282 
groups of mankind, the mind responds 
quite differently when exposed to the same 
conditions. Lack of logical connection in 
its conclusions, lack of control of will, are 
apparently two of its fundamental char- 
acteristics in primitive society. In the 
formation of opinions, belief takes the 
place of logical demonstration. The emo- 
tional value of opinions is great, and con- 
sequently they quickly lead to action. The 
will appears unbalanced, there being a 
readiness to yield to strong emotions, and 
a stubborn resistance in trifling matters. 
In the following remarks I propose to 
analyze the differences which characterize 
the mental life of man in various stages of 
culture. It is a pleasant duty to acknowl- 
edge here my indebtedness to my friends 
and colleagues in New York, particularly 
to Dr. Livingston Farrand, with whom the 
questions here propounded have been a fre- 
quent theme of animated discussion, so 
much so, that at the present time I find it 
impossible tosay what share the suggestions 
of each had in the development of the con- 
clusions reached. 
There are two possible explanations of 
the different manifestations of the mind of 
man. Itmay be thatthe minds of different 
races show differences of organization ; that 
is to say, the laws of mental activity may 
not be the same for all minds. 
also be that the organization of mind is 
practically identical among all races of man ; 
that mental activity follows the same laws 
everywhere, but that its manifestations 
depend upon the character of individual 
experience that is subjected to the action 
of these laws. 
It is quite evident that the activities of 
the human mind depend upon these two 
elements. The organization of the mind 
may be defined as the group of laws which 
determine the modes of thought and of, 
action, irrespective of the subject matter of 
mental activity. Subject to such laws are 
SCIENCE. 
But it may . 
[N. S. Vou. XIII. No. 321. 
the manner of discrimination between per- 
ceptions, the manner in which perceptions 
associate themselves with previous percep- 
tions, the manner in which a stimulus 
leads to action, and the emotions produced 
by stimuli. These laws determine to a 
great extent the manifestations of the mind. 
But, on the other hand, the influence of 
individual experience can easily be shown 
to be very great. The bulk of the experi- 
ence of man is gained from oft-repeated 
impressions. It is one of the fundamental 
laws of psychology that the repetition of 
mental processes increases the facility with 
which these processes are performed, and 
decreases the degree of consciousness that 
accompanies them. This law expresses the 
well-known phenomena of habit. When a 
certain perception is frequently associated 
with another previous perception, the one 
will habitually call forth the other. When 
a certain stimulus frequently results in a 
certain action, it will tend to call forth 
habitually the same action. If a stimulus 
has often produced a certain emotion, it 
will tend to reproduce it every time. 
The explanation of the activity of the 
mind of man, therefore, requires the dis- 
cussion of two distinct problems. The first 
bears upon the question of unity or diver- 
sity of organization of the mind, while the 
second bears upon the diversity produced 
by the variety of contents of the mind as 
found in the various social and geographi- 
cal environments. The task of the investi- 
gator consists largely in separating these 
two causes and in attributing to each its 
proper share in the development of the 
peculiarities of the mind. It is the latter 
problem principally which is of interest to 
the folk-lorist. When we define as folk- 
lore the total mass of traditional matter 
present in the mind of a given people at 
any given time, we recognize that this mat- 
ter must influence the opinions and activi- 
ties of the people more or less according to 
