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NATURE 

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| Fume 22, 1891 

candidates will be examined in Pathology, z.e., the laws of 
epidemics, of contagion and infection, influence of here- 
ditary disposition, &c. ; in Chemistry, under the heads of — 
I, air; 2, water; 3, gaseous poisons; 4, principal decdo- 
rising and disinfecting agents; and in Medical Juris- 
prudence under the divisions of Hygiene and Forensic 
Medicine. This course has been evidently selected with 
great care, and appears well calculated to test the qualifi- 
cations of the candidates. The medical men who success- 
fully pass it and obtain the diploma, ought certainly to be 
able to assist in establishing ona scientific basis the laws 
relating to the public health. 
One very serious omission we observe in the list of sub- 
jects to be examined in, and it is one we would have least 
expected, viz., the Microscope and Spectroscope. It is per- 
fectly astonishing to find the number of well-educated 
men in the medical profession who are unable to under- 
stand the ordinary manipulation of anordinary microscope, 
or of a spectroscope in connection with the microscope. 
The medical men who pass this examination wil!, we 
believe, take rank at once as medical experts—but fancy 
one qualified to act as a medical expert and yet not know- 
ing how to manage an achromatic condenser ! 
At present this movement of the Dublin University can 
but be regarded as an experiment, but it is an experiment 
in the right direction, and one that has been, and we hope 
for years will be, conducted under the watchful eye of a 
most able physician, who thoroughly understands the sub- 
ject of medical education, and who, throughout his whole 
life, has laboured to elevate the profession that he adorns. 

PRIMITIVE CULTURE* 
Il. 
HE chapters on mythology, which naturally follow 
those on language, form an admirable summary of the 
history of myth from its vigorous infancy in the earlier ages 
of human thought through the various stages of growth and 
maturity onwards to second childhood, death by ossifi- 
cation of the heart, and final post-mortem existence 
through millenniums of disembowelled mummydom. 
Myth, in fact, is as ubiquitous, as multiform, as language. 
Nay, it is perhaps more ubiquitous, more multiform. The 
spaniel, who fawns on his master or flies at a beggar, 
who bays at the moon or cowers from the thunder, has 
evidently framed to himself some simple dog-theory in 
connection with certain phenomena, which is closely 
analogous to, if it be not absolutely identical with, a 
rudimentary myth, It is, indeed, probably not too much 
to say that wherever a phenomenon is stated or explained, 
whether with or without the intervention of language, 
there exists a myth, though a higher knowledge than that 
which creates the myth is always requisite in order to re- 
cognise its mythic character. The Ptolemaic system of 
astronomy, for instance, has been long ago conclusively 
demonstrated to be a myth, although a myth belonging to 
an advanced stage of culture, and a thousand and a 
thousand others are everywhere around us only waiting 
for the extension of knowledge to effect the metamor- 
phosis requisite for their recognition. It is evident that if 
* “Primitive Culture : Researches into the Development of Mythology, 
Philosophy, Keligion, Art, and Custom” By Edward B. Tylor, author of 
“Researches into Early History of Mankind,” &c, Two vols. 8yo. 
(London: Murray, 1871.) 

this theory of myth be even approximately correct, the : 
statement or explanation of any phenomenon in language ~ 
is in effect merely the creation of ancther phenomenon ~ 
out of which myth may be evolved ad zufinitum ; in short, 
that myth is essentially the outcome of the complex action, 
reaction, interaction, and counteraction of human thought — 
on the one hand, and the sensible phenomena of the 
universe, including those of language, on the other, The 
sensible phenomena of the universe may thus not inaptly 
e regarded from the standpoint of Democritus or 
Lucretius as continually throwing off films or likenesses of 
themselves, which films or likenesses, once seized and ~ 
appropriated by language, become additional phenomena, 
with a vitality, so to speak, and reproductive power of © 
their own. On the other hand, if, in accordance with 
the spirit of Scandinavian philosophy, we regard 
philosophy itself, art, poetry, science, morality, and reli- 
gion—all the products of human thought—as a single living — 
organism, we may then consider myth as the former sub- 
stance of the organism, the physical atoms which ‘have. 
been gradually eliminated and replaced in the process of 
growth and development. Or, not to complicate matters 
by the introduction of evolution,—civilised knowledge, asa 
whole, may be likened to an old canoe, of which no plank 
nor nail is the same as when she started on her first 
voyage, and myth to the old timbers and metal wi ich 
once formed a part of her, but have now been some. 
lost, some metamorphosed into wholly different shapes, — 
some utilised again in the construction of other vessels. — 
We can thus understand how every department of thought 
has absorbed and assimilated more or less of myth,—how — 
myth has absorbed and assimilated more or less of every 
product of the human intellect. It is, in fact, the non- 
appreciation of the true place of myth in human know- 
ledge, which has led so many earlier students of mythology 
astray. One school looked on all mythology as crystallised 
poetry ; another as indurated chronicle ; a third as frozen. 
philosophy ; a fourth as petrified religion, and so forth ;— 
each school doing something towards really making 
mythology what it believed mythology to be, and all, asa 
net result, extracting from one of the most vitally-inte- 
resting investigations a mere caput mortuum of doubly- 
distilled platitude, and quintessential commonplace. So 
long as “ mythology ” meant simply an acquaintance from — 
without with the Greek and Roman Pantheon, such a | 
result was, perhaps, inevitable. Unfortunately the doc- 
trines of these schools are not even yet by any means — 
universally recognised as being themselves mythic ; and — 
many of them are still to be found reproduced in contem- 
porary works of no inconsiderable Jearning, to supply 
future students with illustrations of Mr. Tylor’s theory of 
survival. It must be admitted, too, that even the late 
brilliant achievements of more scientific inquirers still 
leave a vast field untouched for classification and com- ~ 
parison. Nor is this task an easy one. A myth is always | 
the statement or explanation of a phenomenon, and myths 
may thus be classified according to the phenomena to 
which they refer; but first of all “to catch your myth,” 
and then to determine the phenomenon to which it refers, 
are feats, for the most part, beyond the skill of ordinary 
students. An amusing instance of these difficulties is 
afforded by Mr. Tylor himself. “ No legend,” he observes, 
“no allegory, no nursery rhyme, is safe from the her-_ 
