196 MYTH AND SCIENCE. 



brilliant illustrations of this phase of thought. 

 Such teaching, the result of explicit reflection, is a 

 rival of the critical science which followed from it. 

 It is always active, while constantly varying and 

 assuming fresh forms ; and it not only flourishes in 

 our time in the religions in which it finds a suitable 

 soil, but also, as we shall see, in science itself. 



In addition to this complex evolution of myth as a 

 whole, special myths follow similar laws ; since they 

 are generated from the same facts, and pass through 

 the same phases, they culminate in a partial ideality, 

 and this involves a simple and comprehensive law of 

 the phenomena in question, and even a moral or pro- 

 vidential order. For example, we may trace the Pro- 

 methean myth to the end of the Hellenic era, and the 

 different phases and final extinction of this particular 

 myth are quite apparent. 



The origin of the myth, which was directly con- 

 nected with the perception of the natural phenomena 

 of light and heat, was due to the same causes as all 

 others, but we will consider it in its Vedic phase, as it 

 may be gathered from tradition, and from the dis- 

 coveries of comparative philology, and we have a sure 

 guide in this research in the great linguist Kuhn, 

 whose remarks have been enlarged and illustrated by 

 Baudry. 



The Sanscrit word for the act of producing fire by 

 friction is manthdmi, to rub or agitate, and this 

 appears from its derivative mandala, a circle ; that is, 



