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

stead Of being the inventors OF solar lh'ei
lions Of myths were the hrst 70 sno" ,aI~
these were inadequate. They first mace ~ P,-''
that The gods of the Indo-European FANNY III
plied q great variety of physical facts. lne'
called in the summer cloud. the storm clouu' '"'
lightning. as well as the moon and all ''ie ''''''
Of heaven. However he does ackno"'euS'' -
least tacitly. that it was the ethnolos's'S WIZ
discovered the wide diffusion Of the sun cult
and the curious fact that wherever Inv sun
was worshipped the moon also was deemed
GOD nv GODDESS while there were races VINO
honored the moon without ever thinking u ''e
sun. s
A great deal Of the confusion among the OH
ferent parties to this interesting dispute Is uue
10 the use OF the word primitive. II "ou'N
be hard to show that Professor Muller mas mum
fed his words much on this point ana YET n7
certainly gives a different impression rom TIC
one which he gave years ago IL iiluS' NC
Numbered that scientific opinion mas s"IiVVu
somewhat in the interval The erect Oh D"i
wins Investigations on the descent Oh Hid" :"
mentioned by Professor Muller as having NaS.IS
Increased the conviction of the solidarity u '"o
human race-that IS to say. II mas CIV"
so,ort,ec has,s TO what was formerly held by
tradition. Now the common run OF peop'e "aU
never doubted the tradition. but those VINO
world and most writings Of their time were
sbodowed nv some doubt. Apparently the VOL
,,,os IN hand betray this very change lroH
douh. 70 certainty. on another point. however
tbere is less certainty than there was soHle
wears ago. The lay reader got the impression
from the perusal Of books on cofhpa'"''''
Mythology not excluding Professor Muller own
enhancing essays. that Sanscri' occup'eu
sort OF parental relation to the other i"i-
euages of the Indo-European family Inc lau''
WAS OF course, his own ana YET there 10 "0
doubt that the phrases used by experts "ele
somewhat incautious Later he found that he
must look out for a really original idie"
behind Sanscrit. and he was even 'oid 'ii''
Lithuanian was by far the Oldest aino"s 'Io
eXtant snecirnens Of the group. Then the whoie
question was mixed up with controversy a.
n the original home Of the Aryans' whe'nei
,-o.thorr rurone or Central Asia The beau
tful pictures Of the ancient race In It's supposed
,n,orat,ons had to be given up. and Its diitusion
hegan m he described as a much slower proc
sss HaH a century ago nobody thought Vi
denarting from received chronology: the ehoi'
was TO account for facts without oVers'eppi"e
its boundaries Now 1t surprises hopouy ""."
discoveries are alleged Of records IN baos io''a
reaching back TO fifteen thousand years peioie
the Christian era. The whole aspect OF 'noue"'
on this point both scientific and popular mas
heen completely revolutonized. But the oiu
ouestion of the comparative antiquity OF ui1-
ferent civilizations remains In DOUBT ana 'neie
e still a Jealous watchfulness against the az
rress,ors 81 Egyptian or cuneiform or Nedic
scholars. 49,
zach group still holds its own field to be the
r,,ost ancient or the most original. and there is
a. particularly earnest debate reflected IN THESE
,oaos as ~ the mutual debts Of the Aryans ana
,ba ser,tes This quarrel is most interesting
n,har q touches a popular Semitic hero ike
semnson and turns him into sun myth' IKE
14aracles or a Greek god. like Dionysus' whom
| Arvan scholars are really puzzled about ana
whom their opponents claim as oo"hris"'
! Assvrian. Such controversies react strongly on
the question of antiquity, and so II IS not
strange to find the Vedic poems. at least 'he
earliest of them, relegated to ooOo s. I. Helo
Professor Miller frankly confesses his VIKING
ness 70 take all the antiquity that the students
| ~ other sciences are willing to give Al the
same time he adheres TO his own date TOT the
Veda saw about 1900 B. G. This suinces ~
make the Sanscrit hymns the earliest monument
! Of Aryan genius religion, language ana htera-
tura while II leaves all doubtful questions 10
! be settled as time goes on But IL makes
strict definition Of the word "primitive' very
|
modern in comparison with others which
orcbeo,opists offer So Professor Muller's prin-
itivism cannot be matter OF precedence IN
time Nor can II be question OF rudeness ana
! savagery for there are many races still In the
world far more primitive In this sense IMAM
the fathers Of sanscrit civilization. Behind the
Vedic poets there was first the indefinite period
when. instead OF all the Aryan languages and
Aryan peoples there was practically one IAN
! guaee and one people There was also yet an
other period when the Iranians and Indians
were still united. To these periods may be
referred many customs suggested by the usages
Of other races. The vedc race according TO
Professor Muller. was far advanced from the
stage Of canniballsm. as was also the Homeric
race in Greece.
To the Greek as early as Homer the agents
OF physical phenomena already presented them
selves in the forms OF handsome men and beau
tiful women. But in that stratum Of social
evolution revealed by comparison OF Vedio with
Avestic and Homerc and Latin names the
human figure has only a minor place and with
normal outlines and members II has never
predominated In Asia. something living, act
i've, manifested itself in each familiar aspect OF
nature ready TO take any form which suggested
itself to the imagination. 1t was named. and
in the vicissitudes 20 which this name was sub
iected lies the whole history Of the god, who
might become dog-like in India and man-ke
In Greece, might be changed into tree or van
ish in the dawn. That there was more than
one Of these divine names in the last stage Of
the common life Of the Aryans proves that they
were not monothests Still. as Professor Null
Ter looks back to the village community as
primitive. he reasserts his theory that each
little group may have worshipped one god ex-
clusively. without thought about denying 9TH
ers. This his well-known Herotheism. rests on
the character Of the Vedic hymns in which
certain families associated with certain gods
and 1t has been traced also in Egypt. where