esting in this connection is the attitude which he assumes towards Higher Criticism. It is a very interesting fact that Folk-lore should be placed now in the service of Biblical criticism. Beyond and above the light which it is expected to throw on the historical and legendary incidents and on various laws and regulations embodied in the Bible, Biblical criticism will have to take these researches into careful consideration.
A new line of investigation has been opened which may in the long run, nay is sure to prove fruitful in results even if some should prove negative. The main burden consists in running commentaries of diverse sizes, some long some short, on some of the chief incidents of the Biblical narrative. The largest is accorded to the Deluge, which covers no less than 300 pages of the first volume (pp. 104-384). All the Flood stories scattered throughout the world are gathered up, and the author comes to the conclusion that they are independent of one another, local memories of geographical and climatic conditions which have occurred in various parts of the world. And yet the problem remains unsolved. For if such be the case, the details concerning the selection of certain individuals, the manner of rescue and of the re-peopling of the world would not show such startling uniformity as so many of these tales show. Next to it come the various incidents in the life of Jacob, of which each one is treated separately. Such as the heirship, Jacob and the kidskins, Jacob at Bethel, Jacob at the Well, Jacob’s marriage, Jacob and the mandrakes, the covenant on the Cairn, Jacob at the ford of the Jabbok. (Vol. i. pp. 429-567, vol. ii. pp. 1-425.)
Among the incidents in the time of the Judges and Kings, the Witch of Endor comes in for special treatment (vol. ii. pp. 517-554). In vol. iii. the longest chapter is devoted to the boring of the servant’s ear (pp. 165-269), and the Bitter Water (pp. 304-414). The other incidents are
