Mayi] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1894.caprice of the gods, chieflyof Bel, who was filled with rage on
learning that Chasisadrahad escaped. It is only by joining the
storyof Deucalion to the account of the Brazen Age,which in
Hesiod perishedwithouta flood, that an ethical motiveis thrust
into the Greek legend. The Puranic legendsconnecttheirdeluge
with the doctrine of the manvantaras or periodical destructionsof
the world, and the earliest formof the Hindu legendis equally
inconsistentwiththe notion that human sin was the cause of the
Flood.
NeitherChasisadrain the Assyrian tale nor Deucalion in the
Greekcan be called the father of the human racewhichfollowed
him,but was really a new creation.
In all these accountsthe Deluge is represented as universal. It
is only by rationalizing authors that local inundations(as of Lake
Copais)are supposed to have givenrise to the legend.
The old American traditions,as reported evenby so trustworthy
an authority as Alex, von Humboldt, are so surprisingly like those
of the Bible as, if rightly interpreted,to imply an intercourse, before
the time of Columbus, betweenAmericaand men possessedof the
knowledgeof the Bible.
Remarks wereadded by Rev. James Marshall,Rev.Dr.
Lowy,AlexanderPayne,and Joseph Offord,Junior.Thankswerereturnedfor this communication.178