6 A SHORT HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



(animatisni) . Or it may seem to be an individual tree, bent by 

 an invisible but powerful being like a man and perhaps having a 

 name such as "Boreas" (the Greeks' name for the north wind). 

 In this latter case we have the assumption of personality and, by 

 analogy with man, of the presence and influence of a spirit or 

 soul (animism). 



PREVALENCE OF ANIMISM IN ANTIQUITY. Judging by the 

 opinions and beliefs of races which still exist in very low 

 stages of development, prehistoric man when he pondered at 

 all, reasoned largely in the direction of animism. He in- 

 terpreted himself and his actions by his own ideas, will, feelings, 

 and desires, and reasoned that other things were actuated like- 

 wise. If, for example, he killed an ox or a man by a blow, and 

 later an ox or a man were killed by lightning, it was reasonable 

 to assume that some invisible and manlike being had given the 

 ox or man an invisible blow. The oldest records of the human 

 race confirm this idea. The ancient Assyrians, Babylonians, and 

 Egyptians "animated" much of what we today call inanimate, 

 i.e. inorganic, nature ; and Greek and Hebrew poetry are full of 

 survivals of this view of man and nature, which on the higher 

 levels passes into personification and anthropomorphism. The 

 establishment of a hierarchy of the gods of Greece, such as was 

 supposed to dwell upon Mt. Olympus, is merely a further differ- 

 entiation of the same kind. "The Hellenic gods and goddesses 

 are glorified men and women." 



SOURCES OF INFORMATION CONCERNING PREHISTORIC AND 

 ANCIENT TIMES. These are of three kinds, tradition, monuments 

 (including tools, implements, pottery, and other objects which 

 have survived to the present time, more or less in their original 

 form), and inscriptions. Of these tradition, because readily sub- 

 ject to perversion, is the least reliable and need not be further 

 considered. It is monuments, such as ruins, tombs, weapons, 

 pottery, implements, ornaments, furniture, and the like, upon 

 which we must chiefly depend for our knowledge of prehistoric 

 times, and the evidence which has been gradually accumulated 

 from finds of this sort is extensive and trustworthv and corre- 



