fate became invested with the assurance of supernatural
help, for which the growth of a knowledge of natural phenomena made it
impossible for the mere scientist to be the sponsor. It became a
question of faith rather than knowledge; and man's instinctive struggle
against the risk of extinction impelled him to cling to this larger hope
of salvation, and to embellish it with an ethical and moral significance
which at first was lacking in the eternal search for the elixir of life.

If religion can be regarded as archaic science enriched with the belief
in supernatural control, the myth can be regarded as effete religion
which has been superseded by the growth of a loftier ethical purpose.
The myth is to religion what alchemy is to chemistry or astrology is to
astronomy. Like these sciences, religion retains much of the material of
the cruder phase of thought that is displayed in myth, alchemy, and
astrology, but it has been refined and elaborated. The dross has been to
a large extent eliminated, and the pure metal has been moulded into a
more beautiful and attractive form. In searching for the elixir of life,
the makers of religion have discovered the philosopher's stone, and with
its aid have transmuted the base materials of myth into the gold of
religion.

If we seek for the deep motives which have prompted men in all ages so
persistently to search for the elixir of life, for some means of
averting the dangers to which their existence is exposed, it will be
found in the instinct of self-preservation, which is the fundamental
factor in the behaviour of all living beings, the means of preservation
of the life which is their distinctive attribute and the very essence of
their being.

The dragon was originally a concrete expression of the divine powers of
life-giving; but with the development of a higher conception of
religious ideals it became relegated to a baser role, and eventually
became the symbol of the powers of evil.

[447: Sethe, "Zur altaegyptische Sage von Sonnenaugen das im Fremde war,"
_Untersuchungen zur Geschichte und Altertumskunde AEgyptens_, V, p. 23.
[Transcriber's note: the title of the paper has been misprinted. It
should read "...vom Sonnenauge, das..."]]

[448: See especially the claims put forward by Brinton, which have been
accepted by Spinden, Joyce, and many other recent writers.]

[449: Possibly also the Cerastes. At a relatively late period other
snakes were adopted as surrogates of the