that which obtains in the animistic stage the conception of a god begins to assert itself. Thus, to utilize (quite hypothetically) the instances given above, in the lower stage a carcase would be regarded as “holy,” i.e. something to be avoided, because it was thought of as possessed by malignant spirits; a medicine man’s belongings would be regarded as “holy,” i.e. something to be avoided, just because they were the medicine man’s; both are uncanny things, inspiring mysterious fear; both impart “infection” and are therefore dangerous. This it is which, to the mind of the savage, puts both in the same category. With the rise of a higher religion the carcase would come to be regarded as “unclean,” while a priest’s vestments (corresponding for the purposes of our present argument to the medicine man’s utensils) would come to be regarded as “holy” in a higher sense. But, and this is the important point, both would still be avoided; the former because the touch of it involved pollution, and thus unfitted a man for the worship of his god; the latter for reasons of reverence due to his god. But in both cases the result of the old idea of “infection” still clung, so that contact with either necessitated a cleansing process of some kind. The persistence of the ritual, though the purpose of it has been forgotten, is a fairly common phenomenon even among the most highly cultured peoples; only, since among these a “reason why” is insisted upon sooner or later, plausible explanations, though far removed from the origin of things, are usually forthcoming.[235] That is how the special case before us is to be explained. The idea of a Canon presupposes a wide literature from which the “canonical” books are to be marked off; a working theory having been formulated, the Canon is constructed in accordance with it; the Canon having been constructed, some means of enforcing its recognition must be devised. To the Rabbis of two thousand years ago, the quite obvious means would be the adaptation of a principle which had been in vogue in the whole domain of things religious from time immemorial. “Sacredness” was imputed to the chosen books; and contact with anything sacred necessitated ablutions. The ancient technical term was still employed, so that any book declared to be “sacred” (and, of course, the “sanctity” would be communicated to the material upon which it was written) was said to “defile,” in this case the hands; and therefore anyone who touched such a book was “defiled” thereby. Theoretically he had to perform an ablution after having done so, but only theoretically, for as a matter of fact no washing of hands (more strictly, pouring of water upon the hands) has ever been required for removing the “defilement” communicated through touching the scroll of a canonical book, nor is it required at the present day. CHAPTER IX Uncanonical Books (I)