ABSTRACT
The genuinely popular star lore, however, deserves some mention, especially in this country, since the English reader may well ask what is left of the fancies of Max Muller even in the opinion of specialists who cannot claim to belong to the Anthropological School. It would be erroneous to suppose that plant and animal lore owe their existence to the mystery of life. Of a higher level, presupposing indeed some scientific outlook, however faulty to folklorists minds, is the curious mineral lore as represented in the Mediaeval lapidaries. A good portion of that lore was current in classical antiquity, as may be judged from the specimens given by pseudo-Aristotle, Pliny and other ancient authors of mirabilia. This ancient lore was transmitted to the Middle Ages, with numerous accretions of more recent Eastern provenance. The cosmogonic myths of the known world are systems and presuppose as a rule the harmonic co-operation of a multitude of brains.
