334 
close analogies existing between the very words m which 
the serpent is described, and the acts in which he is_ repre- 
sented as officiating, and those titles and deeds by which the 
Fig. 27.* Krishna triumphant over Caliya ; with both his hands the the 
g folds of the hated monster, and crushes its head beneath his feet. (Con.. Ge 
iii. 15.) 
ancient serpent is painfully familiar to us all in the Mosaic 
record. A Greco-Egyptian writer of the Ptolemaic period, 
Horapollojf does, indeed, assign a motive for the superstition; 
and his language is sufficiently curious to excuse our quoting 
it accordingly; and here is also the best place wherein o 
interpolate a few other extracts whose novelty will at least 
excuse their introduction, though it will be obvious that, irom 
a purely philosophical point of view, the explanation they aliord 
of the serpent- worship of Egypt is unsatisfactory m the 
extreme. 
“When they would represent the universe they delineate a serpent with 
variegated scales, devouring its own tail ; by the scales intimating the stars in 
the universe. The animal is also extremely heavy, as is the earth and 
extremely slippery, like the water ; moreover it every year puts off ite 
old age with its skin, as in the universe the annual period effects a corre- 
sponding change, and becomes renovated. And the makmg use of i 
* This and the preceeding figure are from drawings supplied by William 
Simpson, Esq. 
t Horapollo, lib. i. cap. ii. 
