EVOLUTION OF CEREMONIAL GOVERNMENT. 21 



and Romans, who used for the sph-its of deceased relatives the same 

 word which they used for their great deities ; and besides being shown 

 it by the Egyptians, in whose hieroglyphics the same " determinative " 

 means, according to the context, god, ancestor, august person — we are 

 shown it by the Hebrews, who applied the word elohim not only to 

 their supreme supernatural being but also to ghosts : indeed, giving as 

 they did this same name to living persons of power, they show us, just 

 as primitive peoples at large do, that superiority of one or other kind is 

 the sole attribute ascribed. And since in early belief the other-self of 

 the dead man is equally visible and tangible with the living man, so 

 that it may be slain, drowned, or otherwise killed a second time; 

 since the resemblance is such that it is difficult to learn what is the dif- 

 ference between a god and a chief among the Feejeeans ; since the in- 

 stances of theophany in the " Iliad " prove that the Greek god, capable 

 of beino- wounded by men's weapons, was in all respects so like a man 

 that special insight was required to discriminate him — we see how nat- 

 urally it results that the title " god," given to a powerful being com- 

 monly thought of as invisible, is often given to a visible powerful 

 beino" -. the title being applied under the belief that he may be the 

 other-self of some dreaded man come back, even if it is not applied be- 

 cause of his natural superiority. Indeed, as a sequence of this theory, 

 it almost inevitably happens that men transcending in capacity those 

 atound them are suspected to be these returned ghosts or gods, to 

 whom unusual powers are ordinarily ascribed. Hence the fact that 

 Europeans, considered as the doubles of their own deceased people, 

 are called ghosts by Australians, New-Caledonians, Darnley-Islanders, 

 Krooraen, Calabar people, Mpongwe, etc. Hence the fact that they are 

 called by the alternative name gods by Bushmen, Bechuanas, East Af- 

 ricans, Fulahs, Khonds, Feejeeans, Dyaks, ancient Mexicans, Chibchas, 

 etc. Hence the fact that, using the word in the sense above explained, 

 superior men among uncivilized peoples occasionally call themselves 

 gods ; as do the palas, a kind of priests among the Todas, and as do 

 some chiefs among the New-Zealanders and among the Feejeeans. 



The original meaning and application of the word being thus under- 

 stood, we need feel no surprise on finding " God " used as a title of 

 honor. The King of Loango is so called by his subjects. Battel tells us ; 

 and Krapf says the like of the King of Msambara. At the present time 

 among wandering Arabs, the name " God " is applied in no other sense 

 than as the generic name of the most powerful living ruler known to 

 them. This makes more credible than it might otherwise be, the state- 

 ment that the Grand Lama, personally worshiped by the Tartars, is 

 called by them "God, the Father." It is in harmony with such other 

 facts as that Radama, King of Madagascar, is addressed by the women 

 who sing his praises as "O our God ;" and that to the Dahoman king 

 the alternative word " Spirit " is used ; so that, when he summons an}' 

 one, the messenger says, " The Spirit requires you," and when he has 



