272 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Oct. 6. 1855. 



Paris of an eminent maker, and had proved them him- 

 self. It appeared, on examining the other pistol, that it 

 ■was loaded to the muzzle with several supernumerarj' 

 ■charges, owing to the carelessness of a servant, who was 

 ordered to see that the pistols were loaded every morning, 

 ■which he did, without drawing the former charge." 



It would therefore seem, from the weight of tra- 

 ditionary authority, that the great patriot lost his 

 life accidentally, and was not slain on Chalgrove 

 Field by the enemy. Antiquarius. 



(Vol. xii., p. 205.) 



Goguet's Origine des Lois, &c. (pt. i. bk. ii.) 

 will furnish ample evidence of the discovery of 

 the use of fire and the means of procuring it 

 amongst savage people, some of whom were still 

 without this knowledge 330 years ago. The 

 flaming sword and cherubim mean, I believe, 

 lightning* and clouds f respectively. The cir- 

 cumstances recorded in Genesis iv. and viii. imply 

 the fact of the discovery of the use of fire and 

 means of producing it, which, as regards civilised 

 nations, reaches far beyond the commencement of 

 history, and forms a portion of mythology, or mix- 

 ture of history and natural philosophy in their 

 crude state, now difficult to interpret. In the 

 mythological origin of Thoth, as stated by Stroth, 

 we have in the order of descent : 1. Air. 2. Fire. 

 3. Winds. 4. KoXiria (which appears to be H* ''2 

 f>p), the voice of God, and his wife Baau, Night, 

 (the -inh of Moses J). 5. From these descended 

 tiie Age, or the Firstborn. 6. From him Race 

 and Progeny. 7. From Race came Light, Fire, 

 and Flame. 8. From Light, fxajxpovfios {sine prole) 

 and out-door people, "t^ovpavios, the father of 9 

 'hunters (sine prole) and fishermen. 10. Xpv<T^p=^ 

 'H^a!(rTos= Vulcan. 11. Artijicer (sine prole) and 

 native,'}. 12. From the latter the husbandman. 

 13. From him A/xwos and Mayos. 14. From these, 

 Miffccp, Egyptians, and 2u5uk the Just (these dis- 

 covered salt). 15. Thoth is the son ofUta-wp; and 

 the Dioscuri = Cabari = Corybantes = Samothra- 

 cians, who first discovered the art of navigation, 

 are the children of 2u5uk. 



The above genealogy is Phoenician, and is based 

 on the quotations of antiquity in Philo Judaeus 

 and Eusebius. 



The Grecian mythology is too long to detail in 

 the above manner ; but the following will show 

 the Grecian sera ai fire : — 1. Chaos. 2. Erebus, 

 Nox, and Terra. 3. From Terra came Coelus= 

 Uranus. 4. From Terra and Coelus came, 5, Ti- 

 tan, Saturn, the Cyclops, Oceanus, Hyperion, 



* 2 Sam. xxii. 13—15. ; Ps. xviii. 12. 14. 

 f Compare Homer's Cloud-gatherer with Ps. xviii. 10, 

 11. ; Ixxx. 1. ; and 2 Sam. xxii. 11, 12. 

 t Gen. i. 2. 

 No. 310.] 



Japetus, Tethys, Ops=Rhea, Thea, Venus, and 

 Mnemosyne. 6. From Japetus, by Clymene (a 

 daughter of Ocean by Tethys), came 7. Atlas, Pro- 

 metheus, &c. Prometheus, as the discoverer of 

 fire, has found in Eschylus a poet who will carry 

 down the nature and consequences of his disco- 

 very to the remotest ages. 



It is said he stole fire from the chariot of the 

 sun, which may mean that he discovered naph- 

 tha*, volcanic, or other spontaneous production of 

 fire. He carried it in a ferrule, meaning he pro- 

 duced it by friction. The story of making a man, 

 which Minerva invested with life, means that the 

 plastic power of fire, by skill, produced a life-like 

 image. Pandora's box refers to the mischiefs 

 brought on man by the arts of civilisation, as 

 compared with the simplicity of the pastoral state. 

 The story of the eagle of Jupiter devouring his 

 liver without consuming it, means that the rain 

 and wind might put out a fire, whilst the air kept 

 it burning. When night came, Jupiter's power 

 ceased. (Hesiod. Theog. 523.) That Hercules 

 should set Prometheus free, and overcome Jupi- 

 ter, means that strength and art should construct 

 edifices to defend men from the weather.f Most 

 of the mythological conundrums are susceptible of 

 a simple explanation ; indeed this must neces- 

 sarily have been the case, otherwise the unedu- 

 cated masses would have been unable to select 

 the god who required worshipping by sacrifice for 

 the particular benefits he bestowed, or which he 

 was supposed to be specially employed in impart- 

 ing. 



The above has relation to European civilis- 

 ation. A like result will be obtained by referring 

 to Egyptian, Persian, Indian, and Chinese anti- 

 quities ; namely, that the discovery of the use of 

 fire reaches to remote ages, and the discoverers 

 are unkriown. T. J. Buckton. 



Lichfield. 



If, as is supposed, the Book of Job was written 

 before the time of Moses, then " the flaming sword 

 of the cherubim" (Gen. iii. 24.) is not the first 

 mention made of fire, for (Job i. 5.) we read of 

 " burnt ofierings," and (verse 16.) of " the fire of 

 God." A. C. MooRE. 



PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



Fenton's Photographs from the Crimea.— 1{ we ever felt 

 called upon to vindicate a step which some of our readers, 

 interested solelv in literary matters, may think " N. & Q." 

 was not strictly justified in taking — namely, devoting a 



* Rosenmiiller on Gen. iii. 24. ; Strabo, xvi. p. 1078., 

 ed. Almelov. The cherubic images were symbolic of ferti- 

 lity and the attributes of Jehovah. See Ezek. i. 4—28. ; 

 Rev. iv. 6, 7., the latter with special reference to Babylon. 



i « Manet sub Jove frigido 



Venator." — Hor. Od., lib. i. 1. 



