RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Comparative Keligion
out of many which might be chosen. The skulls of neolithic man sometimes bear unmistakable traces of trepanning during life — an operation which must have been excruciating torture in times when the only instruments were flints and there were probably no anesthetics, and an explanation was long sought in vain. It has recently been discovered, however, that in cases of epilepsy modern Kabyles trepan the patient and then conjure forth the obsessing spirit which they believe to be seated in the brain, causing the affection. Alongside these two facts is put a third, viz., wide induction has proved that primitive peoples of diverse race and habitat attribute diseases, especially mental affections, to obsession by spirits. The neolithic fact receives a most probable explanation from the modern Kabyle practise, while the psychological habit is made clear from a wide circle of induction.
V. The Auxiliary Sciences: Comparative Religion is necessarily dependent upon a number of auxiliary sciences. Its most intimate associations are with the science of history in its modern form. To this a twofold debt is due, first for the historieocritical method. The phenomena under investigation are by nature elusive, and the observer is liable to error because his point of view I, The differs from that of the people whose Method of actions and beliefs he studies. The History, motives a Christian imputes to worshipers belonging to another religion may be quite other than the real motives. Moreover, the phenomena lie in a realm where volvmtary testimony is seldom given, because primitive peoples believe that between them and their deities exists a confidential relation which would be endangered by reporting to a stranger in what that relationship consists. So there is necessitated in this kind of investigation relentless criticism of alleged facts, which have to be pursued to their very lair and dragged out naked of falsehood and stripped of misconstruction.
A second debt is incurred by the access given to the great body of facts presented by history. This storehouse, new treasures from which are constantly coming into use, is being worked over and over as more accurate knowledge illumines both the items and the tout ensemble. An example of the way in which this is being accomplished is furnished by the history of Greek religion. A'half century ago Greek religion was regarded as thoroughly known. It had been for two millenniums the source of literary allusion and flavor; nearly all Western literature is seasoned with Attic salt. Yet in the light of phenomena, some of which had been on record all the time (as in Pausanias and Herodotus), and others which have been gained by modern research hke the investigations at Mycenas and in Crete and yyprus, the entire history of Greek religion is being rewritten, the Olympic pantheon is traced to Its elements, and the construction and growth of a national faith is revealed to the mod- Facts ern observer. Still another departof History, ment, that of travel, is proving rich treasure trove. Sailors and merchants, travelers, and trained observers whose Dusmess it is to discover what is done and thought III.-13
by other peoples, officers in government service vv ho by long residence have come to know thoroughly the tribes among which they lived, and faithful missionaries furnish material which only the trained investigator can appreciate. The very detachment from each other of the reports made by these observers proves of the greatest value; for example the use of the swastika as a symbol with religious significance is proved for practically all quarters of the world in remote antiquity and in the living present, and the " bull-roarer " is discovered to be nearly ubiquitous as a sign of the performance of the mysteries of primitive tribes. Other departments of history, such as art and architecture, have their pregnant lessons and indispensable use. The subdepartment of ceramics has contributed to the history of Greek religion some of its most convincing material. On the value of the history of architecture there is no need to dilate; the mere mention of it suggests reverence and worshipful toil as represented in structures from the reed booth of the fetish-worshiper to the peerless Parthenon.
Newer and younger offshoots of the historic spirit are Comparative Mythology and Folk-lore. The key to appreciation is understanding, and the world had largely forgotten its infancy. Upon the recovery of his memory depended man's
3. Com- understanding of nearly the whole of parative primitive religion. When the prae-
Mythology tises of modern primitive tribes stand and Folk- out as the parallels of the practises of lore. the Greeks and Romans, what once seemed foolish or inexplicable in the latter and " curious " in the former received explanation as performances of the childhood of the race. How could human beings trace their descent from animals or plants on the one side, or from deities on the other ? These things were done and were accepted as facts. As the doings of the childhood of humanity they have their perfect explanation. Thus Comparative Mythology and Folk-lore by recovering the methods of thought of the race in its childhood have contributed much to the understanding of such " oddities."
No slight debt also is due to the mental sciences, particularly to psychology, though in this department a part of the obligation is repaid by return contributions. Psychology has exposed the method of operation of the mind of savage and epileptic, of individuals and of the crowd. In turn, epidemics like that of the dancing mania of the Middle Ages, communication of prophetic frenzy like that of Saul, the mental operations of an Elisha and a Mohammed, and the working of re-
4. Other vivals are explained upon sound Allies. principles and reveal the methods by
which religious acts began, became customary and authoritative. It may seem out of place to claim as an ally of Comparative Religion the sciences of geology and paleontology. Yet a moment's consideration of the example of the neolithic trepanning referred to above will show that the dating of the early subject of the operation must depend upon the pronouncements of geology upon the environment in which the relics were
Comparative Keligrion