214 SECRETS OF EARTH AND SEA 



source, then it is probable that they purposely drew the 

 flying stork, so as to make it resemble as much as possible 

 a Swastika. 



When we take account of the apparently arbitrary 

 passage of human decorative design from the naturalistic 

 to the linear, and from the linear to the naturalistic ; from 

 the curvilinear to the rectilinear, and from rectilinear to 

 curvilinear; when we also reflect that some races and 

 populations of men have been prone to seek for the 

 forms of their decoration in the natural forms of plants 

 and animals, whilst others have made use of mere 

 mechanical patterns of parallel or interlacing lines, we must 

 conclude that by the appeal to one or other of these 

 various tendencies it is easy to invent a large variety of 

 more or less plausible theories as to the origin of the 

 Swastika. The truth of the matter can only be decided, 

 if ever, by more direct and conclusive evidence than we 

 at present possess. Nevertheless, it is a legitimate and 

 fascinating thing to speculate on the origin of this 

 wonderful world-pervading emblem coming to us from 

 the mists of prehistoric ages, and to endeavour to arrive, 

 if possible, at possible points of contact between it and 

 other " devices " and " symbols," even though they may 

 be of equally obscure birth. 1 



The accurate division of a circle into two equal 

 comma-shaped areas of the special shape presented by 

 the " Tomoye " of the Japanese (Fig. 54) and the rotating 

 " Great Monad " of Chinese cosmogony (Fig. 55), is effected 

 by describing within a given circle two circles each having 

 its diameter equal to a radius of the enclosing circle. The 

 two inscribed circles touch one another at the centre 



1 I am indebted for the figures (not the diagrams) illustrating Chapters 

 XVII., XVIII., XIX. to the report by Mr. Thomas Wilson on the Swastika 

 in the Smithsonian Reports, 1894. Those interested in this subject will find 

 a vast store of information in that report. 



