FOOTNOTES.
[1] Simrock wrote: "Myth is the earliest form in which the mind of
heathen peoples recognized the universe and things divine."
[2] _Kumarila_, in reply to the opponents who inveighed against the
immorality of his gods, wrote that the fable relates how Prajapati, the
lord of creation, violated his own daughter. But what does this signify?
Prajapati is one name for the sun, so called because he is the lord of
light. His daughter Ushas is the dawn, and in declaring that he fell in
love with her, it is only meant that when the sun rises, it follows the
dawn. So also, when it is said that Indra seduced Ahalya, we are not to
suppose that God committed such a crime, but Indra is the sun, and
Ahalya is the night; and so we may say that the night is seduced and
conquered by the morning sun. This, and other instances may be found in
Max Mueller's _History of Ancient Sanscrit Literature_. Other instances
might be given.
[3] Vico writes: "The human mind is naturally inclined to project itself
on the object of its external senses." And again, "Common speech ought
to bear witness to ancient popular customs, celebrated in times when the
language was formed." So again: "Men ignorant of the natural causes of
things assign to them their own nature...." In another place: "The
physical science of ignorant men is a kind of common metaphysics, by
which they assign the causes of things which they do not understand to
the will of the gods." Again: "Ignorant and primitive men transform all
nature into a vast living body, sentient of passions and affections."
[4] See, among other authorities for the most important phenomena of
animals in their natural associations, the profoundly learned work by
the well-known A. Espinas: _Des societes animales: etude de Psychologie
comparee_, Paris, 2nd edit., 1879.
[5] I stated in my former essay on the fundamental law of the
intelligence in the animal kingdom that philosophy was only the research
into the psychical manifestations of the animal kingdom, and into those
peculiar to man, in connection with the respective organisms in which
they act, and with the estimate of their power as cosmic factors in the
general harmony of the forces of the world.
[6] See, with respect to the primitive unity of the Aryan and Semitic
races, the works of the great philologist, T.G. Ascoli, and others.
[7] "Although it (psychology), still makes some show, yet the old
psychology is condemned. Its conditions of existence have disappeared in
its new environment. Its methods no longer suffice for the increasing
difficulties of the task and the larger requirements of the scientific
spirit. It is constrained to live upon its past. Its wisest
representatives have vainly attempted a compromise, loudly asserting
that facts must be observed, and that a large part should be assigned to
experience. Their concessions are unavailing, for however sincerely
meant, they are not actually carried out. As soon as they set to work
the taste for pure speculation again possesses them. Moreover, no reform
of what is radically false can be effectual, and ancient psychology is a
bastard conception, doomed to perish from the contradictions which it
involves."--Ribot, _Psychologie Allemande Contemporaine_. Paris, 1879.
[8] _Della legge fondamentale della intelligenza nel regno animale._
Milano. Dumolard, 1877.
[9] See, among other works on the subject, _Die Herabkunft des Feuers
und des Gottertranks_, by Adalbert Kuhn; and _Croyances et Legendes de
l'Antiquite_, by A. Maury.
[10] See Wuttke, _Deutscher Volksaberglauber_; Tylor, _Primitive
Culture_; Hanusch, Rochholz, and others.
[11] _The Worship of Animals and Plants_, Part I. _Fortnightly Review_,
1869. The same argument is generally used; see Tylor, _Early History of
Mankind_, 1865; Lubbock, _Origin of Civilization_, 1870; Herbert
Spencer, _Fortnightly Review_, May, 1870; Waitz, _Anthropologie der
Naturvoelker_; Bastian, _Mensch in der Geschichte_.
[12] See Alger's _Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life_.
[13] Arbrousset, _The Basutos_.
[14] Muir, _Sanscrit Texts_.
[15] Burton, _West Africa_; Tylor, _Primitive Culture_.
[16] Pictet, Origines Indo-Eoropeennes.
[17] The Hawaians, for example, have only one term for love, friendship,
esteem, gratitude, benevolence, etc.--_aloha_; while they have distinct
words for different degrees in a single natural phenomenon. Thus
_aneane_, gentle breeze; _matani_, wind; _pahi_, the act of breathing
through the mouth; _hano_, breathing through the nose. See Hale's
_Polynesian Dictionary_. All peoples have slowly attained to typical
ideas, and many are even now in process of formation. Thus, the Finns,
Lapps, Tartars, and Mongols, have no generic words for _river_, although
even the smallest streams have their names. They have not a word to
express _fingers_ in general, but special words for thumb, fore-finger,
etc. They have no word for tree, but special words for _pine_, _birch_,
_ash_, etc. In the Finn language, the word first used for _thumb_ was
afterwards applied to fingers generally, and the special word for the
bay in which they lived came to be used for all bays. See Castren,
_Vorlesungen ueber Finnische Mythologie_. This original confusion in the
definition of scientific ideas, and the successive alternations by which
they were re-cast, may be gathered from the analysis of language, and
from facts which still occur among uncultured and ignorant people. When
the inhabitants of Mallculo saw dogs for the first time, they called
them _brooas_, or pigs. The inhabitants of Tauna also call the dogs
imported thither _buga_, or pigs. When the inhabitants of a small island
in the Mediterranean saw oxen for the first time, they called them
_horned asses_.
[18] See Gaussin's _Langue Polynesienne_.
[19] This process of the evolution of primitive myth and of fetishes,
will be more elaborately considered in Chapter VII., when we come to
speak generally of the historic evolution of science and of myth. The
repetition is not superfluous, since it is necessary for the complete
understanding of my theory.
[20] For example, in ancient Roman mythology the _Fons_ was first
adored, then _Fontus_, the father of all sources, and finally _Janus_, a
solar myth, the father of Fontus. Janus, as the sun, was the producer of
all water, which rose by evaporation and fell again in rain.
[21] The Sanscrit word _Vayuna_, meaning light, was personified in
Aurora, and afterwards signified the intelligence, or inward light; a
symbolical evolution of myth towards a rational conception. The worship
of heaven and earth, united in a common type, is found among all Aryan
peoples, and among other races. The Germans worshipped _Hertha_, the
original form of _Erde_, earth. The Letts worshipped _Mahte_, or
_Mahmine_, mother earth. So did the Magyars, and the Ostiaks adored the
earth under the Slavonic name of _Imlia_. In China sacrifices to the
divine earth _Heou-tou_ and to the heaven _Tien_ were fundamental rites.
In North America the Shawnees invoked earth as their great ancestress.
The Comanchi adored her as their common mother. In New Zealand heaven
and earth are worshipped as _Rangi_ and _Papi_. (Grey: _Polynesian
Mythology_.) The myth of Apollo, light, sun, heat, combined also with
serpent worship, is found modified in a thousand ways among all peoples,
savages included. See Schwartz, _Urspung der Mythologie_; J. Fergusson,
_Tree and Serpent Worship_; Herbert Spencer, _The Origin of Animal
Worship_; Maury, _Religions de la Grece Antique_. They also appeared
among the Hebrew and kindred races. We find in the book of Job that God
"by His spirit had garnished the heavens; His hand has formed the
crooked serpent" (Job xxvi. 13), expressions which are almost Vedic.
From celestial phenomena the myth of the Apollo Serpent descended to
impersonate the phenomena of earth, of which we have examples in the
Greek fable of the Python, and others. Apollo again appears as the god
which agitates and dissolves the waters, and the serpent as the winding
course of a river, and also as other sources of water. The sun causes
the river water to evaporate, which is symbolized by the dragon's
conflict with Apollo, and the victory of the latter. The monster, as
Forchhammer observes, is formed during the childhood of Apollo, that is,
at a time of year when the sun has not attained his full force. When the
serpent's body begins to putrefy, the reptile, in mythical language,
takes the new name of Python, or he who becomes putrid. The serpent
Python, in accordance with the continual transformations of myth,
becomes the Hydra of Lerna, and Hercules, another solar myth, is
substituted for Apollo. This Hydra is transformed again into Typhon, a
fresh personification of the forces of nature and of the atmosphere,
conspiring against heaven. The seven-headed Hydra reappears in another
form in the Rig-Veda, where the rain cloud is compared to the serpent
whom head rests on seven springs. I have Max Mueller's authority for the
vigorous alternation of myths in those primitive ages, their extreme
mobility, their resolution into vivified physical forms, and the slight
consistency of specific types. Aurora and Night are often substituted
for each other, and although in the original conception of the birth of
Apollo and Artemis they were certainly both considered to be children of
the night, Leto and Latona, yet even so the place or island where,
according to the fable, they were born is Ortygia or Delos, or sometimes
called by both names at once. Delos means the land of light, but
Ortygia, although the name is given to different places, is Aurora, or
the land of Aurora. (Gerhard, _Griechische Mythologie_.) Ortygia is
derived from _Ortyx_, a quail. In Sanscrit the quail is called
_Vartika_, the bird which returns, because it is one of the birds to
return in spring. This name _Vartika_ is given in the Veda to one of the
numerous beings which are set free and brought to life by the _Ascini_,
that is, by day and night, and _Vartika_ is one of several names for the
dawn. _Vartika's_ story is very short: she was swallowed, but delivered
by the Asvini. She was drawn by them from the wolf's throat. Hence we
have Ortygia, the land of quails, the east; the isle which issued
miraculously from the floods, where Leto begot his solar twins, and also
Ortygia, a name given to Artemis, the daughter of Leto, because she was
born in the east. The _Druh_, crimes and darkness may in their
subsequent development be contrasted with these ancient myths. Aurora is
represented by them as driving away the odious gloom of the _Druh_. The
powers of darkness, the _Druh_ and _Rakshas_ were called _Adeva_, and
the shining gods were called _Adruh_. Kuhn believes that the German
words _truegen_ and _luegen_ are derived from _Druh_.
[22] Michel Breal: _Hercule et Cacus_.
[23] We are not here concerned with _a priori_ metaphysics, but with the
psychical and organic dispositions slowly produced by evolution and by
consciousness in its cosmic relations. The organic nature of these
reflex phenomena is due to the fact that in the long course of ages
their exercise has, through physiological evolution, first become
voluntary or spontaneous, and then unconscious.
[24] The double meaning is projected into objects. The primitive meaning
of _dexter_ was _fitting_, _capable_, and it was then applied to the
side of the material body. Sansc. _dacs_, to hasten. Ascoli, _Studi
linquistici_.
[25] A careful reader will not hold this repetition to be unnecessary,
since it explains from another point of view the fundamental fact of
perception and its results. It is here considered with reference to the
three elements which constitute this fact.
[26] This great truth was observed by Vico, the most advanced of modern
psychologists, in his views of primitive psychology.
[27] In Chinese, for example, and in many other languages, there are
many words to indicate the tail of a fish, a bird, etc., but no word for
a tail in general. Even an intelligent savage does not accurately
distinguish between the subjective and the objective, between the
imaginary and the real; this is the most important result of a
scientific education. Tylor, _Primitive Culture_; Steinhauser, _Religion
des Negres_; Brinton, _Myths of the World_. The objective form of
conceptions and emotions, which are subsequently transformed into
spirits, are found among the superior races of our day, in the Christian
hierarchy of angels, in popular tradition, and in spiritualism.
[28] Fetishism may be observed in the civilized Aryan races, but still
more plainly among the Chinese and cognate races, among the Peruvians,
Mexicans, etc. Castren, in his _Finnische Mythologie_ says that we find
extraordinary instances of the lowest stage of fetishism among the
Samoeides, who directly worship all natural objects in themselves. The
Finns, who are comparatively civilized heathens, have attained to a
higher phase of belief. But numerous examples, in every part of the
world, will occur to the intelligent reader.
[29] _Numen_ really means the manifestation of power, from _nuere_.
Varro makes Attius say: "Multis nomen vestrum numenque ciendo." In
Lucretius we have _mentis numen_, and also _Numen Augusti_. An
inscription discovered by Mommsen runs as follows:
"P. Florus, etc. Dianae numine jussu posuit."
[30] The illustrious Du Bois Reymond delivered a lecture a few years
ago, in which he made it clear that the Semitic idea of one Almighty God
led to the later and modern conception of the unity of forces and the
rational interpretation of the system of the universe. This important
testimony of so able a man confirms the theory set forth some years ago
in the work of which I have reproduced a part in the text.
[31] Some Jewish Christians of the Semitic race took refuge in a
district of Syria, and retained their primitive faith without further
development, under the name of Nazarenes or Ebionites. In the fourth
century, Epiphanius and Jerome found these primitive Christians constant
to the old dogma, while Aryan Christianity had made gigantic strides,
both in its ideas and social organization. Among the Semites, even when
they have partially accepted the dogma, it was and is unproductive.
[32] Aristot., _De anima_; Cic., _De legibus_; Diog., Lae.
[33] A new thought entered my mind, whence others, differing from the
first, arose; and as I roamed from one to another I was tempted to close
my eyes, and thought was changed into a dream.
[34] See the theory by Lotze of local signs in the formation of the idea
of space, completed and modified by Wundt and others.
[35] Sometimes the name of a person, or of some part of the human form,
has been bestowed on a natural object without reference to their
analogy, but in this case the epithet has the converse effect of leading
us to imagine that it possesses the features or limbs of the human form.
And this is of equal value for our present inquiry.
[36] While these sheets were passing through the press, I was informed
of Berg's work on the Enjoyment of Music. ("_Die Lust an der Musik._"
Berlin, 1879.) Berg, who is a realist, inquires what is the source of
the pleasure we experience from the regular succession of sounds, which
he holds to be the primary essence of music. He finds the cause in some
of Darwin's theories and researches. Darwin observes that the epoch of
song coincides with that of love in the case of singing animals, birds,
insects, and some mammals; and from this Berg concludes that primitive
men, or rather anthropoids, made use of the voice to attract the
attention of females. Hence a relation was established between singing
and the sentiments of love, rivalry, and pleasure; this relation was
indissolubly fused into the nature by heredity, and it persisted even
after singing ceased to be excited by its primitive cause. This applies
to the general sense of pleasure in music. We have next to inquire why
the ear prefers certain sounds to others, certain combinations to
others, etc. Berg holds that it depends on negative causes, that the ear
does not select the most pleasing but the least painful sounds. He
relies on Helmholtz's fundamental theory of sounds. It seems to me that
although Helmholtz's theory is true, that of Berg is erroneous, since he
is quite unable to prove his assertion that the effect produced by music
is a negative pleasure. Moreover, the Darwinian observations to which he
traces the origin of the enjoyment of music, not only rely on an
arbitrary hypothesis, but do not explain why males should derive any
advantage from their voice, nor what pleasure and satisfaction females
find in it. And this, as Reinach justly observes in the _Revue
Philosophique_, is the point on which the problem turns.
Clark has recently suggested in the American Naturalist another theory
worthy of consideration. A musical sound is never simple but complex; it
consists of one fundamental sound, and of other harmonic sounds at close
intervals; the first and most perceptible intervals are the 8th, 5th,
4th, and 3rd major. Each of the simple sounds which, taken together,
constitute the whole sound, causes the vibration of a special group of
fibers in the auditory nerve. This fact, often repeated, generates a
kind of organic predisposition which is confirmed by heredity. If from
any cause one of these groups is set in motion, the other groups will
have a tendency to vibrate. Therefore, if a singing animal, weary of
always repeating the same note, wishes to vary its height, he will
naturally choose one of the harmonic sounds of the first. The ultimate
origin of the law of melody in organized beings is therefore only the
simultaneous harmony, realized in sounds, of inorganic nature. This
theory is confirmed by the analysis which has been often made of the
song of some birds: the intervals employed by these are generally the
same as those on which human melody is founded, the 8th, 5th, 4th, and
3rd major. Reinach, however, observes that Beethoven, who in his
Pastoral Symphony has reproduced the song of the nightingale, the
cuckoo, and the quail, makes their melodies to differ from those
assigned to them by Clark.
The method and direction of the theories proposed by these authors are
excellent; but I do not believe that they have discovered the real
origin of the sense of music and dancing. I think that the suggestion
given in the text, although it requires development, is nearer the
truth. Consciousness of the great law by which things exist in a
classified form seems to me to be the cause of the sense of graduated
pleasure, which constitutes the essence of all the arts.
[37] See Beauquier's "_Philosophie de la Musique_."
[38] Serv. on the AEneid. What the oracles sang was termed _carmentis_:
the seers used to be called _carmentes_, and the books in which their
sayings were inscribed were termed _carmentorios_.
[39] See Girard de Rialle: _Mythologie Comparee_. Vol. I. Paris, 1878. A
valuable and learned work.
[40] The intense character of the worship of groves in Italy appears
from Quintilianus, who says, in speaking of Ennius: "_Ennium sicut
sacros vetustate lucos adoremus_." |
