The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1904-10-01

ian'' is "lesser than the christian child"
Anthropologists hold much the same
opinion; and great mass of scientific
literature has been produced to prove
the truth of. the contention. The theory
will assuredly commend itself to any
one who gives it even the most casual
investigations; and it can hardly be
denied: that this theory accounts in
the most satisfactory way for the pc
culiar facts concerning the belief in
and the fear of ghosts among civilized
peoples Mature or aged civilized men
| have little belief in ghosts. Mature
civilized women still retain a COM
parattvely strong belief and fear in
that respect: but women, according to
pologists, are, as a general rule, more
closely akin to children than are men
| in both their mental and physical
composition.
| Putting these facts together, the man
of science can see some insignificant
conclusions emerging from the synthe-
sis. Mature civilized men and women
alike are proverbially less impressed
with the fear Of and belief In ghosts
man" is powerfully vital fact in the
| child mind although grownups take lit
tie stock in it. Again, all savages, ma
! ture as well as young, are thorough be-
levers in ghosts and boggey men Of ev-
cry description. The savage mind is
| filled with fears Of every imaginable
supernatural kind. So is the mind Of
the child in civilized society. The
minds of mature civilized men and wo-
little fear and belief of that kind. Now,
| what conclusion can be drawn from
this interesting fact?
It it could be shown, for example,
that the ancestors of civilized men
were at one time precisely like the
savages OF today: that the most highly
developed tribes of the human race
| had passed in their evolution upwards,
through the state in which we find the
would seem to be clearing itself. And
if it could be further shown that each
individual of race, in its growth
from its beginning onward Of the race
! 1tself-ther the close resemblance of
the civilized child to the mature saw
age would be perfectly understood.
And such, to- be perfectly frank about
the matter, is the conviction Of biolo-
| gists, from whom ,anthropologists have
not only for the belief in and the fear
Eof ghosts but for many other bellers,
fears and customs which, upon their
surface, seem mysteriously common
place and 'unaccountab1e.
/ Were 1t not for this innate, this
inherited fear Of ghosts, children would
not be afraid of them. Children, just
like .savages, are. in many respects the
most hardened skeptics imaginable.
They are not open to conviction upon
any matter which does not directly ap-
peal to their imagination. They will
believe the most monstrous fable only
be it clothed in an : alluring garb;
whereas the most obviously forcible
truth, if it appeal more to the intellect
than to- the imagination; will have no
effect whatsoever upon their lively, re-
| silent and shallow minds. In just the
degree in which: the, man is primitive
will his beliefs be akin to the beliefs
of the child and OF the savages.
The belief in ghosts seems to go hand
in hand with the power Of ~perceiving
-! shades in color. Prof, Rivers, of Cam
bridge has recently I: investigated the
color perception Of savAges and comes
| to- athe conclusion that the savage is
unable,to distinguish between the per-
ception. He finds: also that in savages
the perception Of red is keenest;. that
| savages have words !: for red, but not
for blue; and Gladstone long ago PROV
I ed that such was the case with, the
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