To take some example which may throw light upon our theory of the evolution of myth, let us consider that of _Holda_ in the German Pantheon, since it is a generic type of the special primitive fetishes of sources, already in process of formation before the dispersion of the Aryan tribes. Mannhardt (_Deutsche Mythologie_) has shown what was the primitive form of the conception of _Holda_ and of the _Nornas_, that is, of the phenomenal appearances of water; Holda, the _lady of waters_, first watched over the heavenly sources, and then, by a subsequent interweaving of myths and duplication of images, she kept and guarded the souls of new-born infants. This early conception by progressive specification gave birth to those of the _Nornas_, of _Valkuria, Undine,_ and others. The primitive fetish, or fetishes of waters out of which the specific type, afterwards personified, was evolved and formed, were at first so bound to the concrete form of the phenomenon, that although animated, it could not assume a human aspect and form. But when the specific type which ideally represented the power manifested in all the various modes of special phenomena was evolved, then man was released from the concrete and individual forms of the fetish, and readily moulded it in his own corporeal as well as in his moral image. So Holda, changed from a heavenly to an earthly deity, was transformed into the goddess of wells and lakes, and assumed a perfectly human and even artistic form. She loved to bathe at noon-day, and was often seen to issue from the water and then plunge anew into the waves, appearing as a very fair and lovely woman. Again, we know that in the gradual mythical evolution which found its climax in Apollo, the animation of this type, so fruitful in special instances, extended even to the form of his arms, his bow and arrows, and to the place of his habitation at Delphos. He was armed, according to Schwartz, with the rainbow and with thunderbolts, and Delphos was esteemed to be the centre and navel of the world. These mythical ideas have their special reproduction in the mythology of the Finns. (Castren.) The god _Ukko_ with his great bow of fire sends forth trees as darts against his enemies; while fighting, he stands erect upon a cloud, called the _umbilicus_ of heaven. Thus we see that the process of myth is similar, even in different races.