THE IDEAS AND SOURCES OF MYTH. 15 



to personal or historical facts ; and next, because the 

 primitive value of many of them is so clear and dis- 

 tinct in their mode of expression that it is not possible 

 to derive them from any source but the direct per- 

 sonification of natural phenomena. Nor does it 

 appear to me to be always and altogether certain 

 that the origin of myths, also caused by the double 

 personality discerned in the shadow of the body itself, 

 in the images reflected by liquid substances, in echoes 

 and visions of the night, can be all ascribed to the 

 worship of the dead. 



The worship of the dead is undoubtedly universal. 

 There is no people, ancient or modern, civilized or 

 savage, by whom it has not been practised ; the fact 

 is proved by history, philology and ethnography. 

 But if the worship of the dead is a constant form, 

 manifested everywhere, it flourishes and is interwoven 

 with a multitude of other mythical forms and super- 

 stitious beliefs which cannot in any way be reduced 

 to this single form of worship, nor be derived from it. 

 This worship is undoubtedly one of the most abundant 

 sources of myth, and Spencer, with his profound 

 knowledge and keen discernment, was able to discuss 

 the hypothesis as it deserves ; whence his book, 

 even from this point of view, is a masterpiece of 

 analysis, like all those which issue from his powerful 

 mind. 



Yet even if the truth of this doctrine should be in 



great measure proved, the question must still be asked 



2 



