THE GENESIS OF SUPERSTITIONS. 523 



places for the stars ? and did those which disappeared during the day 

 go below where the rest are ? Once more, overhanging the pool is 

 this dead tree, from which he breaks off branches for firewood. Is 

 there not an image of it too ? and the branch which he burns and which 

 vanishes into nothing in burning is there not some connection be- 

 tween its invisible state and that image of it in the water which 

 he could not touch, any more than he can now touch the consumed 

 branch ? 



That reflections thus generate a belief confused and inconsistent 

 it may be, but still a belief that each individual has a duplicate, 

 usually unseen, but which may be seen on going to the water-side and 

 looking in, is not an a priori inference only ; there are facts verifying 

 it. According to Williams, some Feejeeans " speak of man as having 

 two spirits. His shadow is called ' the dark spirit,' which, they say, 

 goes to Hades. The other is his likeness reflected in water or a look- 

 ing-glass, and is supposed to stay near the place in which a man dies." 

 This belief in two spirits is, indeed, the most consistent one. For are 

 not a man's shadow and his reflection separate ? and are they not co- 

 existent with one another and with himself? Can he not, standing 

 at the water-side, observe that the reflection in the water and the 

 shadow on the shore, simultaneously move as he moves? Clearly, 

 while both belong to him, the two are independent of him and of one 

 another; for both may be absent together, and either may be present 

 in the absence of the other. 



Early theories about this duplicate are now beside the question, 

 and must be ignored. We are concerned only with the fact that it is 

 thought of as real. To the primitive mind, making first steps in the 

 interpretation of the surrounding world, here is revealed another class 

 of facts confirming the notion that existences have their visible and 

 invisible states, and strengthening the implication of a duality in each 

 existence. 



Let any one ask himself what would be his thought if, in a state 

 of childlike ignorance, he were to pass some spot and to hear repeated 

 a shout which he uttered. Would he not inevitably conclude that the 

 answering shout came from another person ? Succeeding shouts sev- 

 erally repeated with words and tones like his own, yet without visible 

 source, would rouse the idea that this person was mocking him, and at 

 the same time concealing himself. A futile search in the wood or 

 under the cliff would end in the conviction that the hiding person was 

 very cunning : especially when joined to the fact that here, in the spot 

 whence the answer before came, no answer was now given obviously 

 because it would disclose the mocker's whereabouts. If at this same 

 place, on subsequent occasions, this responsive shout from a source 

 eluding search always came to any passer-by who called out, the re- 

 sulting thought would be that in this place there dwelt one of these 



