ce sage paisible sous les traits du belliqueux Odin." But we did
not expect that we should have to read again, in a book published in 1869,
such statements as these:(52)--

"There is certainly a much greater similarity between the Buddhism of the
Topes and the Scandinavian mythology than between it and the Buddhism of
the books; but still the gulf between the two is immense; and if any
traces of the doctrines of the gentle ascetic (Buddha) ever existed in the
bosom of Odin or his followers, while dwelling near the roots of the
Caucasus, all that can be said is, that they suffered fearful shipwreck
among the rocks of the savage superstitions of the North, and sank, never
again to appear on the surface of Scandinavian mythology. If the two
religions come anywhere in contact, it is at their base, for underlying
both there existed a strange substratum of Tree and Serpent Worship; on
this the two structures seem to have been raised, though they afterwards
diverged into forms so strangely dissimilar" (p. 34).

Or again (p. 32):--

"We shall probably not err far if we regard these traces of serpent
worship as indicating the presence in the Northeast of Scotland of the
head of that column of migration, or of propagandism, which, under the
myth of Wodenism, we endeavored in a previous chapter to trace from the
Caucasus to Scandinavia."

"The arbors under which two of the couples are seated are curious
instances of that sort of summer-house which may be found adorning
tea-gardens in the neighborhood of London to the present day. It is scenes
like these that make us hesitate before asserting that there could not
possibly be any connection between Buddhism and Wodenism" (p. 140).

"One of the most tempting nominal similarities connected with this subject
is suggested by the name of Maya. The mother of Buddha was called Maya.
The mother of Mercury was also Maia, the daughter of Atlas. The Romans
always called Wodin, Mercury, and _dies Mercurii_ and _Wodensday_ alike
designated the fourth day of the week.... These and other similarities
have been frequently pointed out and insisted upon, and they are too
numerous and too distinct not to have some foundation in reality" (p. 186,
note).

Statements like these cannot be allowed to pass unnoticed or
uncontradicted, particularly if supported by the authority of a great
name; and after having spoken so freely of the unscientific character of
the mythological comparisons instituted b