So far as can be
seen, anything can affect anything else; and the slightest suggestion
of such a relation leads to the belief in its reality. There is almost
entire absence of any conception of systematic testing: any accidental
association may lead the savage to be assured of an important sign.
Thus, if a man went out hunting and saw a rabbit cross his path, and
then had bad luck, he would be sure that a rabbit is a sign of bad
luck. Moreover, since individuals were on the lookout for hoodoos,
they would not tempt providence a second time. This example
illustrates the psychology rather than the sociology of the process.
It must be remembered that social groups developed what we call
superstitions by way of social contagion and suggestion. The laughing
acquiescence of the present in hoodoos, mascots and lucky objects
cannot be traced back to the credulity of any one individual. Such
things come to pass by a process of accretion just as does the belief
that a particular house is haunted.

Most writers on the subject classify magic into two {48} kinds,
imitative and contagious. These varieties are then carried back to two
principles which seem to govern the association of ideas. Imitative
magic follows the law of association by similarity, while contagious
magic is based on the law of contiguity. To those who have studied
psychology this classification will present no difficulties. To others
a word of explanation is, perhaps, necessary. Our minds connect things
or acts which are similar (the principle of similarity) and those which
are experienced or thought of together (principle of contiguity).
Connections are thus made between things and, since the principles are
so liberal, almost anything can be connected with anything else. It is
this liberality which is alien to science. Let us glance at some
examples of both kinds of magic.

The most familiar instance of imitative magic is the device by means of
which an individual hopes to injure or kill an enemy. A figure of the
enemy is made and this is then stuck full of pins or else burned before
a slow fire. "In ancient Babylonia it was a common practice to make an
image of clay, pitch, honey, fat, or other soft material in the
likeness of an enemy, and to injure or kill him by burning, burying, or
otherwise ill-treating it." This practice occurs in the highlands of
Scotland to-day as well as in Mexico, Italy, China and other countries.
Rossetti's poem, _Si