"In Egypt," says Clement of Alexandria,[1101] "the sanctuaries of the temples are shaded by curtains of golden tissue. But on going further into the interior in quest of the statue, a priest of grave aspect, advancing to meet you and chanting a hymn in the Egyptian tongue, slightly raises a veil to show you the god. And what do you behold? A crocodile, or some indigenous serpent, or other dangerous animal, the Egyptian god being a beast sprawling on a purple carpet." We need not visit Egypt or go so far back in history to encounter crocodile worship, as this can be readily found in France at the end of the last century.--Unfortunately, a hundred years is too long an interval, too far away, …
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