those powers than
himself; and where they were not physically stronger, some of them, like
the snake, had a cunning and a subtlety that seemed far to surpass his
own. In course of time certain bodies of men came to regard themselves
as being in special alliance with some one animal, and as being descended
from that animal as their common ancestor. The existence side by side of
various tribes, each with its definite totem, has not yet been fully
proved for the Gaulish system, and may well have been a developed social
arrangement that was not an essential part of such a mode of thought in
its primary forms. The place of animal-worship in the Celtic religion
will be more fully considered in a later chapter. Here it is only
indicated as a necessary stage in relation to man's civilisation in the
hunting and the pastoral stages, which had to be passed through before
the historic deities of Gaul and Britain in Roman times could have come
into being. Certain of the divine names of the historic period, like
Artio (the bear-goddess), Moccus (the pig), Epona (the mare), and Damona
(the sheep), bear the unmistakable impress of having been at one time
those of animals.

As for the stage of civilisation at which totemism originated, there is
much difference of opinion. The stage of mind which it implies would
suggest that it reflects a time when man's mind was preoccupied with wild
beasts, and when the alliances and friendships, which he would value in
life, might be found in that sphere. There is much plausibility in the
view put forward by M. Salomon Reinach, that the domestication of animals
itself implies a totemistic habit of thought, and the consequent
protection of these animals by means of taboos from harm and death. It
may well be that, after all, the usefulness of domestic animals from a
material point of view was only a secondary consideration for man, and a
happy discovery after unsuccessful totemistic attentions to other
animals. We know not how many creatures early man tried to associate
with himself but failed.

In all stages of man's history the alternation of the seasons must have
brought some rudiments of order and system into his thoughts, though for
a long time he was too preoccupied to reflect upon the regularly
recurring vicissitudes of his life. In the pastoral stage, the sense of
order came to be more marked than in that of hunting, and quickened the
mind to fresh thought. The earth came to be reg