MYTHOLOGY. (Latin mythologia; Greek poor, a myth, and A.oyfa, an account), includes the whole body of myths of a nation ; the ex planation, comparative study and interpretation of these myths. In the popular acceptation of the term, mythology, however, is used to sig nify the religious conceptions of races expressed in the form of tales and other accounts of their deities. This is a very restricted part of the broad field of mythological activity; for myth ology covers the whole sphere of activity of races before the knowledge of the laws of na ture came to replace the exercise of the imagi nation in the explanation of natural phenomena. It includes physical, historical, philosophical and religious myths, generally so intermingled and interdependent that it is often difficult or impossible to separate the one from the others, since the imagination was the great source from which they all sprang either as a whole or in part. Owing to this constant play of the imagi nation, such history as primitive races pos sessed rapidly became myth, and the myths as sumed the form, appearance and intent of his tory. During the pre-scientific ages, the great est of all virtues was credulity in the scientific, philosophical and religious beliefs of the mass of one's fellows. Thus creed became a synonym for religion, or the true religion. To-day the Pueblo Indian speaks of one who holds to the faith of his ancestors, as °the true believer.' How Primitive Man Man has apparently, since ever he began to reason, tried tc explain the natural phenomena which most impressed him; and his success has always been in proportion to his scientific knowledge. At the beginning of his investigation of the phenomena of nature he was handicapped by an absolute ignorance of all natural law, and he was forced to reason from his experiences, much as the higher forms of animals do to-day. To him all life meant activity of some kind, generally translated into motion, and conversely, all activity meant life and volition. Thus when the sun, the moon and the other planets ap peared and disappeared or changed form or position in the sky or appearance, they did so by their own volition. Behind the rushing of the wind, the fierce heat of the sun, the blight ing cold of the north, the thunder of the clouds, the destructive fury of the hail and the light ning, the insatiable greed of the fire, the reviv ing force of water and of the midnight mists and summer showers were so many powerful intelligences, human in every respect except in their magic power, working each his sovereign will. So primitive man peopled the physical
world about him with a multitude of beings es sentially like himself in their ambitions, desires, motives, loves and passions. These he classi fied unconsciously according to their apparent swiftness, strength, cunning and constancy, the primitive virtues by which he set great store, and the impenetrable mystery by which they were surrounded. These were the supernat ural people in contradistinction to the human race, which belonged to the natural people. But it is necessary to understand in what sense the word supernatural is here used. It never im plies beings in any sense different from man himself except in the power of their magic. Even the form in which a supernatural being appeared was not of great moment, since he generally had the power to exchange his shape for another at will. The Sun-father, the Moon mother, the Thunder-man, Morning-star, the great hunter, the Spirit of the Northland, the Summer-queen, the four great Wind Spirits, the ghostly spirits that rode upon the tempests, the dark beings from the under-world, the bright beings who peopled the Cloud-land, the Sky-land and the Sun-land were essentially hu man; and each lived in strict conformity with his surroundings and attributes. The Sun father and the Moon-mother inhabited a shin ing wigwam in the Sky-land, the Frost-spirit a yellow ice tepee in the far North, on the outer border of the world. The Great Spirit sat far up upon the mountain and smoked his pipe; the four winds blustered and quarreled and had ambitions and loves, hatreds and jealousies es sentially human. The waters ntoved, rippled and roared; the trees swayed and whispered; the leaves rustled; the clouds raced across the sky or lazily disported themselves in the sun. All displayed animation which made them fel low-actors with man on the stage of human ac tivity. Into this curious world so unlike our own scientific age, the study of mythology in troduces us. Here all nature is not only alive but instinct with the motives that move hu manity to action; and no explanation or inter pretation of mythology which fails to keep con stantly in mind primitive man's ignorance of the laws of natural phenomena, and its effects upon his religious, scientific and philosophical views can be effective.