have been made, since the delivery of the Lectures; while other similar material is given in an Appendix. From the very freshness of the subject itself, there was added difficulty in gathering the material for its illustration and exposition. So far as I could learn, no one had gone over the ground before me, in this particular line of research; hence the various items essential to a fair statement of the case must be searched for through many diverse volumes of travel and of history and of archæological compilation, with only here and there an incidental disclosure in return. Yet, each new discovery opened the way for other discoveries beyond; and even after the Lectures, in their present form, were already in type, I gained many fresh facts, which I wish had been earlier available to me. Indeed, I may say that no portion of the volume is of more importance than the Appendix; where are added facts and reasonings bearing directly on well-nigh every main point of the original Lectures. There is cause for just surprise that the chief facts of this entire subject have been so generally overlooked, in all the theological discussions, and in all the physio-sociological researches, of the earlier and the later times. Yet this only furnishes another illustration of the inevitably cramping influence of a preconceived fixed theory, -to which all the ascertained facts must be conformed, -in any attempt at thorough and impartial scientific investigation. It would seem to be because of such cramping, that no one of the modern students of myth and folk-lore, of primitive ideas and customs, and of man's origin and history, has brought into their true prominence, if indeed he has even noticed them in passing, the universally dominating primitive convictions: that the blood is the life; that the heart, as the blood-fountain, is the very soul of every personality; that blood-transfer is soul-transfer; that blood-sharing, human, or divine-human, secures an inter-union of natures; and that a union of the human nature with the divine is the highest ultimate attainment reached out after by the most primitive, as well as by the most enlightened, mind of humanity. Certainly, the collation of facts comprised in this volume grew out of no pre-conceived theory on the part of its author. Whatever theory shows itself in their present arrangement, is simply that which the facts themselves have seemed to enforce and establish, in their consecutive disclosure. I should have been glad to take much more time for the study of this theme, and for the re-arranging of its material, before its presentation to the public; but, with the pressure of other work upon me, the choice was between hurrying it out in its present shape, and postponing it indefinitely. All things considered, I chose the former alternative. In the prosecution of my investigations, I acknowl- H. CLAY TRUMBULL. PHILADELPHIA, August 14, 1885. (1.) SOURCES OF BIBLE STUDY, 3. (2.) AN ANCIENT SEMITIC RITE, 4. (3.) THE PRIMITIVE RITE IN AFRICA, 12. (4.) TRACES OF THE RITE IN EUROPE, 39. (5.) WORLD-WIDE SWEEP OF THE RITE, 43. (6.) LIGHT FROM THE CLASSICS, 58. (7.) THE BOND OF THE COVE- NANT, 65. (8.) THE RITE AND ITS TOKEN IN EGYPT, 77. (9.) OTHER (1.) SACREDNESS OF BLOOD AND OF THE HEART, 99. (2.) VIVIFY- ING POWER OF BLOOD, 110. (3.) A NEW NATURE THROUGH NEW BLOOD, 126. (4.) LIFE FROM ANY BLOOD, AND BY A TOUCH, 134. (5.) INSPIRATION THROUGH BLOOD, 139. (6.) INTER-COMMUNION THROUGH BLOOD, 147. (7.) SYMBOLIC SUBSTITUTES FOR BLOOD, 191. (1.) LIMITATIONS OF INQUIRY, 209. (2.) PRIMITIVE TEACHINGS OF BLOOD, 210. (3.) THE BLOOD COVENANT IN CIRCUMCISION, 215. (4.) THE BLOOD COVENANT TESTED, 224. (5.) THE BLOOD COVE- NANT AND ITS TOKENS IN THE PASSOVER, 230. (6.) THE BLOOD COVENANT AT SINAI, 238. (7.) THE BLOOD COVENANT IN THE MOSAIC RITUAL, 240. (S.) THE PRIMITIVE Rite IllustRATED, 263. (9.) THE BLOOD Covenant in THE GOSPELS, 271. (10.) THE BLOOD IMPORTANCE OF THIS RITE STRANGELY UNDERVALUED, 297. LIFE IN THE BLOOD, IN THE HEART, IN THE LIVER, 299. TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS, 305. THE BLOOD-RITE IN BURMAH, 313. BLOOD-STAINED TREE OF THE COVENANT, 318. BLOOD-DRINKING, 320. COVENANT- |