Ex Libris Fra. Tripud. Stell. ANCIENT FAITHS EMBODIED IN ANCIENT NAMES ISIS, HORUS, AND FISH ANCIENT FAITHS EMBODIED IN ANCIENT NAMES OR AN ATTEMPT TO TRACE THE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, SACRED RITES, AND HOLY EMBLEMS OF CERTAIN NATIONS BY AN INTERPRETATION OF THE NAMES GIVEN TO CHILDREN BY PRIESTLY AUTHORITY, OR ASSUMED BY PROPHETS, KINGS, AND HIERARCHS. BY THOMAS INMAN, M.D. (LONDON), CONSULTING PHYSICIAN TO THE ROYAL INFIRMARY, LIVERPOOL; LECTURER SUCCESSIVELY ON BOTANY, MEDICAL JURIPRUDENCE, MATERIA MEDICA WITH THERAPEUTICS, AND THE PRINCIPLES WITH THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE. LATE PRESIDENT OF THE LIVERPOOL LITERARY AND PHILOSOHICAL SOCIETY. AUTHOR OF “TREATISE ON MYALGIA;” “FOUNDATION FOR A NEW THEORY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE;” “ON THE REAL NATURE OF INFLAMMATION,” “ATHEROMA IN ARTERIES,” “SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION,” “THE PRESERVATION OF HEALTH,” “THE RESTORATION OF HEALTH,” AND “ANCIENT PAGAN AND MODERN CHRISTIAN SYMBOLISM EXPOSED AND EXPLAINED.” VOL. I. SECOND EDITION. LEEDS: CELEPHAÏS PRESS —— 2010. First published privately, London and Liverpool, 1868 Second edition London: Trübner & co., 1872 This electronic text produced by Celephaïs Press, Leeds 2010. This book is in the public domain. However, in accordance with the terms of use under which the page images employed in its preparation were posted, this edition is not to be included in any commercial release. Release 0.9 – October 2010 Please report errors through the Celephaïs Press blog (celephaispress.blogspot.com) citing revision number or release date. TO THOSE WHO THIRST AFTER KNOWLEDGE AND ARE NOT DETERRED FROM SEEKING IT BY THE FEAR OF IMAGINARY DANGERS, THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED, WITH GREAT RESPECT, BY THE AUTHOR. “Oátoi d Ãsan eÙgenšsteroi tîn ™n Qessalon…kh, o†tinej ™dšxanto tÕn lÒgon met¦ p£shj proqumiaj, tÕ kaq' ¹mšpan ¢nakr…nontej t£j graf¦j eˆ taàta oÛtwj.”—ACTS XVII. 11. THIS volume is the result of an inquiry, “How it comes to pass that John and Jack are synonymous?” The question, once propounded, led me onwards to such other names as Elizabeth, Isabella, Anna, Annabella, William and Bill, Mary and Miriam. The investigation proved very fascinating, and in prosecuting it I found myself surrounded by a mass of facts of which I had no previous conception. These have been almost entirely ignored by English writers, and those few who have treated on them have imparted their views only to a select private circle. Those who are acquainted with the systematic way in which certain subjects are avoided in modern society can well understand, and perhaps easily forgive, the reticence referred to. But when it is known that the suppression of truth has given rise to a series of theological errors, which none could have adopted with a knowledge of the sources from which they were derived, it becomes a grave question whether the interests of literature, and even of divinity, do not demand a removal of the veil of ignorance. Having already experienced in my own profession the advantages of attempting to sweep away the false practices arising from perverted facts and wrong views of nature, it is natural to believe that theology will be equally benefited by a rigid and impartial examination of the vi basis on which it has been founded. In medicine the old reasoning ran, “Our forefathers believed and acted thus, the colleges teach the same, and we have learned the practice when young, and we stick to it when old; consequently, the practice of medicine, as at present adopted, must be true, because it has stood the test of time.” Absurd as this is in medicine, in divinity the arguments are even still more puerile, and run thus, “It is written; I am taught to believe ‘The word;’ I do so, and therefore it is true;” or “It is true, and therefore I believe it.” “The Church is a witness for ‘The word,’ and ‘The word’ testifies to the Church, and both must be right.” But a monent’s consideration shows that the same assertions may be applied to prove the truth of the Vedas, of the Koran, and of the book of Mormon. If faith in it is to to be the test of the infallibility of any religious system, we must allow that the ancient Egyptians, Assyrians, Persians, and the modern Hindoos had and have as sincere a belief as we ourselves, for nothing can be more complete than their entire trust in their spiritual guides. We, who in our missionary zeal believe that our religion is superior to any other, have no scruple in trying to shake the childlike confidence of the Hindoo, the subtle reasoning of the Brahmin, or the firece orthodoxy of the Mahometan, and to make them dissatisfied with their religious books. Yet we are intolerant of the faintest suggestion that our own faith is faulty. The rude knights and churchmen of old tried to demonstrate the truth of their doctrine by the strength of their right arms, and he who vii was the hardest hitter was supposed to be the most favoured by the Almighty. Modern theology, on the contrary, declined the arbitrament of the sword, and calls reason to her aid in deciding controversy. There is indeed a widespread feeling that those who appeal to such carnal weapons as persecution, cursing, excom- munication, and the like, do so only because they have no mental armoury from which they can equip them- selves for a successful fight. It is human to oppose obloquy against obnoxious proofs, it requires magnanimity to acknowledge ourselves in the wrong, and to kiss the rod that chases away a cherised delusion. There are very few thoughtful men who have not been discontented with the developments of modern Christian divinity. From many professional theologians strictures appear from time to time, which show the workings going on below the surface. To these have been opposed the dead weight of persecuting orthodoxy. The world beyond them sometimes watches with interest the battles of those who profess to lead opinion, and the layman does not scruple to give his adhesion to the combatant who seems to be the strongest in argument. When the controversy raged between rival sects in medicine, the clergy assumed to be arbiters between them; and the Author acknowledges the advantages which he reaped from hearing the opinions of independent minds. En révanche, now that the Church has its disputations, medicine sometimes presumes to form an opinion of its own, and thinks it may assist the development of truth by pointing out some consi- derations of which the contraversialists are ignorant. viii The intrusion of a bystander, however, into a quarrel, invariably brings upon him the hostility of all parties, and he who suggests to many opposing dogmatists that all are in the wrong, will certainly not escape more fortunately. As I have in the following pages done much violence to my own preconceived opinions, and to prejudices lodged in my mind from earliest infancy, I am certain to give offence to others. Whenever the critic finds that those principles which are called “the holiest instincts of the mind” are thwarted, he allows the wildest license to his senseless lash, and flogs unsparingly the author who has shaken his repose. Such castigation I expect, as certainly as does the traveller expect an eruption of boiling water from an Icelandic geyser, whose waters he has ruffled by throwing into them a clod of earth. Yet though there may be much wild hitting, I entertain the hope of meeting with some logical argument or quiet reasoning, which may serve to point out error, and help to set that right which is really wrong. There are observant pedagogues, who know that some boys in their care will submit almost to be flayed alive, rather than acknowledge a fault when they consider themselves wrongfully punished, yet who melt at once at a loving word or kind remonstrance. Authors, being human, are not very different to boys, and are more readily subdued by philosophical argument than by vulgar abuse. In my second volume, I hope to demonstrate my due appreciation both of the one and the other. PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION. ——— IN presenting to the Public a Second Edition of “ANCIENT FAITHS EMBODIED IN ANCIENT NAMES,” in a condition nearly identical with the First, the Author begs to state, that it had been his intention to revise, and in some places to re-write, those parts wherein his advanced knowledge led him to believe that the opinions propounded required modification. But he has been pre- vented from carrying out his plans by a tedious illness, and the necessity to take a long Continental tour to recover health. During the time when he was invalided, the demand for the First Edition increased so greatly as to exhaust the whole impression. Being physically incapacitated from undertaking the labour of re-writing, and wholly debarred from the power of using any library, the Author resolved upon a simple “re-issue,” those parts only being altered where clerical errors had crept in. The supervision of the work was left wholly to the Printer, and the Author glady takes this opportunity of bearing testimony to his zeal and carefulness. He has indeed proved himself to be a critical coadjutor, as well as a genial friend. DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PLATES IN BOTH VOLUMES ——— VOL. I. THE oval on the side of Vol. I. represents Assyrian priests offering in the presence of what is supposed to be Baal—the representative of the sun—and of the grove. The first is typified by the eye, with wings and a tail, which makes it symbolic of the male triad and the female unit. The eye, with the central pupil, is in itself emblematic of the same.