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8 GREEK DIVINATION chap.

tendency for magic to shade into mere divina­tion, for the magician to become the diviner, and for the spell to become a mere predic­tion. On the other hand, to the psychology of anxious moments and solemn occasions may be traced the growth of the sub-rite of divination and the observance of omens. It is in this second category that is to be found the origin of the so - called " inductive arts," and the general causes for their exist­ence reveal the belief in their efficacy as a human weakness, not as an arbitrary and puerile folly.

The principle of organic development must implicitly direct the course of our inquiry. It is so obvious in its application that to state it seems almost banal. Its existence, however, has often been tacitly ignored by investigators who would not perhaps deny its truth. All development, to state it in brief, proceeds by an increasing individualisation. The genea­logical tree spreads ever wider branches with each generation. The growth of depart­mentalism and specialisation is characteristic of all organic development. In the human race as a whole the degree of variation between individuals in physical or mental structure varies with the stages of culture from which the