HUMAN SENSATION AND PERCEPTION. 99 



To take some example which may throw light 

 upon our theory of the evolution of myth, let us 



as liangi and Papi. (Grey : Polynesian Mythology.') The myth of 

 Apollo, light, sun, heat, combined also with serpent worship, is found 

 modified in a thousand ways among all peoples, savages included. 

 See Schwartz, Urspung der Mythologie ; J. Fergusson, Tree and 

 Serpent Worship; Herbert Spencer, The Origin of Animal Worship; 

 Maury, Religions de la Grece Antique. They also appeared among 

 the Hebrew and kindred races. We find in the book of Job that 

 God " by His spirit had garnished the heavens ; His hand has 

 formed the crooked serpent " (Job xxvi. 13), expressions which are 

 almost Vedic. From celestial phenomena the myth of the Apollo 

 Serpent descended to impersonate the phenomena of earth, of which 

 we have examples in the Greek fable of the Python, and others. 

 Apollo again appears as the god which agitates and dissolves the 

 waters, and the serpent as the winding course of a river, and also 

 as other sources of water. The sun causes the river water to 

 evaporate, which is symbolized by the dragon's conflict with Apollo, 

 and the victory of the latter. The monster, as Forchhammer observes, 

 is formed during the childhood of Apollo, that is, at a time of year 

 when the sun has not attained his full force. When the serpent's body 

 begins to putrefy, the reptile, in mythical language, takes the new name 

 of Python, or he who becomes putrid. The serpent Python, in 

 accordance with the continual transformations of myth, becomes the 

 Hydra of Lerna, and Hercules, another solar myth, is substituted for 

 Apollo. This Hydra is transformed again into Typhon, a fresh per- 

 sonification of the forces of nature and of the atmosphere, conspiring 

 against heaven. The seven-headed Hydra reappears in another form 

 in the Rig-Veda, where the rain cloud is compared to the serpent whose 

 head rests on seven springs. I have Max Muller's authority for the 

 vigorous alternation of myths in those primitive ages, their extreme 

 mobility, their resolution into vivified physical forms, and the slight 

 consistency of specific types. Aurora and Night are often substituted 

 for each other, and although in the original conception of the 

 birth of Apollo and Artemis they were certainly both considered 

 to be children of the night, Leto and Latona, yet even so the place 

 or island where, according to the fable, they were born is Ortygia or 

 Delos, or sometimes called by both names at once. Delos means the 

 land of light, but Ortygia, although' the name is given to different 

 places, is Aurora, or the land of Aurora. (Gerhard, Griechisclie 



