August 28, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



275 



reasons. In fact it seems doubtful whether his 

 strength lay so much in the inherent correct- 

 ness of his ideas, as in the uniform clearness 

 and force with which he propounded and de- 

 fended them. He was a born advocate, and if 

 he had been able to follow his chosen profession 

 of law he would undoubtedly have become 

 famous. W. Hallock. 



Columbia University. 



The Legend of Perseus ; A Study of Tradition in 

 Story^ Custom and Belief. By Edward Sid- 

 ney Hartland, F.S. A. Vol.1. The Super- 

 natural Birth. London, David Nutt. 

 Mr. Hartland believes that the classical 

 myth of Perseus belongs to a group of folk tales 

 ranking among the foremost in interest for the 

 student of the evolution of human thought and 

 human institutions. The first three chapters 

 are devoted to an account of the story as given 

 by the poets and historians of antiquity, and in 

 modern folk-lore ; the remaining chapters trace 

 the supernatural birth in Marchen, Sagas and 

 practical superstitions. The legend consists of 

 three leading trains of incident, viz. : 



1. The Birth, including the prophecy, etc. 



2. The Quest of the Gorgon's Head, inclu- 

 ding the jealousy of Polydectes, etc. 



3. The Rescue of Andromeda, including the 

 fight with the monster, etc. 



It is considered that the modern tales have 

 come down from classical antiquity in the 

 countries in which they are now found, but 

 they are subject to variations. After the Danse 

 type we have a type in whichthe wife of a poor 

 fisherman eats the head of a fish — the king of 

 the fishes — and becomes the mother of three 

 boys. In this group the plot consists of four 

 incidents, distinguishable as : 



1. The supernatural Birth, 



2. The Life-token, 



3. The Dragon-slaying, and 



4. The Medusa-witch. 



After this group there still remain a large num- 

 ber of variants, wherein one or more of the in- 

 cidents are wanting or may be represented by 

 a mere relic. Some of these the author recog- 

 nizes as probably derived by degradation from 

 one or other of the earlier versions; of some he 

 is constrained to say that they are in a state of 



decay; and in some the reader can hardly see 

 any resemblance at all to the legend of Perseus. 

 Yet the connection may be said to be made out, 

 through the tracing of the gradations of change. 



The stories of supernatural birth are very 

 numerous, and may be said to have a currency 

 as wide as the world. The usual agency is, 

 that a woman eats some part of a mysterious 

 fish; but in India it is fruit that she eats, an 

 apple or an orange, or two grains of wheat, or 

 soma seeds; or she swallows a potent drug. 

 Conception in other cases has been by the wind 

 or by the rays of the sun. The author has 

 been very industrious in collecting stories and 

 very discriminating in their classification; he 

 gives more than twenty pages of authorities 

 whom he has consulted ; and as a student of 

 folklore, working on approved lines, he has 

 performed his task well. 



The question, however, occurs, whether this 

 laborious hunting up of stories is a very profit- 

 able business ? Many of the modern folk -tales 

 may be interesting stories for the nurseiy ; and 

 it is as well, once for all, to know their relations 

 or resemblance to the legend of Perseus ; but 

 what was the meaning of the Perseus legend it- 

 self? We are not persuaded of the ' anthropo- 

 logical ' explanation, according to which ' the 

 original belief is intimately bound up with the 

 savage theory of the universe.' The Greeks 

 had ceased to be savages when they came to be- 

 lieve in Zeus, and framed the story of Perseus. 

 The Greek mythology had an astronomical basis, 

 and not an anthropological ; Perseus and An- 

 dromeda are still constellations in the heavens ; 

 and Zeus is there too, though unrecognized. 

 Besides, it hardly seems consistent to trace 

 the folk tales of savages to the Greek myths 

 and then seek the origin of the myths in the ir- 

 rational fancies of savages. The study of folk 

 tales, in their multiplication, variation and 

 decay, is analogous to the study of Scripture 

 MSS. with their hundreds of various readings. 

 The revisers of the Bible found that the three 

 oldest manuscripts were of more value than all 

 the hundreds of later copies ; and the student 

 of the legend of Perseus will find the parallel 

 Babylonian legend of Gilgames more to his pur- 

 pose than a bushel of modern folk-lore. 



Geo. St. Clair. 



