Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/261

POLYTECHNIQUE. 223 POLYZOA. in the order of merit, and candidates are allowed to choose what branch of the service they wish to take up. Soldiers who have been in the service at least six months may be admitted, without ful- filling all the ordinary entrance requirements. The branches of the service which rely upon the Poly- technique for candidates are: the corps of land and naval artillery, military and naval engineers, the marine, the corps of hydrographic, road, bridge, and mining engineers, and the telegraph and gunpowder superintendeneies. POLYTHEISM (from Gk. Tro'/.Weor, pol- i/theos, relating to many gods, from TroAvr, polys, much, many -{- fteoc, thcos, god). The belief in many gods, as opposed to monotheism, or atheism, belief in one god or in no god. The most primi- tive peoples scarcely recognize any god, but only demoniac forces, and behind polytheism lies the worship of one superior clan-god. But this latter does not exclude a belief in the existenc of other gods of other clans, who on occasion may be worshiped, and the bare recognition of more than one god is not irreconcilable with a synchronous worship of only one clan-god or of rites which propitiate only demons. Most of the forms of polytheism known are far from primitive, and represent both internal development and an amal- gamation of beliefs. Different clan-gods, in con- sequence of political fusion or simply through borrowing, may become united into one pantheon. Tims modern Hindu polytheism arises from a union of Aryan and Dravidian deities; Greek polytheism combined Hellenic and Semitic gods; the Teutonic pantheon included different clan- fods with characteristics borrowed from the inns and others. Polvtheism has been derived, in some cases, but not all, from totemism (q.v.). In this article only the general aspects of polytheism are to be considered. ( 1 ) There is only one unbroken series between inchoate and perfected polytheism. Spirits become gods; gods decline into mere spirits. Polvdsemonism and polytheism constantly interchange. (2) There is scarcely any natural phenomenon that has not been deified, but the order of deification varies in time. In some cases, sky and earth gods are early divinities: in others, they are ignored altogether, or come late into the pantheon. (3) Xatnre-gods form only a part of the pantheon, which embraces also deified man-gods and ghosts, gods of poetic fancy, of logic, etc. (4) Social development conditions the pantheon, but there is no absolute rule of progression from matriar- chal to patriarchal divinities. (5) The concrete comes before the abstract. Tiber and Ganges are divinities before Water is a god. (6) Na- ture and mind are often correlated in the figures of the pantheon. Water and wisdom, for exam- ple, are united in three distinct polytheistic sys- tems, in the Wisdom-spring of Germany, in Ea, the Babylonian god. and in Varuna. the Hindu god of water and wisdom. (7) In some cases local parts of earth are revered before there are any great gods to which worship is paid. (8) This does not exclude the vague recognition of a creator-god to whom worship is not paid. (9) The great phenomenal gods, sun, wind, storm, sky. always expand rapidly when na- tionalized, taking on attributes not theirs origi- nally. (10) This leads to such gods becoming more and more anthropomorphic and anthropo- pathic. (11) The ethical element in gods is a reflection of the sociological conditions of. the worshiper. (12) This ethical element in early- pantheons is usually accredited only to certain gods, usually the far-seeing and purificatory gods. (13) Besides racial differences in the con- ception of gods, we must recognize also a per- petual intellectual difference in every race. The same god is thus conceived in different ways by members of the same race. (14) The higher con- ception is the result of the intelligence of a few minds. It may dominate them, while the older crude conception still obtains among the vulgar. Which conception shall prevail depends on the ascendency gained by the more intellectual mem- bers of the race. (15) There is a tendency in all polytheisms to make social distinctions, to group the gods in classes. Groups of three, nine, ten, twelve gods are common. (16) This group- ing tends to make natural triads, as those of sky, air, earth, or sun, lightning, fire, which in turn, as the gods, become more human, tend to become converted into family groups, father mother, and son taking the place of an earlier triad. Early stages of polytheism, where gods and demons interchange in the same personalities, are found in the religion of Babylonia and Assyria, in the Aino and the Polynesian religions, and in the cult of some of the African and American savages. The perfected Babylonian cult shows polytheism in an advanced stage, as do the religions of Greece. Rome. Germany, and India. In India. Egjpt, and Greece are found the most marked examples of the tendency to arrange the gods in social groups. Consult : Tiele. Kompendium der Religionsrjeschichte (3d ed., Breslau, 1903) ; Saussaye. Lehrhuch der Re- ligionsrieschichte (2d ed., Freiburg, 1897): Jas- trow. The Studii of Religion, with full bibliog- raphy (ib., 1901); and for special systems of polytheism, see the separate articles, Greek Re- LiGiox; RoM.N Religion; etc. POLYX'ENA (Lat., from Gk. noAtfew?). The daughter of Priam and Hecuba. She was be- trothed to Achilles, who was killed by Paris while celebrating his wedding with her in the temple of Apollo. At the demand of his shade Polyxena was sacrificed in expiation on his fu- neral pyre. Her death forms the subject of the first part of Euripides's Hecuba. POL'YZO'A (Xeo-Lat. nom. pi., from Gk. ffo/.i/f, polys, much, many + ^fov, zoon, animal), or iIos.s Animals. Minute marine animals usu- ally forming moss-like or coral-like calcareous or chitinous masses called 'corms,' each cell con- taining a worm-like creature with the digestive tract flexed, the anus situated near the mouth. The body is usually drawn in and out of the cell by the action of retractor and adductor muscles. The mouth is surrounded by a cro«-n of long tentacles. Xo heart or vascular system exists, and the nervous sy.stem consists of a single or double ganglion situated between the mouth and vent, with nerves proceeding from it. The Poly- zoa are hermaphroditic, multiplying by budding or eggs. The embryo passes through a morula, gastrula. and trochosphere stage, the corm being formed by the budding of numerous cells from a primitive one. The group was formerly called "Bryozoa.' Fossil Polyzoa are common in nearly all geo- logical formations from the Ordovician upward. Because of the difficulties attendant upon their