For a different reason I must condemn in the most unqualified
manner the attempt recently made by the enthusiastic and
meritorious antiquary, the Abbe E. Charles Brasseur (de Bourbourg),
to explain American mythology after the example of Euhemerus, of
Thessaly, as the apotheosis of history. This theory, which has been
repeatedly applied to other mythologies with invariable failure, is
now disowned by every distinguished student of European and
Oriental antiquity; and to seek to introduce it into American
religions is simply to render them still more obscure and
unattractive, and to deprive them of the only general interest they
now have, that of illustrating the gradual development of the
religious ideas of humanity.
But while thus regretting the use he has made of them, all
interested in American antiquity cannot too much thank this
indefatigable explorer for the priceless materials he has unearthed
in the neglected libraries of Spain and Central America, and laid
before the public.
Pages:
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77