IN CENTRAL AFRICA AND ELSEWHERE. 



151 



into which her husband, Osiris, had been cut up by Seb, and 

 raising him to Ufe in a new form. Isis could, of course, also cure 

 human ailments and became the mother of incantations, 

 exorcism and quackery in general, and no doubt of many patent 

 medicines much advertised in our day. 



To exorcise an evil spirit you must get hold of the right 

 name. The Egyptian Book of the Dead consists in great part of 

 mystical words and names by which to break the power of evil 

 spirits in the Kingdom of the Dead. This makes the book a 

 veritable crux for translators. The following incantation from 

 a papyrus in the Museum of Leyden is an example : 



" I am Menabi Chetethoni Chabachel. Let me invoke 

 thee, thou son of the Archithetapira Piraasa Knuri- 

 PHARiSA, great one Irissa Psischi Irissa Kimithrophossa 

 Okunatsisa Oreobozagra Pertaomech Perachomech 

 Sakmeph. Come to me ! Answer me that which I ask 

 correctly and truly." 



If a man can learn this off, he certainly deserves some answer ! 

 But lest some silly person (of course outside our Institute and 

 this meeting) might get hold of this and try and use it, I would 

 hasten to add that it will not work unless recited under right 

 conditions. It must, for one thing, be carried out in the dark 

 by the light of a lamp, reminding us of the darkened rooms 

 of modern seances, with their dull red lamps, " making darkness 

 visible." I will not say what lamp should be used with this 

 formula, nor what the wick must be made of, but I do not mind 

 telling you the peg you hang your lamp on must be of laurel 

 wood, the daphne, sacred to Apollo. It may be noted in passing 

 that the divining seances of African fetichism are also frequently 

 carried out in the dark by the light of a log fire. 



Egypt, the mother of the occult, gave her rules of magic and 

 necromancy to the surrounding countries, and it is quite probable 

 the Witch of Endor used some such incantation as the above, 

 in calling up the prophet Samuel. 



There can be little doubt that fetichism is in the direct line 

 of descent from this magic. Here is a question for the student 

 of comparative religions. Is fetichism to be regarded as part 

 of a great corruption invading some purer faith, or is it the 

 primary stage in the development of the religious idea in man, 

 the first dim feeling after God in the vast evolutionary process, 

 which it is the fashion to believe is going on all around us ? 



