PSYCHICAL EVOLUTION 129 



rather than what we esteem as virtue. In fact, 

 the so-called religion of the lower races of man- 

 kind bears somewhat the same relation to religion 

 in its higher forms as astrology does to astronomy 

 or alchemy to chemistry ' (3). 



Savages have few general ideas of any kind, as 

 is evidenced by the almost total absence among 

 them of words denoting general ideas. Many savage 

 races cannot comprehend numbers greater than 

 five or six, and are unable to make the simplest 

 mathematical computations without using the 

 fingers. The languages of savages are extremely 

 rude, words being freely pieced out with panto- 

 mime. Savages talk with difficulty in the dark, 

 because of their great reliance on gesture in con- 

 versation. The rich vocabularies of the languages 

 of Europe and America have grown up step by 

 step with the evolution of European and American 

 mind. Every language is an evolution. The 

 languages of many primitive peoples lack the verb 

 to be entirely, and all nouns are proper nouns. 

 Words are often little more than grunts or clucks, 

 and are without the euphony and articulation found 

 in the languages of the civilised. Darwin says 

 that the language of the Fuegians sounds like a 

 man clearing his throat. Not only every language, 

 but every word, both in its form and meaning, 

 is in process of evolution. Spirit, for instance, 

 originally meant ' blowing,' understanding meant 

 * getting beneath,' and development the physical act 

 of 'unfolding.' Words are continually drifting 

 from their original meanings under the stress of 



9 



