THE SEARCH FOR CAUSES 235 



elusion may seem preposterous to educated 

 minds. But by an effort of introspection we may 

 conceive its possibility, and may understand how 

 our ancestors thought that they were haunted 

 by apparitions which were not phantasmal but 

 realities. It is only in this idea that an origin 

 can be found for the extraordinary fancies of 

 magic and witchcraft relics of our own history 

 that have been preserved by barbarous tribes. 



Human society probably originated in small 

 troops which lived in constant dread of the 

 dangerous beasts that were so numerous, even in 

 Europe, at the commencement of the quaternary 

 epoch. The first cause of success, was obedience 

 to their chief, who was represented not only by 

 the living head of the troop, but by the visioned 

 spirits of departed ancestors. To revere the 

 unity and the headship of the little group may have 

 been the earliest beginning of religion : we can 

 find traces of this observance everywhere. It 

 is still the most popular cult of China : it is a 

 living force in India : it swayed the ideas and the 

 habits of the Greeks and Romans, and in modern 

 Europe is acknowledged by the crowds which 

 flock to the cemeteries on All Souls' Day. 



In man's adventures with the brutes an observed 

 cause of success was the use of weapons : a visioned 

 cause was to capture or kill the spirits of the beasts 

 in a mimic hunt. Man made himself flint arrows 

 and axes, and drew pictures which would keep 

 before him the visions of his dreams. So, in domes- 

 ticating animals, practical skill in taming might be 

 assisted by visionary influences : man added their 

 images to his collection of idols. The cow appealed 

 to his admiration with particular impressiveness : 

 she typified the success that made men rich, and 



