them, was alive and
self-conscious like themselves. They had, of course, no words or
ideas connoting life or consciousness, or distinguishing animals,
vegetables or lifeless objects, and they were naturally quite incapable
of distinguishing them. They merely thought that everything they saw
was like themselves, would feel hurt and resentment if injured, and
would know what was done to it, and by whom; whenever they saw the
movement of an animal, plant, or other object, they thought it was
volitional and self-conscious like their own movements. If they saw
a tree waving in the wind, having no idea or conception of the wind,
they thought the tree was moving its branches about of its own accord;
if a stone fell, they, knowing nothing of the force of gravity, thought
the stone projected itself from one place to another because it wished
to do so. This is exactly the point of view taken by children when
they first begin to observe. They also think that everything they see
is alive like themselves, and that animals exercise volition and have
a self-conscious intelligence like their own. But they quickly learn
their mistakes and adopt the point of view of their elders because
they are taught. Primitive man had no one to teach him, and as he did
not co-ordinate or test his observations, the traces of this first
conception of the natural world remain clearly indicated by a vast
assortment of primitive customs and beliefs to the present day. All
the most prominent natural objects, the sun and moon, the sky, the sea,
high mountains, rivers and springs, the earth, the fire, became objects
of veneration and were worshipped as gods, and this could not possibly
have happened unless they had been believed to have life. Stone images
and idols are considered as living gods. In India girls are married
to flowers, trees, arrows, swords, and so on. A bachelor is married
to a ring or a plant before wedding a widow, and the first ceremony
is considered as his true marriage. The Saligram, or ammonite stone,
is held to represent the god Vishnu, perhaps because it was thought
to be a thunderbolt and to have fallen from heaven. Its marriage is
celebrated with the _tulsi_ or basil-plant, which is considered the
consort of Vishnu. Trees are held to be animate and possessed by
spirits, and before a man climbs a tree he begs its pardon for the
injury he is about to inflict on it. When a tank is dug, its marriage
is celebrated. To the ancient Roman his