HUMAN SKNSATION AND PEECEPTION. 71 



At the epoch of their composition the human race 

 had made some relative progress in morals and civili- 

 zation ; yet we find that psychical human life was 

 transfused and projected into everything : man per- 

 sonified each phenomenon and force of nature in 

 accordance with his own image. 



For example, fire in general was personified and 

 identified with humanity in Ayni ; even the shape 

 taken by the flames, all which was required to light 

 the fire, the whole process of the sacrifice, even the 

 doors of the altar-railing, the prayer and oblation to 

 the god.* 



We also learn from the solemn and ancient songs 

 of the Eig-Veda that all terrestrial, meteorological, 

 and celestial phenomena were more or less vaguely 

 personified. These facts recur in all the earliest 

 recollections of civilized peoples. If we turn from 

 these to observe the savage races of modern times, 

 and the most barbarous tribes still extant in conti- 

 nents and isles far removed from culture and science, 

 we shall again find the same beliefs. The range 

 of absurd personifications, degenerating into the 

 most trivial and varied forms of fetish worship, 

 becomes wider, and its influence deeper, in proportion 

 to the rude and barbarous condition of the tribe or 

 stock in which they appear. 



* See, among other works on the subject, Die Herahku^ft des 

 Feuers und des Gottertranlcs, by Adalbert Kulm ; and Croyances et 

 Le'gendes de I'Antiquite" by A. Maury. 



