such a large proportion of its members lack opportunity. Forces at work in progressive societies have, it is true, been slowly moderating this evil; but now modern sentiment demands a more rapid change. And this attitude has stimulated the study of sociology in order that reorganization in the relationship of classes may be made in accordance with the natural laws of growth and with as little shock as may be to the social body. Finally, the social sciences supplement the natural and biological sciences by making their work more effective. The science of politics should perfect the general social organization and promote efficiency in all kinds of collective activity. The science of economics should aid in the conquest of nature by a better direction of the agents of production and exchange and should further human efficiency and well-being by improving the process of the distribution of wealth. Similarly, jurisprudence, ethics, and other social sciences should help to eliminate or control the anti-social elements in society, and should in general facilitate the social relations.

The social sciences, therefore, the last of the three groups, contribute to progress by remedying evils left untouched by the other sciences; they improve social conditions, and perfect social organization so as to increase social and, therewith, individual efficiency.

Summary. We find then that the natural sciences developed first, because man was interested first in the conquest of nature and the simpler physical laws could be grasped at an early period. This period brought an increase of wealth but was wasteful of human life. The desire to save life led the way to the study of biology, and its scientific treatment was made possible through the enlightenment which came with the spread of knowledge. Knowledge of the physical environment and of life, however, did not prevent social disease from flourishing and did not greatly improve the social condition of a large part of society. To overcome these defects the social sciences within recent years have been cultivated with increasing seriousness. It is true that social conditions from very early times have been such as to demand a knowledge of the social sciences; but except in a few cases, and then only in a limited way, men's in

terests did not turn in that direction. Interest in the social sciences has had to wait for the enlarged sympathies and the sense of solidarity which appeared with the growing interdependence of dense populations, and these conditions have been dependent upon advance in the other sciences.

With the cultivation of the social sciences, then, the chain of knowledge will be complete, at least so far as the needs which have already appeared are concerned. For each group of sciences will solve one or more of the great problems which man has encountered in the process of his development. The physical sciences will solve the problems of the environment, the biological sciences the problems of life, and the social sciences the problems of society.

REFERENCES FOR COLLATERAL READING CARVER, T. N., Sociology and Social Progress, Ch. 15. COMTE, A., Positive Philosophy, Vol. 2, Ch. 6. Also in Carver's

Sociology and Social Progress, Ch. 5. DRAPER, J. W., History of the Intellectual Development of Europe. EDMAN, I., Human Traits, Ch. 14. SCHNEIDER, H. W., Science and Social Progress. VEBLEN, T. B., The Place of Science in Modern Civilization.

CHAPTER XXXI

RELIGION

Classification and Description of Religions. Religious beliefs and practices vary so much in different environments and in different stages of culture that, although an individual may understand those of his particular social group, religion as an universal social product is difficult to define accurately or even to comprehend. For this reason a brief description of the religious beliefs that have existed in society at different stages of culture may be a more useful introduction to the subject of religion than a formal definition would be. Professor Tiele 'has made a useful and, for the present purpose, a sufficiently detailed classification of religions as follows:

Some of the early religions are difficult to describe and their practices are even more difficult to interpret. Primitive religions are comprehensible only when the mental processes of primitive peoples are understood. At a very early stage of mental development man interprets death, sleep, dreams, and occasional abnormal mental states as evidences that he is possessed with a double or soul which has the power to separate itself from the body temporarily, and which finally leaves the body 1 Elements of the Science of Religion, First Series.

never to return. Furthermore, primitive man makes no accurate distinction between the animate and the inanimate. The tendency to interpret all external phenomena in the light of his own feelings and experiences causes him to attribute to objects of nature, or at least to such of them as seem important to him, the possession of a soul like his own. This belief, that a large number of natural objects as well as man himself, are possessed with a thinking, feeling spirit, is called animism.

Spiritism is merely a development of animism with no very strong line of demarcation. To understand all phases of this belief one must keep in mind the helplessness of primitive man before the forces of nature, and his absolute lack of comprehension of cause and effect. To him, as to the unthinking everywhere, coincidence of phenomena is interpreted as causal influence. With increasing experience in the satisfaction of his wants, and in the successes and failures attending his acts, and with growing intelligence in interpreting events, man is convinced that there is a multitude of external forces influencing him. He performs certain acts and unforeseen evil visits him or his tribe; he performs other acts and unforeseen good fortune attends him; or he performs the same act at different times and obtains entirely different results. Surely the unseen forces which influence his life are sometimes friendly and sometimes hostile. Man continues to interpret these forces from his own consciousness and on the basis of his own personal powers. The only force he understands is the one he himself possesses, that spirit whose presence animates his body and whose absence leaves it inert. Therefore he concludes that the same kind of force must govern nature as well as himself. Consequently he believes the universe to be filled with a multitude of spirits exerting sometimes favorable and sometimes unfavorable influences. These spirits, however, are not necessarily attached to any particular object. In this phase of belief important natural objects do still have their own spirits; but these spirits may leave the objects to which they belong, just as the spirit of man may during sleep temporarily leave his body and wander to distant places. In addition to these particular spirits which can be properly accounted for, there are also the departed spirits of the dead; and, further more, there seem to be also numerous tramp spirits, so to speak, of unknown origins and with no definite attachments and responsibilities, and such spirits may be of great annoyance to human beings in the innocent performance of their duties.

In this stage of mental development religious observances are of grave importance in the life of man, for he must continually outwit or placate unfriendly spirits and honor and reward welldisposed ones. Medicine men and magicians, who are experts in dealing with spirits, come to have a dominating influence over the life of the tribe. This is also the period of myth formation. Curiosity demands an explanation of the processes of nature, wise men try to account for them, and the most acceptable explanations are handed down from generation to generation, often in poetical language.

The belief in spirits and in their intimate association with human beings is accompanied naturally by another phenomenon called fetichism. If spirits are free to move about, entering or leaving different objects, it seems highly probable that curious or specially marked objects may be the favored abiding places of spirits. Such an object is a fetich; and its possessor, if he treats it with respect, may experience that good luck which the spirit is able to bestow. To the savage mind the truth of this supposition is abundantly confirmed by the good fortune which sometimes accompanies the possession of a fetich.

As the experiences of a people multiply, and as events of the past assume importance, notable individuals stand out as having possessed superior power and attainments. With the passage of time their achievements become magnified, their favor is courted, and therefore their spirits are worshipped as are the spirits of natural objects. This practice leads to ancestor worship, which in some societies tends to supersede the worship of other spirits. Spirits of the dead are worshipped in proportion to their importance and to their supposed interest in the affairs of the living. Hence each family reveres its own ancestors even when they are not important enough to be recognized by the tribe or nation.

While the religious belief expressed in spiritism is adequate for primitive peoples, the conception of the spirit world in this