9. The direction in which these modifications take place, is determined in general by the fact that the affective state of the subject at the time is, as above remarked, the chief. influence in settling the character of the myth-****** apperception. In order to gain some notion of the way in which the affective state of the subject has changed from the first beginnings of mental development to the present, we must appeal to the history of the development of mythological ideas, for other evidences are entirely wanting. It appears that in all cases the earliest mythological ideas referred, on the one hand, to the personal fate in the immediate future, and were determined, on the other, by the emotions aroused by the death of comrades and by the memory of them, and also in a high degree by the memories of dreams. This is the source of so-called "animism", that is, all those ideas in which the spirits of the dead take the parts of controllers of fortune and bring about either weal or woe in human life. "Fetishism" is a branch of animism, in which the attribute of ability to control fate is carried over to various objects in the environment, such as animals, plants, stones, works of art, especially those that attract the attention on account of their striking character or of some accidental outer circumstance. The phenomena of animism and fetishism are. not only the earliest, but also the most lasting, productions of myth-****** apperception. They continue, even after all others are suppressed, in the various forms of superstitions among civilized peoples, such as belief in ghosts, enchantments, charms, etc. [p. 306]
10. After consciousness reaches a more advanced stage personifying apperception begins to deal with the greater natural phenomena which act upon human life both through their changes and through their direct influence such as the clouds, rivers, winds, and greater heavenly bodies. The regularity of certain natural phenomena, such as the alternation of night and day, of winter and summer, the processes in a thunderstorm, etc., gives occasion for the formation of poetical myths, in which a series of interconnected ideas are woven into one united whole. In the way the nature-myth arises, which from its very character challenges the poetic power of each individual to develop it further. It thus becomes gradually a component of popular and then of literary poetry, and undergoes a change in meaning through the fading out of some of the features of the single mythical figures and the appearance of other new features. This change, in turn, makes possible a progressive inner change of the myth, analogous to the change in words, by which it is always accompanied. As the process goes on, single poets and thinkers gain an increasing influence.
In this way, there gradually results a division of the whole content of mythological thought into science (philosophy) and religion, while, at the same time, the nature-gods in religion give place more and more to ethical ideas of deity. After this division has taken place, the two departments influence each other mutually in many important ways.
Still, these facts must be left to social psychology and the history of civilization, for they must be discussed in the light of special social conditions as well as of general psychological laws. C. CUSTOMS.
11. The development of customs is related to that of myths in the same way that outer volitional acts are related [p. 307] to inner motives.
Wherever we can trace out the origin of ancient and wide-spread customs with any degree of probability, we find that they are remnants or modifications of certain cult-forms. Thus, the funeral feasts and burial ceremonies of civilized peoples point to a primitive ancestor-worship. Numerous feasts and ceremonies connected with particular days, with the change of the seasons, the tillage of the fields, and the gathering of the harvest, all point back to nature-myths. The custom of greeting, in its various forms betrays its direct derivation from the ceremonies of prayer.
