46 MYTH AND SCIENCE. 



one must recognize the necessity of this study in 

 order to understand and explain the true history of 

 thought and of sociology. 



The energy, the power, the physical and intellec- 

 tual worth of a people are revealed as a whole in its 

 mythical products, whether in the quality and great- 

 ness of their beliefs, in the greater or less definiteness 

 of their system, or in their development into more 

 rational notions ; and from the complex whole we can 

 -tiniate the worth of their civilization. So that, 

 where other extrinsic testimony is wanting, the study 

 of these primitive creations will reveal to us their 

 psychological worth. This is the origin of the com- 

 parative psychology of peoples, a most fruitful science, 

 which not only teaches us to rank the various families 

 of peoples according to their relative value, but it is 

 of great use in making man acquainted with himself, 

 and with psychology in general. 



In fact, modern psychology can only advance by 

 means of observation and experiment, which con- 

 stitute it one of the natural sciences ; and this is 

 abundantly proved by the modern English schools, 

 and the experimental school in Germany. Yet ob- 

 servation of the states of consciousness taken alone 

 is defective, unless it is enlarged by the comparative 

 examination of a greater number of subjects ; nor 

 must ethnical peculiarities be passed over, and it is 

 precisely these which are included in the comparative 

 psychology of peoples. The large amount of results, 



