them is obscure. They coalesce to some
extent with conceptions derived from magic, divination, and taboo. The
persistence of such savage dogma into civilized times enables us to
understand how natural this dogma was for early forms of society.

+239+. In the practices mentioned above there is no worship proper. Mana
is not thought of as being in itself a personal power, and worship is
paid only to objects regarded as having personality. The fetish derives
its value from the spirit supposed to be resident in the fetish objects;
these are commonly worn as charms, and the attitude of the man to such a
charm, though he regards it as powerful, seems to be not exactly that of
worship--he keeps it as a protection so long as it appears to be useful,
but, as is remarked above, he acts as if he were its master. He believes
that the efficient factor is the indwelling spirit, but he commonly
distinguishes between this spirit and a god proper. When, however, the
fetish is regarded as a tutelary divinity, it loses its lower character
and takes its place among the gods.

+240+. We turn now to man's attitude toward other objects, similarly
regarded as sacred, but invested with distinct personality, and supposed
to act consciously on human life. These are all such things as men's
experiences bring them into intimate relations with, this relationship
forming the basis of the high regard in which they are held. They are
animals, plants, mountains, rivers, heavenly bodies, living men, and
ghosts. These are objects of cults, many of them in some cases being
worshiped at the same time in a single community. A chronological order
in the adoption of such cults it is not possible to determine. All
objects stand together in man's consciousness in early cultural strata,
and the data now at command do not enable us to say which of them first
assumed for him a religious character; the chronological order of cults
may have differed in different communities when the general social
conditions were different. We may begin with the cult of animals without
thereby assuming that it came first in order of time.

ANIMALS

+241+. Of all nonhuman natural objects it would seem to have been the
animal that most deeply impressed early man.[439] All objects were
potentially divine for him, and all received worship, but none entered
so intimately into his life as animals. He was doubtless struck, perhaps
awed, by the brightness of the heavenly bodies, but th