New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-10-28

49, TX 427-ss4 Longmans. Green d CO.
Professor Max Muller's opponents will have
10 acknowledge that he has In these voiu"leS
shifted but little the position which ne assu"ou
many years ago questions or my'ho'osS
On the other hand. his adherents must coH00o
at the same time that he has changed MS az"
tude somewhat To use favorlte phrase OF
military critics, ne has refused Pai' VI no
line He no longer gives the impression tha'
M ARCHAEOLOGICAL solutions can be found except IN
unouistics though he maintains as strenuousE
os aver that all theories must submit 10 the
final test Of language. lie defines with more
etrictness than he did in former years what He
means by the use OF the word primitive anu
nv the startling phrase disease OF language
IN the other hand he still maintains the VallulS
of nearly all those equations between SahSoii
and Greek names which his advocacy n'"
famous even when he did not originate 'ne''
His frrnness on this point can be pest unu0
stood when IL IS observed that or all thesc
parallels Schrader, the historian OF lnoo-H"
ropean studies comedies as beyond dispute OH!
one namely. Dyaus Zeus. This alone Is lhoee0
a strong tower in Aryan comparative n!thoios''
since II is Fashioned in Latin by Jupiter 'D!au'
n,tar, and IN the Teutonic languages by Iyr'
Tiw, Tuisco. all of them proper names Oh uei''e1
and all identical in meaning. If the study OF
agreement unanimous with all scholars on q SIN
e,s additional god name there would neverthe-
Ice. hs IN this solitary example absolute PROOF
that the Indo- European races once had COM
r,on reltpious faith But this certainty wouiu
,aod N the inference that the earliest worship
~ ths Arvans was directed to one god. ana TINS
Professor Miller as a more or less pronounce
disciple OF Schelling. cannot admit ne Po'''''
hack In these volumes to Schelling as .Ie "'',
who made II impossible henceforth 10 Urine win
mythology as theme OF scientihc ihVes'
de,tv once for all complete was for Scheiiihs
. dead deity The manifestation OF the oei'S 10.
for humanity, dependent on the proe'e'' %
mankind II must begin In uncohsciou'ne''
and must advance by degrees 10 persoiia''''
For this reason mythology forms the emu any,
IN the perfect religious consciousness ~ 40
from Seedlings purely human point Vi
that may best be understood the eagerhess WIZ.
which Professor Muller insists on the "u'i
which is the keynote of his religious ph"osop.''
NAMELY that gods are not beings but woros'
-. na,h,rg elsa but words. Now for many
ages mythology. that u.s. Greek and Latih my
- ,r.s studied through art or for the sake
=, art There were statues OF the gods' Hioie
Ice. .vroholio. TO be studied and explained
r,as. statues were very real things In the oro'-
no-v and vulgar sense Of reality, ana 30 'He
zoas themselves, though they had long ceased
e. n. real as expressing the p!ous aspirations
~ men, still had the same reality as IL 'heS
had once been living creatures Ihere "eie
those perhaps there are some STILL VINO oeiie'eO
that Zeus lived, died and was purleo III Crete
With such persons Professor Muller has "''
,ntey not a thought in common. Ihey oan''0'
coo how personality can be attributed 10 any
thing. whether phenomenon or mere 'nouen''
unless there was once real person pe''''u w
observation or the thought: he does no'
how personality could ever have been accofu.u
70 what really claimed 1t II 1t hao not aie"u'
been latent in every phase OF activity AZ ,iie
rrssent dav a man might be called Heracies
smith for example. without thousht Vi """'
-. oro. meant hut a real human Heracles
eo,,a mayor have been so named unless he fui-
eued an ideal already present to the minus u
~ I, tho meaning which the name hao 1or
them as a common noun.
myth OF any sort begins In the meaning az
,ached to word according 10 froiesSoi
Miller. and so. quite naturally ne expresses
mere stupefacton when confronted oy heroe''
Snencer's remark that the initial step III '''e
genesis of a solar myth would be the eAis'e"eo
of human beings named Storm and Suhshihe'
As he is unable to consult greensboro roS''
Directories" he declares that ne cal'ho'' u
course. prove a negative and snow tha' III ie-
mote ages there never lived MT Sun ana
Miss Dawn that this Mr. Sun never persecu'eu
,,,so Dawn with his attentions. and that MISS
-, ravsr tainted away or died in his en-
braces. like Daphne in the arms of Phoioos' or
80. changed into a daphne, laurel tree"
That is to say. such a myth could never gro"
,n obout real human beings at all, because
nothing that could happen to them would sug-
COST n No woman since the world began was
over netamorohosed into tree But some
mental trait N mankind has led them to imag-
ina such things, and the record or the worhihs
n, this mental trait has been kept In language
and nowhere else. 1t cannot be kept anywhere
else because 1t is only IN language that a
mental trait becomes accessible to the senses
~ hearing or Of sight For this reason aiso'
every myth must be explained finally by ITSELF
The names in II an essential part OF IT,
Why they are what they are Is tpe whoie prop
lem. and this problem changes with every name
II is one thing when the narcissus is IN ques-
tion and another when the plant Is the daphhe
or the olea nder Nor does 1t explain why SUI"
q story was told in Greece to say that similar
stories were told In other countries
To the chronological school Of mythoogists
Professor Miller says in general. while he has
the highest admiration for them. at least IN
mint that they are not digging in his mine at
all IIe goes somewhat further than this, now
ever. insisting that the only means OF testing
the stories Of missionaries and travellers aDou'
+ba wild races Of the present day lies In 'he
du,gent study Of languages Against the orol-
nary methods Of comparison between myths
which apparently have some resembiances' ne
raises the objection that comparison is too cas-!
10 be scientific. that there is no PROOF OF real
antiquity to be found among modern savages'
that they are too ready to say what they are
expected to say, and that they disagree widey
even within the narrow limits of small tribe
when It comes to giving explanations. AS 10
such terms as fetichism. totemism, shamanism
r. takas them to be mere covers for ignorance