ABSTRACT
To civilized man, nothing appears more strange and unintelligible than the religious reverence paid by primitive peoples all over the world to animals. On the whole, primitive peoples scarcely recognize any special “animal soul” as clearly distinguished from the human soul. The opinion has been expressed that primitive man originally worshipped certain animals, not because they were looked upon as animated by a spirit or soul, but simply because, through their mysterious qualities, they awakened feelings of fear and awe and were thus raised to the rank of divinities. Speaking of the religious ideas of the Indians of North-West Brazil, an English ethnologist points out that “the Indians believe in the temporary transmission of the disembodied soul into the form of an animal, bird, or reptile, but not in a regular and enforced series of such transmissions.
