MYTHOLOGY 



MZENSK 



373 



form a literary mythology which is nothing like so 

 near to the myth-making stage in the history of a 

 people as are many of the popular traditions of the 

 peasantry of Europe. On the other hand, although 

 Max-Muller and his school have been guilty of many 

 ollences against the canons of comparative philology 

 in their desire to identify the names of mytho- 

 logical figures, Grnppe undoubtedly has gone too 

 far in asserting that comparative philology lends 

 no support whatever to the belief tliat the Aryans 

 possessed any gods at all. Zeus, Aurora, and Agni 

 may safely "be said to have been known to the 

 Aryans, and to have been worshipped as deities. 

 Another series of attacks has been made upon the 

 Kuhn and Miiller school on the ground that, if the 

 comparative method is to be applied, it should be 

 applied to the whole of the facts, and not to one 

 particular section of them. In other words, we 

 must not confine ourselves to Aryan myths, but 

 must open our eyes to the fact that nearly every 

 Aryan myth can l>e paralleled by similar tales from 

 the remotest quarters of the glolxs. No explana- 

 tion which explains only a part of the phenomena 

 and leaves other exactly similar phenomena un- 

 explained can possibly l>e the right explanation. 

 Obviously, therefore, it is impossible to find the key 

 to all the'my thologies in any peculiarity of language, 

 for such peculiarity or 'disease' would only affect the 

 mythology of the nations speaking that language 

 or family of languages. The mythologist has not 

 only to answer the oiiestion why men tell their 

 extraordinary tales almiit the gods, hut also the 

 question why do they all tell the same sort of 

 story, no matter what race or clime they belong to. 

 The" theory that all myths are derived from a 

 common centre, from which they spread in all 

 directions over the face of the earth by borrowing, 

 would explain the similarity in the myths ; but, 

 until that theory is more fully elaliorated than 

 it is at present, the field is held \>y a theory 

 of mythology of which the most distinguished 

 champion in "England is Mr Andrew Lang (q.v.). 

 It is, briefly, that myths are survivals from 

 a primitive stage of culture through which all 

 races pass, anil in which they much resemble 

 each other. Ex eist/em cm/em. Primitive man, 

 whether of the stone age on this side of the world 

 or on the other, chipped his Hint implements 

 in much the same way ; and no one thinks of 

 accounting for the resemblance between the imple- 

 ments thus manufactured by any theory of Uirrmv- 

 ing or of common descent. It is obvious that the 

 same causes acting on the same organisms produce 

 similar results, and this is as true of mental and 

 moral culture as of material culture. Here, too, 

 we have the explanation of the strange nature of 

 many myths ; what seems brutal to us does not 

 seem brutal to the savage. There is therefore 

 nothing surprising in the fact that the gods and 

 heroes of tfie savage are, like himself, savages. 

 Above all, the game problems presented themselves 

 to primitive peoples in all parta of the world, and 

 were solved by the aid of the same analogies. 

 What was the origin of man ? of the world ? What 

 causes rain? Why does the wind blow ? Why does 

 the sun behave as he does ? Why are certain customs 

 observed ? The answers which commended them- 

 selves to primitive man constitute mythology. At 

 the same time there is no reason to believe that primi- 

 tive man was not as fond of hearing and telling 

 stories as civilised man is of reading novels. Ami 

 though most myths may be the explanations which 



Ancestors, worship of. 



Animals, worship of. 



Animism. 



Auguries. 



Beast-fables. 



Bkluai. 



Cosmogony. 



were invented to explain what seemed to primitive 

 man to need explanation, some myths probably 

 were from the beginning designed solely for the 

 gratification of the imagination. 



In addition to the works of Creuzer, Lobeck, Grote, 

 Lelirs, Kenan, Orimin, and Gruppe already referred to, 

 see Max-Muller's various works, and particularly his 

 t!io;iraiihies of Words; Mannhardt, Wald und Feldkulte ; 

 Schrader, Prehistoric Antiquities of the Aryan Peoples; 

 E. B. Tylor. Early History of Mankind and Primitive 

 Culture ; A. Lang, Custom and Miith and La Mythologti 

 ; Paris, 1886); Canon 'Jaylor, Ori</in of the Aryan* ; 

 Uhantepie de la Saussaye, Reliyions-yeschichte ; C. Peter- 

 sen, article Mytholtx.iie in Ersch and Gruber ; L. Preller, 

 Griechitclte Mytliuloyif ; P. Uecliarmc, Mytholoyie de la 

 Orece antique ; and Koscher's Ltxiknn dtr Mytholoyie. 

 See also the articles in this work on such mythulogists an 

 Euheiuerus, Cox, Gubernatis, Lang, ilax-Muller; those 

 on the several gods ; and the following : 



Demonology. Masric. 



Divination. Mysteries. 



Egypt (religinn). Rome (religion). 



Greece ( religion ). Scandinavian 

 Hesiod. Mythology. 



HOTIIIT. T"tflll. 



India ( p. 104 ). Witchcraft. 



:'ma is the name generally accepted for 

 a diseased condition first described by Sir William 

 ( iull in 1873. It occurs in adults, generally females, 

 and is characterised by a thickening of the sub- 

 cutaneous tissue, most noticeable in the face ( which 

 becomes enlarged, swollen-looking, and expression- 

 less) and the hands, with a simultaneous dulling of 

 all the faculties and slowing of the movements of 

 the IKX!V. A precisely similar condition occurs in 

 many cases where the thyroid gland has been 

 removed for disease. Myxu*lema is very slow in 

 its progress. It greatly resembles cretinism, though 

 the mental condition is much less affected. In 

 1890-91 Horsley and others treated cases success- 

 fully by grafting in the thyroid gland of a calf, or 

 by injecting the juice of animal thyroids. Since 

 then remarkable success has been attained by giving 

 the patients calves' thyroids to eat, or administering 

 the extract by the month. The improvement, which 

 is swift and "marvellous, lasts only so long as the 

 sufferers continue to take the remedy. See mono- 

 graph by A. M. Wilson (1893). 



Myxomycetes, or MYCETOZOA, a class of 

 very simple organisms, sometimes claimed by 

 lotaiiists as fungi, and by zoologists as primitive 

 Protozoa. They live on damp surfaces exposed 

 to air, especially on rotting wood, and feed on 

 organic debris. They form composite masses or 

 plasmodia, in which numerous units are fused, or 

 in rare cases simply combined in close contact. 

 On the margins of such a mass amoeboid processes 

 of living matter flow in and out, with streaming 

 internal movement, and the plasmodium spreads 

 towards moisture, food, and warmth, or away 

 from the light. Drought, cold, or scarcity of food 

 produce a dormant encysted stage. _ At other 

 times part of the plasmodiiim divides into spores, 

 each enclosed in a coat, which bursts and liberates 

 a swarm spore, sometimes flagellate, always eventu- 

 ally like a little amoeba. A number of these 

 minute amoeba; unite to form the plasmodiiim from 

 which we started. Alxnit two hundred species have 

 been described. See FUNGI, PROTOZOA ; De Bary, 

 Die Mycttnzotn (1864) ; Zoph, Die SMeimpilze, in 

 Schenk's Botanik, iii. (1887). 



M/cnsk. a town in the Russian government of 

 Orel, 200 miles SSW. of Moscow. Pop. 15,067. 



