146 LESSONS FROM NATURE. [CHAP. VI. 



so, and that it must have done so we may judge from the 

 outcome which has since resulted. 



We may, then, conclude that there is no evidence of the ex 

 istence of any race altogether devoid of religious conceptions, 

 or possessing religious conceptions so fundamentally different 

 from those existing to-day, that it is impossible to regard them 

 as instances of degradation. The actual non-existence of 

 such races may be taken as established from the failure of all 

 efforts to prove their existence, and from the admissions herein 

 quoted. Before leaving the subject, an amusing parody of 

 certain recent attempts to explain almost all early history 

 and legend by myths of dawn and sunrise may be cited. 

 Mr. Tylor says,* with respect to the Song of Sixpence: 

 &quot; Obviously, the four-and-twenty blackbirds are the four- 

 and-twenty hours, and the pie that holds them is the under 

 lying earth covered with the overarching sky : how true a 

 touch of nature it is, that when the pie is opened, that is, 

 when day breaks, the birds begin to sing. The king is the 

 sun, and his counting out his money is pouring out the sun 

 shine, the golden shower of Danae. The queen is the moon, 

 and her transparent honey the moonlight. The maid is the 

 rosy-fingered dawn, who rises before the sun her master, and 

 hangs out the clouds, his clothes, across the sky. The 

 particular blackbird who so tragically ends the tale by 

 snipping off her nose is the hour of sunrise.&quot; Mr. Tylor 

 similarly explains the life and death of Julius Csesar. 



We may now proceed to our fourth inquiry, that concerning 

 second new &quot; Progress,&quot; or the question whether, on the whole, 



subject, Pro- , .-, -, 



gress. progress has prevailed among savage races, or 



whether they have not, in the main, degenerated ? As to 

 this matter, both our authors are strongly of opinion that no 

 extensive or predominant retrogression has taken place. 

 Nevertheless, certain facts stated by them, and certain 



lazzarone and the lazzaretto take their name, obviously derives these qualities 

 from the Lazarus of the parable.&quot; Does Mr. Tylor forget the Lazarus raised 

 from the dead ? 



* Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 287. 



