BRINTON, A. M., M. D.
_Memb. Hist. Soc. of Penn.; of Numismat. and
Antiq. Soc. of Philada.; Corresp. Memb.
Amer. Ethnolog. Soc.; author of
"Notes on the Floridian
Peninsula," Etc._
NEW YORK
LEYPOLDT & HOLT
LONDON: TRUeBNER & CO.
1868
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by
DANIEL G. BRINTON,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
PREFACE.
I have written this work more for the thoughtful general reader than the
antiquary. It is a study of an obscure portion of the intellectual
history of our species as exemplified in one of its varieties.
What are man's earliest ideas of a soul and a God, and of his own origin
and destiny? Why do we find certain myths, such as of a creation, a
flood, an after-world; certain symbols, as the bird, the serpent, the
cross; certain numbers, as the three, the four, the seven--intimately
associated with these ideas by every race? What are the laws of growth
of natural religions? How do they acquire such an influence, and is this
influence for good or evil? Such are some of the universally interesting
questions which I attempt to solve by an analysis of the simple faiths
of a savage race.
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