October 2, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



477 



rites, we come upon a few fundamental con- 

 ceptions or thoughts, the most dominant of 

 which, perhaps, is the idea of the all-per- 

 meating presence of what we call life, and 

 that this life is the same in kind, animating 

 all natural forms and objects alike with 

 man himself. Coordinate with this idea, 

 which has received the name of animism, is 

 that of the continuity of life, that whatever 

 has once been endowed with it must con- 

 tinue to be a recipient of it ; in other words, 

 whatever has once lived must continue to 

 live. 



There is no reason to think that, at any 

 time in the past, it was possible for the idea 

 of animism, or for any other idea, to have 

 fallen into the mind of every savage simul- 

 taneously, as a cloud-burst drenches the 

 plain. Ideas have ever made their way as 

 they do now, slowly, and by being com- 

 municated and talked over. The idea of 

 animism is a very remarkable one. It has 

 been so built into the mind of the race that 

 it is difficult to imagine a time when it was 

 not ; and yet there was such a time, a time 

 when man stood dumbly wondering at the 

 birds and beasts, assailed like himself by 

 hunger and finding food from the same 

 supply ; at the alternation of day and night ; 

 and at the destructive and vivifying effects 

 of the storm. But these wondering obser- 

 vations were like so many disconnected 

 fragments until some thoughtful mind 

 caught the clue that led to the bold and 

 clarifying thought that all things were 

 animated by a common life, and that man 

 was not alone upon the earth with strange 

 and alien creatures, but was surrounded by 

 forms replete with life like his own, and 

 therefore of his kindred. 



This mysterious power or permeating life 

 was called in the language of the Omaha 

 and Ponka tribes, Wa-ka?i-da. This word 

 is now used to designate the Deity. The 

 original meaning, while conveying the idea 

 of the mysterious, something hidden or un- 



seen, also implied the power to bring to pass. 

 "Wa-kaTt-da-gi, an adverbial form of the 

 word, is applied to the first putting forth of 

 a new faculty, as when a child first walks 

 or talks, but the word wa-ka?i-da-gi would 

 not be used to express the resumption of 

 faculties lost by sickness or accident. 



Fourteen years ago, while sitting with 

 me in his tent, a thoughtful old Dakota 

 Indian, who had never come under mis- 

 sionary influence, spoke of his native re- 

 ligion, in which he was a firm believer. He 

 explained the teaching of his fathers, and 

 tried to make me understand that the 

 mysterious power which animates all things 

 is always moving and filling the earth and 

 sky. He said, " Every thing as it moves, 

 now and then, here and there, makes stops. 

 The bird, as it flies, stops at one place to 

 rest in its flight, and at another to build its 

 nest. A man when he goes forth stops 

 when he wills ; so the mysterious power has 

 stopped. The sun, the moon, the four di- 

 rections, the trees, the animals, all mark 

 where it has stopped. The Indian thinks 

 of all these places, * * * and sends his 

 prayers to reach the mysterious power 

 where it has stopped." 



This Indian had evidently been taught 

 that the power pervading all things was one 

 in kind, and possessed of a quality sim- 

 ilar to the will power of man. He said, 

 '^ A man when he goes forth, stops when 

 he wills ; so the mysterious power has 

 stopped." 



The Indian conceives of Wa-ka?t-da as 

 dowed with like, though greater powers 

 than those possessed by man. The prayer 

 chanted by every Omaha when he goes out 

 to fast, seeking a vision : 

 *'Wa-ka7i-da dhe-dhu wa-pa-dhin a-taw-he." 



Wa-kan-da here needy I stand, is an 

 appeal to something that is believed to 

 be capable of understanding the needs of 

 a man, and implies a conception of Wa- 

 kaii-da that is anthropomorphic. But the 



