ABSTRACT
We have no basis for fixing the time when mankind commenced to be interested in speculations about the gods and goddesses. When we look at the features of the Pithecanthropus (p. 26) we can readily see that such a creature, called “prehuman” by some, but generally admitted to have been archaic human, could not philosophize on such subjects. His habits were probably similar to those of the animals about him; he does not look as if he had had speech, and his intellectual wants were exceedingly limited. It is doubtful whether his actions were governed by reasoning; more likely they were instinctive, satisfying his hunger, his sexual desires, etc., and perhaps being able to make rude stone implements, or dig shelters or burrows for himself. We can not imagine that he formed any ideas of a religious character, except perhaps that he may have been afraid of ghosts, or dreams, which has even been observed in dogs. But the Pithecanthropus, who probably lived from 2,000,000 to 500,000 years ago, did not live in Western Asia, or in Southeastern Europe, in the neighborhoods where we find the first traces of an intellectual development of man.
