i 4 6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



veloping them that it lingers about them after they have been 

 brought forth full-orbed ; and, sometimes, from it are even pro- 

 duced secondary mythical and legendary concretions, satellites 

 about these greater orbs of early thought. Of these secondary 

 growths one may be mentioned as showing how rich in myth- 

 making material was the atmosphere which enveloped our own 

 earlier sacred literature. 



In the third century before Christ there had been elaborated 

 among the Jewish scholars of Alexandria, then the great center 

 of human thought, a Greek translation of' the main books con- 

 stituting the Old Testament. Nothing could be more natural at 

 that place and time than such a translation ; yet the growth of 

 explanatory myth and legend around it was none the less luxu- 

 riant. There was indeed a twofold growth. Among the Jews 

 favorable to the new version a legend rose which justified it. 

 This legend in its first stage was to the effect that Ptolemy, then 

 on the Egyptian throne, had, at the request of his chief librarian, 

 sent to Jerusalem for translators ; that the high priest Eleazar 

 had sent to the king a most precious copy of the Scriptures from 

 the temple, and six most venerable, devout, and learned scholars 

 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel; that the number of 

 translators thus corresponded with the mysterious seventy-two 

 appellations of God ; and that the combined efforts of these 

 seventy-two men produced a marvelously perfect translation. 



But, in that atmosphere of myth and marvel, the legend con- 

 tinued to grow, and soon we have it blooming forth yet more gor- 

 geously in the statement that King Ptolemy ordered each of the 

 seventy-two to make by himself a full translation of the entire 

 Old Testament, and shut up each translator in a separate cell on 

 the island of Pharos, secluding him there until the work was 

 done ; that the work of each was completed in exactly seventy- 

 two days ; and that when, at the end of the seventy-two days, the 

 seventy-two translations were compared, each was found exactly 

 like all the others. This showed clearly Jehovah's approval. 



But out of all this myth and legend there was also evolved an 

 account of a very different sort. The Jews who remained faith- 

 ful to the traditions of their race regarded this Greek version 

 as a profanation, and therefore there grew up the legend that 

 on the completion of the work there was darkness over the 

 whole earth during three days. This showed clearly Jehovah's 

 disapproval. 



These well-known legends, which arose within what as com- 

 pared with any previous time was an exceedingly enlightened 

 period, and which were steadfastly believed by a vast multitude 

 of Jews and Christians for ages, are but single examples among 

 scores which show how inevitably such traditions regarding 



