The Making of Religion | Page 7

in fact, as the Platonic Thrasymachus says, 'the interest of the strongest.' That does not appear to me to be demonstrated; but this is no place for a discussion of the origin of morals. 'The interest of the strongest,' and of the nomadic group, would be to knock elderly invalids on the head. But Dampier says, of the Australians, in 1688, 'Be it little, or be it much they get, every one has his part, as well the young and tender, and the old and feeble, who are not able to go abroad, as the strong and lusty.' The origin of this fair and generous dealing may be obscure, but it is precisely the kind of dealing on which, according to Mr. Howitt, the religion of the Kurnai insists (chapter x.). Thus the Being concerned does 'make for righteousness.'
With these explanations I trust that my rhetorical use of such phrases as 'eternal,' 'creative,' 'omniscient,' 'omnipotent,' 'omnipresent,' and 'moral,' may not be found to mislead, or covertly to import modern or Christian ideas into my account of the religious conceptions of savages.
As to the evidence throughout, a learned historian has informed me that 'no anthropological evidence is of any value.' If so, there can be no anthropology (in the realm of institutions). But the evidence that I adduce is from such sources as anthropologists, at least, accept, and employ in the construction of theories from which, in some points, I venture to dissent.
A.L.
[Footnote 1: Macmillans, 1899.]
[Footnote 2: Op. cit. p. 246, note.]
[Footnote 3: See the new edition of _Myth, Ritual, and Religion_, especially the new Introduction.]
[Footnote 4: See Introductions to my Homeric Hymns. Allen. 1899.]
[Footnote 5: _Journal S.P.R._, December 1890, p. 147.]
[Footnote 6: _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, p. 388.]

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
'The only begetter' of this work is Monsieur Lef��bure, author of 'Les Yeux d'Horus,' and other studies in Egyptology. He suggested the writing of the book, but is in no way responsible for the opinions expressed.
The author cannot omit the opportunity of thanking Mr. Frederic Myers for his kindness in reading the proof sheets of the earlier chapters and suggesting some corrections of statement. Mr. Myers, however, is probably not in agreement with the author on certain points; for example, in the chapter on 'Possession.' As the second part of the book differs considerably from the opinions which have recommended themselves to most anthropological writers on early Religion, the author most say here, as he says later, that no harm can come of trying how facts look from a new point of view, and that he certainly did not expect them to fall into the shape which he now presents for criticism.
ST. ANDREWS: _April 3, 1898._

CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTORY
CHAPTER II
. SCIENCE AND 'MIRACLES'
III. ANTHROPOLOGY AND RELIGION IV. 'OPENING THE GATES OF DISTANCE' V. CRYSTAL VISIONS, SAVAGE AND CIVILISED VI. ANTHROPOLOGY AND HALLUCINATIONS VII. DEMONIACAL POSSESSION VIII. FETISHISM AND SPIRITUALISM IX. EVOLUTION OF THE IDEA OF GOD X. HIGH GODS OF LOW RACES XI. SUPREME GODS NOT NECESSARILY DEVELOPED OUT OF 'SPIRITS' XII. SAVAGE SUPREME BEINGS XIII. MORE SAVAGE SUPREME BEINGS XIV. AHONE. TI-RA-W��. N��-PI. PACHACAMAC. TUI LAGA. TAA-ROA XV. THE OLD DEGENERATION THEORY XVI. THEORIES OF JEHOVAH XVII. CONCLUSION
APPENDICES.
A. OPPOSITIONS OF SCIENCE B. THE POLTERGEIST AND HIS EXPLAINERS C. CRYSTAL-GAZING D. CHIEFS IN AUSTRALIA
INDEX
* * * * *
THE MAKING OF RELIGION
I
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER The modern Science of the History of Religion has attained conclusions which already possess an air of being firmly established. These conclusions may be briefly stated thus: Man derived the conception of 'spirit' or 'soul' from his reflections on the phenomena of sleep, dreams, death, shadow, and from the experiences of trance and hallucination. Worshipping first the departed souls of his kindred, man later extended the doctrine of spiritual beings in many directions. Ghosts, or other spiritual existences fashioned on the same lines, prospered till they became gods. Finally, as the result of a variety of processes, one of these gods became supreme, and, at last, was regarded as the one only God. Meanwhile man retained his belief in the existence of his own soul, surviving after the death of the body, and so reached the conception of immortality. Thus the ideas of God and of the soul are the result of early fallacious reasonings about misunderstood experiences.
It may seem almost wanton to suggest the desirableness of revising a system at once so simple, so logical, and apparently so well bottomed on facts. But there can never be any real harm in studying masses of evidence from fresh points of view. At worst, the failure of adverse criticism must help to establish the doctrines assailed. Now, as we shall snow, there are two points of view from which the evidence as to religion in its early stages has not been steadily contemplated. Therefore we intend to ask, first,