The sun., 1890-01-26

/ nRlOn Oi touONah h1u kuob OIthb buEEOuuuinh
Semitic gods,
What peoples does DR.. R0artson compre.
hend under the collective teri Bemitiop As q
rule ito which. however, he atrhts ono partial
exception) he assumes that tcpgnate or llial
relationship OF language imles identity OF
ethnic stock. and that accodlnRly. the He
brows, the AramRans the lnnicians, the
Arabs, the Babylonians, and asyrians must
All have been OF Semitic race. bcause they all
spoke Semitic tongues. In moptn Europe no
such inference could DO perenotorily drawn.
There is scarcely trace OF Rmnn blood In
Wallachia, In Belgium, In northm France, In
Portugal; yet all these countrls speak moo
Latin languages. But the case lay have been
diherent as Or. smith contens, In ancient
times, when the absence OF litertaro, and es-
pecially OF religious BOOKS. made much more
difficult than 1t hos since been ft new Lam
Ruage to establish Itself In raeto which 1t
was originally foreign. SO that, kshough the
lecturer admits that kinship In loguage is not
an exact measure OF race anifty. he still
deems 1t true. upon the whole. tht the stock
strong enough, whether by nunbers or by
genius. to impress It's language N nation
must exercise predominant inhunce on the
national type In other respects lso, as for
instance In respect OF religious astitutions.
Passing from the general princpie to par
ticular examples, no REJECTS as undemon-
strated the theory that thor, was
strain OF pre-Semitio blood In the Phue-
nicians ana Canaanites. he mas ndeed, no
doubt that the Phiistines came nm across
the sea- and probably from Crete; ht unlike
Renan. who ascribes to them an Arm oriRin)
he regards their emigration to Paletne as
partial refiux OF Semitic wave whih had In
anrliaF timaa 9wDDt over the IayAntiTn lalnnua
and which scored deep mark on CNms. AS
to the hittites' OF whom We nave lanlI heard
30 much the utmost concession that p. Smith
Will make TO the theory OF ProL sare upon
the subject is that they may temporarily have
been dominated py anon-semltie ar'tocracy.
when the lecturer comes howeVer TO the
peoples that spoke onaioaic onsnoota OF the
semiuo mother tongue. ne oo"s 10 no pre-
ponoerhtins OPINION oi AssyrloioRistS nat the
clVilization OF oapylonia ana Assyria 'as not
purely oemitic' ana thaC .ne aneiens Gopula-
ton OF tne Eupnrates ana ilgrls ValiVs con-
tained a large pre-nemltio eiement, "nse IN
nuenoe ID especiaiiS reeoRnHapie III hlRlon
anu III the saeieu htoEature vi 'ne cunNorn
recorus' far's loi 'n'e .e"son' 'Auu peA' pe-
cause rehRioh IN 'nis FeRion was coHpl0 ana
artlHolai. peinR largely mouioeu oy staucFait-
Dr smith BUSINESSES inc houon thaI napion'a
is the oest starting point lor compaative
STUDY OF the sacred peileis ana practlcestthe
ancient semltes. de deems IL moro rason-
aple TO LOOK ior the primitive form OF semitic
1aith IN region who're society Is prlmitlN. de
hnds such region IN ARABIA which by to al
most universal consent OF scholars Is mao the
cradle OF the Semltio race. IL Is 70 the rital-
lstic customs ana opserVences OF the Aran be-
fore their adoption OF Islam that ne 'oob for
the most dehnlte ana Trustworthy Information
regarding the iunuamentai religious lnatu-
lions OF the semitlc peoples. In tnls nel Of
research Dr. smith acknowledges great obGa-
lions to Wellhausen,s FestiGes OF Arbic
heathenism. supplemental and corrective
evidence Is sought IN the documentary andsp-
IRraphic evidence relating to the primitive rtes
of the Aram@ans and Phpnicians' and, Of