56 THE ORIGIN OF ANIMAL-WORSHIP. 



that which a lately-deceased parent was known to have 

 desired ?), has been the universal first form of religious be 

 lief ; and from it have grown up the many divergent be 

 liefs that have been referred to. 



Let me add, as a further reason for adopting this view, 

 that it immensely diminishes the apparently-great con 

 trast between early modes of thought and our own mode 

 of thought. Doubtless the aboriginal man diners con 

 siderably from us, both in intellect and feeling. But such 

 an interpretation of the facts as helps us to bridge over the 

 gap, derives additional likelihood from doing this. The 

 hypothesis I have sketched out enables us to see that 

 primitive ideas are not so gratuitously absurd as we sup 

 pose, and also enables us to rehabilitate the ancient myth 

 with far less distortion than at first sight appears possible. 



These views I hope to develop in the first part of 

 &quot; The Principles of Sociology.&quot; The large mass of evi 

 dence which I shall be able to give in support of the hypoth 

 esis, joined with the solutions it will be shown to yield 

 of many minor problems which I have passed over, will, 

 I think, then give to it a still greater probability than it 

 seems now to have. 



