AMERICAN LECTURES ON THE
HISTORY OF RELIGIONS
SECOND SERIES—1896-1897
RELIGIONS OF PRIMITIVE
PEOPLES
BY
DANIEL G. BRINTON, A.M., M.D., LL.D., Sc.D.
Professor of American Archæology and Linguistics in the
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
FOURTH IMPRESSION
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
The Knickerbocker Press
Copyright, 1897
by
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
Entered at Stationers’ Hall, London
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
On the 24th of December, 1891, fifteen personsinterested in promoting the historical studyof religions united in issuing a circular-letter, invitinga conference in the Council Chambers of the HistoricalSociety of Philadelphia, on the 30th of the samemonth, for the purpose of instituting “popularcourses in the History of Religions, somewhat afterthe style of the Hibbert lectures in England, to bedelivered annually by the best scholars of Europeand this country, in various cities, such as Baltimore,Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia,and others.” There participated in this conferencepersonally or by letter from Philadelphia, Rev. Prof.E. T. Bartlett, D.D., Rev. George Dana Boardman,D.D., Prof. D. G. Brinton, M.D., Sc.D., Horace HowardFurness, LL.D., Prof. E. J. James, Ph.D., Prof.Morris Jastrow, Jr., Ph.D., Provost Wm. Pepper,M.D., LL.D., of the University of Pennsylvania,Hon. Mayer Sulzberger, Mrs. Cornelius Stevenson,and Talcott Williams, LL.D.; from Baltimore, Prest.D. C. Gilman, LL.D., of the Johns Hopkins University,and Prof. Paul Haupt, Ph.D.; from Boston[iv]and Cambridge, Rev. E. E. Hale, D.D., Prof. C. R.Lanman, Ph.D., Prof. D. G. Lyon, Ph.D., and Prof.C. H. Toy, LL.D.; from Brooklyn, Rev. Edward S.Braislin, D.D., and Prof. Franklin W. Hooper ofthe Brooklyn Institute; from Chicago, Prest. W. R.Harper, Ph.D., of the University of Chicago, andRev. Prof. Emil G. Hirsch, Ph.D.; from New York,Rev. Prof. C. A. Briggs, D.D., LL.D., Rev. Prof.Francis Brown, D.D., Rev. G. Gottheil, D.D., Prof.R. J. H. Gottheil, Ph.D., Rev. John P. Peters, Ph.D.,and Rev. W. Hayes Ward, D.D., LL.D.; from Ithaca,N. Y., Prest. J. G. Schurman of Cornell University,and Hon. Andrew D. White, LL.D.
At this conference Prof. Jastrow submitted a planfor establishing popular lecture courses on the historicalstudy of religions by securing the co-operationof existing institutions and lecture associations,such as the Lowell, Brooklyn, and Peabody Institutes,the University Lecture Association of Philadelphia,and some of our colleges and universities.Each course, according to this plan, was to consist offrom six to eight lectures, and the engagement oflecturers, choice of subjects, and so forth were to bein the hands of a committee chosen from the differentcities, and representing the various institutionsand associations participating. This general schememet with the cordial approval of the conference,[v]which voted the project both a timely and usefulone, and which appointed Dean Bartlett, Prof. Jastrow,and Dr. Peters a committee to elaborate a planof organisation and report at an adjourned meeting.That meetin