rings of the
survivors, especially by libations ([Greek: choai]).

An Egyptian psychologist has carried the story back long before the
times of which Professor Burnet writes. He has explained "his conception
of the functions of the 'heart (mind) and tongue'. 'When the eyes see,
the ears hear, and the nose breathes, they transmit to the heart. It is
he (the heart) who brings forth every issue and it is the tongue which
repeats the thought of the heart.'"[72]

"There came the saying that Atum, who created the gods, stated
concerning Ptah-Tatenen: 'He is the fashioner of the gods.... He made
likenesses of their bodies to the satisfaction of their hearts. Then the
gods entered into their bodies of every wood and every stone and every
metal.'"[73]

That these ideas are really ancient is shown by the fact that in the
Pyramid Texts Isis is represented conveying the breath of life to Osiris
by "causing a wind with her wings".[74] The ceremony of "opening the
mouth" which aimed at achieving this restoration of the breath of life
was the principal part of the ritual procedure before the statue or
mummy. As I have already mentioned (p. 25), the sculptor who modelled
the portrait statue was called "he who causes to live," and the word "to
fashion" a statue is identical with that which means "to give birth".
The god Ptah created man by modelling his form in clay. Similarly the
life-giving sculptor made the portrait which was to be the means of
securing a perpetuation of existence, when it was animated by the
"opening of the mouth," by libations and incense.

As the outcome of this process of rationalization in Egypt a vast crop
of creation-legends came into existence, which have persisted with
remarkable completeness until the present day in India, Indonesia,
China, America, and elsewhere. A statue of stone, wood, or clay is
fashioned, and the ceremony of animation is performed to convey to it
the breath of life, which in many places is supposed to be brought down
from the sky.[75]

In the Egyptian beliefs, as well as in most of the world-wide legends
that were derived from them, the idea assumed a definite form that the
vital principle (often referred to as the "soul," "soul-substance," or
"double") could exist apart from the body. Whatever the explanation, it
is clear that the possibility of the existence of the vital principle
apart from the body was entertained. It was supposed that it could
return to the body and temporar