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Index
Cover
Title page
Copyright
Preface 1
Preface 2
Contents
Chapter I. The Science of Culture.
Culture or Civilization
Its phenomena related according to definite Laws
Method of classification and discussion of the evidence
Connexion of successive stages of culture by Permanence, Modification, and Survival
Principal topics examined in the present work
Chapter II. The Development of Culture.
Stages of culture, industrial, intellectual, political, moral
Development of culture in great measure corresponds with transition from savage through barbaric to civilized life
Progression-theory
Degeneration-theory
Development-theory includes both, the one as primary, the other as secondary
Historical and traditional evidence not available as to low stages of culture
Historical evidence as to principles of Degeneration
Ethnological evidence as to rise and fall in culture, from comparison of different levels of culture in branches of the same race
Extent of historically recorded antiquity of civilization
Prehistoric Archaeology extends the antiquity of man in low stages of civilization
Traces of Stone Age, corroborated by megalithic structures, lake-dwellings, shell-heaps, burial-places, etc., prove original low culture throughout the world
Stages of progressive Development in industrial arts
Chapter III. Survival in Culture.
Survival and Superstition
Children’s games
Games of chance
Traditional sayings
Nursery poems
Proverbs
Riddles
Significance and survival in Customs: sneezing-formula, ritt of foundation-sacrifice, prejudice against saving a drowning man
Chapter IV. Survival in Culture (continued).
Occult Sciences
Magical powers attributed by higher to lower races
Magical processes based on Association of Ideas
Omens
Augury, etc.
Oneiromancy
Haruspication, Scapulimancy, Chiromancy, etc.
Cartomancy, etc.
Rhabdomancy, Dactyliomancy, Coscinomancy, etc.
Astrology
Intellectual conditions accounting for the persistence of Magic
Survival passes into Revival
Witchcraft, originating in savage culture, continues in barbaric civilization; its decline in early mediaeval Europe followed by revival; its practices and counter-practices belong to earlier culture
Spiritualism has its source in early stages of culture, in close connexion with witchcraft
Spirit-rapping and Spirit-writing
Rising in the air
Performances of tied mediums
Practical bearing of the study of Survival
Chapter V. Emotional and Imitative Language.
Element of directly expressive Sound in Language
Test by independent correspondence in distinct languages
Constituent processes of Language
Gesture
Expression of feature, etc.
Emotional Tone
Articulate sounds, vowels determined by musical quality and pitch, consonants
Emphasis and Accent
Phrase-melody, Recitative
Sound-Words
Interjections
Calls to Animals
Emotional Cries
Sense-Words formed from Interjections
Affirmative and Negative particles, etc
Chapter VI. Emotional and Imitative Language (continued).
Imitative Words
Human actions named from sound
Animals names from cries, etc.
Musical instruments
Sounds reproduced
Words modified to adapt sound to sense
Reduplication
Graduation of vowels to express distance and difference
Children’s Language
Sound-words as related to Sense-words
Language an original product of the lower Culture
Chapter VII. The Art of Counting.
Ideas of Number derived from experience
State of arithmetic among uncivilized races
Small extent of Numeral-words among low tribes
Counting by fingers and toes
Hand-numerals show derivation of Verbal reckoning from Gesture-counting
Etymology of Numerals
Quinary, Decimal, and Vigesimal notations of the world derived from counting on fingers and toes
Adoption of foreign Numeral-words
Evidence of development of Arithmetic from a low original level of Culture
Chapter VIII. Mythology.
Mythic fancy based, like other thought, on Experience
Mythology affords evidence for studying laws of Imagination
Change in public opinion as to credibility of Myths
Myths rationalized into allegory and history
Ethnological import and treatment of Myth
Myth to be studied in actual existence and growth among modern savages and barbarians
Original sources of Myth
Early doctrine of general Animation of Nature
Personification of Sun, Moon, and Stars ; Water-spout, Sand-pillar, Rainbow, Water-fall, Pestilence
Analogy worked into Myth and Metaphor
Myths of Rain, Thunder, etc.
Effect of Language in formation of Myth
Material Personification primary, Verbal Personification secondary
Grammatical Gender, male and female, animate and inanimate, in relation to Myth
Proper Name3 of Objects in relation to Myth
Mental state proper to promote mythic imagination
Doctrine of Werewolves
Phantasy and Fancy
Chapter IX. Mythology (continued).
Nature-myths, their origin, canon of interpretation, preservation of original sense and significant names
Nature-myths of upper savage races compared with related forms among barbaric and civilized nations
Heaven and Earth as Universal Parents
Sun and Moon : Eclipse and Sunset, as Hero or Maiden swallowed by Monster ; Rising of Sun from Sea and Descent to Under-world ; Jaws of Night and Death, Symplêgades ; Eye of Heaven, Eye of Odin and the Graiæ
Sun and Moon as mythic civilizers
Moon, her inconstancy, periodical death and revival
Stars, their generation
Constellations, their place in Mythology and Astronomy
Wind and Tempest
Thunder
Earthquake
Chapter X. Mythology (continued).
Philosophical Myths: inferences become pseudo-history
Geological Myths
Effect of doctrine of Miracles on Mythology
Magnetic Mountain
Myths of relation of Apes to Men by development or degeneration
Ethnological import of myths of Ape-men, Men with tails, Men of the woods
Myths of Error, Perversion, and Exaggeration : stories of Giants, Dwarfs, and Monstrous Tribes of men
Fanciful explanatory Myths
Myths attached to legendary or historical Personages
Etymological Myths on names of places and persons
Eponymic Myths on names of tribes, nations, countries, etc. ; their ethnological import
Pragmatic Myths by realization of metaphors and ideas
Allegory
Beast-Fable
Conclusion
Chapter XI. Animism.
Religious ideas generally appear among low races of Mankind-Negative statements on this subject frequently misleading and mistaken : many cases uncertain
Minimum definition of Religion
Doctrine of Spiritual Beings, here termed Animism
Animism treated as belonging to Natural Religion
Animism divided into two sections, the philosophy of Souls, and of other Spirits
Doctrine of Souls, its prevalence and definition among the lower races
Definition of Apparitional Soul or Ghost-Soul
It is a theoretical conception of primitive Philosophy, designed to account for phenomena now classed under Biology, especially Life and Death, Health and Disease, Sleep and Dreams, Trance and Visions
Relation of Soul in name and nature to Shadow, Blood, Breath
Division or Plurality of Souls
Soul cause of Life ; its restoration to body when supposed absent
Exit of Soul in Trances
Dreams and Visions : theory of exit of dreamer’s or seer’s own soul; theory of visits received by them from other souls
Ghost-Soul seen in Apparitions
Wraiths and Doubles
Soul has form of Body; suffers mutilation with it
Voice of Ghost
Soul treated and defined as of Material Substance ; this appears to be the original doctrine
Transmission of Souls to service in future life by Funeral Sacrifice of wives, attendants, etc.
Souls of Animals
Their transmission by Funeral Sacrifice
Souls of Plants
Souls of Objects
Their transmission by Funeral Sacrifice
Relation of savage doctrine of Object-Souls to Epicurean theory of Ideas
Historical development of Doctrine of Souls, from the Ethereal Soul of primitive Biology to the Immaterial Soul of modern Theology
Index
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