highly
developed systems (Jewish, Christian, Mithraic). The purification was
generally symbolic, but in some forms of Christian belief the water of
baptism is held to have regenerating power[577]--a survival of the
ancient conception of the divinity of water.

+310+. It is often hard to say whether a body of water is regarded
simply as itself a living thing, or is conceived of as the dwelling
place of an isolated or independent spirit. In savage systems the
details on this point are hardly ever recorded or obtainable; but the
beliefs involved in later folk-lore make it probable that this latter
stage of the construction of creeds is passed through in savage life.
The water maidens of Greek mythology and the Germanic nixies and water
kelpies are developed forms of spirits. Sacred springs and wells are
still believed to be inhabited by beings that are not gods, but possess
superhuman power.

+311+. While wells and streams of a domestic character (such as are
freely used by human beings) are generally friendly, they have their
unfriendly side. The spirits that dwell in them are sometimes regarded
as being hostile to man. They drag the incautious wanderer into their
depths, and then nothing can save him from drowning. Fear of these
malignant beings sometimes prevents attempts to rescue a drowning
person; such attempts are held to bring down the vengeance of the
water-demon on the would-be rescuer.[578]

+312+. In the course of time true water-gods appear. In Greece every
river had its deity, and in India such deities are found in the
Mahabharata.[579] When in the Iliad the river Xanthos rises to seize and
drown Achilles, it may be a question whether the stream or the god of
the stream is the actor. Nor is it always possible to say whether the
extrahuman Power inhabiting a water mass is a true god or a spirit; the
latter form may pass by invisible gradations into the former.

+313+. Waters originally divine tend to become the abodes of the deity
of the place, or sacred to him, and healing or other power is ascribed
to his presence or agency.[580] Sacred water, being unwilling to retain
anything impure, thus becomes a means of detecting witches and other
criminals, who, when thrown in, cannot sink, but are rejected by the
divine Power.

+314+. Deities of streams and springs do not play an important part in
worship or in mythology; their physical functions are not definite
enough, and their activities are naturally merg