In his speech at the ceremonial meeting at the Moscow University, Prof. D. gave a short survey of religious beliefs into holy objects, i.e. fetishes, of various peoples. He was inspired with ideas of the European Enlightenment, first of all by Hume (‘The Natural History of Religion’, 1757); D. compared pagan concepts of holy objects with Christian ones, showing their similarity: Roman pagans had sacred temples, and altars, as well Christians. He followed the idea of Hume, that before polytheism there was veneration of objects, then veneration of plants, birds, and animals, and polytheism was shaped on that basis; and only later veneration of the Only God appeared. As Hume, D. came to the conclusion, that there were no principal differences between the beliefs of ancient peoples, and the origin of religion was connected with the nature of human beings.