We have heard Mannhardt, in a letter partly cited by Mr. Max Muller,
describe his own method. He begins with what is certain and
intelligible, a mass of popular customs. These he explains by analogies.
He passes from the known to the obscure. Philological mythologists begin
with the unknown, the name of a god. This they analyse, extract a
meaning, and (proceeding to the known) fit the facts of the god's legend
into the sense of his name. The methods are each other's opposites, yet
the letter in which Mannhardt illustrates this fact is cited as a proof
of his return to his old colours.