THE IDEAS AND SOURCES OF MYTH. 19 



ing in man the primitive act which issues the 

 general animism of things, which becomes the sub- 

 stance of the ulterior myths in their intellectual and 

 historical evolution. It is evident, at least to those 

 who do not cling obstinately to old traditions, that 

 man is evolved from the animal kingdom. The com- 

 parative anatomy, physiology, and psychology of man 

 and other animals distinctly show their intimate con- 

 nection in conformation, tissues, organs, and functions, 

 and above all, in consciousness and intelligence. This 

 truth, deduced from simple observation and experi- 

 ment, must lead to the conviction that all issued from 

 the same germ, and had the same genesis. 



For those who do not cherish pedantic and sec- 

 tarian prejudices, this hypothesis is changed into as- 

 surance by modern discoveries ; it is shown in the 

 transformations and transitions of paleontological 

 forms ; in the embryogenic evolution of so many 

 animals, man included, which, according to their 

 various species, reveals the lower types whence they 

 issued ; in the successive forms taken by the foetus ; 

 in the powerful and indisputable laws of selection; 

 in the modifications by adaptation of the different 

 organisms, and in the effects of isolation. This is the 

 only rational explanation, confirmed as it is by fresh 

 facts every day, of the multiplicity and variety 01 

 organic forms in the lapse of time ; unless, indeed, we 

 ascribe such variety to a miracle, even more difficult 

 to accept than the difficulties of the opposite theory. 



