we find that the ceremonial object is at first a
rude representative of the deified animal or plant. This sacred symbol
is eventually conventionalized. We have observed this in sex worship, as
explained by Inman, Payne Knight and others. In the same way in nature
worship, ceremonial objects are conventionalized. Spencer has shown this
in the case of the Australians, the ceremonial objects eventually coming
to bear a remote resemblance only to the original animal or plant
representation. A. L. Kroeber[36] has observed the same development in
the Arapaho Indians. The buffalo symbol for example, (a very important
one in this tribe since the buffalo is the chief food) has become highly
conventionalized, and is finally represented by a formal rectangular
design. This design now means the earth, and it is also used as a life
symbol.

Again, just as we saw how in sex worship the religious symbol came to be
expressed throughout decorative art, and in fact eventually became a
leading motive, so it has been shown that in the nature worship of the
Indians this same evolution takes place. A. L. Kroeber and Clark
Wissler, among others, have shown that the decorative art on the
moccasins, leggings, tents, food bags, etc., of the Indians, all
representing a highly conventionalized symbol, expresses religious
motives throughout. This symbolism can be interpreted only by an
understanding of religious motives. The analogy of this symbolic
development to that associated with sex worship is at once apparent.

Finally, just as in sex worship the motive came to dominate most of the
practices and usages of civil life, so it can be shown that in tribes
practicing nature worship, the religious motive has a very powerful
influence. The performance of rites to increase the food supply are
among the most important of primitive man's duties. Any man who enters
into these rites listlessly is not respected, and the leaders of the
rite are the head men of the tribe. In Australia, one of the main
functions of each Totem group is to increase the supply of its own
Totem animal or plant by magic ceremony.

In summing up, therefore, the analogies between sex worship and nature
worship, the following features may be reviewed: the outward form is the
same, _i. e._, that of a religious ceremonial rite in which a sacred
object is the representation of the deity. The symbolism associated with
this object develops in the same way in both instances. In the cou