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Burmah and China, he devotes a long section to Japan, urging that the indigenous 

 religion, called Shinto, was chiefly a worship of the dead, and " that the No, or 

 serious drama, is the lineal descendant of the ritual which from remote ages had 

 been used in the Shinto temples to propitiate the spirits of the dead, in the hope 

 that they would vouchsafe all kinds of blessings to their descendants and wor- 

 shippers, and especially that of abundant harvests." He concludes by reviewing 

 the dramatic dances of other parts of the world, where, it need hardly be said, he 

 thinks that evidence to a similar effect is to be found. 



There is no room here to consider, as it deserves to be considered, a theory so 

 far-reaching and revolutionary. Prof. Ridgeway's thesis, as originally enunciated 

 in The Origin of Tragedy, was at least arguable : possibly it was sound. But he 

 seems to have been stirred by criticism into going greater lengths than he intended, 

 or than were at all necessary to support his argument. For if not asserted in so 

 many words, it is implied that all dramatic performances grew out of rites at the 

 graves of deceased chieftains and heroes, and that all gods are deceased human 

 beings. It is true that the author does not commit himself in words to universal 

 euhemerism, but, in asserting the universality of ancestor-worship, he assigns the 

 cult of a dead man or woman as the origin of one great god after another, he 

 resolves nature-spirits into deified human beings ; and, forgetting how impossible it 

 is for the human mind to overleap the boundaries of anthropomorphism, he con- 

 tinually interprets anthropomorphism as a proof that the divinity is regarded as 

 having been literally once a man. We ask at length in bewilderment, Where 

 then are the gods that were not once men, and to what origin would Prof. Ridgeway 

 refer them ? 



Happily we need not accept his theories to value his book. It is written with 

 all his verve and directness. Its impeachment of " the solar and vegetation 

 theories of Kuhn, Max Mliller, Mannhardt, and Sir James Frazer" is vigorous and 

 effective, though the solar theory of Kuhn and Max Miiller was already as dead 

 as Antinous. By its masterly presentation of evidence it compels opponents to 

 review and restate their own position. Thus it will be of material use in reaching 

 definite results, which the present writer believes will not be those arrived at by the 

 author, at all events in the extreme form here advocated. Meanwhile it is a delight 

 to read ; and the numerous illustrations from photographs and other sources 

 enliven its pages, and many of them help to render the descriptions of dances 

 and dramatic performances vivid and comprehensible. 



E. Sidney Hartland. 



Ancient Astronomy in Egypt and its Significance. By Frederick J. Dick, 

 Professor of Astronomy and Mathematics, School of Antiquity, Point 

 Loma, California. Point Loma : The Aryan Theosophical Press, January 

 1916. 



Modern Astrology. Edited by Alan Leo. Published at Modem Astrology 

 Offices, Imperial Buildings, Ludgate Circus, E.C. Price 6d. monthly. 



These two pamphlets furnish melancholy evidence of the credulity still prevailing 

 among civilised mankind. The first appears to be issued in the interests of the 

 superstition known as Theosophy. Although characteristically vague in style and 

 purpose, its main thesis exhibits a desire to discredit modern astronomical science, 

 and to suggest that true knowledge is to be found in the works of the ancient Hindus 

 and Egyptians. The observations of the Hindus, we are told, extended over 850,000 

 years. By statements such as this, the doctrine of the pamphlet is maintained. 



