I

APPENDIX C

Pre-Christian Crosses

HAVE said that the phallic origin attributed to the cross is destitute of evidence. In a work like this, which will be in the hands of general readers, it is impossible to enter into the subject.

I believe I have conscientiously examined the question. If I saw that there was sufficient evidence to substantiate the theory, I would adopt it without hesitation. But I think a better claim may be made for the lightning, and a better still for the ancient instrument of two sticks used for producing fire by friction.

An article on Sun worship in the "English Leader," copied into "Public Opinion" (Sept. 14, 1867), assumes the identity of the cross with the phallus. The article is full of assertions, rather bold and reckless than well supported by evidence.

It asserts on the authority of the Abbé Pluche that the crux ansata was the symbol of the annual inundation of the Nile. The speculations of the learned on the signification of the Egyptian hieroglyphics, previous to the discoveries of Champollion, are, however, devoid of weight. "The crux ansata,” it adds, “that is, the cross and circle, was the sign of Venus or sensual love,—the goddess from whose name our word venery is derived,—and it is still the astronomical

symbol of the planet which bears her name." As we have already seen, the crux ansata was not exclusively the symbol of Astarte; it was a sign of divinity and was placed near every god to indicate him as being Divine. It appears beside Baal as well as Astarte.

If used more frequently with her than with other deities, it was because it symbolized her power over moisture, she being the Moon. The cross did not belong to her as a goddess of sensuality, but as presiding over the month and its rains; to Baal it belonged as a year-god guiding the

seasons.

The same article refers to the Indian cross as though it were a phallus; whereas the symbols are entirely and radically distinct, as may be seen by reference to the plates of Müller's "Glauben, Wissen, und Kunst der Hindus."

THE

APPENDIX D

Shipping the Dead

HE following curious passage from Gervase of Tilbury may not prove uninteresting when treating of the transport of the dead by boats.

OTIA IMPERIALIA, Decisio iii. c. 90.

Insigne mirum ac ex divina virtute miraculum audi, Princeps Sacratissime. Caput regni Burgundionum, quod Arelatense dicitur, civitas est Arelas, antiquissimis dotata privilegiis. Hanc ordinatus ab Apostolis Petro et Paulo, Trophimus, qui . . . . deliberavit cœmeterium solemne ad meridianam urbis partem constituere, in quo omnium orthodoxorum corpora sepulturæ traderentur, ut, sicut ab Arelatensi ecclesia tota Gallia fidei sumsit exordium, ita et mortui in Christo undecunque advecti sepulturæ communis haberent beneficium. Facta itaque consecratione solemni per manus sanctissimorum antistitum ad Orientalem portam, ubi nunc est ecclesia ab ipsis in honorem B. Virginis consecrata, illis Christus, pridem in carne familiariter agnitus, apparuit, opus eorum sua benedictione profundens, dato cœmeterio ac illis sepeliendis munere, ut quicunque inibi sepelirentur, nullas in cadaveribus suis paterentur diabolicas illusiones. Ex hujusmodi ergo Dominicæ benedictionis munere, apud omnes

majoris auctoritatis Galliarum principes ac clericos inolevit, quod maxima patentum pars illuc sepulturam habent, et quidam in plaustris, alii in curribus, nonnulli in equis, plurimi per dependulum fluentis Rhodani ad cœmeterium Campi Elisii deferebantur. Est ergo omni admiratione dignissimum, quod nullus in thecis positus mortuus ultimos civitatis Arelatensis terminos, quos Rochetam nominant, quantalibet vi ventorum aut tempestate compulsus præterit, sed infra semper subsistens in aqua rotatur, donec applicet, aut ad ripam fluminis ductus cœmeterio sacro inferatur. Mirandis magis miranda succedunt, quæ oculis conspeximus sub innumera utriusque sexus hominum multitudine. Solent, ergo præmisimus, mortui in doliis bituminatis ac in thecis corpora mortuorum a longinquis regionibus fluminis Rhodani dimitti cum pecunia sigillata, quæ cœmeterio tam sacro, nomine eleemosynæ, confertur. Uno aliquo die, nondum decennio delapso, dolium cum mortuo suo descendit inter illud angustum, quod ex alternis ripis castrum Tarasconense et castrum Belliquadri prospectant. Exilientes adolescentes Belliquadri dolium ad terram trahunt, et relicto mortuo pecuniam reconditam rapiunt. Depulsum dolium inter impetuosi amnis fluctus subsistit, et nec vi fluminis præcipitis nec juvenum impulsibus potuit descendere, verum rotans et in se revolvens, eosdem circinabat fluminis fluctus. . . . . Tandem, restituto censu, confestim mortuus sine omni impellentis adjutorio viam aggreditur, et infra modicam horam apud civitatem Arelatensem applicans, sepulturæ honorifice traditur.

THE

APPENDIX E

Fatality of Numbers

HE laws governing numbers are so perplexing to the uncultivated mind, and the results arrived at by calculation are so astonishing, that it cannot be matter of surprise if superstition has attached itself to numbers.

But, even to those who are instructed in numeration, there is much that is mysterious and unaccountable, much that only an advanced mathematician can explain to his own satisfaction. The neophyte sees the numbers obedient to certain laws, but why they obey these laws he cannot understand; and the fact of his not being able so to do, tends to give to numbers an atmosphere of mystery which impresses him with awe.

For instance, the property of the number 9, discovered, I believe, by W. Green, who died in 1794, is inexplicable to any one but a mathematician. The property to which I allude is this, that when 9 is multiplied by 2, by 3, by 4, by 5, by 6, &c., it will be found that the digits composing the product, when added together, give 9. Thus :