1 JUNE 1912, Page 24

The Thunder Weapon in Religion and Folklore. By Mr. Blinkonberg,

Ph.D. (Cambridge University. 5s. net.)—Here we have an interesting discussion of the belief in the "thunder- bolt." It is to be found very widely in literature, the Slam of Zeus in Homer and the Greek Tragedians, and the "hot thunder- bolts " of the Psalms, and it still survives in popular belief. The name would be given, probably, to a meteoric stone by the ordinary peasant. The special subject of this volume is arohiso- logical, thunder weapons, thunder amulets, &o. A convenient illustration is the trident (eptaisa) of Poseidon,which represents the zigzag lightning, though its shape may have suggested the more commonplace explanation of the fishing spear.