Note 6 — Chapter XVIII · The Last Solomon.
Reading edition
The word translated “cross” is σταυρός, a stake. The christian cross began its development by the carving of a figure of Jesus on the stake, which required a support for the arms. Protestantism, by removing the figure, has left the wooden fetish, which, however, has been invested with Symbolical meanings, some derived from the various crosses held sacred in many countries long before Christ.