Some of the examples cited by Hillebrandt may indeed be referable to the latter end of the series rather than to the former; but that the author, despite the learning and ingenuity of his work, has proved his point definitively, we are far from believing.

It is just like the later Hindu speculation to think out a subtle connection between moon and _soma_-plant because each was yellow, and swelled, and went through a sieve (cloud), etc.
But there is a further connecting link in that the divinity ascribed to the intoxicant led to a supposition that it was brought from the sky, the home of the gods; above all, of the luminous gods, which the yellow _soma_ resembled.

Such was the Hindu belief, and from this as a starting-point appears to have come the gradual identification of _soma_ with the moon, now called Soma.

For the moon, even under the name of Gandharva, is not the object of especial worship.
The question so ably discussed by Hillebrandt is, however, one of considerable importance from the point of view of the religious development.

If _soma_ from the beginning was the moon, then there is only one more god of nature to add to the pantheon.