352 Science Religion and Reality 



There is no superstition too absurd to find credence in modern 

 England ; fetishes and tabus dominate London drawing-rooms. 

 Dr. Malinowski's sojourn in Melanesia has convinced him that 

 the mental processes of the South Sea islanders are very like those 

 of Europeans. It is probably only politeness that prevented him 

 from adding that a return to civilisation has convinced him that 

 the mental processes of Europeans are very like those of Melanesians. 



The belief in a law of progress, which is the soul of historicism, 

 is a form of Millenarianism which constituted the secular religion 

 of the nineteenth century. It was, of course, taken over by 

 Christian progressives, who tried to find some warrant for it in the 

 New Testament, where its only analogue is the apocalyptic 

 Messianism which we find St. Paul and the author of the Fourth 

 Gospel cautiously discarding. It is, however, very undesirable 

 that Christianity should make friends with science by annexing 

 a superstition which has nothing scientific about it. What we call 

 progress is a biological episode which other species, such as the bees 

 and ants, traversed long ago. The age of turmoil and experiment 

 ended for them in the establishment of a stable civilisation, after 

 which any further innovations have been severely and successfully 

 discouraged. It is more likely than not that our species will come 

 to rest in the same way, unless our present habits end in mutual 

 extermination. 



Dr. Malinowski's article shows the extreme importance of a 

 distinction which is not always drawn, and the neglect of which 

 has led to great confusion. Science is one thing, philosophies 

 built upon science are another. The statement sometimes made, 

 that mythology is primitive science, is an example of this error. 

 Mythology is an attempt to account for facts in the natural order ; 

 it is more like primitive philosophy than primitive science. It is 

 not true that the savage knows nothing of natural laws, or of the 

 sequence of cause and effect. He has his own traditional lore which 

 teaches him when to plough and sow, how to make weapons, boats,, 

 and tools, and whatever else belongs to the stage of culture in which 

 he lives. In these essential matters the savage reasons and behaves 

 very much like a civilised man. 



And yet it is true that magic plays a large part in his life. It 

 is resorted to in difficulties, and in connection with mysterious and 

 awe-inspiring events in the life of nature and of human beings. 

 Magical rites gather round puberty, marriage, birth, death, and the 



