ship. Early custom did not fix in any
uniform manner by whose hands a sacrifice was to be made.

[Footnote 4: _Religion of the Semites_, by W. R. Smith, p. 142,
_sqq._]

[Footnote 5: _Religion of the Semites_, by W. R. Smith, p. 192.]

Magic.--In another direction, however, we see in the earliest times
the growth of a class of persons with religious functions and
attributes. While the ordinary worship of the gods does not require
the services of any special class, there is everywhere found the man
of special knowledge and gifts, to whom men resort for needs lying
outside the scope of that worship. Every savage religion contains a
certain amount of magic, of practices, that is to say, by which it is
thought possible to influence or to foretell outward events. Early
man is not limited in his views of what may happen by any accurate
knowledge of natural laws, or of the sequence of cause and effect,
and he imagines it possible to influence nature in various ways. He
imitates what he supposes to be the causes of things, judging that
the effect will also follow; or he uses such powers as he may have
over spirits, to induce or compel them to accomplish his wishes; or
he manipulates objects he believes to have a hidden virtue, in a way
he believes calculated to bring about the desired result. Magic is
thus related both to the cult of spirits and to that of casual
objects, both to animism and to fetishism. There is generally a
special person in a tribe who knows these things, and is able to work
them. It may be the chief or king,--there are many instances in which
the chief is believed to have power to bring rain,--or it may be a
separate functionary, medicine-man, sorcerer, diviner, seer, or
whatever name be given him. He has more power over spirits than other
men have, and is able to make them do what he likes. He can heal
sickness, he can foretell the future, he can change a thing into
something else, or a man into a lower animal or a tree, or anything;
he can also assume such transformations himself at will. He uses
means to bring about such results; he knows about herbs, he has
stones or other objects endowed with special virtues, he also has
recourse to rubbing, to making images of affected parts of the body,
and to various other arts. Very frequently he is regarded as
inspired. It is the spirit dwelling in him which brings about the
wonderful results; without the spirit he could not do anything. While
the details of c