Note 1149 — Chapter XX · THE WORSHIP OF THE OAK

To avoid misapprehension, I desire to point out that I am not here concerned with the evolution of Aryan religion in general, but only with that of a small, though important part of it, to wit, the worship of a particular kind of tree. To write a general history of Aryan religion in all its many aspects as a worship of nature, of the dead, and so forth, would be a task equally beyond my powers and my ambition. Still less should I dream of writing a universal history of religion. The “general work” referred to in the preface to the first edition of The Golden Bough is a book of far humbler scope.