by Mr. Jacobs (p. 85). I have tried to explain that I believe
in no such exact coincidences of imagination, though how far precisely
coincidence may go is a delicate question.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

INTRODUCTION 1

THE METHOD OF FOLKLORE 10

THE BULL-ROARER 29

THE MYTH OF CRONUS 45

CUPID, PSYCHE, AND THE 'SUN-FROG' 64

A FAR-TRAVELLED TALE 87

APOLLO AND THE MOUSE 103

STAR MYTHS 121

MOLY AND MANDRAGORA 143

THE 'KALEVALA' 156

THE DIVINING ROD 180

HOTTENTOT MYTHOLOGY 197

FETICHISM AND THE INFINITE 212

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE FAMILY 245

THE ART OF SAVAGES 276

INDEX 305

CUSTOM AND MYTH.

_INTRODUCTION._

Though some of the essays in this volume have appeared in various
serials, the majority of them were written expressly for their present
purpose, and they are now arranged in a designed order. During some
years of study of Greek, Indian, and savage mythologies, I have become
more and more impressed with a sense of the inadequacy of the
prevalent method of comparative mythology. That method is based on the
belief that myths are the result of a disease of language, as the
pearl is the result of a disease of the oyster. It is argued that men
at some period, or periods, spoke in a singular style of coloured and
concrete language, and that their children retained the phrases of
this language after losing hold of the original meaning. The
consequence was the growth of myths about supposed persons, whose
names had originally been mere 'appellations.' In conformity with this
hypothesis the method of comparative mythology examines the proper
names which occur in myths. The notion is that these names contain a
key to the meaning of the story, and that, in fact, of the story the
names are the germs and the oldest surviving part.

The objections to this method are so numerous that it is difficult to
state them briefly. The attempt, however, must be made. To desert the
path opened by the most eminen