Vignoli - Science and Myth

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arV1830Myth and science.

Cornell University Library

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THE INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SERIES.

MYTH AND SCIENCE.AN ESSAY.

BYTITO VIGNOLI,

NEW TOEK:f D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,

1, S, AKD 5 BOND BTEEET.1882.


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MYTH AND SCIENCE.CHAPTEE I.

THE IDEAS AND SOURCES OP MYTH.Myth, as it is understood by us, and as it will bedeveloped and explained in this work, cannot bedefined in summary terms, since its multiform andcomprehensive nature embraces and includes allprimitive action, as well as much which is con-secutive and historical in the intelligence and feelingsof maa.Jwitlueapeot to the immediate-and-ihe reflexinterpretation of the world , of the individual, and of.the SOcietyJiL-wbicb nnr-ccmwmin life is pj^saed.We hold that myth is, in its most general andcomprehensive nature , IBe" spontaneous and' imagin"a^tive form in which the human intelligence and humanemotions conceive^aiid represent themselves andthings in general; it is the psychical and physicalmodein which man projeca_himself_into_all those


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4 MYTH AND SCIENCE.to exist as an innate function of the intelligence,if not with respect to the substance, which mayalter, at any rate in the mode of its acts and pro-ceedings.

I fear that this opinion will appear at first sightto be paradoxical and chimerical, since it is wellknown that the mythical conception of the worldand its origin is gradually disappearing among civi-lized nations, and it is supposed to be altogetherextinct among men of culture and intelligence. YetI flatter myself, perhaps too rashly, that by the timehe reaches the end of this work, the reader will beconvinced of the truth of my assertion, since it isproved by so many facts, and the psychical law fromwhich it results is so clear.

It must not, however, be forgotten that, in additionto the mythical faculty of our minds, there existsthe scientific faculty, the other factor of a perfect in-tellectual life ; the latter is most powerful in certainraces, and must in time prevailove_the_jaongr,wbich in jtj^ obj.eetu!B3ormr^preeedes it; yet-Aey^aresubjectively cqnibinecLin practice_and_arejndissolublyunitedjhroughjife.

Undoubtedly neither the mythical nor the scientificfaculty is equal and identical in all peoples, any morethan they are equal and identical in individuals ; butthey subsist together, while varying in intensity anddegree, since they are both necessary functions of theintelligence.


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THE IDEAS AND SOUECES OF MYTH. OWhether we content ourselves with studying the

mental and social conditions in the lower types ofmodern peoples, or go back to the earhest times, wefind men everywhere and always possessed of thepower of speech, and holding mythical superstitions,it may be of the rudest and most elementary kindso also do we find men possessed of rational ideas,although they may be very simple and empirical.They have some knowledge of the causes of things,of periods in the phenomena of nature, which theyknow how to apply to the habits and necessities oftheir social and individual lives.

No one, for example, would deny that manymythical superstitions, and fanciful beliefs in in-visible powers, existed among the now extinctTasmanians, and are now found among the An-daman islanders, the Fuegians, the Australians, theCingalese Veddahs, and other rude and unculturedsavages. On the other hand, those who are ac-quainted with their mode of life find that savagesare not absolutely devoid of intellectual activity ofan empirical kind, since they_arly_jmderstamUthenatural causes of someIphen&mena,-aa^ar-e-able,ana rational, not an arbitrary jmanner . to ascrihg_tolaws and the necessities of things many facts relatingto the Individual jgji^ to society. They are, there-fore, not without the scientific as well as the mythicalfaculty, making due allowance for their intellectualcondition ; and these primitive and natural instincts


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6 MYTH AND SCIENCE.are due to the physical and intellectual organism ofhuman nature.

In order to pursue this important inquiry intothe first and final cause of the origin of myth,it is evidently not enough to make a laboriousand varied collection of myths, and of the primitivesuperstitions of aU peoples, so as to exhaust theimmense field of modern ethnography. Nor is itenough to consider the various normal and ab-normal conditions of psychical phenomena, nor toundertake the comparative study of languages, toascertaia how far their speech will reveal theprimitive behefs of various races, and the obscuremetaphorical sayings which gave birth to manymyths. It is also necessary to subject to carefulexamination the simplest elementary acts of the mind,in their physical and psychical complexity, in orderto discover in their spontaneous action the trans-cendental fact which inevitably involves the genesisof the same myth, the primary source whence it isdiffused by subsequent reflex efforts in various timesand varying forms.

In speaking of the transcendental fact, it must notbe supposed that I aUude to certain well-known a'priori speculations, which are opposed to my temperof mind and to my mode of teaching. I only use theterm transcendental because this is actually the primi-tive condition of the fact in its inevitable beginning,whatever form the mythical representation may


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THE IDEAS AND STOUECES OP MYTH. 7subsequently take. This fact is not peculiar to anyindividual, people, or race, but it is manifested asan essential organism of the human character, whichis in all cases universal, permanent, and uniform.

In order to give a clear explanation of my esti-mate of the a priori idea, which also takes its placeas the factor of experimental and positive teaching,I must observe that for those who belong to thehistorical and evolutionary school, a priori, so far asrespects any organism, habit, and psychological con-stitution in the whole animal kingdom, in which manis also included, signifies whatever in them is fixedand permanently organized ; whatever is perpetuatedby the indefinite repetition of habits, organs, andfunctions, by means of the heredity of ages. Thewhole history of organisms abounds with positive andrepeated proofs of this fact, which no one can doubtwho is not absolutely ignorant of elementary science.Every day adds to the number of these proofs, de-monstrating one of those truths which become thecommon property of nations.A priori is therefore reduced by us to the modi-fication of organs in their physical and psychicalconstitution, as it has ultimately taken place in theorganism by the successive evolutions of forms whichhave gradually become permanent, and are perpetu-ated by embryogenic reproduction. This reproduc-tion is in its turn the absolute condition of psychicaland organic facts, which are thus manifested as primi-


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8 MYTH AND SCIENCE.tive facts in the new life of the individual. By this law,the psychical facts, whether elementary or complex, asthey occur in the individual up to the point of theirevolution, have the necessary conditions of possibility,and may therefore be termed a ^priori with respect tothe laws of evolution, and to the hereditary per-manence of acts performed in the former environmentof the organism at the time when they appeared.

This conception of a priori is, it must be admitted,very different from that of transcendental philo-sophers, who seek to prove either that an independentartificer has not only produced the various organicforms in their present complexity, and has speciallyprovided the spiritual subject with its category ofthought, independently of all experience ; or elsethey assert the intrinsic existence of such forms inthe spirit, from the beginning of time.

In this way, as we have already said, we must notonly collect the facts which abound in history andethnology respecting the general teaching of myths,but we must also observe introspectively, and bypursuing the experimental method, the primitive andfundamental psychical facts, so as to discover thea priori conditions of the myth itself. We mustascertain, from a careful psychological examination,the absolutely primitive origin of all mythical repre-sentations, and how these are in their turn the actualhistorical result of the same conditions, as they existedprior to their manifestations.


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THE IDEAS AND SOUEOES OF MYTH. 9It must not be supposed that in this primary fact,

and in these a priori psychical and organic conditions,we shall find the ulterior cause of the various andmanifold forms, or of the successive evolution ofmyths. This would be a grave mistake, equal to thatof transcendentalists, who imagine that the laws whichactually exist, and the order of cosmic and historicphenomena may be determined from the independentexercise of their own thoughts, although such laws andorder can only be traced and discovered by experienceand the observation of facts. In the a priori conditionsof the psychical and organic nature, and in the element-ary acts which outwardly result from them, we shallonly trace the origin and necessary source of myth,not the variable forms of its successive evolution.

The ulterior form, so far as the substance of themyth and its various modifications are concerned, isin great part the reflex work of man; its aspectchanges in accordance with the attitude and force ofthe faculties of individuals, peoples and races, and itdepends on an energy to which the a priori conditions,as we have just defined them, do not strictly apply sofar as the determinate form is concerned.

It is precisely in this ulterior work of the evolutionof myth, which in the elementary fact of its primitiveessence had its origin in the predisposition of mind andbody, that we may discern the interchangeable germand origin both of myth and science. If, therefore,the rationale of science cannot be found in the general


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10 MYTH AND SCIENCE.form of mythical representations, the matter whichserves to exercise the mind ; yet the mode of itsexercise, and of the logical and psychical faculty, andthe spontaneous method pursued, are identical: thetwo mythical and scientific faculties are, in fact, con-sidered in themselves, fused into one.

As far as the origin of myth. is concerned, themode of considering its evolution, and its organicconnection with science, we differ from other mytho-logists as to the sources to which they trace thisimmense elaboration of the human intelligence. Wemay be mistaken, but we are in any case entering onunexplored ways, and if we go astray, the boldnessof an enterprise which we undertake with diffidencepleads for indulgence.

Omitting to notice the well-known opinions on theorigin of myth which were current in classic antiquity,in the Grseco-Latin world, or in India,* we restrictour inquiry to modern times subsequent to Creuzer's

* Kumarila, in reply to the opponents who inveighed against theimmorality of his gods, wrote that the fable relates how Prajapati,the lord of creation, violated his own daughter. But what does thissignify? Prajapati is one name for the sun, so called because heis the lord of light. His daughter Ushas is the dawn, and indeclaring that he fell in love with her, it is only meant that whenthe sun rises, it follows the dawn. So also, when it is said thatIndra seduced Ahalya, we are not to suppose that God committed suchu, crime, but Indra is the sun, and AhalyS, is the night; and so wemay say that the night is seduced and conquered by the morningBun. This, and other instances may be found in Max MiiUer'sHistory of Ancient Sanscrit Literature. Other instances might begiven.


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THE IDEAS AND SOURCES OF MYTH. 11learned and extensive labours. In a more scientificmethod, and divested of prejudice, we propose to tracethe sources of myth in general, and among variouspeoples in particular.

The science of languages, or comparative philology,is the chief instrument required in such researches, andmuch light has been acquired in our days, which hasled to surprising results, at least within the sphereof the special races to which it has been applied.The names of Kuhn, Weber, Sonne, Benfey, Grimm,Schwartz, Hanusch, Maury, Breal, Pictet, I'Ascoli, DeGubernatis, and many others, are well known fortheir marvellous discoveries in this new and arduousfield. They have not only fused into one ancientand primitive image the various myths scattered indifferent forms among the Aryan races, but they haverevealed the original conception, as it existed in theearliest meaning of words before their dispersion.Hence came the multiplicity of myths, developed inbrilliant anthropomorphic groups in different theo-logies, gradually becoming more simple as time wenton, then uniting in the vague primitive personificationof the winds, the storms, the sun, the dawn ; in short,of astral and meteorological phenomena.

On the other hand. Max Miiller, whose theory oforiginal myths is peculiar to himself, has made useof this philological instrument to prove that theAryan myths may at any rate be referred to a singlesource, namely to metaphor, or to the double meaning


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12 MYTH AND SCIENCE.of words, due to the poverty of primitive languages.He calls this double meaning the infirmity of speech.

I do not deny that many conclusions to whichsome or other of the great authorities just mentionedhave arrived may be as true as they are surprising.I also admit that this may be a certain method ofdistinguishing the various mythical representations intheir early beginnings from their subsequent andcomplex forms. But in all the facts which have beenascertained, or which may hereafter be ascertaiaed,from the comparative study of the languages ofdifferent races, no explanation is afforded of the factthat into the natural and primitive phenomena ofmyth, or, as Miiller holds, into its various metaphors,man has so far infused his own life, that they have,like man himself, a subjective and deliberate con-sciousness and force. It seems to me that thisproblem has not yet been solved by scholars ; theyhave stopped short after establishing the primaryfact, and are content to af&rm that such is humannature, which projects itself on external things.*

* Vioo writes : " The human mind is naturally inclined to projectitself on the object of its external eenses." And again, "Common speechought to hear witness to ancient popular customs, celebrated in timeswhen the language was formed." So again: "Men ignorant of thenatural causes of things assign to them their own nature. . . ." Inanother place : " The physical science of ignorant men is a kind ofcommon metaphysics, by which they assign the causes of things whichthey do not understand to the will of the gods." Again : " Ignorantand primitive men transform all nature into a vast living body, sentientof passions and affections."


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THE IDEAS AND SOURCES OF MYTH. 13This explanation establishes a true and universal

fact, but it is not the explanation of the fact itselfyet it is not, as we shall see, incapable of solution,and it appears to me that the ultimate source whencemyths really proceed has not been reached.

Again, if such an opinion and such a method cangive us the key to the polytheistic origin of therespective Olympuses of classic Greece and Eome, itleaves unexplained the numerous and manifold super-stitions which philology itself proves to have existedprior to the origin of cosmic myths. These super-stitions can by no means be referred to a commonsource, to the astral and meteorological myths, someof which were prior, while others were subsequent tothese superstitions.

Taking, therefore, the general and more importantopinions which are now current respecting the originof myth, it may be said that in addition to the systemsalready mentioned, two others are presented to uswith the weight of authority and knowledge ; these,while they do not renounce the apphances andlinguistic analyses of the former, try to unite all themythical sources of mankind in general into a singlehead, whence all myths, beliefs, superstitions, and reli-gions have their origin. While Prance and Germanyand some other nations have achieved distinction inthis field, England has been especially remarkable forthe nature of her attempts, and the vastness of herachievements in every direction. We pass over many


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14 MYTH AND SCIENCE.great minds whieli were first in the field in orderto dwell on the two men who, as it seems to me,have summed up the knowledge of others, and haveformulated a theory in great measure pecuhar tothemselves.

Tylor's well known name will at once suggestitself, and that of Herbert Spencer ; the former, inhis great work on the "Early History of Mankindand of Civilization," and other writings, the latter, inthe first volume of his " Sociology," and in his earlierworks, have respectively established the doctrine ofthe universal origin of myths on the basis of ethno-graphy, on the psychological examination of theprimary facts of the intelligence, and on the conceptionof the evolution of the general phenomena of nature.

It would, indeed, be difficult to excel the greatmind, the acute genius, and the universal learning ofHerbert Spencer, who has been termed the modernAristotle by a learned writer ; and this is highpraise when we remember how much knowledge isnecessary in our times, and in the present con-ditions of science, before any one can be deemed,worthy of such a comparison. But with due respectto so great a man, and with the diffidence of onewho is only his disciple, I venture to think thatHerbert Spencer's attempt to revive, at any rate inpart, Evemero's theory of the origin of myths wiUnot be successful, and it may prove injurious toscience. First, because all myths cannot be reduced


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THE IDEAS AND SOURCES OF MYTH. 15to personal or historical facts ; and next, because theprimitive value of many of them is so clear and dis-tinct in their mode of expression that it is not possibleto derive them from any source but the direct per-sonification of natural phenomena. Nor does itappear to me to be always and altogether certainthat the origin of myths, also caused by the doublepersonality discerned in the shadow of the body itself,

- in the images reflected by liquid substances, in echoesand visions of the night, can be all ascribed to theworship of the dead.

The worship of the dead is undoubtedly universal.There is no people, ancient or modern, civilized orsavage, by whom it has not been practised ; the factis proved by history, philology and ethnography.But if the worship of the dead is a constant form,manifested everywhere, it flourishes and is interwovenwith a multitude of other mythical forms and super-stitious beliefs which cannot in any way be reducedto this single form of worship, nor be derived from it.This worship is undoubtedly one of the most abundantsources of myth, and Spencer, with his profoundknowledge and keen discernment, was able to discussthe hypothesis as it deserves ; whence his book,even from this point of view, is a masterpiece ofanalysis, like all those which issue from his powerfulmind.

Yet even if the truth of this doctrine should be ingreat measure proved, the (question must still be asked


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16 MYTH AND SCIENCE.how it happens that man vivifies and personifies hisown image in dupHcate, or else the apparitions ofdreams or theii' reflections, and the echoes of nature,and ultimately the spirits of the dead.

Tylor developed his theory more distinctly and atgreater length, and he brought to bear upon it greatgenius, extraordinary knowledge, and a sound criticalfaculty, so that his work must be regarded as one ofthe most remarkable in the history of human thought.He belongs to the school of evolution, and his bookstrongly confirms the truths of that theory; sincefrom the primitive germs of myth, from the variousand most simple forms of fetishes among all races,he gradually evolves these rude images into morecomplex and anthropomorphic forms, until he attainsthe limits of natural and positive science. He admitsthat there are in mankind various normal and ab-normal sources of myth, but he comes to the ultimateconclusion that they all depend on man's peculiar andspontaneous tendency to animate all things, whencehis. general principle has taken the name of animism.It is unnecessary to say much in praise of this learnedwork, since it is known to all, and cannot be too muchstudied by those who wish for instruction on suchsubjects.But while assenting to his general principle, whichremains as the sole ultimate source of all mythicalrepresentation, I repeat the usual in(iuiry; whatcauses man to animate all the objects which surround


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18 MYTH AND SCIENCE.act, since they remain distinct and separate in theirrespective orbits. To attain our object, it is necessarythat the direct personification of natural phenomena,as well as the indirect personification of metaphor;the infusion of life into a man's own shadow, intoreflex images and dreams ; the belief ia the reality ofnormal illusions, as well as of the abnormal halluci-nations of delirium, of madness, and of all forms ofnervous affections ; all these things must be resolvedinto a single generating act which explains and in-cludes them. It must be shown how and why thereis found in man the possibility of modifying all thesemythical forms into an image supposed to be externalto himself, living and personal. For if we are enabledto reply scientifically to such inquiries, we shall notonly have concentrated in a single fact aU the mostdiverse normal and abnormal forms of myth peculiarto man, but we shall also have given an ulterior andanalytic explanation of this fact.

I certainly do not presume to declare myself com-petent to effect so much, and I am more consciousthan my critics how far I fall short of my high aimbut the modest attempt, made with the resolution toaccept all criticism offered with courtesy and goodfaith, does not imply culpable presumption nor ex-cessive vanity.

I regret to say that it is not on this point onlythat my theory of myth differs from that of othersI shall not be satisfied if I only succeed in discover-


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THE IDEAS AND SOURCES Or MYTH. 19ing in man the primitive act which issues thegeneral animism of things, which becomes the sub-stance of the ulterior myths in their intellectual andhistorical evolution. It is evident, at least to thosewho do not cling obstinately to old traditions, thatman is evolved from the animal kingdom. The com-parative anatomy, physiology, and psychology of manand other animals distinctly show their intimate con-nection in conformation, tissues, organs, and functions,and above all, in consciousness and intelligence. Thistruth, deduced from simple observation and experi-ment, must lead to the conviction that all issued fromthe same germ, and had the same genesis.

For those who do not cherish pedantic and sec-tarian prejudices, this hypothesis is changed into as-surance by modern discoveries; it is shown in thetransformations and transitions of paleontologicalforms; in the embryogenic evolution of so manyanimals, man included, which, according to theirvarious species, reveals the lower types whence theyissued ; in the successive forms taken by the foetusin the powerful and indisputable laws of selectionin the modifications by adaptation of the differentorganisms, and in the effects of isolation. This is theonly rational explanation, confirmed as it is by freshfacts every day, of the multiplicity and variety oforganic forms in the lapse of time ; unless, indeed, weascribe such variety to a miracle, even more difficultto accept than the difficulties of the opposite theory.


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20 MYTH AND SCIENCE.I admit that evidence for the complete demon-

stration of this theory is sometimes wanting ; thegaps between the fossU fauna and flora and those ofmodern times are neither few nor unimportant ; buton the other hand, such proofs are accumulating, andthe gaps are filled up every day, so that we mayalmost assert that in some way or other, by meanssomewhat different from those on which we now rely,the great rational principle of evolution will be suc-cessfully and permanently estabUshed.

It is more than twenty years since, in ways andby study peculiar to ourselves, we first devoted our-selves to this theory, and while we gave a conscientiousconsideration to opposite theories, so as to estimatewith sincerity their importance and value, we couldnot relinquish our conviction that every advance inphysical, biological, and social science served to con-firm the theory of evolution.

It must not be supposed that I make any dogmaticassertion, which might possibly be erroneous, when Isay that the evidence of facts does not contradict theassumptions of modern science. Sincere convictionsshould offend no one, nor do they indicate ana priori conflict with other beliefs. Every one isjustified in thinking his own thoughts when he speakswith moderation and supports his peculiar opinionswith a certain amount of learning.

It is not denied, even by those who oppose mbdemtheories respecting the genesis of organisms, that


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THE IDEAS AND SOURCES OF MYTH. 21there are, excluding some psychical elements, manyand important points of resemblance between manand animals in the exercise of their consciousness,intelligence, and emotions, if indeed they are notidentically the same. The comparative psychologyof man and animals plainly shows that the per-ceptions, both in their respective organs and in theirmode of action, act in the same way, especiallyin the higher animals; and the origin, movements,and associations of the imagination and the emotionsare likewise identical. Nor will it be disputed thatwe find in animals implicit memory, judgment, andreasoning, the inductions and deductions from onespecial fact to another, the passions, the physiologicallanguage of gestures, expressive of internal emotions,and even, in the case of gregarious animals, the com-bined action to effect certain purposes ; so that, as faras their higher orders are concerned, animals maybe regarded as a simple and undeveloped form ofman, while man, by his later psychical and organicevolution, has become a developed and complexanimal.*

In my book on the fundamental law of intelligencein the animal kingdom, I attempted to show this greattruth, and to formulate a principle common to allanimals in the exercise of their psychical emotions,* See, among other authorities for the most important phenomenaof animals in their natural associations, the profoundly learned workby the well-known A. Espinas : Des mcieUs animales : &ude dersyoliologie oompare'e. Paris, 2ud edit., 1879.


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22 MYTH AND SCIENCE.by setting forth the essential elements as they aregenerally displayed. I think I was not far from thetruth in establishing a law which seems indubitablealthough, while some men whose opinion is worthyof esteem have accepted it, other very competentjudges have objected to some parts of my theory,but without convincing me of error. I repeat myconclusions here, since they are necessary to thetheory of the genesis of myth, which I propose toexplain in this work. I hold the complete identitybetween man and animals to be established by theadequate consideration of the faculties, the psychicalelements of consciousness and intelligence, and themode of their spontaneous exercise ; and I believe thesuperiority of man to consist not so much in newfaculties as in the reflex effect upon themselves ofthose he possesses in common with the animals. Theold adage confirms this theory : Homo duplex.

No one now doubts that animals feel, hear, re-member, and the like, while man is able to exercisehis will, to feel, to remember, deliberately to con-sider all his actions and functions, because he notonly possesses the direct and spontaneous intuitionwith respect to himself and things in general which hehas in common with animals, but he has an intuitiveknowledge of that intuition itself, and in this way hemultiplies within himself the exercise of his wholepsychical life. We find the ultimate cause of thisreturn upon himself, and his intuition of things, in


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THE IDEAS AND SOUECES OF MYTH. 23his deliberate will, which does not only immediatelycommand his body and his manifold relative functions,but also the complex range of his psychical acts.This fact, which as I believe has not been observedbefore, is of great importance. It is manifest thatthe difference between man and other animals doesnot consist in the diversity or discrepancy of theelements of the intelligence, but in its reflex actionon itself; an action which certainly has its conditionsfixed by the organic and physiological compositionof the brain.

If it should be said that the traditional opinion ofscience, as well as the general sentence of mankind,have always regarded reflection as the basis of thedifference between animals and man, so that thereis no novelty in our principle, the assertion iserroneous. Eefleetion, as an inward psychical fact,has certainly been observed by psychologists andphilosophers in all civilized times, and instinctivelyby every one ; nor could it be otherwise, sincereflection is one of the facts most evident to humanconsciousness. But although the fact, or the in-trinsic and characteristic action of human thoughthas been observed, and has often been discussed andanalyzed in some of its elements, yet its genesis hasnot been declared, nor has its ultimate cause beendiscovered. We propose to discover this ultimatecause, and we refer it to the exercise of the wiU overall the elements and acts which constitute human


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24 MYTH AND SCIENCE.intelligence ; an intelligence only differing from thatof animals by this inward and deliberate fact,which enables man to consider and examine allhis acts, thus logically doubling their range. Thisintelligence has in animals a simple and direct in-fluence on their bodies and on the external world,in proportion to their diverse forms and inheritedinstincts ; whUe in man, owing to his commandingattitude, it falls back upon itself, and gives rise tothe inquiring and reflective habit of science.We do not, therefore, divide man from otheranimals, but rather assert that many proofs andsubtle analyses show the identity of their intelli-gence in its fundamental elements, whUe the dif-ference is only the result of a reaction of the sameintelligence on itself. Such a theory does not in anyway interrupt the natural evolution and genesis ofthe animal kingdom, while the distinctive peculiarityof man is shown in an act which, as I believe, clearlyexplains the new faculty of reason acquired by him.

I must admit that in speaking of the psychicalfaculty as a force which possesses laws peculiar toitself, it has appeared to a learned and competentjudge that I have conceded a real existence to thisfaculty, independently of the physiological conditionsthrough which it manifests itself, which might becalled a mythical personality in the constitution ofthe world. If I had really made such an assertion, itwould be an error which I am perhaps more ready


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THE IDEAS AND SOUECES OF MYTH. 25than others to repudiate, as it will appear in thepresent v/ork. I am far from blaming the courteouscritics who allege such objections to my theory, andindeed I am honoured by their notice. I must blamemyself for not having, in my desire to be brief,sufficiently defined my conception.

I hold the psychical manifestation to be not onlyconditioned by the organism, to speak scientifically,and to be rendered physiologically possible by theseconditions, but I consider it to be of the same natureas the other so-called forces of the universe ; such,for example, as the manifestations of light, of elec-tricity, of magnetism, and the like. When physicistsspfeak of these forcesif the necessities of languageand the brevity of the explanation constrain us toadopt the term forces, as though they were realsubstances-^they certainly do not believe, nor wishothers to believe, that they are really such. It is wellloiown that such expressions are used to signify theappearance under certain circumstances of somespecial phenomena which group themselves by theirmode and power of manifestation into one genericconception as a summary of the whole. They alwaystake place, relatively to these circumstances, in thesame mode and with the same power, so that theymay at once be experimentally distinguished fromothers which have been grouped together in likemanner.

Such manifestations do not imply a real cosmic


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26 MYTH AND SOIBTSTOB.entity of these forces, as if they were independentof the matter whence they issue ; they are simplydeterminate and determinable modes of motions, ofactions, and reactions in the elements of the world.For if magnetism appears to reveal itself in deter-minate elements, its modes of manifestation arepeculiar to itself, and its elficacy with respect toother forces is also peculiar; yet it by no meansfollows that it possesses a substantial entity, or, asit were, displays personal activity among phenomenait rather indicates that the elements of the worldwill, under given circumstances, act reciprocally insuch a manner that we perceive phenomena whichgroup themselves together and which we call mag-netic or magnetism. And this explanation appliesto other cases.

I therefore, speaking of psychical force in general,used the same terms ; I certainly did not wish toconstitute it into a personal and material entity ofthe universe, but I intended to assert that among themanifestations of the various forces of the world,defined as above, there is also this psychical force,characterized by phenomena and laws peculiar toitself, and which, as I have shown, is when exercisedone of the greatest factors of the world. I repeatthat if this force varies with the greater or less per-fection of the organisms in which it is manifested,yet it possesses a law and fundamental elements bywhich it is so constituted that the same results will


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THE IDEAS AND SOURCES OP MYTH. 27ensue in the simplest as in the most complex form.This is the case with all the other forces of naturethey may be modified by existing circumstances,and yet they have laws and definite elements todistinguish them from all others. These forces,however, while they are distinct in their peculiarmanifestations, and take effect through special quali-ties, quantities, and rhythmic movements, are allfused together in the infinite and eternal unity whichconstitutes the life of the universe. Neither herenor in my former work is there any question of thatmost_ difficult problem, the individual personality ofman.*

Since there is between man and animals arelationship and a psychical identity, as well as agenetic continuity of evolution, it is impossible todeny that there is also in some degree a like con-tinuity in the products and acts of the consciousness,the emotions, and the intelligence. This is asserted oradmitted even by those who do not like to hear of thegenetic continuity of evolution, nor is there now anyschool of thought which impugns such a truth. If thisbe true, as it undoubtedly is, and since we are treatingof the genesis of myth in its earliest beginning, we

* I stated in my former essay on the fundamental law of the in-telligence in the animal kingdom that philosophy was only theresearch into the psychical manifestations of the animal kingdom, andinto those peculiar to man, in connection with the respective organismsin which they act, and with the estimate of their power as cosmicfactors in the general harmony of the forces of the world.


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28 MYTH AND SCIENCE.will endeaTOur, with daring prompted by the theoryof evolution, to discover if the first germ of theserepresentations may not have already existed inthe animal kingdom before it was evolved in manin the fetishtic and anthropomorphic form. Thisis an arduous but necessary inquiry, to which Iam impelled by the doctrine of evolution, as it isproperly understood, as well as by the universal logicof nature.

If I were to consider myth as it has ultimatelybeen developed in man, it would be a strange andabsurd attempt to trace out any points of resemblancewith animals, who are altogether devoid of the logicalfaculty which leads to such development. But if, onthe contrary, we endeavour to trace the earliest,spontaneous, and direct elements of myth as aproduct of animal emotions and implicit intelUgenee,such research becomes not only legitimate but neces-sary ; since the instrument is the same, the effectsought also to be the same.We have already said that the fact has beenobserved and generally admitted that the primaryorigin of myth in its essential elements consists inthe personification or animation of aU extrinsicphenomena, as well as of the dreams, illusions, andhallucinations which are intrinsic. It is agreed thatthis animation is not the reflex and deliberate actof man, but that it is the spontaneous and immediateact of the human intelligence in its elementary


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THE IDEAS AND SOUECES OF MYTH. 29consciousness and emotions. It must therefore beevident that this vague and continual animation ofthings ought to be found also in animals, especiallyin those of the higher types, in whom consciousness,the emotions, and the intelligence are implicitly iden-tical with those of man. Consequently, that whichis at first sight absurd becomes obvious and natural,and the fact is only strange and inexplicable to thosewho have not carefully considered it.We must, however, declare that this primary factis not irreducible, and that science ought not to becontent to stop there, but should endeavour to explainand resolve it into its elements, so as to be able tosay we have reached the point at which the genesisof myth really begins. This aim can only be attainedby the decomposition by analysis of the primitive fact.Since intelligence in its essential elements, and inits innate and implicit exercise, appears to be thesame in man and in animals, it is necessary to reducethe analysis of animal nature to a primary psychicalfact, in order to see whether by this fact, which isidentical also in man, the generating element of mythis really revealed.

I propose to show that this research will revealtruths hitherto unattained, and explain the generallaw, not merely of the extrinsic process of science andof myth, but also of civilization.

Starting from this wide basis, we must trace, stepby step, the dawn, development, and gradual dis-


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30 MYTH AND SCIENCE.appearance of myth. Since it is our business toconsider science as well as myth, and their respec-tive relations in the evolution common to both, wemust, as briefly as possible in the present work, pauseto consider these two factors of the human mind,observing the beginnings, conditions, and modes inwhich the one arose and gradually disappeared, whilethe other advanced and triumphed. We must notonly regard the progress and transformation ofreligions, but also of science, as it is revealed inthe philosophic systems of every age, in the partialor complete discoveries of genius, and in the greatand stupendous achievements of modern experimentalscience. It would require a long treatise to fill sowide a field, which we must restrict to the limits ofa few pages. Since our readers are now generallyacquainted with the course pursued by human thought,and with the progress of peoples, but few landmarks orformulas are necessary to enable them to cleaj awayobscurity and estimate facts at their just value, so asto understand what civihzation and science have todo with the evolution of myth, and of science itself.A great corollary also ensues from studies under-taken with the aid of sociology, that is, the genesis,form, and gradual evolution of human societies.These vary in character, in attitude, in power, form,and duration, with the different characters of races,and thus fulfil in various ways the cycle of mythand science of which they are capable. It would


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THE IDEAS AND SOURCES OF MYTH. 81indeed be difficult to attain to a clear and adequateconception of the universal evolution of myth andscience, but for the existence of a privileged racedistinguished for its psychical and organic power,which from its beginning until now, although subjectto many partial eclipses, has on the whole maintainedits position in the world so as to present to us thelong historical drama of its evolutions. Other races,peoples, or tribes have disappeared in the strugglefor existence, or have remained essentially incapableof further progress even in a relatively inferior de-gree, so as to afford no aid in following the successivedevelopment of myth and science; while the Aryanfamily, a race to which I believe that the Semiticoriginally belonged,* furnishes the unbroken sequenceof events and the stages of such complex evolution.Nor certainly is there any signs of the disappearanceof this race, since every day its intellectual andterritorial achievements, added to the instruments ofa powerful material civilization, invigorate its strengthand presage its indefinite duration in forms we arenot able to foresee, unless indeed fatal astral ortelluric catastrophes should hinder, its progress orbring it to an end.

If we compare this race with itself at differentepochs, and in the many different peoples into which

* See, with respect to the primitive unity of the Aryan andSemitic races, the works of the great philologist, T. G. Ascoli, andothers.


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32 MYTH AND SCIENCE.it was severed, and if at the same time we confrontit with the types of other peoples at various stages,from the rudest to the most civilized, it becomespossible to form a clear conception of the genesisand successive evolution of myth and science of whichthe human race is capable, and in this way we mayunderstand the general law which governs such evolu-tions. This study also teaches us that humanity,whether we agree with monogenists or poligenists, isphysically and psychically in all respects the samein its essential elements; in all peoples withoutdistinction, as ethnography teaches us, the origin andgenesis of myth, the implicit exercise of reason andits development, are, at all events up to a given point,absolutely identical. All start from the same mani-festations and mythical creations, and these areafterwards developed according to the logical orscientific canons of thought, which are applied totheir classification. Both among fetish-worshippersand polytheists there was a tendency towards mono-theism, although sometimes it could only be discernedin a vague and confused manner.

If myth is, as I have said, to be considered fromanother point of view, as the spontaneous effect of theintelligence, and a necessary function, relatively tothe primary act from which it begins, it might appearthat myth would never cease to be, and that humanity,even as it is represented by the elect and enduringrace, must always remain in this original illusion ; so


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THE IDEAS AND SOURCES OF MYTH. 33that every man would have to begin again for himselfin his own peculiar cycle of myth. But history showsthat this is not the case, and that the mythic facultygradually wanes and becomes weaker, even if it doesnot altogether cease to exist, a result which would notoccur if myth were a necessary function of theintelligence.

I shall presently reply to such an objection ; inthe meanwhile, regarding the question superficially,I need only say that if the mythic faculty diminishesin one direction, and with respect to some formsand their corresponding substance, it has certainlynot ceased to appear in another, exerting itseK, aswe shall see, in other forms and other substance.The common people, both urban and rural, do forthe most part adhere to primitive and very ancientsuperstitions, as every one may know from his ownexperience, as well as from the writings of well knownauthors of nearly all the civilized nations of Europe.In fact, every man in the early period of his lifeconstructs a heaven for himself, as those who studythe ways of children are aware, and this has givenrise to a new science of infantine psychology, set forthin the writings of Taine, Darwin, Perez, and others.We also propose to show that the scientific faculty,which gathers strength and is developed from themythical faculty, is in the first instance identical andconfounded with it, but that science corrects andcontrols the primitive function, just as reason corrects


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34 MYTH AND SCIENCE.and explains the errors and illusions of the senses ; sothat the truly rational man issues, like the fcetusfrom its embryonic covering, out of its primitivemythical covering into the light of truth.

Every one must perceive that the study of theorigin of myths has an important bearing on theclear and positive knowledge of mankind. In moderntimes biological science, such as ethnography andanthropology, have not only thrown much light onthe genesis of organic bodies, of animals and of man,but they have afforded very important aid to psycho-logical research, on account of the close connectionbetween psychology and the general physical lawsof the world. The mythical faculty in man, and itsresults, have received much light from these sciences,since the modifications induced in individuals and inpeoples by many natural causes, organic or climato-logical, are based upon their physiological conditions.In the first chapters of Herbert Spencer's book onSociology, there is a masterly investigation intothe changes produced by climate, with its accidentsand organic products, on the peculiar temperamentof different peoples and races, and we must refer ourreaders to his admirable summary.We avail ourselves of the aid afforded by aU thesebranches of science in order to comprehend the truenature of man, and the place which he really occupiesin the animal creation. Man should be estimatedas all other products and phenomena of nature are


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THE IDEAS AND SOURCES OF MYTH. 35estimated, according to his absolute value, divested,as in the case of all other physical and organicsciences, of preconceived ideas or prejudices in favourof the supernatural. He should be studied as inphysics we study bodies and the laws which governthem, or as the laws of their motions and com-binations are studied in chemistry, allowance alwaysbeing made for their reciprocal relations, and fortheir appearance as a whole. For if there be in theuniverse a distinction of modes, there is no absoluteseparation of laws and phenomena.

The various branches of science are only sub-jective necessities, consequent on the successive andgradual order of our comprehension of things ; theyare classifications of method, with no special referenceto the undivided personality of nature. All areparts of the whole, and so also the whole is re-vealed in its several parts. They come to be inthought, as well as in reality, reciprocal conditionsof each other ; and he who is able to solve the pro-blem of the world correctly in a simple movement ofan atom, would be able to explain all laws and allphenomena, since every thing may ultimately be re-duced to this movement. It is precisely this whichhas been attained by certain laws, so that the studyof man must not be dissociated from this conception.It is necessary to regard him as a product of theforces of nature, with which he has certain pro-perties in common. Although man may appear to


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36 MYTH AND SCIENCE.be a special and peculiar subject, yet he is connectedwith the universal system in which he lives by theelements, phenomena, and forces of which he consists.

It must not be supposed, as it is asserted withever-increasing clamour, that such a method andtheory can ever destroy the civihzed basis of society,and the morality and dignity with which it shouldbe informed, as if we were again reducing man tothe condition of a beast. Such an outcry is in itselfa plain and striking proof that we have not yetemerged from the mythical age of thought, sinceit is precisely a mythical belief which prompts thisangry protest against the noble . and independentresearch after truth.

It is impossible that the results of positive andrational science should in any way destroy the neces-sary conditions of civilized life and of the high standardof goodness which should form, elevate, and bring itto perfection. We must, however, remember that itwas not rational science, nor the ethics of law, whichestablished the a priori rules of a just and free society,but the necessities of society itself led to the a pos-teriori formulation of laws. Theoretic science sub-sequently explained these laws, and perfected theirform and organism, infusing into them a nobler pur-pose ; but it was the necessities of nature which firstdictated the balance, system, and harmony of thealliances and associations of materials and pheno-mena as they now exist, which rendered possible the


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THE IDEAS AND SOURCES OP MYTH. 37first nucleus of human society, and which, in courseof time, brought the component parts into definiterelations with each other. It was subsequently thereflex and fitting work of thought to raise upon thefoundation laid by nature a rational system of society,and then to bring its rules and forms to perfection.

Hence it follows that it was not man, nor someextrinsic mythical power which arbitrarily dictatedthe code of private and social life, but this presenteditself to man as a spontaneous result of the world'slaw, relatively to the conditions possible for sociallife. For if, as in fact is the case, and as the pro-gress of knowledge and of human civilization willabundantly show, the true and eternal laws whichmake society possible, and consequently its standardof righteousness, are innate and genuine results ofuniversal laws, it is impossible for science to destroythe inevitable order of things, and to reduce mankindto a hideous chaos.

It must be allowed that great truths, not fullyunderstood by incapable preachers, who sometimesfrom ignoble motives foment the turbid instincts ofthe ignorant multitude, may bring about, as they havedone of old, grave evils and even crimes in someplaces and for a short time. But there is no one sofoolish or so ignorant of history as to believe thatall things happen in the best possible way, and in alogical sequence. Such evUs do not invalidate ordestroy the force of our assertion that social order is


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THE IDEAS AND SOUECES OF MYTH. 39and of the anthropological conditions of the variousnayths is necessary to enable us to understand theirpsychical plienomena, together with the hidden lawsof the exercise of thought. The learned and illus-trious Eibot has justly said that psychology, dis-sociated from physiology and cognate sciences, isextinct, and that in order to bring it to life it isnecessary to follow the progress and methods of allother contemporary sciences.* The genesis of myth,its development, the specification and integration ofits beliefs, as well as the several intrinsic and ex-trinsic sources whence it proceeds, will assign to ita clearer place among the obscure recesses of psy-chical facts ; they will reveal to us the connectionbetween the facts of consciousness and their ante-cedents, between the world and our normal andabnormal physiological conditions; they will showwhat a complex drama is performed by the actionand' reaction between ourselves and the things within

* "Although it (psychology) still makes some show, yet the oldpsychology is condemned. Its conditions of existence have disappearedin its now environment. Its methods no longer suffice for the in-creasing difficulties of the task and the larger requirements of thescientific spirit. It is constrained to live upon its past. Its wisestrepresentatives have vainly attempted a compromise, loudly assertingthat facts must be observed, and that a large part should be assignedto experience. Their concessions are unavailing, for however sincerelymeant, they are not actually carried out. As soon as they set to workthe taste for pure speculation again possesses them. Moreover, noreform of what is radically false can bo effectual, and ancient psy-chology is a bastard conception, doomed to perish from the con-tradictions which it involves." Eibot, Psychologie Allemande Con-temporaine." Paris, 1879.


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THE IDEAS AND SOUECES OF MYTH. 41development, .composition, and integration of a myth,into which others are fused by assimilation, may besaid to explain to us the mode in which systems ofphilosophy are constituted, and to manifest to us in afanciful way the underlying mode in which humanthought is exercised.

Nor do the effects and importance of these studiesend here ; they are also the necessary foundation oftrue and rational sociology. In fact, the relations ofthe individual to the world, the manifold conditionscaused by the relations of persons to each other, theconstitution of all social order, and the various modifi-cations of that order ; all these are resolved into theprimitive thought, and into the emotional impulses ofmythical prejudices and fancies, and in these theyhave also their natural sanction, and the cardinalpoint on which they rest and revolve. There is nosociety, however rude and primitive, in which allthese relations, both to the individual and to societyat large, are not apparent, and these are based onsuperstitious and mythical beliefs. Take the Tas-manians, for example, one of the peoples which hasrecently become extinct, and regarded as one of themost debased in the social scale, and we have iaa small compass a picture of the acts and beliefs tobe found in their embryonic association.

In every society, however rudimentary, these areheld to be important facts : the birth of individuals,which is their entrance into the society itself, and


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42 MYTH AND SCIENCE.into the possession of its privileges ; marriages,funerals, reciprocal obedience between persons andclasses, or to the chief; public assemblies, and theexistence of powers equal or superior to living men.

Among the Tasmanians, the placenta was reli-giously venerated, and they carefully buried it, lest itshould be injured or devoured by animals. If themother died in childbirth her offspring was biiriedalive with her. When a man .attained puberty, hewas bound to submit to certain ceremonies, some ofthem painful, and dictated by phallic superstitions.Funeral rites were simple : the corpse was eitherburnt, with howls and superstitious functions, or itwas placed in the hollow trunk of a tree in a sittingposition, with the chin supported by the knees, aswas the custom with Peruvian mummies; and thebelief in another world prompted them to place theweapons and utensils used during life beside thecorpse. Sometimes a wooden lance, with fragmentsof human bones affixed to it, was placed below thetumulus, as a defence for the dead during his longsleep. It appears from these customs, and from othersmentioned by Clarke, that they had a vague idea ofanother life, holding that the shades went up toinhabit the stars, or flew to a distant island wherethey were born again as white men. These beliefswere necessarily connected with the rites which theyfulfilled when living, and served as a kind of obscuresanction for them.


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THE IDEAS AND SOURCES OP MYTH. 43Milligan and Nixon tell us that the Tasmanians

believed in the existence of evil and sometimesof avenging spirits, destroyers of the guilty. Theysupposed that the shades of their friends or enemiesreturned, and caused good or evil to befal themand according to Milligan there were four kinds ofspirits. Purely superstitious rites were used formarriage. Old women and witches were often thearbiters of peace and war between the tribes, and theyhad the right of pardoning. Sorcerers intervenedin many social acts, and before beginning their opera-tions and incantations they revolved the mysteriousMooyumkarr, an oval piece of wood with a cord, whichwas certainly connected with phallic superstitions.Bonwick asserts that on many private and publicoccasions, the more skilled sorcerers called up spiritswith appropriate ceremonies and formulas. Theywere powerful, and produced diseases, and were ableto exert malign influence, and the urine of women,human blood, and ashes were superstitiously used asremedies against their spells.

The Tasmanian who wished to hurt or bewitchany one, procured something belonging to his enemy,and especially his hair; this was enveloped in fatand then exposed to the action of fire, and it wasthought that as it melted, the man himself wouldwaste away. They feared lest the evil spirit evokedby the enchantments of an enemy might creep behindthem in the night to steal away the renal fat, an


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44 MYTH AND SCIENCE.organ with which various physiological superstitionswere connected. They believed that stones, especiallycertain kinds of quartz crystals, were means of com-munication with spirits, with the dead, and also withabsent persons. A woman often wore round her neckthe phallus extracted from the body of her deadhusband. The movements of the sun and moon, andsome of their phases, had a mythical bearing onvarious social acts, or on the date of their assemblies,since the sun was the object of great veneration ; andthe full moon, the epoch of assemblies, was celebratedwith feasting and dancing. Dances of many differentkinds were connected with traditional myths, astro-logical superstitions, and the phallic worship. Someremains of circular buildings and concentric com-partments, discovered by Field and others, hadreference to their feasts, assembhes, and dances.Among their cosmic myths, Milligan has preservedone relating to the double stars which perhaps refersto the invention of fire.

From this cursory view of the conditions of societyin its simplest form, and among the most savagepeoples, and of the mythical beliefs which prevailedunder such conditions, it clearly appears how myth,dating from the first beginnings of human associa-tion, has regarded, invested, sanctioned, and gene-rated all special acts and relations, and the wholesocial order, both private and public. The exerciseof thought in primitive times not only consisted of


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THE IDEAS AND SOURCES OF MYTH. 45mythical beliefs and associations, but this same con-dition of thought reacted on all the phenomena ofnature, and on all social facts. For if, as we havealready observed, more rational empirical notions,and a certain rude form of scientific faculty made itsappearance amid those mythical ideas which werestill persistent, its various forms were not animated,sustained, and preserved by myth. Hence it is evidentthat the basis of the genesis of sociology as a wholeconsists in myth, which sanctions its acts and estab-lishes their relations to each other. The immenseimportance of these studies, even for the right under-standing of the laws and historical evolution whichguide and govern sociology, is evident from this fact.

It must not be supposed that such a vast and pro-found incarnation of myth in social facts is peculiar tothe primitive ages ; it persists and is maintained in allthe historical phases of civilization, even of the higherraces, although sometimes in a dormant form. Evenin our days, any one who considers our modes ofsociety, the organism, customs, ceremonies, andmanifold and complex institutions of modern life, willreadily see that religious influences and their ritesinitiate, sanction, and accompany every individual andsocial fact, although civil and religious societies arebecoming ever more distinct.

Since, therefore, myth is a constant form ofsociology, completely invests it, and accompanies andanimates its transmutations down to our days, every-


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46 MYTH AND SCIENCE.one must recognize the necessity of this study inorder to understand and explain the true history ofthought and of sociology.

The energy, the power, the physical and intellec-tual worth of a people are revealed as a whole in itsmythical products, whether in the quality and great-ness of their beliefs, in the greater or less definitenessof their system, or in their development into morerational notions ; and from the complex whole we canestimate the worth of their civiHzation. So that,where other extrinsic testimony is wanting, the studyof these primitive creations will reveal to us then-psychological worth. This is the origin of the com-parative psychology of peoples, a most fruitful science,which not only teaches us to rank the various familiesof peoples according to their relative value, but it isof great use in making man acquainted with himself,and with psychology in general.

In fact, modern psychology can only advance bymeans of observation and experiment, which con-stitute it one of the natural sciences ; and this isabundantly proved by the modern English schools,and the experimental school in Germany. Yet ob-servation of the states of consciousness taken aloneis defective, unless it is enlarged by the comparativeexamination of a greater number of subjects ; normust ethnical peculiarities be passed over, and it isprecisely these which are included in the comparativepsychology of peoples. The large amount of results.


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THE IDEAS AND SOUKOES OF MYTH. 47their infinite variety, and at the same time a certainuniformity in their modes of beginning, of theirdevelopment, and of their place in the universe, givea splendid illustration of the innate exercise of humanthought ; the likenesses as well as the contrasts areinstructive as to its real nature.

The comparative psychology of peoples, studiedfrom this point of view, certainly does not include thewhole of psychological science, which requires otherinstruments and other modes of experience, but it is agreat help as a foundation. We believe that the studyof myth, which throws so much light on comparativepsychology, is likewise of use for the special psycho-logy of man, since this can only arise from indi-vidual ^nd ethnical observation, and from experiment,dissociated from every hindrance, and from meta^physical prejudice. And if by our humble essay wecan throw any light on this noble science, we shall beabundantly rewarded.


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CHAPTEE II.ANIMAL SENSATION AND PEECBPTION.

All animals communicate with each other and withthe external world through their senses, and bymeans of their perception, both internal and external,they possess knowledge and apprehension of oneanother. In the vast organic series of the animalkingdom, some are better provided than others withmethods, instruments, and apparatus fit for effectingsuch communication. The senses of relation are notfound in the same degree in all animals, nor whensuch senses are the same in number are they endowedwith equal intensity, acutcness, and precision. Butthe fundamental fact remains the same in aU casesthey communicate with themselves and with theexternal world through their senses.We must now inquire what value the externalobject of perception, considered in itself, has for theanimal, what character it has and assumes withrespect to his inner sense in the act of perceptionor apprehension. Man, and especially man in our


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ANIMAL SENSATION AND PERCEPTION. 49days, after so many ages of reflection, and throughthe influence of contemporary science, is so far re-moved from the primitive and simple exercise of hispsychical life, that he finds it difficult to picture tohimself the ancient and spontaneous conditions underwhich his senses communicated with the world andwith himself. And therefore, without further con-sideration, he thinks and believes that in primevaltimes everything took place in the same way as itdoes at present, and, which is a still greater error,as it takes place in the lower animals.

This identification of the complex machinery ofhuman perception with that of animals must not beregarded as an absurd paradox, since, as we haveshown in an earlier work, they were originally and inthemselves the same.* By pursuing an easy mode ofobservation, divested of prejudice, we may revert tothat primeval state of human nature, and may alsocomprehend with truth and certainty the condition ofanimals. For the animal nature has not ceasedto exist in man, and it may be discerned by thosewho care to look for it ; and careful study, with theconstant aid of observation and experiment, will revealto us the hidden life of sensation and intelligence inthe lower animals.

There is a continual self-consciousness in allanimals ; it is inseparable from all their internal and* Bella legge fondamentale della inteUigenza nel regno animale

Milano. Dumolard, 1877.


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50 MYTH AND SCIENCE.external acts, from every fact, passion, and emotion ;and this is clear and obvious. This fundamental andpersistent self-consciousnesspersistent in dreams,and even in the calmest sleep, which is always accom-panied by a vague sensationis the consciousness ofa living subject, active, impressionable, exercising hiswill, capable of emotions and passions. It is not theconsciousness of an inert thing, passive, dead, orextrinsic ; for animal life consists in sensation ofgreater or less intensity, but always of sensation.Consequently, such a consciousness signifies for theanimal a constant apprehension of an active facultyexercised intrinsically in himself, and it makes hislife into a mobile drama, of which he is implicitlyconscious, of acts and emotions, of impulses, desires,and suspicions.

This inward form of emotional life and psychicaland organic action, into which the whole valae ofpersonal existence is resolved, may be said to investand modify all the animal's active relations to theexternal world, which it vivifies and modifies accord-ing to its own image. The subsequent act of doublingthe faculties which takes place in man does not occurin the animal ; a process which modifies through theintellect the spontaneous and primitive act. Conse-quently, the active and inward sense which is peculiarto the animal is renewed in him by the externalthings and phenomena of nature which stimulate andexcite him.


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ANIMAL SENSATION AND PERCEPTION. 51Two kinds of things present themselves to his

perception : other animals, of whatever species, andthe inanimate' objects of the world. As far as theother animals are concerned, which are obvious tohis perception, it is perfectly evident that upon thesehe will project his whole internal life of consciousnessadd emotions, and will feel their identity with him-self by his implicit and intuitive judgment. And infact, the movements, sounds, gestures, and forms ofother animals necessarily cause this sense of inwardpsychical identity, whence arises the implicit notionof an animated and personal subject. Any one whoobserves, however superficially, the conduct of animalsto each other when they first meet, cannot doubtthis truth for an instant.

Although the external form and character ofthe animal perceived are important factors of theimplicit notion of an animated personal subject,this belief is even more due to the animal's inwardconsciousness of himself as a living subject whichis reflected in the extrinsic form of the other andis identified with it. The spontaneous and personalpsychical effort does not decompose the object per-ceived into its proper elements by means of reflexattention, but it is immediately projected on thosephenomena which assume a form analogous to thesentient subject.

The fact of this law must never be forgotten inthe analysis of animal intelligence and sensation.


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52 MYTH AND SCIENCE.All those who do not keep clearly in view the real andgenuine character of the sentient and intelligentfaculty in animals are liable to error.

In addition to the perceptions we have mentioned,animals have a perception of inanimate things, thatis, of various bodies and phenomena of nature.Although the form, motion, and gestures of an analo-gous and personal subject are wanting in these cases,so that they do not cause extrinsically the same im-plicit idea, neither do they remain, as with a cultivatedand rational man, things and qualities of independentexistence, disconnected with the life of the animalwhich perceives them, exerting no intentional efficacy,and governed by necessary laws by means of whichthey act and exist.

A cultivated and rational man, by the reflex andcalm examination of things, can correctly distinguishthese two classes of subjects and phenomena, andcannot as a rule be deceived as to their real andrelative value with respect to them and to himself.But when he forgets his primary intellectual con-dition, and does not perfectly understand the per-manent condition of animals, he beheves that theirfaculties are identical, and that things, qualities, andphenomena present the same appearance to the humanand the animal perception. Yet the actual nature ofthe thing, so far as it is estimated by our perception asan object different from ourselves and from any otheranimal, cannot be so apprehended by animals which


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ANIMAL SENSATION AND PERCEPTION. 53lack the analytical faculty in the perennial flow oftheir perceptions ; the actual and inanimate thing ispresented to them only by the intrinsic, peculiar,personal, and psychical quality of the animal itself.

If form, and characteristic and deliberate action,are wanting to the substances and phenomena ofinanimate nature, qualities which more readilyarouse in animals the idea of a subject resemblingand analogous to themselves, yet there always remainsthe apprehension of some sort of form in whichnotdistinguished from the others by reflex actionthe in-ward faculty of sensation and emotion is repeated andimpersonated by the perceiving animal. Thus everyform, every object, every external phenomenon becomesvivified and animated by the intrinsic consciousnessand personal psychical faculty of the animal itself.Every object, fact, and phenomenon of nature will notmerely appear to him as the real object which it is,but he will necessarily perceive it as a Hving anddeliberating power, capable of affecting him agreeablyor injuriously.

Every one is aware of the jealous, suspiciousnature of animals, and that they are not only in-quisitive about other animals, but about everymaterial object which they see unexpectedly, whichmoves in an unusual way, or which interferes withor injures them.

It must have been often observed how they turnagainst any object which has chanced to hurt them.


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54 MYTH AND SCIENCE.or which has annoyed them by regular and re-peated motions, how they start at the sudden appear-ance or oscillation of some unlooked-for thing, at anunusual Hght, a colour, a stone, a plant, at the flut-tering of branches, of clothes, or weathercocks, atthe rush of water, at the slightest movement orsound in the twilight, or in the darkness of night.They look about, and consider all things and pheno-mena as subjects actuated by will, and as having animmediate influence on their lives, either beneficentor injurious.

Undoubtedly they do, as a rule, by means of theirimplicit judgment, distinguish animals as of a dif-ferent type from other objects, but they transfuseinto everything their own personality and their in-trinsic consciousness. This is the case with the wholeanimal kingdom, at least with those whose internalemotion can be gathered from their external move-ments and gestures.

An animal is sometimes aware that an enemywhich may lie in wait for and destroy him hasapproached the neighbourhood of his haunts, or atany rate may interfere with the freedom of hisordinary life, and he withdraws as far as he can fromthis new peril or injury, and seeks to defend himselffrom ike malice of his enemy by special arts. Inthis case, the external subject or thing is what hisown objective sense conceives it to be, and his inwardperception corresponds to an actual cosmic reality.


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ANIMAL SENSATION AND PEECEPTION. 55Suppose that instead of tljis, the neighbourhood of

a fierce fire, or violent rain and hail, or a stormy wind,or some other natural phenomenon, surprises or in-jures such creatures ; these facts do not affect themas if they were merely occurrences in accordance withcosmic laws, for such a simple conception of things isnot grasped by them. Such phenomena of natureare regarded by animals as living subjects, actuatedby a concrete and deliberate purpose of ill-will towardsthem. Any one who has observed animals as I havedone for many years, both in a wild and domesticstate, and under every variety of conditions andcircumstances, will readily 9,dmit the fact.

This truth, which clearly appears from an acciu'ateanalysis of facts, and from experiments, can also bedemonstrated by the arguments of reason. Sinceanimals have no conception of the purely cosmicreality of the phenomena and laws which constitutenature, it follows that such a reality must appear totheir inner consciousness in its various effects as asubject vaguely identical with their own psychicalnature. Hence they regard nature as if she wereinspired with the same life, will, and purpose, asthose which they themselves exercise, and of whichthey have an immediate and intrinsic consciousness.

It is true that after long experience animals be-come accustomed to regard as harmless the pheno-mena, objects, and forces by which they were atfirst sympathetically excited and terrified. Of this


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56 MYTH AND SCIENCE.we have innumerable examples both among wildand domestic animals ; but although suspicion andanxiety are subdued by habit and experience, yet theseobjects and phenomena are not thereby transformedinto pure and simple realities. In the same way, ifthey are at first frightened by the sight and com-panionship of some other species or object, habitand experience gradually calm their fears and sus-picions, and the association or neighbourhood mayeven become agreeable to them. I have often ob-served that different species, both when at libertyand in confinement, are affected by the most livelysurprise and perturbation when some new pheno-menon has startled them ; they act as if it werereally a living and insidious subject, and then theygradually become calm and quiet, and regard it assome indifferent or beneficent power.

I must adduce some observations and experimentsfrom the many I have made on this subject. It maybe objected that if animals in their spontaneous per-ception personify the object in question, they wouldgive signs of this fact with respect to all the objectswith which they come in contact, and among whichthey hve, and yet they remain indifferent to manyof them, which is a proof that they distinguish theanimate from the inanimate. In fact it cannot bedisputed that a vast number of the phenomena andobjects of nature are regarded by animals with in-difference ,- they are perceived by them, but it does


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ANIMAL SENSATION AND PERCEPTION. 57not appear that they suppose these things to he en-dowed with life. It is, however, necessary in thefirst place to distinguish two modes and stages inthis animation of things, one of which we may termstatic, and the other dynamic. In the first instance,the sentient subject remains tranquil at the verymoment when he vivifies the phenomenon or thething perceived ; while the act is accomplished withso much animating force, and with an implicit andfugitive consciousness, it exerts no immediate andsudden influence on the perceiving animal, and con-sequently he gives no external signs of the per-sonifying character of his perception. In the secondinstance, which we have termed dynamic, that is,when the phenomenon or object has a direct andsudden effect on the animal himself, he expresses byhis movements, gestures, cries, and other signs, howinstantaneously he considers and feels the object inquestion to be alive, for he behaves in exactly thesame way towards real animals.

Animals are accustomed to show such indiffer-ence towards numerous objects that it might besupposed that they have an accurate conception ofwhat is inanimate ; but this arises from habit, fromlong experience, and partly also from the hereditarydisposition of the organism towards this habit. Butif the object should act in any unusual way, then theanimating process which, as we have just said, wasrendered static by its habitual exercise, again becomes


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58 MYTH AND SCIENCE.dynamic, and the special and permanent character ofthe act is at once revealed. We have experience ofthis fact in ourselves, although we are now capableof immediately distinguishing between the animateand the inanimate, and man alone has, or can have,a rational conception of what are really cosmic objectsor things. Yet if we suddenly and unexpectedly seesome object move in a strange way, which we knowfrom experience to be inanimate, the innate inclina-tion to personify it takes effect, and for a momentwe are amazed, as if the phenomenon were producedby deliberate power proper to itself.

I have kept various kinds of animals for severalyears, in order to observe them and try experimentsat my convenience. I have suddenly inserted anunfamiliar object in the various cages in which I havekept birds, rabbits, moles, and other animals. At firstsight the animal is always surprised, timid, curious, orsuspicious, and often retreats from it. By degrees hisconfidence returns, and after keeping out of the wayfor some time, he becomes accustomed to it, andresumes his usual habits. If then, by a simplearrangement of strings already prepared, I move theobject to and fro, without showing myself, the animalscuttles about and is much less easily reconciled toits appearance. I have tried this experiment withvarious animals, and the result is almost always thesame.

In the cage of a very tame thrush, I made a


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ANIMAL SENSATION AND PERCEPTION. 59movable bottom to his feeding trough, so arrangedthat by suddenly pulling a cord, the food which itcontained could be raised or lowered. When every-thing remained stationary in its place the thrash atewith lively readiness, but as soon as I raised the foodhe nearly always flew off in alarm. When the ex-periment had been often repeated, he did not like tocome near the feeding trough, andwhich is a stiUstronger proof that he imagined the foqd itself to beendowed with lifehe often refused to approach, oronly approached in fear the sopped bread which wasplaced outside the trough. I tried the same experi-ment with other birds, and nearly always with thesame result.

On another occasion I repeatedly waved a whitehandkerchief before a spirited horse, bringing it closeto his eyes ; at first he looked at it suspiciously andshied a little, but without being much discomposed,and I continued the experiment until he becameaccustomed to its ordinary appearance. One day Iand a friend went out driving with this horse, andI directed a man, while we were passing at a moderatepace, to wave the same handkerchief, attached to astick, in such a way that his person on the other side ofthe hedge was invisible. The horse was scared andshied violently, and even in the stable he could notsee the handkerchief without trembling, and it wasdifficult to reconcile him to the sight of it. I re-peated the experiment with slight variations on other


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60 MYTH AND SCIENCE.horses, and the issue was always more or less thesame.

Again, I placed a scarecrow or bogey in a parti-coloured dress in the spaciou

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Vignoli - Science and Myth