ments of a rather limited set of incidents. These incidents have
been roughly classified by Von Hahn.[1] We may modify his arrangement
as follows.
There is (1) the story of a bride or bridegroom who transgresses a commandment of a mystic nature, and disappears as a result of the sin. The bride sins as in Eros and Psyche, Freja and Oddur, Pururavas and Urvasi.[2] The sin of Urvasi and Psyche was seeing their husbands—naked in the latter case. The sin was against “the manner of women.” Now the rule of etiquette which forbids seeing or naming the husband (especially the latter) is of the widest distribution. The offence in the Welsh form of the story is naming the partner—a thing forbidden among early Greeks and modern Zulus. Presumably the tale (with its example of the sanction) survives the rule in many cases. (2) “Penelope formula.” The man leaves the wife and returns after many years. A good example occurs in Chinese legend. (3) Formula of the attempt to avoid fate or the prophecy of an oracle. This incident takes numerous shapes, as in the story of the fatal birth of Perseus, Paris, the Egyptian prince shut up in a tower, the birth of Oedipus. (4) Slaughter of a monster. This is best known in the case of Andromeda and Perseus. (5) Flight, by aid of an animal usually, from cannibalism, human sacrifice, or incest. The Greek example is Phrixus, Helle, and the ram of the golden fleece. (6) Flight of a lady and her lover from a giant father or wizard father. Jason and Medea furnish the Greek example. (7) The youngest brother the successful adventurer, and the head of the family. We have seen the example of Greek mythic illustrations of “Jüngsten-recht,” or supremacy of the youngest, in the Hesiodic myth of Zeus, the youngest child of Cronus. (8) Bride given to whoever will accomplish difficult adventures or vanquish girl in race. The custom of giving a bride without demanding bride-price, in reward for a great exploit, is several times alluded to in the Iliad. In Greek heroic myth Jason thus wins Medea, and (in the race) Milanion wins Atalanta. In the Kalewala much of the Jason cycle, including this part, recurs. The rider through the fire wins Brunhild but this may belong to another cycle of ideas. (9) The grateful beasts, who, having been aided by the hero, aid him in his adventures. Melampus and the snakes is a Greek example. This story is but one specimen of the personal human character of animals in myths, already referred to the intellectual condition of savages. (10) Story of the strong man and his adventures, and stories of the comrades Keen-eye, Quick-ear, and the rest. Jason has comrades like these, as had Ilmarinen and Heracles, the Greek “strong man.” (11) Adventure with an ogre, who is blinded and deceived by a pun of the hero’s. Odysseus and Polyphemus is the Greek example. (12) Descent into Hades of the hero. Heracles, Odysseus, Wainamoinen in the Kalewala, are the best-known examples in epic literature. These are twelve specimens of the incidents, to which we may add (13) “the false bride,” as in the poem of Berte aux grans Piés, and (14) the legend of the bride said to produce beast-children. The belief in the latter phenomenon is very common in Africa, and in the Arabian Nights, and we have seen it in America.
Of these formulae (chosen because illustrated by Greek heroic legends)—(1) is a sanction of barbarous nuptial etiquette; (2) is an obvious ordinary incident; (3) is moral, and both (3) and (1) may pair off with all the myths of the origin of death from the infringement of a taboo or sacred command; (4) would naturally occur wherever, as on the West Coast of Africa, human victims have been offered to sharks or other beasts; (5) the story of flight from a horrible crime, occurs in some stellar myths, and is an easy and natural invention; (6) flight from wizard father or husband, is found in Bushman and Namaqua myth, where the husband is an elephant; (7) success of youngest brother, may have been an explanation and sanction of “Jüngsten-recht”—Maui in New Zealand is an example, and Herodotus found the story among the Scythians; (8) the bride given to successful adventurer, is consonant with heroic manners as late as Homer; (9) is no less consonant with the belief that beasts have human sentiments and supernatural powers; (10) the “strong man,” is found among Eskimo and Zulus, and was an obvious invention when strength was the most admired of qualities; (11) the baffled ogre, is found among Basques and Irish, and turns on a form of punning which inspires an “ananzi” story in West Africa; (12) descent into Hades, is the natural result of the savage conception of Hades, and the tale is told of actual living people in the Solomon Islands and in New Caledonia; Eskimo Angekoks can and do descend into Hades—it is the prerogative of the necromantic magician; (13) “the false bride,” found among the Zulus, does not permit of such easy explanation—naturally, in Zululand, the false bride is an animal; (14) the bride accused of bearing beast-children, has already been disposed of; the belief is inevitable where no distinction worth mentioning is taken between men and animals. English folk-lore has its woman who bore rabbits.
The formulae here summarized, with others, are familiar in the märchen of Samoyeds, Zulus, Bushmen, Hottentots and Red Indians. For an argument intended to show that Greek heroic myths may be adorned and classified märchen, in themselves survivals of savage fancy, see Fortnightly Review, May 1872, “Myths and Fairy Tales.” The old explanation was that märchen are degenerate heroic myths. This does not explain the märchen of African, and perhaps not of Siberian races.
In this sketch of mythology that of Rome is not included, because its most picturesque parts are borrowed from or adapted into harmony with the mythology of Greece. Greece, India and Scandinavia will supply a fair example of Aryan mythology (without entering on the difficult Slavonic and Celtic fields). (A. L.)
MYXOEDEMA (or athyrea), the medical term for a constitutional
disease (see Metabolic Diseases) due to the degeneration
of the thyroid gland, and occurring in adults; it may be
contrasted with cretinism, which is a condition appearing in early
childhood. There are two forms, myxoedema proper and operative
myxoedema (cachexia strumipriva). (1) Myxoedema has been termed “Gull’s Disease” from Sir William Gull’s observations
in 1873. Women are more often the Victims than men, in
a ratio of 6 to 1. It frequently affects members of the same
family and may be transmitted through the mother, and it has
been observed sometimes to follow exophthalmic goitre. The
symptoms are a marked increase in bulk and weight of the body,
puffy appearance of skin which does not pit on pressure, the line
of the features becoming obliterated and getting coarse and
broad, the lips thick and nostrils enlarged, with loss of hair,
subnormal temperature and marked mental changes. There is
striking slowness of thought and action, the memory becomes
defective, and the patient becomes irritable and suspicious.
In some instances the condition progresses to that of dementia.
The thyroid gland itself is diminished in size, and may become
completely atrophied and converted into a fibrous mass. The
untreated disease is progressive, but the course is slow and the
symptoms may extend over 12 to 15 years, death from asthenia
or tuberculosis being the most frequent ending. (2) Symptoms
similar to the above may follow complete removal of the thyroid
gland. Kocher of Bern found that, in the total removal of the
gland by operation, out of 408 cases operative myxoedema
occurred in 69, but it is thought that if a small portion of the
gland is left, or if accessory glands are present, these symptoms
will not develop. The treatment of myxoedema is similar to
that of cretinism.
MYZOSTOMIDA, a remarkable group of small parasitic worms which live on crinoid echinoderms; they were first discovered by Leuckart in 1827. Some species, such as Myzostoma cirriferum, move about on the host; others, such as M. glabrum, remain stationary with the pharynx inserted in the mouth of the crinoid. M. deformator gives rise to a “gall” on the arm of the host, one joint of the pinnule growing round the worm so as to enclose it in a cyst (see fig. E); whilst M. pulvinar lives actually in the alimentary canal of a species of Antedon.
A typical myzostomid (see A, B, C) is of a flattened rounded shape, with a thin edge drawn out into delicate radiating cirri. The skin is ciliated. The dorsal surface is smooth; ventrally there are five pairs of parapodia, armed with supporting and hooked setae, by means of which the worm adheres to its host. Beyond the parapodia are four pairs of organs, often called suckers, but probably of sensory nature, and comparable to the lateral sense organs of Capitellids (Wheeler). The mouth and cloacal aperture are generally at opposite ends of the ventral surface. The former leads to a protrusible pharynx (B), from which the oesophagus opens into a wide intestinal chamber with branching lateral diverticula. There appears to be no vascular system. The nervous system consists of a circumoesophageal nerve, with scarcely differentiated brain, joining below a large ganglionic mass no doubt representing many fused ganglia (B). The dorsoventral and the parapodial muscles are much developed, whilst the coelom is reduced mostly to branched spaces in which the genital products ripen. Full-grown myzostomids are hermaphrodite. The male organ (C) consists of a branched sac opening to the exterior on each side. The paired ovaries discharge their products into a median coelemic chamber with lateral branches (C), often called the uterus, from which the ripe ova are discharged by a median dorsal pore into the terminal region of the rectum (cloaca). Into this same cloacal chamber open ventrally a pair of ciliated tubes communicating by funnels with the coelom (Nansen and Wheeler); these are possibly nephridia, and excretory in function.
The Myzostomida are protandric hermaphrodites, being functional males when small, hermaphrodite later, and finally
