New-York tribune., 1892-03-30

| unon Eovntian armament and that Egyptian forms
| of this kind were almost absolutely restricted 10
! the lotus motive-is there in all ths Wdii""'
for tho elaborate symbolism which lie would nave
us see pervading the whole course OF this afus'io
evolution? Suppose that the lotus symDonZeu
the sun again and again. This fact wouid OILY
render it probable, not certain, that wherever o"o
found variant of the lotus he might nhu "''0
a sun-myth. Probability in matter 50 "'''e
tain as symbolism is amounts TO ho'hi"s'
degenerates at the final analysis 10 neic mo"
ter of opinion with which science III 'io
sense Of the word cannot deal with any nope
Of success II is to he hoped that sooner or la'ei
the whole field of ancient art and literature can
he dealt with by a method from which 'he "V,'
symbolism and all its cognates may ne ris'"'
cxc,uded Nobody could wish to deny that iheIe
was symbolism, interpreted one way Nv"
another and sometimes every way at once uhuci-
living ancient pictures and sculpture. 10 IN Oh
any one form Of symbolism to the exclusion VI
any others or to the exclusion OF negative III
any given case is simply to repeat I'D t"c ni''
tecnth century the blunders OF the neo-r
Bv taking the long series of Egyptian pic'u''' !"
this volume and applying TO each OF Ih'ni SUM.
simple formula, say the word sen-cAis'c"
where tie lotus form accompanies a uen!' WV"
the naturally derived idea of "lmmof'ali'S !"
other cases. conception of the value OIL .ne lo'''
may be arrived at Just as worthy oi d his" ~
Ecious tire as can be obtained through d "i"O
spread sol y symbolism which taxes the praih eve"
in these ages TO comprehend, let alone Apply
In order 10 carry ont his theory, MI Goodyer Has
10 do what Others have had to DO III "e sdi"o
circumstances By an assertion of opinion
hacked ND. not by facts, but by the
statements of others who hold similar views he
unitv in the deity worshippcd as the sun. Grant
;rr +bot tho movement toward monOatry in E2ypt
was thus natural and easy-a thing which the Ia
ors onisode of Khunaten seems TO dsprove-the
afTort to transfer the symbolism bodily 10 other
races involves the necessity of showing that uhe
novtheism of those races equally tractaplc'
II involves in fact. the assumption oil a UNIFORM
itv in religion which is beyond the reach OF MS
toric argument Meanwhile this supposed synooi-
ism does not affect the real purpose OF tie pooA
nor. il may be added, does the evolution Oh olna-
ment affect the problems OF solar worship i"e
lines in the dedication of the book, quo'eu iroi'
an inscription are of more value than all 'ne 'aie
orizinr Il bring thee" runs this translation
q" the flower which was in the beginning, the Sio
rous lily of the great water. In this peau'iiui
phrase two things are obvious Inc hrsu is
that the writer had in mind the primordlai chaoS
the infinite waste Of waters that existed oelore
creation began and before there was any sun
The second is that he pictured this to himself py
means Of the overflow of the Nile. He remcm-
bered how the lilies sprang up all over tins waery
plan as if out of nothing, and at once transferred
the llv by natural and realistic process to that
great water ont of which all things, even the gods
arose This elementary formula Of science which
orgurs from the known to the unknown is far re-
moved from the symbolism that strives
10 suppy the place of facts after the facts
have been forgotten What Mr.. Goodyear has 10
say about the fetlchism of the lotus agrees much
more closely with this translated text than with
his own solar hypothesis But all that is said about
fetichism has to he taken with the customary gram
Of salt The author of this book cites no PROOF
for the sweeping statement that the lotus was a
fetch of immemorial antiquity. and has been wor-
shipred in many countries from Japan TO the Strais
of Gibraltar" and II is to be doubted II lie conld
cite any, providing he were held down TO street
definition Of the word. In another place he de
nics TO Japan or China any knowledge of the
lotus rs sacred in times anterior TO Buddhist IN
huencc
Another point on which, il is 10 he imagined.
Mr. Goodyear's conclusions will not he accepted
without question Is his account OF that famous
mark Of the prehistoric Aryans, the swastika.
He PROPOSES to derive the hooked cross from the
Egyptian neandcr, and arbitrarily dates its origin
| from the time when this form Of Egyptian ornament
was diffuscd among the peoples along the shores
of the Mediterranean The chronology involved
can hardly be fixed off-hand with an accuracy 90
| onDortune II looks too much like a special dis
pcnsation the part Of the sun god. In the frst
place the author accepts too unrcservcdy the state
ments of Canon TaylOr's hasty and somewhat hys-
| terical book on the Origin Of the Aryans. The
fact that there has been human population Ill
Europe ever since the glacial epoch neither proves
nor disproves the opinion that the people who spoke
the language from which modern European Ian
guages are derived were immigrants from Asia. Nor
does it prove that these people originated in Eu-
rope and moved 10 Asia a great deal Of highly
imaginative writing has been swept into the limbo
set apart for such stuff by the study Of prehistoric
! remains in Europe But the fact that there was
an inland people which had never seen the sea until
after it was divided, and that ii continued long
enough people 10 create a form Of speech
whose elements have survived all the changes and
revolutions of ages, cannot be dismissed with "A
wave of the hand. If the prehistoric coast
dwellers of Europe can be shown to have used
this form of speech one derived from
it, the result would be 10 put back
| the Aryan movement further into the past than
| il has been usually placed. IT, on the other hand
they were foreign races who accepted Afyah forms
Of speech, their presence in Europe have
effect the Aryan problem Looking from
| Egypt as Mr. Goodyear does. ii is hard to see
| how his theory Of the origin Of the swastka'
affects the question of the Aryan migration, or is
affected by it, All that he requires is that there
should have been, say in the year 1000 b. C.,
population more or less along the coasts
of Europe with whom the Phoenicians could trade
and to whom they could transfer the products Of
| Egyptian art. The suggestion that the area
throughout which the swastika occurs is the same
as that in which the of bronze prevailed. is
we'll adapted to the notion Of Ploenican influence.
| Mr.. Goodyears illustrations and comments show
| ccnclusvely that the hooked artistic