The Osceola times., 1880-01-31
THE FIRST SIN.
Some Curious Speculation About the Fall
and the Serpent.

~" s'' F'eiPshs
! ga The Nation.
I 1t occurred TO me lately, while reading
/ in the September number of the totfepl-
pordrp Rerie,r an article By Lenonnand
called ''rhe First Sin," that 1t may bc
| possible to turn another page of that
very interesting history OF ideas, the
reading of which appears to be one OF
the great tasks allotted to this century.
Although IT seems unlikely that thcidea
suggested 10 me by the article has not
also occurred to others, | cannot discoy-
er that anything has been said about it,
for the author seems strangely enough
to lead one to the door, as il were, and
I leave one there without opening it. NV
| idea is this: that the tradition Of tree
OF life, and also tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, both connected with a
sin and a catastrophe, probably originat-
ed in mans first acquaintance with the
effects Of intoxication. Lenormand him
self connects that tradition with the
worship of Bacchus land also with the
theft of fire IN piece of tree by Prone
thcus, and with that Of the apples Of the
Garden of the Hesperides). IL seems
strange, therefore, that he goes no furth-
er, more especially as he himself points
out that the representations of the tree
on the monuments OF dificre mt countries
are always refcrablc To those from the
fruit or foliage OF crushed branches of
which an intoxicating liquor is derived
from the Soma tree, that is, and the
palm and the vine. There is no need to
burden your pages with proofs and quo
tations, as any one interested in the sub
lect can procure the magazine now at
half price. will merely add to my
suggestion that, as the primitive notion
of life must have been characterized by
warmth and motion, and the first effects
of the tree would also be, probably,
warmth and excitement, exhilaration
and the temporary exaltation of some of
the faculties, il would easily come to be
looked upon as tree of life;" and that,
the after effects being bad and degrading,
1t would thereby become tree of the
knowledge of evil as well as good. and
also the cause of fall into lower state
fbeing.
May add suggestion concerning the
serpent always connected with the tree,
ason the early Baby ylonian cylinder fig
ured on page 81 of George Smiths "Chal-
dean Account of Genesis" 1t appears
to have represented the principle Of evil
very early, probably long'before it was
connected with the tree, and to have
been at first the sea. (WHICH in a storm,
was the chaos out of which everything
was formed, and which, as it seemed to
swallow up sun, moon and stars, and to
bring forth the storm clouds-those mon
sters which the sgn-god. fought with his
arrows, the 1iphtnines es-came also, not
unnaturally, TO represent the destructive
principle. But how did it become a ser
pent? May ii not have been the singu-
lar resemblance that the edge of the sea
AS seen from a moderate height in a
calm bears to q huge serpent, now blue,
now white, according to the amount of
ioam--winding and writhing about the
earth, and eating out its rocks and shores,
that caused its destructive attributes to
be transferred to the serpent? A COM
mon name may have been the means.
The resemblance is especially striking
when the eye looks along the shore, a.
in the bend of a bay.
Another suggestion: Some years ago,
when reading the description of the To-
cality of the battle of Beth Horon in
besili ntdiilcN NoTh un laltSllnp, III
seemed to me TO point to the origin of
the tradition of the sun and moon stand
ing still at, the comIland of Joshua, aud
| do not think it has been noticed. In
any valley lying north and south, if one
goes up the Western hills as the sun
sets TO the valley, when one reaches
the summit the effect of new day and
the fresh supply of sunlight is very
striking. This sensation must have been
strongly felt by the warriors of Israel
when, after pursuing their enemies up
the pass, the still sunlghted valley be.
yond broke upon their sight; and | can
not but think that, fguratively expressed,
as itwould be, and with much cxaggera-
ten, in the triumphal song sure to have
been made and sung after the victory, it
may well have originated the tradition
of the standing still of the sun; the moon
would follow suit, The songs are said
to be the oldest parts of the Bible, and
flasher" or The Upright may have
been the singer or recorder of the lost
song of triumph.