of familiarisation, the second that of rationalisation, and the third that of dominance.
It will be convenient to consider the first two together. Both familiarisation and rationalisation are, in fact, results of a common tendency to change all presented material into such a form that it may be accepted without uneasiness, and without question. The influence of this tendency is exerted upon absolutely all material which is received into and preserved within a mental system. Sometimes the effect is that specific reasons are evolved to account for the form of given material; sometimes, even when such reasons are lacking, the form of the material is changed into something which can be readily accepted simply because it is familiar. In both cases the result in terms of psychological attitude is the same, and a pleasant mood of unquestioning acceptance is evoked.
It is obvious that the operation of the principle of familiarisation will give rise to strikingly different changes at different levels of social development, and in varying environments. For the most part, my stories, in their original form, consisted of reports of occurrences which could, within the community in which the tales were current, be accepted without explanation.
In The War of the Ghosts, for example, two young Indians are seal hunting, when they are accosted by warriors from a canoe, who ask them to help in a fight which is about to take place. One of the Indians agrees, and goes with them. In the fight he hears somebody say: "That young Indian has been hit," but he feels no hurt. He merely remarks casually: "Oh, they are ghosts." He goes back home, tells his friends, lights a fire, and the next morning at sunrise falls down : "something black came from his mouth. He was dead."
Now in the original narration, although it is not put forward specifically as a reason, the casual "they are ghosts" serves as a rationalising factor throughout the
