New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-04-09
Literary NesOS and Criticism

erected n commodious pantheon. and II
IS open to all Corners.
For the purposes OF working de1ni-
ton. N. Reinach proposes TO call religion
"a sum Of scruples which impede the
free exercise OF our faculties; its prl-
mary elements arc animism and taboo.
and these are accompanied by totemism
and magic He continues:
To Tho natural. ] might almost say the
physiological. action Of animism are que
the conceptions OF those invisible genii
with which nature teens. spirits Of the sun
and Of the moon, OF the trees and waters.
Of thunder and lightning. OF mountains
and rocks. not TO speak Of the spirits OF
the dead which are souls. and the spirit
OF spirlts who Is God. To the influence
Of taboos. which create The IDEAS OF sacrea
and rrofsne. % things or actions forbid
den or permitted. religious laws and piety
are due. Tho Jehovah of the rocks and
clouds ~ Sinai is q product of animisn.
the Decalogue is q revision OF an old code
OF taboos.
Totemism. an obvious consequence Of
believing that all things are animated
by spirits. is the worship Of the animal.
plant. mineral or celestial body in which
the clan Acknowledges a protector and a
rallying sign. Magic. the fourth ele-
ment. might be called the strategy OF
animism. AS an attempt 20 suboue
nature IN mans interest. II is an an
ticipaticn OF true science. A priestly
magician in Babylonia bordering
Sleeps liver is doing more than 10
satisfy an immediate need OF the wor-
shipper; he is unwittingly pointing the
way toward anatomy. Just as by seek
ing signs in the heavens he is giving an
initial impulse in the direction Of as
tronomy. Similarly. il is the attempt
by magic TO fascinate comestible and
desirable animals that leads TO the pris-
tine art attested by carvings, engrav-
ings and paintings on the walls Of caves
in Perigord and the Pyrenean region, in
Gaul.
Lest we should imagine his fourfold
account Of religion las animism, taboo,
totemism and magic TO he but the dingy
outcome Of a sort of Summing expedi-
tion in the ends OF the earth, NJ. Reinach
plies us with examples Of these very
elements among enlightened and highly
respected religions Animism indehbly
traced m the cults Of Egypt and Baby
lon. Of India and China and Of Greece
and Rome has left it's impress on our
own times. Even the personifications of
our poetry are an inheritance from that
primeval moment when those distant
relatives Of ours were fain 10 invest
every object with living spirit. And
what great gulf is there. we are asked.
between the state Of mind Of the redskin
who SAYS Of the rivers flow, 1T is the
spirit Of the water taking fight" and
the state OF mind Of Lamartine when
singing 10 his Lac du Bourget?
With his fair for anything Ike sur
yival from early or prehistoric forms.
the author is never happier than when
delving for relics Of pagan worship and
showing US treasures like the heifeTs
head in silver exhumed at Mycena. The
head recalls the "ox-eyed Hera" OF
Homer. and il seems to indicate animal
worship resembling that prevalent in
Egvpt. where divinities with animal
heads and human bodies were long rep
resented by art. a bronze group discov-
cred near Berne and dating from the
first or second century OF e Christian
era reflects the cult of Artio, the bear
Goddess From time immemorial the
town Of Berne has kept bears, and the
practice has not lacked the usual eX-
planatorv legend. Than.-s TO the fortu-
nate discovery Of the bronze group, we