CHAPTER XV.

CONCLUSION.

Antiquity of the superstitions commented upon. The common origin of most of them. Tenacity of superstition and traditionary lore. Some perhaps have resulted from similar conditions, without any necessary connection with each other. Supposed communication of America with Asia in ancient times. Phallic worship in Central America. Singular custom in the Polynesian Islands. Migration of the Miocene flora. The Atlantis of the Ancients. Superstitions in Abyssinia and the Malay Archipelago. Traditions and superstitions frequently glide into each other. Instances. Scotch warriors at Preston. Sunken churches. Secret passages beneath rivers. All ruined castles, abbeys, etc., said to have been battered by Cromwell's cannon. Recent discoveries in Sanscrit. Max Müller's interpretation of Greek myths. Anthropomorphism, or the personification of natural forces. Growth of a myth. Vedic and other examples. Wordsworth's interpretation of Greek myths. Figurative expression, the groundwork of all poetry, at the root of all language. Shakspere's appreciation of the poetic value of popular mythology. Importance of the study of these despised superstitions to philological, ethnological, and psychological science, as well as to the sound philosophical interpretation of general history. Page 283

TRADITIONS, SUPERSTITIONS, AND FOLK-LORE.