myth as being complicated, if not "contaminated," with the Legend of the eastern Voyage of the Greeks to the extremity of the Black Sea, with genealogical myths in honor of the Minuai and with the local traditions of the cultus of the Cabiri on the island of Lemnos. Add the sirens and Scylla from the Odyssey to this hotch-pot, and behold the Argonauts who are obliged to lengthen their voyage to suit local requirements. So far Dr. Seeliger upon the Argonauts in general.
Under the heading "Jason," Dr. Seeliger gives the conclusions of German mythologists as to the nature of the hero, who is regarded by some as a wind god, while Kuhn and Mannhardt are at one in regarding him as a sun god. Again, under "Medeia" her mythological character is emphasized by the Germans, though, as usual, they have a pretty quarrel as to the exact part of Nature which she represents. Altogether, I think it can scarcely be said that Germany leaves us at the end of all its erudition much information as to what the story of the Argonauts means, or whether it means anything.
Turn we, then, to England and English investigators—if I dare include Mr. Andrew Lang under that appellative. As already mentioned, in his Custom and Myth he has dealt with the tale mainly from the point of view of its far travels. The Germans and some English followers have concentrated their attention on the problem of what Jason and Medeia mean rather than on what they do; and Mr. Lang has his fun out of the varying interpretations given by Preller and Schwartz on the meaning of Medeia, who is the moon, according to one, and a lightning goddess, according to the other. Most people will agree with Mr. Lang, that these interpretations throw no light on the story, as a story, especially when it is considered that the same, or similar, interpretations are used by the Teutonic method to explain every mythological story.
Mr. Lang proceeds to point out that the main incidents
