TREE-WORSHIP 23 



one in higher beings whose aid must be begged 

 or bought. 



The earliest ideas of cause and effect are 

 extremely crude. It is believed that neigh- 

 bourhood and superficial likeness establish 

 causal relations. This belief is still widely- 

 prevalent. Mr. J. G. Frazer says in The 

 Golden Bough, that '' if the test of truth lay in 

 a show of hands or a counting of heads, the 

 system of magic might appeal, with far more 

 reason than the Catholic Church, to the proud 

 motto, Quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab 

 omnibus, as the sure and certain credential of 

 its own infallibility". 



The reader will be familiar with many 

 instances of imitative magic, such as pouring 

 out water in imitation of rain, and beating 

 drums in imitation of thunder, in order to 

 bring a drought to an end. The people who 

 do this are not invoking a higher power ; they 

 believe that the resemblance will suffice to 

 produce the reality. We must limit ourselves 

 to a few examples relating to our particular 

 subject. Mr. Frazer, in The Golden Bough, 

 gives many modern instances; of which the 

 following ones will suffice for our purpose. 



