ABSTRACT
When confronted by something that interests, disturbs, or frightens it, the primitives' mind does not follow the same course as ours would do. It at once embarks upon a different channel. From disease and death to mere accidents is an almost imperceptible transition. Facts show that primitives, as a rule, do not perceive any difference between a death which is the result of old age or of disease, and a violent death. For them, every death is an accidental one, even death from illness. In a general way there is no such thing as chance to a mind like this, nor can there be. Not because it is convinced of the rigid determinism of phenomena; on the contrary, it remains indifferent to the relation of cause and effect, and attributes a mystic origin to every event which makes an impression on it.
