it could
be. And thus it contained part of the man's life, just as every idol of
a god was the god himself and contained part of the god's life. Since
the man's life was common to himself and the image, by injuring or
destroying the image it was held that the man's life would similarly
be injured or destroyed, on the analogy already explained of injury
to life being frequently observed to follow a hurt or wound of any
part of the body. Afterwards the connection between the man and the
image was strengthened by working into the material of the latter some
fraction of his body, such as severed hair or the earth pressed by his
foot. But this was not necessary to the original belief. The objection
often raised by savages to having their photographs taken or pictures
painted may be explained in the same manner. Here the photograph or
picture cannot be realised as a simple imitation; it is held to be
the man himself, and must therefore contain part of his life. Hence
any one in whose possession it is can do him harm by injuring or
destroying the photograph or picture, according to the method of
reasoning already explained. The superstitions against looking in a
mirror, especially after dark, or seeing one's reflection in water,
are analogous cases. Here the reflection in the mirror or water is held
to be the person himself, because savages do not understand the nature
of the reflected image. It is the person himself, but has no corporeal
substance; therefore the reflection must be his ghost or spirit. But
if the spirit appears once it is an omen that it will appear again;
and in order that it may do so the man will have to die so that the
spirit may be set free from the body in order to appear. The special
reason for not looking into a mirror at night would thus be because
the night is the usual time for the appearance of spirits. The fable
of Narcissus, who fell in love with his own image reflected in the
water and was drowned, probably arose from the superstition against
seeing one's image reflected in water. And similarly the belief was
that a man's clothes and other possessions contained part of his life
by contact; this is the explanation of the custom of representing a
person by some implement or article of clothing, such as performing
the marriage ceremony with the bridegroom's sword instead of himself,
and sending the bride's shoes home with the bridegroom to represent
her. A barren woman will try to obtain a piece of