74 MYTH AXD SCIENCE. 



logical researches with respect to the origin of re- 

 ligions, and of myth in general, is now recognized 

 as certain ; but it seems to me that the interpre- 

 tation and explanation of it are altogether ini- 

 plete. They suppose it to be simply the effect 

 of psj'chological laws as far as man is concerned, 

 whereas we have shown that it forms, in the ultimate 

 causes by which it is produced, the very essence of 

 animal perception. They ascribe it to man as a 

 rational hypothesis to explain the primitive order 

 of things, whereas it is a spontaneous and primary 

 intuition of the animal intelligence. 



Alger, although he is also mistaken as to the 

 true causes of myth in general, expresses himself 

 better when he asserts that the brain of a savage 

 is always dominated by the idea that all objects 

 whatsoever have a soul precisely similar to that of 

 man. The custom of burning and burying various 

 things with the dead body was, he thinks, in many 

 cases prompted by the belief that every such object 

 had its manes* 



In fact, the innate psychical and organic con- 

 stitution of the intelligence, both animal and human, 

 is such that it spontaneously and necessarily projects 

 itself into every object of nature and perception, 

 animating and personifying it by this special law, 

 and not by a reflective hypothesis, such as would be 

 the conscious and deliberate solution of a given pro- 



* See Alger'e Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life. 



