Reviews. 241
very confidently, but the dog does not get as far as any idea of power. I am therefore unable to imagine that the idea of power precedes the belief that storms and rivers and glaciers do things. The very existence of such terms as mana^ oretida, wakanda proves that the state of society in which they originated had a long past behind it, and had gone through a long period of animism.
F. B. Jevons.
Psyche's Task, a Discourse concerning the Influence of Supersti- tion on the Growth of Institutions. By Professor J. G. Frazer, LL.D., Litt.D. Macmillan, igog. 8vo, pp. viii + 84.
The contributions of Professor Frazer to the sciences of anthro- pology and folklore fall into two classes : first, the discussion of new problems for the use of scholars, based upon an exhaustive review of the original authorities ; and, second, the popularisation of these results to meet the wants of a wider audience. His Golden Bough and monumental edition of Pausanias fall into the first group ; his Lectures on the Early History of Kingship and the present book into the second. This does not imply that his more popular contributions are in any sense rechauffes of his more learned works. They are novel discussions of side issues, and his conclusions are founded on a fresh series of examples drawn from his vast collections of anthropological material.
The present work is intended to prove, or at least make probable, the view that "among certain races and at certain stages of evolution some social institutions which we all, or most of us, believe to be beneficial have partially rested on a basis of superstition." Each of the four lectures is devoted to the dis- cussion of a single proposition. The first is "that among certain races and at certain times superstition has strengthened the respect for government, especially monarchical government, and has thereby contributed to the establishment and maintenance of social order." In support of this view he adduces numerous examples of the tabu which has invested kings and chiefs with superstitious awe as persons of a higher order and endowed with
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