TWO NOBLE WOMEN,

(THE FORMER, WIFE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE PRISON)
WHO HAVE SHOWN MARKED KINDNESS, NOT ONLY TO THE
WRITER, BUT TO THE MANY SICK AND DYING IN THE
PRISON HOSPITAL (WHERE THESE PAGES WERE
WRITTEN), AND WHO BY THEIR CONTINUED

KINDNESS HAVE CAUSED MANY RAYS OF

CHEERFUL SUNSHINE TO FALL UPON

THE SICK AND HAPLESS PRISONERS,

(THOUGH DIFFERING IN RELIGIOUS VIEWS FROM THE AUTHOR) THIS WORK IS MOST RESPECTFULLY AND MOST GRATEFULLY DEDICATED.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.

PREFACE.

PAGE.

9

INTRODUCTION.-Man's primitive condition; how long he has existed.-Cavern
in Brixham, England.—Antiquity of the earth.-Distance of the heavenly
bodies.-Archæological quotations from Prof. J. W. Draper.-Aqueous
formations.-Change in site of Niagara Falls.-Time required for the
Mississippi river to move its aggregate deposits.-Changes on the sea-cost.
-Elevations and depressions on the earth's surface.-Quotations from the
"Scientific American" on the immense age of the earth.-America older
than Asia. Quotation from Madame Michelet on American antiquity.—
India, the cradle of language, literature, religion, and civilization.-Early
superstitions; origin of priests and their rule.-Fetichism.-Sexual wor
ship.-Sun and star-worship.-Chaldean antiquities.-Cuneiform inscrip-
tions.-Primitive forms of writing; the alphabet.-Origin of Jewish
cosmogony.-Grecian mythology.-Hindoo mythology.-Norse mythology.
-Quotations from Carlyle.-The meaning and origin of the Eddas.-Quo-
tations from Murray on Greek and Roman mythology

GODS OF THE HINDOOS.

11

6

THE GODS AND RELIGIONS OF ANCIENT TIMES.`