Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/584

* INAMA-STEBNEGG. 510 INCARNATION. president of the Central Statistical Commission (1884), and in 1891 he was mimed a life member of the Austrian LpiMir Hdusc. An economist of the historical school, he was editor of the Zdtachrift fiir Volksicirlschaft, Socialpolilik untl Viricallung (1892), ajid of many departmental publications. Hewrote: yvricaltungslchri'(lS70} ; Die Aiisbitdung tier yronsm (Iniiidlierrseliaflen in Veutschland inihrend der Ktirolingerzeit (1878) ; Deutsche Wirlseltaftsgeschiehle (1879-1901); the important Ziir Vcrfassiingsgeschichte der diiilsilun Salincn im Mittelnlier (1880); .S'al- landsiliidien (1889) ; Abriss di-r tkulschen JVirt- schaflsgescltichle (in Paul's (Irutidriss der ger- maiii.scliin I'liilologie. 1889) ; and Die peraiin- liclu-n rrhiillnisse der Wiener Arincn (1889). INANITION. See Starvation. INARCHING. A method of grafting (q.v.). INBREEDING. See Cro.ssFertilizatios. INCANDESCENT ELECTRIC LIGHT. See Ki.KtiitK' ],ii;iiTi.N(i. INCANDESCENT GAS LIGHT. See Gas, ILLL .Ml.NATl.Ni;. INCANTATION (Lat. incantatio, from in- caulure, to enchant, from in, in + cantarc, fre- quentative of canere, to sing). The emplovnicnt of song for magical purposes. In consequence of the excitement awakened by rhythmical utter- ance, verse has from early times been supposed to possess a divine element. Vergil and Horace represent songs as able to bring down from heaven the moon and the stars; and such influ- ence, in these poets only fanciful, was at an earlier period commonly ascribed to sacred verses. It was further believed that both gods and ghosts were placated by song; and it is a universal feature of worship that in all cere- monies chants are employed which have been handed down from antiquity, preserved with scrupulous exactitude, and supposed to exert supernatural effect. In ancient times every function of human life was accompanied with in- cantations, prcsunied to be as essential as were the natural means employed. Poetic formula-, it was supposed, had power to summon and banish demons, to raise and disperse storms, to bestow sunshine and rain, to grant success in war and in love, to inflict and remove disease, to cause crops to grow, wither. or remove from one granarj- to another, to make cattle breed and bees swann. to bring success to the fisherman and hunter, and so on indefinitely. Song, when used for magic ends, is often reenforced by appropriate motions and actions, and frequently recited by a shaman I medicine-man. magician). Tlius, among Navahos the rite called the Mountain Chant, pri- marily intended for the cure of disease, consti- tutes an elaborate festival of nine days' duration. It is explained by a myth, to which the songs allude. These form sequences, of which the order must not be changed, and among them arc prayers of a simple character, which recite the nature of the sickness, entreat that it may be healed, and end with an assertion that the work is accomplished. Similarly, ancient Babylonian formulae of an exorcistic character, directed against diseases conceived as evil spirits, or- dinarily begin with enumerating the effects of the malady or names of the hostile powers, ex- press the desire of the suppliant for recovery, and conclude with an invocation to Heaven and Earth, who are besought to deliver the sufferer. These also were often associated with ritual, for the performance of which directions are given. Of course, with the songs are sometimes employed other agencies, as when in the Odyssey the hero, injured by a boar's tusk, has his hurt hound liy the sons of Autolycus, who then proceed to em- ploy an incantation, supposed to stanch the wound. In process of time the ceremonies em- ployed in such ca.ses fell into disuse, and the words of such charms became half intelligible, or altogether meaningless. It .seems to have been always usual that the miraculous healer should recite his rhymes in a low tone of voice, in such a manner as to be unintelligible to spectators, whose sense of mystery was thereby heightened. Considering the tenacity of tradition, it might be expected that some of these formula; should have a long history. "For instance, a German incan- tation recorded in the tenth century, and evi- dently of heathen origin, relates that while cer- tain deities were riding in the forest, a horse dislocated his leg, which the gods wished to heal; Wodeji was successful by means of an in- cantation. A similar charm at a later time ap- pears in Christian form, Peter and Jolm re- placing the deities, and Christ taking the place of Woden as the healer. In the nineteenth cen- tury, a form of this incantation was still in use in Shetland, but accompanied by an el.iborate ceremony, every part of which was regarded as essential, and which included the use of a thread spun from black wool and having nine knots, wound about the sprained part. .t the present day the custom remains in force among simple peoples. In English nursery lore the habit of incantation survives in .some simple rhymes of children and young people, as, for example, in verses directed against rain, or those addressed to the moon and stars in order to obtain auguries as to the future mate. Consult the authorities referred to under Maoic. INCARNATION (ML. ineamalio, from Lat. incarnari, to he made flesh, from in, in + caro, flesh, Gk. npinc, kreaa, AS. hraw, Skt. Icravya, raw flesh). In Christian theology, the assump- tion of humanity, by the second person of the divine Trinity, by which He was both God and n.an in one i)erson. The idea of the manifesta- tirn of Go<l in human form is as old as religion. It underlies all the supposed appearances of God to men. It is found especially in the religion of India, where there are repeated incarnations of the divine principle in beasts and men. (See Metkm- I'svcHosis.) The biblical doctrine is, however, entirely difTcrent from all these doctrines, since it is the doctrine of a real assumption of human nature, by a distinct person of the Trinity, for a specific purj)ose, and once only. It is its dif- ferent from other doctrines of incarnation as the Christian doctrine of sin is from other doctrines. The fact of the incarnation is variously repre- sented and sustained in the Scriptures. It is in- troduced by the story; of the miraculous concep- tion of .Jesus. He was not born, as other men are, of two parents, but was born of a virgin, miracu- lously conceived by her of the Holy Ghost. The direct evidence for this is confined to the two Gospels of Matthew and Luke. The disposition has been frequently manifested to deny the value of the accounts and the reality of the miraculous conception. This has recently received some furtherance from the higher criticism of the Xew Testament. The fact that the accounts are not