Magic Science and Religion 83 



dangerous gaps in every important pursuit or critical situation. 

 It enables man to carry out with confidence his important tasks, 

 to maintain his poise and his mental integrity in fits of anger, in 

 the throes of hate, of unrequited love, of despair and anxiety. The 

 function of magic is to ritualise man's optimism, to enhance his 

 faith in the victory of hope over fear. Magic expresses the greater 

 value for man of confidence over doubt, of steadfastness over 

 vacillation, of optimism over pessimism. 



Looking from far and above, from our high places of safety in 

 developed civilisation, it is easy to see all the crudity and irrelevance 

 of magic. But without its power and guidance early man could 

 not have mastered his practical difficulties as he has done, nor could 

 man have advanced to the higher stages of culture. Hence the 

 universal occurrence of magic in primitive societies and its enor- 

 mous sway. Hence do we find magic an invariable adjunct of all 

 important activities. I think we must see in it the embodiment 

 of the sublime folly of hope, which has yet been the best school of 

 man's character.^ 



^ Bibliographical Note. The most important works on Primitive Religion, 

 Magic and Knowledge, referred to in the text, directly or implicitly, are : 

 E. B. Tylor, Primitiije Culture, 4th ed., 2 vols., 1903 ; J. F. McLennan, 

 Studies in Ancient History, 1886 ; W. Robertson Smith, Lectures on the Religion 

 of the Semites, 1889 ; A. Lang, The Making of Religion, 1889, and Magic and 

 Religion, 1901. These, though out of date as regards material and some of their 

 conclusions, are still inspiring and deserve study. Entirely fresh and repre- 

 senting the most modern points of view are the classical works of J. G. Frazer, 

 The Golden Bough, 3rd ed., in 12 vols., 1911-14 (also abridged edition, i vol.) ; 

 Totemism and Exogamy, 4 vols., 1910 ; Folk-Lore in the Old Testament, 

 3 vols., 1919 ; The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, so far 

 3 vols., 1913-24. With Frazer's works should be read the two excellent 

 contributions of E. Crawley, The Mystic Rose, 1902 (out of print, new edition 

 forthcoming), and The Tree of Life, 1905. Also, on the subject of the history 

 of morals, the two extremely important works : E. Westermarck, The Origin 

 and De'uelopment of the Moral Ideas, 2 vols., 1905, and L. T. Hobhouse, Morals 

 in E'uolution, 2nd ed., 1915. Further : D. G. Brinton, Religions of Primiti've 

 Peoples, 1899 ; K. Th. Preuss, Der Ursprung der Religion und Kunst, 1904 (in 

 " Globus," serially) ; R. R. Marett, The Threshold of Religion, 1909 ; H. 

 Hubert et M. Mauss, Melanges d'Histoire des Religions, 1909 ; A. van Gennep, 

 Les Rites de Passage, 1909 ; J. Harrison, Themis (19 10-2) ; L King, The 

 De'uelopment of Religion, 1910 ; W. Schmidt, Der Ursprung der Gottesidee, 

 1912 ; E. Durkheim, Les Formes elementaires de la Vie religieuse, 1912 (also 

 English translation) ; P. Ehrenreich, Die Allgemeine Mythologie, 1910 ; R. H. 

 Lowie, Primiti've Religion, 1925. An encyclopaedic survey of facts and 

 opinions will be found in Wilh. Wundt's voluminous Volkerpsychologie, 1904 ff. ; 

 J. Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics is excellent and indispensable 

 to the serious student. Primitive Knowledge in particular is discussed by 



