32 MYTH AND SCIENCE. 



it was severed, and if at the same time we confront 

 it with the t3 7 pes of other peoples at various stages, 

 from the rudest to the most civilized, it becomes 

 possible to form a clear conception of the genesis 

 and successive evolution of myth and science of which 

 the human race is capable, and in this way we may 

 understand the general law -which governs such evolu- 

 tions. This study also teaches us that humanity, 

 whether we agree with monogeuists or poligenists, is 

 physically and psychically in all respects the same 

 in its essential elements; in all peoples without 

 distinction, as ethnography teaches us, the origin and 

 genesis of myth, the implicit exercise of reason and 

 its development, are, at all events up to a given point, 

 absolutely identical. All start from the same mani- 

 festations and mythical creations, and these are 

 afterwards developed according to the logical or 

 scientific canons of thought, which are applied to 

 their classification. Both among fetish-worshippers 

 and polytheists there was a tendency towards mono- 

 theism, although sometimes it could only be discerned 

 in a vague and confused manner. 



If myth is, as I have said, to be considered from 

 another point of view, as the spontaneous effect of the 

 intelligence, and a necessary function, relatively to 

 the primary act from which it begins, it might appear 

 that myth would never cease to be, and that humanity, 

 even as it is represented by the elect and enduring 

 race, must always remain in this original illusion ; so 



