have filled the minds of the people with images of the grand and the terrible which they have striven to reproduce in the dogmas of their theology, in the character of their gods, and even in the forms of their temples.49 The ancient literature of India shows evidence of the most remarkable ascendancy of the imagination.50 Most of their works on grammar, on law, on medicine, on geography, on mathematics, and on metaphysics are in the form of poetry. There is an excessive reverence for antiquity. In ancient times their wise and great men were supposed to have lived to an extraordinary age. One eminent man "lived in a pure and virtuous age, and his days were indeed long in the land, since when he was made king he was a million years old; he then reigned six million three hundred thousand years; having done which, he resigned his empire, and lingered on for one hundred thousand years more."51 Speaking of the growth of American Indian mythologies with their many strange inconsistencies and superstitions, Professor Boas says, "There can be no doubt that the impression made by the grandeur of nature upon the mind of primitive man is the ultimate cause from which these myths spring, but nevertheless the form in which we find these traditions is largely influenced by the borrowing." 52 Thus, it appears that the physical environment including its climatic relations has been a significant factor in social evolution. On the one hand, a population is driven from its accustomed abode by the force of some gradual climatic pulsation, and the movement of the people is 49 See figure 59. 50 Buckle, op. cit., ch. ii. 51 Ibid. 52 "The Growth of Indian Mythologies," Jour. Amer. Folk-Lore, vol. ix, p. 9. |