17 APRIL 1964, Page 13

WE make our first incantations as infants: by the simple

expedient of opening our mouths and bawling we obtain from some higher and in- comprehensible agency whatever we desire— attention, warmth, food. For a long time the infantile conviction abides, however often re- futed on a rational level, that we can have anything we want if only we yell loud enough. That is the positive side of magic (and religion).