266* THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



tion, which invariably has reference to dealings with supernatural 

 beings ; so that, from the very first, there is shown the rise of an 

 esoteric cult such as the priesthoods of early historic peoples 

 show us. 



But in groups of savages we may trace an extension of this sa- 

 cred teaching, or rather part of it, to all young men on their arrival 

 at the fit age. The Australians, for example, have everywhere 

 an initiation ceremony during which the youth, circumcised after 

 a fashion, or in other cases having a tooth knocked cut, is thereby 

 dedicated to a supernatural being supposed to be present, as in the 

 case of Daramulun, who is doubtless the hero of the tribe : the 

 dedications being obviously akin in spirit to those of more civi- 

 lized peoples. On these occasions the medicine-men are the oper- 

 ators and instructors. 



The more advanced of the uncivilized, whose medicine-men 

 have gained in some measure the character of priests, furnish 

 better evidence. We have the case of the New Zealanders, among 

 whom, according to Thomson, one of the duties of the priests is 

 to instruct children in the songs and traditions of the people to 

 instruct them, that is, in the sacred lore of the tribe. Then in 

 Africa, where the social organization is more developed, we meet 

 with a more definite form of priestly tuition. Bastian tells us that 

 in Congo the fetich-priest yearly collects the boys who have 

 arrived at puberty, and leads them into the forest, where they 

 remain six months, forming a sort of colony under the control of 

 the priest. During this time they undergo circumcision. Then 

 in Abyssinia and in Madagascar we find the teaching function of 

 the priest shared in by a non-priestly class a step in differen- 

 tiation. 



Peoples, past and present, in sundry parts of the world, who 

 have reached higher stages of civilization, yield fragments of 

 evidence which I string together in as orderly a way as is practi- 

 cable. Writing of the Mexicans, Torquemada says that the whole 

 education was in connection with the temples. Very many boys 

 were sent there to be educated from the fourth year of their age 

 until their marriage. Clavigero tells us the same thing. Of the 

 priests of Yucatan we read : 



" They instructed the sons of other priests, and also the younger sons of the 

 lords, who were given to tlieni from childhood when they appeared to be in- 

 clined to that office. The sciences which they taught were the computation 

 of years, months, and days, festivals and ceremonies, the administration of 

 their sacraments, etc. , etc. " 



Of existing peoples the Japanese may be first named as supply- 

 ing us with a relevant fact. 



" The secular teacher's vocation can scarcely be said to have existed prior 

 to the days of the founder of the Tokugawa dynasty. . . . The bonzes 



