Each step indeed in social change is to be looked upon, to a great extent, as simply a phenomenon to be noted, the causes for which it is impossible to determine accurately. This is especially the case with the village community. The extent of its distribution would incline one to the belief that it is a natural or necessary result of a certain stage of social development; while the elaborate and artificial nature of its construction points to the probability of some common origin from which its developments might be traced. The greatest difficulty, however, lies in trying to assign to this institution its due effect on civilization: for it is frequently found in close combination with institutions to which its spirit seems most strongly opposed. Thus while we find it flourishing among the Germanic tribes, we also discover among them a tendency to the custom of primogeniture much more marked than is discoverable among other Aryan races. Yet this custom scarcely seems to find a place in the pure village community beyond the limits of each individual household. At the same time the patriarchal power was certainly less among the Germans than among the early Romans, and probably also less than among the Slavs. CHAPTERS VIII.-XI. Bournouf, _Commentaire sur le Yaçna_. Bugge, _Sæmundar Edda_. Bunsen, _God in History_ (trs.). Bunsen, _Egypt’s Place_, etc. Busching, _Nibelungen Lied_. Cox, _Mythology of the Aryan Nations_. Edda den ældra ok Snorra. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie. Grimm, Ueber das Verbr. der Leichen. Grimm, Heldenbuch. Keary, Outlines of Primitive Belief. Kuhn, Herabkunft des Feuers. Kuhn, _Sagen, Gebräuche u. Mährchen_. Kuhn, in _Zeitsch f. v. Sp._ and _Z. f. deut. Alt_. Lang, _Myth, Ritual, and Religion_. Lepsius, _Todtenbuch_. Maspero, _Histoire Ancienne_, etc. Müller, Op. cit. Müller, _Lectures on the Science of Religion_. Müller, _Chips from a German Workshop_. Müller, _Origin and Growth of Religion_ (Hibbert Lectures). Müller, _Sacred Books of the East_, vol. iv. Zend Avesta (Darmesteter). Preller, _Griechische Mythologie_. Ralston, _Songs of the Russian People_. Ralston, _Russian Folk-tales_. Rawlinson, Op. cit. Rougé (Vte. de), _Études sur le Rituel des Égypt_. Sayce, _Religion of the Ancient Babylonians_. Simrock, _Handbuch der. d. Myth_. Tiele, _Outlines of the History of Religion_ (trs.). Vigfusson and Powell, _Corpus Poeticum Boreale_. Welcker, _Griechische Götterlehre_. Wuttke, _Deutsche Volksaberglaube_. The origin and history of religion and mythology is (as we might expect) a matter of keen controversy; and I cannot anticipate that the reader would rise from the perusal of all the books given in the above list with his mind not confused upon many points on which they touch. To explain the position taken up in Chapters VIII.-XI., I will add the following notes, which may help the reader over some difficult and disputed questions.