Myths and Dreams

by Edward Clodd

CONTENTS.

	[PART I.]
	MYTH: ITS BIRTH AND GROWTH.
SECTION		PAGE
I.	Its Primitive Meaning	[3]
II.	Confusion of Early Thought between the Living and the Not Living	[12]
III.	Personification of the Powers of Nature	[19]
	(a.) The Sun and Moon	[19]
	(b.) The Stars	[29]
	(c.) The Earth and Sky	[34]
	(d.) Storm and Lightning, etc.	[41]
	(e.) Light and Darkness	[48]
	(f.) The Devil	[53]
IV.	The Solar Theory of Myth	[61]
V.	Belief in Metamorphosis into Animals	[81]
VI.	Totemism: Belief in Descent from Animal or Plant	[99]
VII.	Survival of Myth in History	[114]
VIII.	Myth among the Hebrews	[131]
IX.	Conclusion	[137]
	[PART II.]
	DREAMS: THEIR PLACE IN THE GROWTH OF BELIEFS IN THE SUPERNATURAL.
SECTION		PAGE
I.	Difference between Savage and Civilised Man	[143]
II.	Limitations of Barbaric Language	[148]
III.	Barbaric Confusion between Names and Things	[154]
IV.	Barbaric Belief in Virtue in Inanimate Things	[160]
V.	Barbaric Belief in the Reality of Dreams	[168]
VI.	Barbaric Theory of Disease	[174]
VII.	Barbaric Theory of a Second Self or Soul	[182]
VIII.	Barbaric Philosophy in “Punchkin” and Allied Stories	[188]
IX.	Barbaric and Civilised Notions of the Soul’s Nature	[198]
X.	Barbaric Belief in Souls in Brutes and Plants and Lifeless Things	[207]
XI.	Barbaric and Civilised Notions about the Soul’s Dwelling Place	[215]
XII.	Conclusions from the Foregoing	[222]
XIII.	Dreams as Omens and Media of Communication between Gods and Men	[236]
	INDEX	[245]

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I.

MYTH:
ITS BIRTH AND GROWTH.

“Unchecked by external truth, the mind of man has a fatal facility for ensnaring, entrapping, and entangling itself. But, happily, happily for the human race, some fragment of physical speculation has been built into every false system. Here is the weak point. Its inevitable destruction leaves a breach in the whole fabric, and through that breach the armies of truth march in.”

Sir H. S. Maine.

MYTH: ITS BIRTH AND GROWTH.