y. For they were originally nothing more than
personifications of the life-giving cowry amulets from the Red Sea.

Thus Robertson Smith's statement that "the value of the gum of the
acacia as an amulet is connected with the idea that it is a clot of
menstruous blood, i.e., that the tree is a woman"[61] is probably an
inversion of cause and effect. It was the value attached to the gum that
conferred animation upon the tree. The rest of the legend is merely a
rationalization based upon the idea that the tree was identified with
the mother-goddess. The same criticism applies to his further contention
(p. 427) with reference to "the religious value of incense" which he
claims to be due to the fact that "like the gum of the _samora_ (acacia)
tree, ... it was an animate or divine plant".

Many factors played a part in the development of tree-worship but it is
probable the origin of the sacredness of trees must be assigned to the
fact that it was acquired from the incense and the aromatic woods which
were credited with the power of animating the dead. But at a very early
epoch many other considerations helped to confirm and extend the
conception of deification. When Osiris was buried, a sacred sycamore
grew up as "the visible symbol of the imperishable life of Osiris".[62]
But the sap of trees was brought into relationship with life-giving
water and thus constituted another link with Osiris. The sap was also
regarded as the blood of trees and the incense that exuded as the sweat.
Just as the water of libation was regarded as the fluid of the body of
Osiris, so also, by this process of rationalization, the incense came to
possess a similar significance.

For reasons precisely analogous to those already explained in the case
of libations, the custom of burning incense, from being originally a
ritual act for animating the funerary statue, ultimately developed into
an act of homage to the deity.

But it also acquired a special significance when the cult of sky-gods
developed,[63] for the smoke of the burning incense then came to be
regarded as the vehicle which wafted the deceased's soul to the sky or
conveyed there the requests of the dwellers upon earth.[64]

"The soul of a human being is generally conceived [by the Chinese] as
possessing the shape and characteristics of a human being, and
occasionally those of an animal; ... the spirit of an animal is the shape
of this animal or of some being with human attributes and speec