The successor, at Yale University, of Professor William D. Whitney, in
the chair of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology, is Professor E.
Washburn Hopkins, who before held the same chair in Bryn Mawr College.
This fact in itself is an indication of his position as a scholar; and
his latest work, “The Religions of India,” in the series of “Handbooks
on the History of Religions,” bears testimony to his learning and
ability in that realm. Of the matters treated in this volume he says:
“I have read your ‘Threshold Covenant’ with great interest and pleasure.
The statements made in respect of Hindu rites all appear to me to be
correct, and some of them might be made stronger, notably in the case of
the functions of the altar.
“I cannot say that I agree with you in all respects in your inductions
from the ceremonial of the Door, but I have at least been furnished with
much food for reflection and hints for observation in future
investigation on these lines. Your work is a storehouse of useful data,
and illustrates many strange customs of India by parallels from other
countries, though I should hesitate to refer so much to one primitive
principle.
“But, at all events, the facts of the religious phase which you
emphasize have been set forth clearly, correctly, and fully, as regards
India, to whatever conclusion they may point. I have had great pleasure
in following your argument through to the end.”
It may be mentioned that the added facts as to the Door, given in the
Appendix, were not in the proof-sheets submitted to Professor Hopkins.