the night he had a vision which told him that he should enter by means of the roof. He did this, and became fortunate ever after, living to be a very aged man. Hereafter the custom was always observed under similar circumstances. Plutarch adds that this practice seems to have been derived from the Greeks.

The whole body may be preserved artificially by embalming, or the head alone may be kept. There is no end to the methods used in connection with the dead. Cremation came into practice in the Bronze Age in Europe and it is seldom absent in any great part of the world. It is often found along with inhumation. It may be those high in authority who are cremated and the common people buried; sometimes it is the reverse. The ceremonial deposition of the ashes in an urn or vase is common.

After this very cursory review of some of the most frequent forms of burial, let us note a few of the customs based more specifically upon the love of the dead kindred. Various tabus are necessary to prevent the soul from injuring itself. The Chinese use no knives for fear the soul might be cut; doors are closed carefully, lest the soul might be pinched; bowls of water are emptied so that it may not be drowned. A fast is sometimes made for fear of eating the spirit of the dead.

Prehistoric archæology would be a barren field of research were it not for the universal practice of placing objects in graves. The soul needs food and drink as well as clothing. It may indeed desire its former wife or wives, its slaves, or even its horse. Grave pottery forms the bulk of the collections in any archæological museum. In Peru, the playthings of the child and the weaving utensils of the women are buried with them. Sometimes

there is the idea that the soul returns to occupy the body, and thus it needs all kinds of property ready at hand. The destruction of objects by burning in the funeral pyre is another way to aid the souls of the dead. Pottery vessels are sometimes "killed" by breaking or knocking a hole in the bottom, making them no longer useful for the living but still acceptable to the spirits of the dead.

The degradation of sacrifice is not uncommon, a substitution of an imitation for the real object. The funeral rites of the Chinese illustrate this point very clearly; paper puppets to guard the grave; paper money to scatter for the benefit of the souls who have left no sons; and many others.

Mourning customs are an important feature of savage life. Durkheim has an interesting theory on mourning, which is built on a superstructure of crowd psychology: the coercion of the members of the family. "Not only do the relatives, who are affected the most directly, bring their personal sorrow to the assembly, but the society exercises a moral pressure over its members, to put their sentiments in harmony with the situation. To allow them to remain indifferent to the blow which has fallen upon it and diminished it, would be equivalent to proclaiming that it does not hold the place in their hearts. which is due it; it would be denying itself. A family which allows one of its members to die without being wept for shows by that very act that it lacks moral unity and cohesion; it abdicates; it renounces its existence. . . When the Christian, during the ceremonies commemorating the Passion, and the Jew, in the anniversary of the fall of Jerusalem, fast and mortify themselves, it is not in giving way to a sadness which they feel spontaneously." 16

This theory seems to satisfy the facts concerning a Catholic wake and other similar practices, but it does not take into account the idea of the fear of the soul of the deceased which seems to be fundamental in any mourning rite of the savage. Several have pointed out that mourning customs are primarily attempts to disguise the living from the dead. We have already seen how little acumen is allowed to ghosts, how easily they can be imposed upon and thwarted. So it is, evidently, with their return to harass the living. They can be completely foiled by a simple disguise. Mourning customs are often the reverse of those of ordinary life; a people who paint their bodies leave it off; the hair is allowed to grow long; the color and the cut of the clothing are changed. The name of the dead is made a tabu. Purification rites are sometimes performed and the living thus put on a "spiritual armor" against the souls of the dead.

The "other world" may have a very definite location, across a desert, beyond a range of mountains, or towards the setting sun. Again, there may be a vagueness regarding its whereabouts. The journey there is curiously alike over a great part of the aboriginal world. The road is difficult and help is required. Combats are sometimes necessary. The dog, the universal possession and a friend of man since very early times, is often needed as an aid to the soul in overcoming the dangers of the journey.

This world where the ghosts of the departed take up their residence has very much the same character as the world of the living. Dreams prove to the savage that a chief in this world is carrying on his vocation in the next; a warrior here is a warrior there. The "happy hunting

ground" presents conditions perhaps slightly ameliorated from those of the living; there may be an abundance of game and plenty of water for the crops. The caste idea is sometimes found, where certain classes of the population are believed to be entitled to some delights not shared by others. Good hunters and good warriors may receive special blessings on their death. The character of the death may determine the place of the future abode. In Mexico the souls of those who die in childbirth, those killed by lightning or are drowned, are privileged to go to a special abiding place that is far more agreeable than that which receives the souls of those dying in other ways. The ethical feature of retribution, a paradise for the good and punishment for the wicked, is totally lacking among savages who have not come in contact with the white man.

This other world is not only peopled by the ghosts of the dead but it is the abode of the spirits of plants and of animals as well as the dwelling place of the gods. These may represent the powers of nature. Spencer believed that the evolution of the gods in a large sense can be traced to the worship of a human soul. This theory cannot account for the general belief of a savage people in the greater gods.

Ancestor worship is a cult in and of itself, and is something quite different from the universal doctrine of human souls. The worship of ancestors is found in comparatively few places, and these are all regions of high cultures, as Greece and Rome, China and India. In some parts of Polynesia the worship of ancestors may also be considered to be a cult in itself. In all these regions there is a certain very close connection between the definite group of the dead on the one hand and the living

on the other. The entire welfare of the dead depends upon having on earth descendants, usually a son.

These crises of life which we have been considering are all represented to some extent among civilized peoples. Baptism is the purification of the newly born babe; the "churching of women" makes them fit to reassume their place in society; confirmation is to some extent comparable with the rites of puberty. The training for knighthood in feudal times, with its vigils and its ordeals, is certainly somewhat similar to the rites of the savage at adolescence. The Church again appears at death. However free from religious dogma one may have been during his lifetime-he may never have been baptised or confirmed, he may even have been married by a civil rite-at the end, at least, the future of his soul becomes a matter of concern and he is buried by the Church.