452 THE MIND OF PRIMITIVE MAN. 



There are two possible explanations of the different manifestations 

 of the mind of man. It may be that the minds of different races show 

 differences of organization; that is to say, the laws of mental activity 

 may not be the same for all minds. But it may also be that the organ- 

 ization of mind is practically identical among all races of man; that 

 mental activity follows the same laws everywhere, but that its mani- 

 festations depend upon the character of individual experience that is 

 subjected to the action of these laws. 



It is quite evident that the activities of the human mind depend upon 

 these two elements. The organization of the mind may be defined as 

 the group of laws which determine the modes of thought and of action, 

 irrespective of the subject-matter of mental activity. Subject to such 

 laws are the manner of discrimination between perceptions, the man- 

 ner in which perceptions associate themselves with previous percep- 

 tions, the manner in which a stimulus leads to action, and the emotions 

 produced by stimuli. These laws determine to a great extent the 

 manifestations of the mind. 



But, on the other hand, the influence of individual experience can 

 easily be shown to be very great. The bulk of the experience of man 

 is gained from oft-repeated impressions. It is one of the fundamental 

 laws of psychology that the repetition of mental processes increases 

 the facility with which these processes are performed, and decreases 

 the degree of consciousness that accompanies them. This law expresses 

 the well-known phenomena of habit. When a certain perception is 

 frequently associated with another previous perception, the one will 

 habitually call forth the other. When a certain stimulus frequently 

 results in a certain action, it will tend to call forth habitually the same 

 action. If a stimulus has often produced a certain emotion, it will 

 tend to reproduce it every time. 



The explanation of the activity of the mind of man, therefore, 

 requires the discussion of two distinct problems. The first bears upon 

 the question of unity or diversity of organization of the, mind, while 

 the second bears upon the diversity produced by the variety of con- 

 tents of the mind as found in the various social and geographical 

 environments. The task of the investigator consists largely in sepa- 

 rating these two causes and in attributing to each its proper share in 

 the development of the peculiarities of the mind. It is the latter 

 problem, principally, which is of interest to the folk-lorist. When 

 we define as folk-lore the total mass of traditional matter present in 

 the mind of a given people at any given time, we recognize that this 

 matter must influence the opinions and activities of the people more or 

 less according to its quantitative and qualitative value, and also that 

 the actions of each individual must be influenced to a greater or less 

 extent by the mass of traditional material present in his mind. 



We will first devote our attention to the question, Do differences 

 exist in the organization of the human mind? Since Waitz's thorough 



