Still more remarkable, perhaps, is the fact that this same name is to be found exactly in the Votan of the ancient traditions of Central America who has moreover the attributes of Hermes, for he is Quetzalcohuatl, the "bird-serpent," and the union of these two symbolic animals (corresponding respectively to the two elements air and fire) is also figured by the wings and the serpents of the Caduceus. [NA: See in this connection "La Langue des Oiseaux" (Symboles Fondamentaux de la Science Sacrée, Chap. 7). The serpent is opposed or allied to the bird according to whether it is being considered in its malefic or benefic aspect. Moreover, a figure such as that of an eagle holding a serpent in its claws (which is to be found, precisely, in Mexico) does not evoke exclusively the idea of that antagonism that is represented, in the Hindu tradition, by Garuda’s fight against Naga. On occasion, especially in heraldic symbolism, the serpent is replaced by the sword, and this substitution is all the more striking when the weapon in question has the form of a flaming sword, which is moreover closely akin to the lightning in the grasp of Jupiter’s eagle; and the sword, in its highest sense, is a figure of wisdom and the power of the Word (see, for example, Revelation 1:16). It may be noted that one of the chief symbols of the Egyptian Thoth was the ibis, destroyer of reptiles and hence a symbol of Christ; but in the Caduceus of Hermes we have the serpent in its two contrary aspects as in the medieval figure of the "amphisbaena."] One must indeed be blind not to see, in such facts, a sign of the fundamental unity of all traditional doctrines. Essays: Hermes