s reason that savages think that if an
enemy can obtain possession of any waste product of the body, such
as the severed hair or nails, that he can injure the owner through
them. Similarly the Hindus thought that the clippings of the hair or
nails, if buried in fertile ground, would grow into a plant, through
the life which they retained, and as this plant waxed in size it
would absorb more and more of the original owner's life, which would
consequently wane and decline. The worship of relics, such as the
bones or hair of saints, is based on the same belief that they retain
a part of the divine life and virtue of him to whom they once belonged.

54. Qualities associated with animals.

It is probable that qualities were first conceived of by being observed
in animals or natural objects. Prior to the introduction of personal
names, the individuality of human beings could neither be clearly
realised nor remembered after they were dead. But man must have
perceived at an early period that certain animals were stronger or
swifter than he was, or more cunning, and since the same quality was
reproduced in every animal of the species, it could easily become
permanently associated with the animal. But there were no names
for qualities, nor any independent conception of them apart from the
animal or animals in which they were observed. Supposing that strength
and swiftness were mainly associated with the horse, as was often
the case, then they would be necessarily conceived of as a part or
essence of the horse and his life, not in the way we think of them,
as qualities appertaining to the horse on account of the strength
of his muscles and the conformation of his limbs. When names were
devised for these qualities, they would be something equivalent to
horsey or horse-like. The association of qualities with animals is
still shown in such words as asinine, owlish, foxy, leonine, mulish,
dogged, tigerish, and so on; but since the inferiority of animals
to man has long been recognised, most of the animal adjectives have
a derogatory sense. [105] It was far otherwise with primitive man,
who first recognised the existence of the qualities most necessary
to him, as strength, courage, swiftness, sagacity, cunning and
endurance, as being displayed by certain animals in a greater degree
than he possessed them himself. Birds he admired and venerated as
being able to rise and fly in the air, which he could not do; fish
for swimming an