Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/329

* NATUBE-STTJDY. 285 NATURE-WORSHIP. sliDuId be done: in addition to f,'iudeiiiiip, studies of I lie hal)its and haunts of animals, the appear- and' and disappearance of the birds, the relations of insects to phint life, the appearance of tl'ees in suniMier and winter dress, and numerous other similar topics may form the basis of study. It is highly im|)ortant that the materials should be abundant, that the teacher be not too closely tied to a detailed plan of work, and that he be resourceful in the matter of making the most of what is available. It is important, too, that the pupils should provide their own ma- terial, and to this end both the excursion and the garden should be turned to account. It would seem best, on the whole, to devote, at any rate, two periods (one to two hours) a week, or its equivalent, throughout the course. The school garden has in some eases been provided for after- school hours, and this seems to be a reasonable adjustment of the matter. t'onsult: Carss. Course in Xatiire Study (in the Horace Mann School) ; Teachers College llcvard, vol. i., No. 2, for March, 1900 (New York, with an e.xtensive bibliography) ; Miller, Course in Xature Study for I'uhlic Schools (Ithaea, HIOO, to be obtained through the State Secretary! ; Hodge. Xature Study and Life (New York. 1902) : .Jaekman. Xature Study for the Common Schools (ib., 1894) ; id., Xature Study for the Grades (ib., 1899) ; Lange, Hand- hook of Xature Study (ib.. 1899) ; Scott, Nature Study and the Child (Boston, 1901) ; Wilson, Xature Study in the Elementary School (New Y'ork, 1899) ; Bailey, Garden Making (ib., 1901). NATURE-WORSHIP. The worship of all objective phenomena which man regards as liable to hurt or help him, and which even when life- less are deprecated or invoked as powers hav- ing volition. Nature-worship is based on spiritism, but this, not being in itself a religion, but a philosophy, does not imply xorship. In many cases the savage simply regards rocks and trees as volitive powers only when they act in a way suggesting volition. So long as a stone, for example, does not interfere with him, he is apt to disregard it altogether: but when it injures liim. or he wishes to use it. he assumes, like a <-hild. that it possesses spiritual power expressed by will. Whether then the savage deprecates or placates, the cult of such an object is a religious phase. Even in the lowest stages of human evolution, it may happen that some one object, like the village tree of the Aryan, or the clan mountain of the Munda, or the family snake of some Dravidians, is regarded as tutelary, and offerings and prayers are made to it. although other natural phenomena are either ignored or treated only as inimical spirits. This may be said to be a stage between dem(molatry and nature- worship, though a more general cult of phe- nomena usually accompanies the worship of any one side of nature. Nature-worship, manifold as nature, shows aspects which may be grouped in categories, but in no classification can a sharp line be drawn between the different divisions. In arranging the objects of worship only a rough classification, therefore, will here be attempted. As parts of objective nature on a par with others must be included both man and animals, though these are often put into special categories. Worship of Elements. As constituents of all nature the elements are worshiped by philoso- phers, but it is qviite iloublful whether, as has often been claimed, the elements were ever wor- shiped as such by savages, or even by more ad- vanced people till a late period in their ilevelop- ment. Mother Earth is a very early divinity, but in this case she is not the element, but a local ground, generally a hill. Water is certainly not worshiped as divine till long after the local stream or spring is, or contains, a divinity. Thus the American Indians worshiped Niagara as a spirit, but did not regard water as a divinity. Ganges and Tiber were local tutelary gods long before abstract (elemental) water was revered. So air is unknown as an early divinity, but as wind personified it was worshiped as Huracan in America and as Wodan in Germany. East Wind is a modern malevolent Hindu god, while to the Mexicans the East Wind was a a beneficent deity. Even fire is revered as a local form before fire in general is regarded as divine. Of all the elements, fire has been most universally worshiped, partly on account of its force and mystery of birth in threefold form, on earth, in the sky, and in the air (lightning), and partly because of its purificatory nature. The cult of this element became the chief religious observance of Mazdeism. Mystic association between mental and physical attributes helped to increase the reverence for elemental gods. Fire and force were associated, water ancl wisdom, etc. The fish god of Babylonia and the fish god of Polynesia' both tA'pify the union of water and wisdom, found also in the worship of the Hindu Varuna. See Astrolatry, below. LiTHOLATRY. There are in all four forms of litholatry or stone-worship, the stone appearing to be in general one of the earliest forms of divinity. (1) Of these the most primitive, judg- ing by the fact that it is found among the lowest savages, is the worship expressed by show- ing religious (superstitious) awe for any re- mai-kable stone. There are three varieties: (a) the worship of a huge rock. s<arcely to be diflfer- entiated from the worship of a mountain (see below) ; (b) the worship of a stone peculiar in shape, especially if it suggests a i-esemblance to the shape of an animal or of man: (c) the worship of a heavenly stone. All three varie- ties are found among the Finns and Lapps, among the negroes of Africa, and among the South Sea Islanders. To a less degree this form of worship is shared by the Peruvians, but with theiB it has been overlaid with later forms. In antiquity, remarkable stones, especially aerolites, were worshiped by the Greeks and Komans. and they are to-day an object of reverence to all savages — as, for example, the Eskimo — while even among civilized people the 'Thunder-stone' is regarded with more or less superstitious awe. Any strangely shaped stone is reverenced by the Hindus, especially those in South India, by the inhabitants of the Hebrides, of the Pyrenees, and by the redskins, to mention oidy a few of the races that worship stones. The Semites. Greeks, and Romans in antiquity, and the Teutons in the Middle Ages, all worshiped stones by anointing them, making offerings ( sometimes human sacri- fices), and saying prayers to them. (2) By im- perceptible degrees the plain stone becomes an idol; that is, it represents a divinity or a divine power. Two forms may be distinguished: (a) when a fetish-stone is discarded from personal use, but is preserved as imbued with divine