OR

WEEKLY ABSTRACT OF GENERAL KNOWLEDGE.

NEW YORK, SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 1833.

and brought up the earth on his tusks. Then issued from him a mighty tortoise and snake; and Bistnoo placed the snake erect upon the back of the tortoise, and he placed the earth upon the head of the snake.”

The Chinese in their ancient traditions say, the heavens were first formed; the foundations of the earth were next laid; the atmosphere was then diffused round the habitable globe; and last of all, man was created. Our Gothic ancestors had a tradition of the formation of the world from chaos.

cause to cause, and leave it the same as at the first. His system has no occasion for the intervention of a chain of causes between the Cause of causes and the ultimate result; but, basing it on the broad and undeniable fact, that, as no effect can be produced without a cause, some Cause uncaused must have existed from eternity, or nothing would be in existence now, he tells us at once, that this uncreated, eternally existent, almighty Cause, bade into being from non-entity this stupendous, this glorious universe. Taking for granted what must The Etrurians, or ancient Tuscans, the Gauls and be admitted, that, in a universe of results, there must, their Druids, the Japanese and others, believed the however complicated the machinery, be some self-movworld to have had a beginning; that it was created outing Principle unmoved by any thing else, to impart motion of nothing by the supreme power of God; and consequently, that from its own nature, it is subject to dissolution. And when America was discovered, it was found that the natives held traditions strongly resembling the Mosaic history of the creation.

The negroes of Congo affirm, that the world was made by the hands of angels, excepting their own country, which the Supreme Being constructed himself; that he took great pains with the inhabitants, and made them very black and beautiful; and when he had finished the first man, he was well pleased with him, and smoothed him over the face; and hence his nose, and the noses of all his descendants, became flat.

"Buffon, a modern infidel philosopher, conjectures that this earth was originally a globe of liquid fire, struck from the body of the sun by means of a comet, as a spark is produced by the collision of flint and steel; that at first it was surrounded by gross vapours, which, cooling and condensing in process of time, constituted, according to their densities, earth, water, and air; which gradually arranged themselves, according to their respective gravities, round the burning mass that formed their centre.

"Darwin, an infidel also, in accounting for the origin of the world, supposes that the mass of chaos suddenly exploded, like a barrel of gunpowder, and in that act exploded the sun, which, in its flight, by a similar convulsion, exploded the earth, which in like manner explo- | ded the moon; and thus, by a chain of explosions, the whole solar system was produced, and set in regular motion."

A few suggestions very naturally arise, in view of the foregoing.

1st. In every instance, we find that attempts are made to account for the origin of things; so that it seems to be universally conceded, that, whatever may be the fact with regard to the eternity or non-eternity of the essence of matter itself, it has not always existed in its present

modifications.

2d. In all cases where men have speculated on the subject, instead of regarding history and tradition, we find them running into the most crude and visionary notions conceivable-and at the same time, the most contradictory to one another.

3d. We find those who attribute their opinions on this subject to history or tradition, agreeing in the great leading particulars, and agreeing in the main with the Mosaic account of the creation, notwithstanding the corruptions which, during a lapse of so many ages, must necessarily intermingle with mere tradition.

4th. The attentive observer cannot fail to be struck with the immense superiority of the Mosaic cosmogony over those of the philosophic speculators which have been brought into view. While they involve us in a labyrinth, by referring us from cause to cause, without progressing a single step towards a satisfactory solution of the great question of all-the cause of their first cause Moses comes directly to the point. "In the beginning," says he, "God created the heavens and the earth." "And God said, Let there be light, and there was light." He does not, like the Indian philosopher, tell us that the world stands on the back of an elephant, and the elephant on that of a turtle, and the turtle on-he knows not what. He does not, to avoid difficulty, fly from

to the rest, he conducts us in the outset to this Principle, and refers all results to that.

The conclusions to be deduced from the foregoing considerations are, that the existing state of things has not been eternal, and consequently, that we are to look for a beginning to history; that the general agreement subsisting between the Mosaic cosmogony and those of the various nations of the world, some of whom, from time immemorial have had no communication with one another, shows, that one has not copied from another, but that they must have derived their ideas from one common, ancestral source; that the superiority of the Mosaic account to the traditions which have a general agreement with it, shows the former to be the uncorrupted one; that its immense superiority to those of the wisest philosophers of antiquity, gives it a decided preference as a system, to theirs; and that its agreement with reason and philosophy, relative to the great particular of the direct origination of things by an omnipotent Being, without the intervention of a chain of intermediate causes, entitles it to credence on its own intrinsic merits, independent of its superiority to others. To sum up the whole in a single sentence, there is reason to believe: that the Mosaic account of the creation of the universe, contained in the first chapter of Genesis, is authentic.

As we said in our prospectus, we do not intend to meddle with theology any further than it is absolutely unavoidable from the nature of the case. But there are some branches of general knowledge that involve theological considerations to a certain extent; insomuch that we should be faithless to the work we have

undertaken, were we to shun them. And this is particularly the case as regards history. We cannot move a single step in this department, without infringing on the views of some in relation to religion. But to omit history in a work devoted to the dissemination of general knowledge, were unpardonable indeed. And yet, if ding to evidence ;-for, to go counter to this were not to we insert it at all, we must give it as it is-give it accorfurnish the reader with knowledge, but with imagination. With this remark, we dismiss the subject till our next.

MYTHOLOGY.

We have already seen in our introduction, that Jupiter at his birth was secreted in Mount Ida, to save him from the devouring jaws of his father. To prevent his infant cries from reaching his father's ears, the priestesses of his mother Cybele were accustomed to drown them by the beating of drums and cymbals. By the same means also, Neptune and Pluto were kept secreted. Mythologists do not agree with regard to the education of Jupiter, some asserting that he was educated by these priestesses, some by the Nymphs, some by Amalthea, the daughter of Melissus, king of Crete. Some say the bees fed him with honey; others, that a goat nourished him with milk; others, that he was fed by doves; others, by an eagle; and others again by a bear. moreover, some opine that Amalthea was not the daughter of Melissus, but the very goat that suckled Jupiter, whose horn he afterwards gave to his nurses, converting it at the same time into "the horn of plenty," by making it the lot of any one that possessed it to obtain whatever he might desire. It is added, that, after

And

the death of this goat, Jupiter made a shield of its skin, with which he combatted the giants single-handed. This shield was denominated the Ægis, from a Greck term signifying a she-goat. This goat he at length restored to life, and giving her a new skin, placed her among the constellations.

We have already alluded to his war with the giants. We will be more particular.

When Titan. Saturn's brother, saw that Jupiter was preserved, contrary to agreement, he mustered his brothers, the Titans, and made war upon Saturn, whom, with his wife, he made prisoner, and binding them both, shut them up in hell. But no sooner was Jupiter a year old, than he found himself sufficiently strong to make war alone upon the Titans, whom he conquered and slew; upon which he immediately liberated his father and mother. Saturn, however, having been informed by an oracle that he would be deposed by a son, conspired against the life of Jupiter, to prevent the accomplishment of the prediction; which conspiracy proved the very means of its accomplishment. For Jupiter, roused by this treachery of his father, deposed him from the government, and banished him from heaven; having first, however, on finding him intoxicated, bound and maimed him, as Saturn had before maimed his own father Coelum with his scythe. Jupiter being now firmly seated on the throne, divided his empire with his brothers, Neptune and Pluto, giving to the former the dominion of the seas, and to the latter that of the infernal regions, reserving to himself the government of heaven and earth.

and, on account of the uncertainty of his descent, they
believed he had neither father nor mother, and conse-
quently regarded him as the first of the gods. The
Egyptians worshipped him by the name of Osiris. In
different places and languages, he was denominated
Baal, Beel, Beelphegor, Beelzebub, and Beelzemen; all
which appellations are mentioned in scripture. His
surnames were very numerous. He was called Capito-
linus, from the Capitoline hill in Rome, on the summit of
which stood his temple. He was called Tarpeias, from
the Tarpeian rock, on which this temple was founded.
He was styled Optimus Maximus (Greatest and Best)
from his great power and goodness. He was called
Custos. In Nero's coins is an image of Jupiter seated
on a throne, holding in one hand thunder, and in the
other a spear, with the inscription, Jupiter Custos. In
some forms of oaths, he was called Diespiter (the father
of light.) The Cretans in their oaths called him Dies.
He was denominated Dodonæus, from the city of Do-
dona in Chatonia, which derived its name from Dodona,
a nymph of the sea. Near this city was a grove of
oaks consecrated to Jupiter, famed as the most ancient
oracle of Greece. According to some, two doves deli-
vered responses to those who consulted this oracle:
according to others, the very leaves of the oaks them-
selves uttered oracles. Again. To use the words.of
the poet:

"Jove can't resist the just man's cries,
They bring him down, 'en from the skies,
Hence he's Elicius called."

He is denominated Feretrius, because he smote his eneScarcely was he established in his government, when mies, or because he was the giver of peace, or because, the Giants, those famed sons of Earth so conspicuous after victory, the spolia opima (grand spoils) were carried in Mythology, rose in rebellion against their new soveto his temple. He was called Fulminator, or Ceraunius, reign, in revenge for the death of their relatives, the from his hurling of thunder. The Lycians worshipped Titans. In them, Jupiter found quite another enemy him under the title of Gragus and Genitor. In Ægium, than the one he had recently vanquished by the strength about the sea coast, he is said to have been denominated of his own arm. Some of those Giants are said to have Homogynus. At Præneste he was called Imperator had fifty heads and one hundred arms, with serpents (Emperor.) He was called Latialis, because he was instead of legs. One of them, Tityus by name, covered worshipped in Latium, a country of Italy. Lapis or nine acres when stretched upon the earth. At the break-Lapideus was a title given to him by the Romans, who ing forth of such a rebellion, Jupiter himself was alarmed, held that an oath taken in the name of Jupiter Lapis, and summoned all the gods to his aid. The dread con- was the most solemn of all oaths. This title was deflict at length began. The giants hurled at their celes-rived either from the stone which Saturn ate by mistake tial opponents huge rocks, mighty oaks, and blazing for Jupiter, or from the flint stone which the swearer woods; and, to scale with the greater facility the battle- held in his hand when making bargains. The Campaments of heaven, piled Mount Ossa on Pelion. Appal- nians called him Lucetius, from lux (light;) the Latins led at the sight of adversaries so terrible, the gods fled Diespiter, from dies (day.) The Elians called him into Egypt, where they assumed the forms of various Martius. He was called Muscarius, because, at the animals, to elude the search of their pursuers; under offering of a sacrifice by Hercules, he drove away the which forms they were afterwards worshipped by the flies which interrupted his religious exercises. He was Egyptians. Jupiter being thus left to wage the war called Nicephorus, which signifies bearing victory. He alone, and recollecting that his adversaries were not inwas styled Opitulus, or Opitulator, the Helper; Centivincible provided he were to obtain the assistance of a peda, from his stability; Stabilitor and Tigellus, from mortal, took counsel of Pallas, and armed his demi-god his supporting the world; and Almus and Alumnus, son, Hercules, for the encounter. Thus reinforced, he from his cherishing all things. He was called Olympius, soon overthrew the rebel hosts. Some were crushed be- from Olympus, the name of the master who taught neath mountains, others whelmed in the sea; some were him, and of the mountain on which he resided, or from a flayed alive, and others beaten to death with clubs. In city near Mount Olympus, where was a temple dedicated short, the victory was complete, and the government of to him, and where, once in five years, were celebrated Jove established on an immoveable basis. the Olympic games. He was styled Jupitor Pistor, because he put it into the minds of the Romans, when the Gauls besieged the capitol, to throw loaves of bread into their camp, which induced them to raise the siege. The Athenians called him Pluvius. He was called Prædator, because a portion of booty taken in war was dedicated to him. He was styled Quirinus, Rex, Regnator, and Stator. The Greeks called him Soter, because he delivered them from the Medes. He was likewise called Conservator. The Augurs denominated him Tonans and Fulgens; Orpheus called him Brontaios; Apuleius, Tonitrualis. He was denominated Trioculus [Triopthalmos] by the Grecians, who supposed he had threc eyes, with one of which he observed the affairs of heaven, with another those of earth, with the third those of the sea. He was called Vejovis, or Vejupiter, and Vedius, when described without is thun

It should be observed before we proceed further, that those versed in Mythology speak of three Jupiters. Two of them were born at Arcadia. The father of the one was Æther, of the other, Cœlus. The third was the one which we have been describing. He was a Cretan, the son of Saturn, whose tomb still exists in the isle of Crete. Varro reckons three hundred Jupiters; others a much greater number. Almost every nation had a Jupiter of their own, which they supposed to have been born among themselves. But the most famous of them all was the one under consideration, to whom, therefore, the exploits of all the rest are usually attributed.

The worship of Jupiter was universal. He was the Ammon or Hammon of the Africans, which signifies sandy. He was the Belus or Bel of the Babylonians;

der, angrily looking at short spears in his hand. The | of a beautiful swan, and flying into her arms. In the Romans considered him a noxious deity, and worshipped form of a satyr, he violated Antiope, the wife of Lycus, him through fear. He was called Jupiter Ultor, the king of Thebes. He imposed on Alcmena, by assumAvenger. He was likewise called Xenius, or Hospitalis, ing the form of her husband, Amphitryon. By transbecause he was considered the author of the laws and forming himself into a flame of fire, he won the affections customs of hospitality. His proper name is Zeus, be- of Ægina, the daughter of Asopus, king of Boetia. By cause he gives life to animals. Jove was his principal counterfeiting Diana, he deceived Calisto, and afterwards title, signifying the King and Father of gods and men. abandoned her to the persecution of Juno, who changed Some of his additional titles were Inventor, Sponsor, her into a bear. But Jupiter, compassionating her conHerceus, Anxurus, Victor, &c. But enough of these. dition, placed her and her son Arcas in the heavens ; The worship of Jupiter surpassed that of the other Calisto being denominated the great bear, and Arcas the gods in point of solemnity; nor was it, like that of some little one. He transformed himself into an eagle, and of them, stained with human blood. To him were sa- seizing in his talons Ganymede, the son of Tros, as he crificed sheep, goats, and white bulls with gilded horns. was hunting on Mount Ida, conveyed him to heaven. In these sacrifices were used flour, salt, and incense. In the same manner, he carried off Asteria, the daughThe oak and the olive were sacred to him-the former, ter of Caus. Semele, the daughter of Cadmus, king because he taught mankind to live on acorns; the latter, of Thebes, one of Jupiter's mistresses, entreated him to because of his pacific disposition towards them. He is appear to her as he did to Juno. Jupiter having preusually represented by the ancients as governing the viously sworn by the Styx to grant her whatsover she world by his Providence, beholding from an eminence the asked, was necessitated to comply with her request, and pursuits and contentions of mankind, and weighing in entered her apartment enveloped in clouds and lightning, his scales their merits and their destinies. Beside him which caused her immediate death. Lastly. He beare placed two urns, the one of good, the other of evil, came enamoured of Europa, the daughter of Agenor, from which he distributes among them benefits or afflic- king of Phoenicia, as he saw her in the meadows, surtions. He is sometimes represented naked from the waist rounded by her maids, gathering flowers. He instantly upward, and covered below, signifying that he is visible transformed himself into a beautiful white bull, and to the gods above, but concealed from mortals below. mingled with the herds of her father. Europa admiring The Cretans represented him without ears, to signify his beauty, approached him, and began to play with him that he ought not to give a partial hearing to any one. as with a great dog; whereupon he lay down at her feet, The Lacedemonians gave him four heads, that he might and she sprung upon his back. Upon this, he began to hear with the greater readiness the petitions which were move slowly off with his fair burthen till he reached the continually offered to him from the four quarters of the shore of the Mediterranean, when he plunged in, and earth. He was the moderator of the contentions of the swam to the island of Crete. Europa afterwards margods. Every thing was subject to him except the Fates. ried the king of Crete; and her name is now borne by It was his custom, when the gods asked of him a favour, one quarter of the globe. to signify his assent with a nod, which was expressive of It is our intention to give one mythological character his irrevocable will. Homer describes him in all his ma- in each number of the Magazine, together with the likejesty and terror in strains so sublime, that we feel unwil-ness; and we had Apollo prepared for this number: but ling to omit them. They follow.

"He whose all conscious eyes the world behold,
Th' eternal Thunderer, sits enthroned in gold;
High heaven the footstool for his throne he makes,
And wide beneath him all Olympus shakes;
He speaks, and awful bends his sable brows,
Shakes his ambrosial curls, and gives the nod,
The stamp of fate, and sanction of the god:
High heaven with trembling the dread signal takes,
And all Olympus to the centre shakes."

And again, in granting a favour, the same awful majesty is preserved, though softened by the circumstances of the case. Thus:

"Depart in peace; secure thy prayer is sped;
Witness the sacred honours of our head,
The nod that ratifies the will divine,
The faithful, fixed, irrevocable sign,

This scals thy suit, and this fulfils thy vows.
-He spoke, and awful bends his sable brows,
Shakes his ambrosial curls, and gives the nod,
The stamp of fate, and sanction of the god:

High heaven with trembling the dread signal took,
And all Olympus to the centre shook."

Many exploits of Jupiter are recorded in Mythology, to which we shall very briefly advert.

so long has been the story of Jupiter, that we must defer the former till our next. The history of no other heathen deity will be of equal length; so that we shall hereafter be able to insert one character entire at a time.

THE WORLD AS IT IS.

FALLS OF THE CLYDE.

THE river Clyde in the neighbourhood of the town of Lanark, presents, according to the testimony of all travellers, some of the most romantic and picturesque scenery in the world. We shall confine ourselves at present to a short notice of the Linns or Falls which have been so much celebrated. The word Linn, we may remark, is the Gælic Leum, and signifies merely a fall or leap*. Its application to a cataract, or fall of water, is general throughout Scotland. Burns has introduced the word with very happy effect in his humorous and well known song of Duncan Grey, where, in describing the perplexity and despair of the rejected suitor, he says—

"Duncan sighed baith out and in,
Grat his een baith bleer'd and blin,'
Spak o' loupin' owre a linn;

Ha, ha, the wooin' o't,"

A report having reached him concerning the great wickedness of men, he descended to the earth to see if it were true. Entering the habitation of Lycaon, king of "Spak o' loupin' owre a linn," writes one of his corresArcadia, he announced his Divinity; but Lycaon derided pondents, the Honorable A. Erskine, to the poet, “is a him, and, to aggravate the insult, killed and cooked one line of itself that should make you immortal." But to of his servants, and had him served up as a banquet for return to the linns on the Clyde. The first precipice Jupiter. The god in vengeance for this impious act, let over which the river rushes, on its way from the hills, is play his lightnings, and, reducing the palace of Lycaon situated about two miles above Lanark-and is known by to ashes, turned him into a wolf. Some of his other the name of Bonnington Linn. It is a perpendicular exploits are far less honourable to his character. He rock of about twenty, or, as some authorities state, thirty wooed his own sister, Juno, in the form of a crow. He feet in height, over which the water, after having apcorrupted Danae, the daughter of Acrisius, king of the proached its brink in a broad sheet, smooth as a mirror, Argives, by transforming himself into a shower of gold, and reflecting the forests that clothe its margin, tumbles and falling into her lap. He seduced Leda, the wife of *The word has also been derived from the Welsh Linn, signify Tyndarus, king of Sparta, and mother of Helen, Cly-ing "a lake" or "water." This root is likewise found in the Greek temnestra, Castor, and Pollux, by assuming the form language, and its proper signification seems to bc, "water."