Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 13, 1902.djvu/234

 2 1 8 Reviews.

Res Biblic;e.

ENXYCLOP-iiDiA BiBLiCA : A Critical Dictionary of the Literary, Political, and Religious History, the Archseology, Geography, and Natural History of the Bible. Edited by Rev. T. K. Cheyne, M.A., D.D., and J- Sutherland Black, M.A., LL.D. Vol. iii. London : A. and C. Black. 1902.

The Gold of Ophir, Whence brought and by Whom ? By Professor A. Keane. London: .Stanford. 1901.

I have already in these pages (Folk-Lore, xi. 99; xii. 247) called the attention of students of Anthropology to this important Biblical Cyclopjedia. The third volume (L to P) is quite as valuable as those which preceded it. I can only briefly indicate the articles which are specially interesting from our point of view. The student of historical geography will refer to the articles on "Nineveh," " Palestine," " Persia," the " Philistines," " Phoenicia," for the latest knowledge presented in a condensed but quite readable form. The development of institutions is discussed in exhaustive articles by Professor L Benzinger on " Law and Justice," and " Marriage " among the Hebrews. Dr. Creighton deals with " Leprosy " (under which the Hebrews classed ring-worm) and with " Medicine," where we find the use of occult methods — astrology, amulets, charms, healing by the "Word" addressed to the patient, and by means of saliva. To this may be added the use of " Mandrakes " to procure conception. Stone-worship is fully discussed under " Massebah," where the cairn is regarded as a means of preventing wicked spirits from wandering, in opposition to Dr. Frazer's view {Go/den Bough, iii. 8) : "To rid himself of that [death] pollution, which, as usual, he conceives in a material form, the savage seeks to gather it up in a material vehicle and leave it behind him on the hazardous spot." Dr. Benzinger, in dealing with the " Passover," discusses the offering of first-fruits and the sacrifice of the first-born, which is also treated in connec- tion with the " passing through the fire to Molech." Articles on " Moon-worship " and the " New Moon " bring together much information on an obscure form of religious cult ; that on "Magic" deals with it in its various forms, the " sympathetical " or " symbolical," as in the story of Jacob and the peeled wands. The articles on " Paradise " and " Moses " give Dr. Cheyne the