66 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



mythic communal village, with its Thing or Coimcil, the very coun- 

 terpart of the communal village of Iceland. Olympus was a Greek 

 city. 



Still further in the study of mythologic philosophy we see that 

 more and more supremacy falls into the hands of the few, until mono- 

 theism is established on the plan of the empire. Then all of the in- 

 ferior deities whose characters are pure become ministering angels, 

 and the inferior deities whose characters are evil become devils, and 

 the differentiation of good and evil is perfected in the gulf between 

 heaven and hell. In all this time from zootheism to monotheism, 

 ancientism becomes more ancient, and the times and dynasties are 

 multiplied. Spiritism is more clearly defined, and sj)irits become 

 eternal ; mythologic tales are codified, and sacred books are written ; 

 divination for the result of amorous intrigue has become the prophecy 

 of immortality, and thaumaturgics is formulated as the omnipotent, 

 the omnipresent, and the infinite. 



Time has failed me to tell of the evolution of idolatry from fetich- 

 ism, priestcraft from sorcery, and of their overthrow by the doctrines 

 that were uttered by that voice on the Mount. Religion, that was 

 fetichism and ecstacism and sorcery, is now the yearning for some- 

 thing better, something purer, and the means by which this highest 

 state for humanity may be reached, the ideal worship of the highest 

 monotheism, is "in spirit and in truth." The steps are long from 

 Shinauav, the ancient of wolves, by Zeus, the ancient of skies, to 

 Jehovah, the "ancient of days." 



Comparative theology furnishes grand illustrations of the pro- 

 cesses of evolution. It presents a multiplicity of events occurring in 

 orderly succession in obedience to the laws of adaptation, heredity, 

 and survival of the fittest, and, in passing from the lower to the higher 

 state, it demonstrates the fundamental law of progress, that evolution 

 is from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous by successive differen- 

 tiations and integrations. 



THE EYOLUTION OF A NEW SENSE. 



By WILLIAM A. EDDY. 



WE find that the degrees of perception in people vary. In other 

 words, one may receive more impressions than another, so that 

 we measure the extent of a person's life by the number of objects or 

 ideas that produce a lasting effect and modify the disposition or mental 

 tendency. This suggests a comparison of the senses in different per- 

 sons. Then arises the general question of the possible evolution of 

 new powers, for with a wider meaning we may term the telegraph, 

 the i^rinting-press, and particularly the telescope, approximations to 



