ins
of the system reduce themselves to the scantiest list of parallels,
such as Dyaus = Zeus = Tius, Parjanya = Perkunas, Bhaga = Bog, Varuna =
Uranos" (a position much disputed), etc. Mannhardt adds his belief that
a number of other "equations"--such as Sarameya = Hermeias, Saranyus =
Demeter Erinnys, Kentauros = Gandharva, and many others--will not stand
criticism, and he fears that these ingenious guesses will prove
mere jeux d'esprit rather than actual facts.(1) Many examples of the
precarious and contradictory character of the results of philological
mythology, many instances of "dubious etymologies," false logic, leaps
at foregone conclusions, and attempts to make what is peculiarly Indian
in thought into matter of universal application, will meet us in the
chapters on Indian and Greek divine legends.(2) "The method in its
practical working shows a fundamental lack of the historical sense,"
says Mannhardt. Examples are torn from their contexts, he observes;
historical evolution is neglected; passages of the Veda, themselves
totally obscure, are dragged forward to account for obscure Greek
mythical phenomena. Such are the accusations brought by the regretted
Mannhardt against the school to which he originally belonged, and
which was popular and all-powerful even in the maturity of his own more
clear-sighted genius. Proofs of the correctness of his criticism will
be offered abundantly in the course of this work. It will become evident
that, great as are the acquisitions of Philology, her least certain
discoveries have been too hastily applied in alien "matter," that is, in
the region of myth. Not that philology is wholly without place or part
in the investigation of myth, when there is agreement among philologists
as to the meaning of a divine name. In that case a certain amount of
light is thrown on the legend of the bearer of the name, and on its
origin and first home, Aryan, Greek, Semitic, or the like. But how rare
is agreement among philologists!

(1) Baum und Feld Kultus, p. xvii. Kuhn's "epoch-making" book is Die
Herabkunft des Feuers, Berlin, 1859. By way of example of the disputes
as to the original meaning of a name like Prometheus, compare Memoires
de la Societe de Linguistique de Paris, t. iv. p. 336.

(2) See especially Mannhardt's note on Kuhn's theories of Poseidon and
Hermes, B. u. F. K., pp. xviii., xix., note 1.

"The philological method," says Professor Tiele,(1) "is inadequate and
misleadi