e not always able to determine whether there is a preponderance of
truth or of fiction in the legend or narrative under examination.

MYTHICAL HISTORY. A myth or legend in which the historical and truthful
greatly preponderate over the inventions of fiction.

MYTHOLOGY. Literally, the science of myths; and this is a very appropriate
definition, for mythology is the science which treats of the religion of
the ancient pagans, which was almost altogether founded on myths, or
popular traditions and legendary tales; and hence Keightly (Mythol. of
Ancient Greece and Italy, p. 2) says that "mythology may be regarded as
the repository of the early religion of the people." Its interest to a
masonic student arises from the constant antagonism that existed between
its doctrines and those of the Primitive Freemasonry of antiquity and the
light that the mythological Mysteries throw upon the ancient organization
of Speculative Masonry.

MYTH, PHILOSOPHICAL. This is a myth or legend that is almost wholly
unhistorical, and which has been invented only for the purpose of
enunciating and illustrating a particular thought or dogma.

N

NAME. All Hebrew names are significant, and were originally imposed with
reference to some fact or feature in the history or character of the
persons receiving them. Camden says that the same custom prevailed among
all the nations of antiquity. So important has this subject been
considered, that "Onomastica," or treatises on the signification of names
have been written by Eusebius and St. Jerome, by Simonis and Hillerus, and
by several other scholars, of whom Eusebe Salverte is the most recent and
the most satisfactory. Shuckford (Connect. ii. 377) says that the Jewish
Rabbins thought that the true knowledge of names was a science preferable
to the study of the written law.

NAME OF GOD. The true pronunciation, and consequently the signification,
of the name of God can only be obtained through a cabalistical
interpretation.

It is a symbol of divine truth. None but those who are familiar with the
subject can have any notion of the importance bestowed on this symbol by
the Orientalists. The Arabians have a science called _Ism Allah_, or the
_science of the name of God_; and the Talmudists and Rabbins have written
copiously on the same subject. The Mussulmans, says Salverte (Essai sur
les Noms, ii. 7), have one hundred names of God, which they repeat while
counting the beads of a rosary.

NEOPH