HUMAN SENSATION AND PEECEPTION. 95 



The second form of myth next occurs, if con- 

 sidered as it exists in man, but the third form of 

 myth, if regarded in his solidarity with the animal 

 kingdom. Instead of investing the special fetish of 

 a given object with superstitious fear, he now adores 

 or fears all objects of the same species, or which, in 

 the imperfect classification of primitive times, he be- 

 lieves to be of the same species. Thus, to give a 

 common example, if some particular viper or other 

 form of snake is the first form of fetish, in the second 

 stage the whole species of vipers, and of the snakes 

 which resemble them, is regarded with the same 

 dread. He next supposes all the snakes which he 

 comes across to emanate from a single power, 

 manifesting itself in this shape in various times and 

 places. In the same way, according to the natural 

 evolution of this law, the individual, concrete plant 

 will no longer be the fetish or object of myth, but all 

 those of the same species, or which nearly resemble 

 it. It will no longer be a given spring, but all 

 springs, no longer one particular grove, cave, or 

 mountain, but all groves, caves, and mountains ; in 

 a word, the species will be substituted for the indi- 

 vidual, the type for the fact.* 



speak generally of the historic evolution of science and of myth. 

 The repetition is not superfluous, since it is necessary for the complete 

 understanding of my theory. 



* For example, in ancient Roman mythology the Fans was first 

 adored, then Fontus, the father of all sources, and finally Janus, a 

 solar myth, the father of Fontus. Janus, as the sun, was the pro- 

 ducer of all water, which rose by evaporation and fell again in rain. 



