274 MYTH AND SCIENCE. 



in the easy chair and looking fixedly at me : the 

 whole body was in harmony with the head, which 

 had first resulted from the rude resemblance to 

 a human face. The image appeared to me so real 

 and distinct that on rising from the bed and 

 gradually approaching it, its form did not vanish, 

 even when I was near enough to touch the object 

 which produced it. An analysis showed that the 

 features, limbs, and position corresponded . in every 

 point with the folds and relative position of the articles 

 of dress which had formed it. A similar process, 

 issuing in such apparitions, is a frequent cause of 

 illusions, which in the case of ingenuous, super- 

 stitious, and primitive peoples, may lead to the firm 

 conviction that they have seen an apparition. This 

 has certainly been the case in primitive and even in 

 civilized times, and has given occasion to myths, 

 legends, and the worship of tutelary deities and saints. 



If we consider the causes of such a phenomenon, 

 and analyze its elements and motives, we shall, I 

 think, discover that it goes far to explain many 

 normal and abnormal hallucinations. 



In the first place, there is in man a deep sense 

 of the analogies of things, partly developed by the 

 organic tendency to regard any given object of 

 perception as subjective and causative, and to infuse 

 into it our own animal life, a tendency confirmed 

 by education and the practice of daily life. Such 

 analogies, which find their expression in metaphor, 



