Mayi] PROCEEDINGS. [1894.ThefollowingCandidateswerenominated for election at
the next Meeting,5th June, 1894:—
Mrs.E. J. Arnold, 29, Greene Street,Providence,R.I.,U.S.A.
PercyCaldecott,GrapeLodge,Warley,Essex.
Rev.Prof. W. W. Davies, M.A., Ph.D.,B.D.,Delaware,Ohio,
U.S. A.TheSecretarygavenoticethatowingto the inconvenience
felt by the Proceedings being publishedfor the period of the
Sessional Meetings of the Society, the Council haddecided
that, commencing with the present year, the publications
would be issued for the year, as covered by the annual
subscription. The Volume now in course of publication
(Vol. XVI)would contain the Parts from November, 1893,
to December, 1894, inclusive; the title andcontents being
issued with the last Part, and not in June as formerly.
Future Volumeswould containthe Parts from January to
Decemberof each year.A Paper was read by P. le Page Renouf (President),
" Greek and other Legendsof the Deluge."
Thepaper is too long and minute in detail to admit of
a short extract. The following points may,however, be
mentioned:—
Wherever Flood-legendsare found which have been brought
into parallelism withthe Biblical account,mostimportantdifferences
exist between the earlier and the later forms; (1) in Chaldaea,
betweenthe documents in cuneiform and the story told by Berossus,
(2) in Greece, wherethe Deluge is unknown to the earliest literature,
and even to Herodotus, where the details about Deucalionare
extremelymeagre untilwe approach the Christian aera,and those
in Lucian and Plutarch, like the coins of Apamea, implySemitic
origin; (3) in India, betweenthe accounts in the £atapata Brah-
mana,belongingto the early Post-Vedicperiod, and those of the
Mahabharata,of the Baghavata-Purana and of the Matsya-Purana.
In none of these, as in the Bible, is the Flood provokedby the sin
of man. In the Chaldaean account it is due to the evil-minded
177 Q 2