana
| our colored population of the South believe
| that tho devil appears most frequently MS
large dog with fiery eyes. Mr. Con
way gives various stories OF devils In
connection with bridges. They generally
oppose their construction. till they are
| bought off my promises Of n victim. The
builder Of the bridge Of RatIsbOn vowel to
give the devil the first three passenger,
which promise he fulfilled by driving before
| tho builder vowed 1000 children II the stones
of the bridge could be placed properly.
| The goddess addressed said she did not re-
| qlllre their lives. but that the number named
should bs attacked with smallpox. This
| lends us to the demons of diseases. and first
of h so Is the demon uf the plague. 81 am
| the pltgue; have come from yon city where
| 10000 lie dend 1000 were slain by me- the
| rest by fear" These demons are averted,
| according to many faiths, by dances Mr..
| the phases of typhus fever; n truly marvel
| GUS ballet. The last class Of demons Is that Of
the demons Of death. Savage races believe
that no man dies but 10y sorcery, and
henes the God Of Death Is often the
/ same MS the God OF War; thus Death In the
| Book OF Revelations has power to kill with
| the sword. or tho Goddess Kali, whom the
Thugs worshipeed with continual slaughter,
| Mr.. Conway tells us that she is not devil,
/ her uplIfted hand denotes beneiicenCe, and she
perhaps represents II period when tho men
N India required to be urged to fight by their
| wives" which Interpretation seems To us, in
profane language, TO DO somewhat thin. But
| 10 the horrors which u belief In demons had
already annexed 10 death, Christianity, &C
| eotding to Mr.. Conway, superadded tho idea
/ that death came into the world by human
| sin, and hence by gradual development the
! power Of death Is asCrihed to Satan. The Sc
| mtic angel of death WAS originally an awful,
| but by no means mn evil genius; he became
| divided into two demons -Sarlael, who took
those who died outside Of tho land Of Israel,
| and Gabriel, who took those who died In their
| native country.
Mr. Conway concludes this part OF his sub
| ieet with tbs following beautiful words " he
| aged when they die do but follow the treas
| nres that have gone before. One by one the
| old friends have left them, the sweet ties
| parted, the powers to enjoy and help become
| feeble; when Of the garden that once blpomed
| around them, memory alone Is left, friendly
Is death to sct tter also the leaves OF that last
| rose where the loved ones are sleeping. ST.
| perstition has done few heavier wrongs IT,
humanity than by the mysterious errors
with which II has invested that change which
to the simpler ages was pictured Ms the gentle
| river Lethe flowing from the abode Of sleep,
from which the shades drank oblivion, alike
OF their woes and OF the Joys from which they
are torn.
The above account OF Mr.. Conway's de-
scriptiOn OF demons will, We fear, be some-
I.,,t rtttl Hun
them some idea of the extent OF his researches
and of tho immense number OF curious
legends he has accumulated. When We have
called them curious we have said all about
them that they deserve to have said: They
live no longer In he filth OF reason"
| Next we come to n cnapter on the Dragon
| which represents the terrorism OF nature
which paralyzes the energies OF men" The
dragon Is perhaps confused "reminiscences %
| some old Saurlan monster OF prehi5tOi II
times, and becomes In modern times the ser
, pent the incarceration "of silence, Of the
maximum offlrce, and the minimum OF effort
, Footless, wingless as n star its ewilt gliding
and darting IS something like the Lightning
; whose forked tongue 1t seemed to initiate
. What mystery In its longevity, its sef-sub
sietence its sef-renovatiunH The serpen
; gathers up In itself all the lesser demoni'
agencies. The first volume OF Mr.. Conway
book Is merely preclude to the second, AND
will be acceptable to many who will regar,
his second volume with adherence In which
he attacks the ordinary Christian belief 10 al
/ evil spirit, who goes about seeking whom h
may devour, and who seems to divide witt
; God the empire OF the universe. He re
fers our present belief in personal dew
!. to the cid zeFeaetrian doctrine Of duality
: consisting OF Ormuzl and Ahrimar
7 the latter OF whom again is one @
. the gods of that older Brahminic faith
: against which the religion Of the Zend Avest
= Is protest, and he finds traces Of Vedi
u element in the Biblical accounts OF paradise
}, Mr.. Conway does not much admire Eve, bu
: has the highest opinion OF Adams first wife
8 Lilith, whose name Is identical with one {
. the old Assyrian goddesses. Lilth was ere
u ated at the same tune and in the same wa
as Adam, and when the two met they IL
: stantly quarreled. Adam claimed to be he
2 master, Lilith refused TO acknowledge sue
2 claim, and put In a counter claim for superiC
y power Adam insisted on his preroRativ
y being acknowledged, upon which Lilith u
. tered a spell which gave her wings. Adar