STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM. 113 



from one point of view, is the gradual exhaustion and 

 dissolution of myth into the ohjects which are scienti- 

 fically investigated, and this will appear more clearly 

 in the sequel. 



The series of various phenomena, whether of light, 

 of meteors, of water, of vegetable and animal forms, 

 which were the first subjects of myths, became so 

 interwoven as finally to be represented in an anthro- 

 pomorphic personality, and were thus gradually lost 

 and evaporated in the ideal symbol. As time went 

 on, by the exercise of the intelligence, and by the 

 aid of the observations and collateral experiments 

 naturally connected with them, man ended where he 

 had begun ; released from myth, he only recognized 

 the facts and laws of the world. This clearly shows, 

 not only the formation of myths, but the process of ' 

 evolution by which they pass into science, in which 

 they find their termination. 



If, however, myth and science have the same origin, v/ 

 and start from a common fact, a fundamental prin- 

 ciple is necessary, and an internal human act, which 

 is at once the cause and genesis both of myth and 

 science. And although the source is one, myth and 

 science vary in their aspects and effects, and have 

 different fields of historic activity, so that it is neces- 

 sary to trace the cause of this diversity in their pro- 

 gress and results, to enable us to make a scientific 

 definition of the nature of myth and science, their 

 respective sources and objects. 



