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CONTENTS
| CHAPTER III.
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| THE MENTAL CONDITION OF SAVAGES—CONFUSION WITH NATURE—TOTEMISM | 46 |
The mental condition of savages the basis of the irrational element in myth—Characteristics of that condition: (1.) Confusion of all things in an equality of presumed animation and intelligence—(2.) Belief in sorcery—(3.) Spiritualism—(4.) Curiosity—(5.) Easy credulity and mental indolence—The curiosity is satisfied, thanks to the credulity, by myths in answer to all inquiries—Evidence for this—Mr. Tylor's opinion—Mr. Im Thurn—Jesuit missionaries' Relations—Examples of confusion between men, plants, beasts, and other natural objects—Reports of travellers—Evidence from institution of totemism—Definition of totemism—Totemism in Australia, Africa, America, the Oceanic Islands, India, North Asia—Conclusion: Totemism being found so widely distributed, is a proof of the existence of that savage mental condition in which no line is drawn between men and the other things in the world—This confusion is one of the characteristics of myth in all races. |
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| CHAPTER IV. | |
| THE MENTAL CONDITION OF SAVAGES—MAGIC—METAMORPHOSIS—METAPHYSIC—PSYCHOLOGY | 82 |
Claims of sorcerers—Savage scientific speculation—Theory of Causation—Credulity, except as to new religious ideas—"Post hoc, ergo propter hoc"—Fundamental ideas of magic—Examples: incantations, ghosts, spirits—Evidence of rank and other institutions in proof of confusions of mind exhibited in magical beliefs. |
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| CHAPTER V. | |
| NATURE-MYTHS | 122 |
Savage fancy, curiosity, and credulity illustrated in nature-myths—In these all phenomena are explained by belief in the general animation of everything, combined with belief in metamorphosis—Sun-myths, Asian, Australian, African, Melanesian, Indian, Californian, Brazilian, Maori, Samoan–Moon-myths, Australian, Muysca, Mexican, Zulu, Macassar, Greenland, Piute, Malay—
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