RELIGION, EDUCATION, FINE ARTS. 



633 



Foreign Universities. 



Humanities are those branches of educa- 

 tion or study which are included in what are 

 called polite or elegant learning, as languages, 

 grammar, philosophy, and poetry, with that 

 pertaining to what is called polite literature, 

 including the ancient classics. The name im- 

 plies that the study of. these branches, in op- 

 position to the physical sciences, which espe- 

 cially develop the intellectual faculties, has a 

 tendency to humanize man, to cultivate par- 

 ticularly those faculties which distinguish him 

 as man in all his relations, social and moral ; 

 that is, which make him a truly cultured man. 



Animal Worship. Among primitive 

 peoples, all animals are supposed to be en- 

 dowed with souls which in many cases have 

 formerly animated human beings. Hence a 

 likeness is often recognized between an animal 

 and some deceased friend, and the animal is 

 addressed as the person would have been, and 

 honored with a kind of worship. Many tribes 

 call themselves by the name of, and even de- 

 rive their pedigree from, some animal. Its 

 cries become the omens of the tribe ; and thug 

 originate the divination and augury of more 

 civilized nations. In the modern world the 



