Page:Myth, Ritual, and Religion (Volume 1).djvu/47

 to determine whether the myths of peoples whose speech is of the same family are special modifications of a mythology once common to the race whence these peoples have sprung. The philological method alone can answer here." But this will seem a very limited province when we find that almost all races, however remote and unconnected in speech, have practically much the same myths. Philology can tell whether Zeus Asterios, or Adonis, or Zeus Labrandeus, is originally a Semitic or a Greek divine name; here she is the Pythoness we must all consult; in this sphere she is supreme—when her high priests are of one mind.