Popular Handbooks of ReligionsJudaism by J. Abrahams; Celtic Religion in Pre-Christian Times by E. Anwyl; Religion ofAncient Rome by C. Bailey; Hinduism by L. D. Barnett; Religion of Ancient Scandinavia by W.A. Craigie; Religion of Ancient Egypt by W. M. F. Petrie; Religion of Babylonia and Assyriaby T. G. Pinches; Mythology of Ancient Britain and Ireland by C. SquireReview by: W. CrookeFolklore, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Mar. 30, 1908), pp. 124-125Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Folklore Enterprises, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1254732 .

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124 Reviews.

POPULAR HANDBOOKS OF RELIGIONS.

i. J. ABRAHAMS, "JUDAISM"; 2. E. ANWYL, " CELTIC RELIGION IN PRE-CHRISTIAN TIMES"; 3. C. BAILEY, " RELIGION OF

ANCIENT ROME"; 4. L. D). BARNETT, " HINDUISM "; 5. W. A. CRAIGIE, "RELIGION OF ANCIENT SCANDINAVIA ; 6. W. M. F. PETRIE, " RELIGION OF ANCIENT EGYPT";

7. T. G. PINCHES, " RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA"; 8. C. SQUIRE, "MYTHOLOGY OF ANCIENT BRITAIN AND

IRELAND." London: Constable & Co., 1906-7.

IT is a welcome indication of the growing interest in the study of comparative religion that demand has arisen for this excellent cheap series of popular manuals. The names of the writers furnish a guarantee that the information is supplied in a scholarly form, and that the manuals embody the results of the most recent investigations. The volumes naturally vary in interest and value. Where the writer has to deal with a well- defined collection of beliefs, like those of Judaism and Islam, each of which refers for its authority to a sacred Canon which has now been finally closed, the task is naturally easier than in the case of an amorphous creed like that of Hinduism. Limitations of space have in many of these volumes prevented the exposition from being little more than a bald summary, and no room has been left for a treatment of the subject on philo- sophical lines. Literary form, again, except in the case of Mr.

Anwyl's account of Celtic Religion, and Mr. Bailey's essay on that of Ancient Rome, has become of secondary importance. In some cases the method of treatment is hardly satisfactory. In the case of Hinduism, for instance, Dr. Barnett has, it is true, given a good summary, so far as it goes, of its leading phases; but it seems open to question whether a different method would not have been more effective. The explorer has to force his way through a jungle of sectarian gods and their myriad cults, while it would have been more useful to the student new to the subject, to explain with more clearness that the development of the faith took the form of an evolution within the boundaries of the faith itself, from Vedism to Brah- manism, and thence to worship of the sectarian gods; to exhibit

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Reviews. 125

in greater detail the effect of caste on religion, the growth of the principle of metempsychosis and pantheistic beliefs; to make it more evident that Buddhism and Jainism were not violent reforms enforced by agencies foreign to Hinduism; to explain why these movements arose in western Bengal, and why the impulse which led to the reformed neo-Brahmanism came from southern India. But this is only to say that such a line of treatment was not the immediate object of the writer, and was impossible under the general scheme of the series, and within the narrow limits assigned to him. In some cases the bibliographies might have been with advantage extended, and only one volume, that on Egypt, is provided with an index. On the whole this series of popular manuals will serve a useful purpose, if they do not encourage in the general reader the belief that each contains all that is worth knowing on the vast

subject with which it deals, and if the study of them leads him to investigate the original literature to which they supply an

adequate introduction. W. CROOKE.

SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.

Volkskundliche Zeitschriftenschau fir 1904, herausgegeben im Auftrage der hessischen Vereinigung for Volkskunde von L. DIETRICH. Leipzig: Teubner, 1907. Pp. 328.

THIS bibliography maintains the promise of its predecessor, and it says much for the Veteinigung that the lamented death of Prof. Strack has simply delayed the appearance of a single annual issue. The contents are classified into fifteen sections, jlus one of addenda, according to the character of the periodical analysed. Then follow indexes of periodicals, books, and sub- jects. The volume is already large, and perhaps an index of authors is impossible, but one is certainly desirable.

The cormale

rendu of each article follows the title, and this arrangement makes it impossible either to glance through the latter or to arrange the former under subject headings. It is a

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