Boston University - HUB Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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KEY T0 ANCIENT COSMOLOGY. 29 other.1 Is it not the Psalmistfs H line of the heavens which is gone out through the very earth and on ff to the end of the world ? It is the Irminsul of the Germans, as expressly recognized by Grimm. It is the tower of Kronos. It is the Talmudic pillar which con- nects the Paradise celestial and the Paradise terrestrial. The fuller illustration and vindication of this key to ancient cosmology, its application to different systems of mythology and mythical geography, and the systematic exposition of said systems in accordance with this new interpretation, are tasks reserved for future and fuller treatises. The studies already completed render it certain that every existing systematic exposition of classic myth- ology is to be supplanted. Equally interesting is the question of the adaptation of this reconstruction of ancient cosmology to throw light on early Hebrew conceptions of the world and of Sheol. And, if the ancestors of the most ancient peoples had so correct a conception of the figure of the earth, our leading Historians of Culture have yet a good deal to learn respecting the mental state and capacity of prehistoric men. W. F. W. 1 Rig-Veda, X., 129, 5.

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28 BOSTON UNIVERSITY YEAR BOOK. Finally, as to the supposed difficulty of imagining a heaven-upholder so tall that it would take a brazen anvil nine days and nights to fall from his head to his feet, if Professor Paley had remembered Sandalfon, the Talmudic Atlas, he would hardly have thought it necessary to locate the I-Iesiodic one on the edge of the earth where the sky is low. Of Sandalfon, Rabbi Eliezer has said, 'f There is an angel who standeth on earth, and reacheth with his head to the door of heaven. It is taught in the Mishna that he is called Sandalfong he exceedeth his companions as much in height as one can walk in five hundred years, and that he stands behind the chariot fCharles's Wainj and twisteth or bindeth the garlands for his Creator. 1 Atlas's pillar, then, is the axis of the world. It is the same pillar apostrophized in the Egyptian document known as the great Harris Magic Papyrus, in these unmis- takable words: O long column, which commences in the upper and in the lower heavens! 2 It is, with scarce a doubt, what the same ancient people in their Book of the Dead so happily styled the spine of the earth. 3 It is the Rig-Veda's vieltragende Achse ales umzufhaltsam sich olrehenden, nie alternolen, nwmorschwerdemlen, durch den Laqf der Zeiten nicht abgenutzten Weltracls, auf 'welckem ALLE WESEN s'rEHEN.4 It is the umbrella-staff of Bur- mese cosmology, the churning-stick of India's gods and demons. It is the trunk of every cosmical tree.5 It is the Tai Kih of the Chinese universe, the tortoise-piercing Cearth-piercingj arrow of the Mongolian heaven-godg the spear of Izanagi. It is the cord which the ancient Vedic bard saw stretched from one side of the universe to the 1 Eisennnenger, Entdecktes Judenthum, Bd. II., p. 402 fEng. vol. ii., p. 071. In all ancient cosmologies the door of heaven is at the north pole. Sacred Books ofthe East, vol. i., pp. 36, 37. 9 Records ofthe Past, vol. x., p. 152. 3 Chap. cxlii. 4 Rig-Veda, I., 164. Grassman and Ludwig. 5 Ludwig, in his version of the Veda, finds repeated occasion for the use of the expression Stcngel der Welt.

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NEW FOUNDATIONS. LARGE and immediate additions to the funds of the University are much needed. Thoroughly to equip the institution upon the plan and scale proposed, resources several times greater than any now possessed or promised will be absolutely necessary. A suitable Hall for the oilices, recitation-rooms, and laboratories ofthe College of Liberal Arts, is just now a peculiarly pressing need. Nor is any department as yet by any means adequately en- dowed. The Trustees cannot doubt that public-spirited men and women will gladly aid in creating t-he needed fa- cilities. The spirit of co-operation already manifested not only by the citizens of Boston, but also by friends of the institution throughout New England, and from beyond the boundaries of New England, is an assurance that the high- est hopes of the founders of the University are in time to be surpassed, and far surpassed, by the reality. But while no apprehensions can be felt about the remoter future, and while individuals are now giving with a gener- osity worthy of all praise, it should be remembered, that with institutions, as with men,,youth is a period of oppor- tunities inestimably precious, that many of these, if 'not improved at the timegare forever lost. The opportunities opening before this youthful University are unparalleledg but, without early additions to its pecuniary resources, some exceedingly important ones will have to pass unused. The following is an extract from the General Statutes of the University:- Nnw Fouxnsrroxs.- I. Any person giving or bequeathing to Boston University a sum not less than one hundred thousand dollars for the purpose of establishing anew department, or for the general purposes of thc institution, shall receive the title of Associate Founder of Baslon University, and be published as such before the list of Trus- tees in the Year Book of the University. E