rt: but the foundation was laid down when the Egyptian king
or priest claimed that he could restore to the dead the "breath of life"
and, by means of the wand which he called "the great magician,"[78]
could enable the dead to be born again. The wand is supposed by some
scholars[79] to be a conventionalized representation of the uterus, so
that its power of giving birth is expressed with literal directness.
Such beliefs and stories of the "magic wand" are found to-day in
scattered localities from the Scottish Highlands to Indonesia and
America.

In this sketch I have referred merely to one or two aspects of a
conception of vast complexity. But it must be remembered that, once the
mind of man began to play with the idea of a vital essence capable of
existing apart from the body and to identify it with the breath of life,
an illimitable field was opened up for speculation. The vital principle
could manifest itself in all the varied expressions of human
personality, as well as in all the physiological indications of life.
Experience of dreams led men to believe that the "soul" could also leave
the body temporarily and enjoy varied experiences. But the
concrete-minded Egyptian demanded some physical evidence to buttress
these intangible ideas of the wandering abroad of his vital essence. He
made a statue for it to dwell in after his death, because he was not
able to make an adequately life-like reproduction of the dead man's
features upon the mummy itself or its wrappings. Then he gradually
persuaded himself that the life-substance could exist apart from the
body as a "double" or "twin" which animated the statue.

Searching for material evidence to support his faith primitive man not
unnaturally turned to the contemplation of the circumstances of his
birth. All his beliefs concerning the nature of life can ultimately be
referred back to the story of his own origin, his birth or creation.

When an infant is born it is accompanied by the after-birth or placenta
to which it is linked by the umbilical cord. The full comprehension of
the significance of these structures is an achievement of modern
science. To primitive man they were an incomprehensible marvel. But once
he began to play with the idea that he had a double, a vital essence in
his own shape which could leave the sleeping body and lead a separate
existence, the placenta obviously provided tangible evidence of its
reality. The considerations set forth by Blackman,[80