The general analogies which we have indicated are such as one would have reason to expect. The history of both the healthy and unhealthy mental evolution of the race is in many respects the history of the individual; in order to understand these analogies it is necessary to understand the mental development of primitive man. Recent studies have given us much valuable information in this direction. In primitive usages we find the expression of early man’s deepest longings and desires, and so a dynamic interpretation of such motives is possible. It remains for the psychiatrist to learn to what extent the findings of special investigators of primitive races may be utilized in explaining mental evolution, and also the development of abnormal mental states. This study is a comparatively recent one but it already gives indications of offering ample rewards.
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Cox, Rev. G. W.: The Mythology of the Aryan Nations.
DeGubertnatis, Angelo: Zoological Mythology.
Deiterich, A.: Mutter Erde.
Dixon, Roland B.: The Northern Maidu.