NEW CHAPTERS IN THE WARFARE OF SCIENCE. 441 



To the same stage of thought belongs the conception of hnman 

 beings changed into trees. 



But, in the historic evolution of religion and morality, while 

 changes into stone or rock were considered as punishment, or evi- 

 dence of divine wrath, those into trees and shrubs were frequently 

 looked upon as rewards, or evidences of divine favor. 



A very beautiful and touching form of this conception is seen 

 in such myths as the change of Philemon into the oak, and of 

 Baucis into the linden ; of Myrrha into the myrtle ; of Melos into 

 the apple-tree ; of Attys into the pine ; of Adonis into the rose- 

 tree ; and in the springing of the vine and grape from the blood 

 of the Titans, the violet from the blood of Attys, and the hyacinth 

 from the blood of Hyacinthus. 



Thus it was, during the long ages when mankind saw every- 

 where miracle and nowhere law, that, in the evolution of religion 

 and morality, striking features in physical geography became con- 

 nected with the idea of divine retribution.* 



But, in the natural course of intellectual growth, thinking men 

 began to doubt the historical accuracy of these myths and legends 

 or, at least, to doubt all save those of the theology in which they 

 happened to be born ; and the next step was taken when they be- 

 gan to make comparisons between the myths and legends of differ- 

 ent neighborhoods and countries ; so came into being the science 



457 ; also Thorpe, " Northern Antiquities " ; also Friedrich, passim, especially p. 116 et seq. ; 

 also, for a mass of very curious ones, Karl Bartsch, " Sagen, Marchen und Gebrauche aus 

 Mecklenburg," vol. i, p 420, et seq. ; also Karl Simrock's edition of the " Edda," ninth edition, 

 p. 319; also John Fiske, "Myths and Myth-Makers," pp. 8 and 9. On the universality of 

 such legends and myths, see Ritter's " Erdkunde," xiv, 1098-1122. For Irish examples, see 

 Manz, " Real Encyelopadie," art. "Stein" ; and for multitudes of examples in Brittany, see 

 Sebillot, " Traditions de la Haute-Bretagne." For the enchanted columns at Saloniki, see 

 latest edition of Murray's ''Handbook of Turkey," vol. ii, p. 711. For the legend of the 

 angel changed into stone for neglecting to guard Adam, 6ee Weil, university librarian at 

 Heidelberg, "Biblische Legende der Muselmanner," Frankfort-am-Main, 1845, pp. 37 and 

 84. For similar transformation legends in Australia and among the American Indians, see 

 Andrew Lang, " Mythology," French translation, pp. 83 and 102 ; also his " Myth Ritual 

 and Religion," vol. i, pp. 150 et seq., citing numerous examples from J. G. Miiller, " (Jrre- 

 ligionen," Dorman's " Primitive Superstitions," and " Report of the Bureau of Ethnology " 

 for 1880-'81 ; and for an African example, see account of the rock at Balon which was once 

 a woman, in Berengcr-Feraud, " Contes populaires de la Senegambie," chap. viii. For the 

 Weimar legend, see Lewes, " Life of Goethe," Book IV. For the myths which arose about 

 the swindling " Cardiff Giant " in the State of New York, see especially an article by G. A. 

 Stockwell, M. D., in " The Popular Science Monthly " for June, 1878 ; and for the " Phoenician 

 inscription," given at length with a translation, see the Rev. Alexander McWhorter, in " The 

 Galaxy " for July, 1872. The present writer has in his possession a mass of curious docu- 

 ments regarding this fraud and the myths to which it gave rise, and hopes ere long to pre- 

 pare a supplement to Dr. Stockwell's valuable paper. 



* For the view taken in Greece and Rome of transformations into trees and shrubs, see 

 Botticher, " Baumcultus der Alten," xix, pp. 2 and 3 ; also Ovid, " Metamorphoses,"/>as. , imi / 

 also foregoing notes. 



