s still; and were surnames
absent, language imperfect, and knowledge as rudimentary as of old, it
is tolerably manifest that results would arise like those we have
contemplated.

A further characteristic of a true cause is that it accounts not only
for the particular group of phenomena to be interpreted, but also for
other groups. The cause here alleged does this. It equally well explains
the worship of animals, of plants, of mountains, of winds, of celestial
bodies, and even of appearances too vague to be considered entities. It
gives us an intelligible genesis of fetichistic conceptions in general.
It furnishes us with a reason for the practice, otherwise so
unaccountable, of moulding the words applied to inanimate objects in
such ways as to imply masculine and feminine genders. It shows us how
there naturally arose the worship of compound animals, and of monsters
half man, half brute. And it shows us why the worship of purely
anthropomorphic deities came later, when language had so far developed
that it could preserve in tradition the distinction between proper names
and nicknames.

A further verification of this view is, that it conforms to the general
law of evolution: showing us how, out of one simple, vague, aboriginal
form of belief, there have arisen, by continuous differentiations, the
many heterogeneous forms of belief which have existed and do exist. The
desire to propitiate the other self of the dead ancestor, displayed
among savage tribes, dominantly manifested by the early historic races,
by the Peruvians and Mexicans, by the Chinese at the present time, and
to a considerable degree by ourselves (for what else is the wish to do
that which a lately-deceased parent was known to have desired?) has been
the universal first form of religious belief; and from it have grown up
the many divergent beliefs which have been referred to.

Let me add, as a further reason for adopting this view, that it
immensely diminishes the apparently-great contrast between early modes
of thought and our own mode of thought. Doubtless the aboriginal man
differs considerably from us, both in intellect and feeling. But such an
interpretation of the facts as helps us to bridge over the gap, derives
additional likelihood from doing this. The hypothesis I have sketched
out enables us to see that primitive ideas are not so gratuitously
absurd as we suppose, and also enables us to rehabilitate the ancient
myth with far less distortion t