and overly rationalistic
psychology of the early nineteenth century. All the phenomena of
primitive society were seen to be the products of relatively
non-reflective groups who felt and stumbled their way into rituals and
beliefs. As the material accumulated, comparative methods were applied
in the field. The result has been astounding. In place of the
romantic conception of primitive life, which made the savage
essentially a civilized child, a grimmer picture unfolded itself.
Fetichism, shamanism, magic, human sacrifice, totemism, ritualism, all
were found combined and interactive in a scheme of life alien to our
own enlightened outlook. In such an atmosphere it was that mythology
arose. It arose as an account of acts and beliefs, and, as these were
purified and deepened, it, also, advanced in purity and depth. Yet,
always, there remained the trace of the savagery from which it had
sprung.

While primitive religion and mythology are not identical, they are
closely bound up with one another. Both rest upon animism, totemism
and magic as these are brought into relation with man's needs and
fears. Religion is chiefly an affair of sentiment and cult, actively
guided by belief in superhuman powers capable of helping and hurting
man. Mythology, on the other hand, consists of the stories told about
these dynamic powers as they are more and more personified and given a
history and a name. And such stories are naturally {16} built up
around acts whose significance has been forgotten, or around dramatized
interpretations of processes in nature. Myths are explanations of acts
and events and names which aroused curiosity and therefore demanded
some explanation. It was only after modern anthropology had unearthed
the characteristic beliefs of primitive man that many myths became
intelligible. A few examples will make this relationship clearer.

Totemism is a sort of cult rendered to animals and plants which are
regarded as akin to the tribe. It must be remembered that primitive
man was not nearly so convinced of his superiority as is modern man.
Wolves and bears and foxes are strong and cunning, and seem to him to
have a power and knowledge even superior to his own. Strange as it
appears to us to-day, savages quite often assign their origin to some
animal and regard that animal as the possessor of a force which is
valuable to his kin. This cult of totemistic animals and plants is at
the base of the tales of meta