THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 57 



receptacle they sailed over the deep. At length, when the deities 

 ordered the waters to withdraw, the man sent out a vulture to 

 ascertain the. condition of things. This bird, however, feeding on 

 dead flesh, did not return. The man then sent out another messen- 

 ger, and after dismissing several, the humming-bird alone returned, 

 bearing with it a branch covered with leaves. Perceiving by this 

 that the waters had subsided, the inmates of the bark went forth on 

 Mount Colhuaca. This story is told by Humboldt in his Researches. 



In a speech at Birmingham quite recently, Professor Fawcett 

 remarked : " Children who have been taught to read the Bible in an 

 intelligent fashion frequently receive a tacit impression that Jewish 

 history has no point of contact with profane history." But it is very 

 easy to trace, on examination, the connection between many of the 

 heathen gods of the ancients and prominent characters of the Old 

 Testament. For instance, we find Vulcan corresponding with Tubal 

 Cain, Nimrod with Orion, Noah with Deucalion, Moses and the 

 Brazen Serpent with Aesculapius, represented with a stick entwined 

 with snakes, Hercules with Samson, especially in the relation of the 

 former to Omphale, and. the latter to Delilah. 



The building of the tower of Babel corresponds with the fable 

 of the giants attempting to pile Ossa upon Pelion, and the subse- 

 quent confusion and scattering of tongues with the dispersion of the 

 giants. There is a Grecian legend strangely resembling the visit 

 of the two angels to Lot and the subsequent destruction of Sodom. 

 Hermes and Zeus, having visited incognito a city on earth, were in- 

 hospitably repulsed by the rich and powerful, but were treated with 

 great kindness by an aged couple named Baucis and Philemon, who 

 had retained their virtue when all around were sunk in profligacy. 

 Discovering the divine nature of their visitants from the undimin- 

 ished quantity and improved quality of the wine in the pitcher out 

 of which they drank, they were about to pay them homage, but were 

 prevented from so doing by the vengeance the deities took on the 

 depraved and ifihospitable city. When the old couple, recovering 

 somewhat from their amazement, looked for it, they saw only a 

 stagnant lake, beneath the waters of which the city was plunged. 

 Their cottage was left and changed into a Temple, of which they 

 were appointed Priest and Priestess, and after a long life they were 

 changed into trees overshadowing the structure. Here we see Zeus 

 and Hermes representing the angels, Philemon and Baucis Lot and 



