CHAPTER III

THE POSITIVE CULT--(_continued_)

II.--_Imitative Rites and the Principle of Causality_

I.--Nature of the imitative rites--Examples of ceremonies where they are employed to assure the fertility of the species 351

II.--They rest upon the principle: _like produces like_-- Examination of the explanation of this given by the anthropological school--Reasons why they imitate the animal or plant--Reasons for attributing a physical efficacy to these gestures--Faith--In what sense it is founded upon experience-- The principles of magic are born in religion 355

III.--The preceding principle considered as one of the first statements of the principle of causality--Social conditions upon which this latter depends--The idea of impersonal force or power is of social origin--The necessity for the conception of causality explained by the authority inherent in social imperatives 362