pragmatise

— He does not, as was formerly the fashion, pragmatise mythology, i.e. simply drop the supernatural elements, and take the residuum as history; nor, on the other hand, reject it altogether, as utterly useless for historical purposes; but having endeavoured to catch the traditional belief, the impregnating idea which is at work under the ever-changing forms of fable, he uses it with cautious, sagacity as a clue for tracing the course of primeval settlements, and recovering the lost thread of ethnological affinities.

— A Movement like ours, so apt to pragmatise, developed its policy in a practical way.