204 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



lar kind. Tlie purpose was to remind the Israelites of the " bring- 

 ing up out of the land of Egypt." The passages refer to that 

 event and also to the command, which forms the excuse for the 

 phylactery itself : " And these words which I command thee this 

 day shall be in thine heart : . . . And thou shalt bind them for 

 a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between 

 thine eyes," 



We shall close this rather rambling lecture with some sugges- 

 tions relative to the religious meaning of mutilations, some of 

 which were described in our first lecture, on deformations. We 

 must first realize how savage and barbarous man looks upon 

 blood. To begin with, he personally loves warm blood. He de- 

 lights to drink it, to eat flesh reeking with it, to dip his hands 

 into it, to splash his face and body with it. He has also some 

 curious notions regarding it. A Brazilian bathes his infant in 

 his enemy's blood, in order that the child may grow ujj a brave 

 warrior. In Oceania the warrior dips his lance-tip into the blood 

 of his slain foe to render himself invincible. In New Zealand the 

 body of the dead foe was eaten in order that his blood might 

 render the victor the heir of his bravery. Now, when savage and 

 barbarous man, with his love for and his notions regarding blood, 

 comes to think of higher beings, invisible but potent, whom he 

 wishes to ally to himself, how can he better gain their friendship 



than by oft'ering to them blood ? 

 And the best sacrifice is his own 

 blood. Here we have the fun- 

 damental idea of every blood 

 covenant. There are of course 

 in any one instance other ideas 

 present. But whatever these va- 

 rious significant features may 

 be, in all we see a man trying 

 to establish an artificial rela- 

 tionship with a deity by the 

 shedding of his own blood. The 

 people of any one clan or family 

 worshiping the same god, the 

 peculiar mode of shedding blood 

 prevalent among them might 

 become a tribal mark or sign. 

 In Jewish circumcision — not 

 originally Hebraic, but Egyp- 

 tian — we see a good illustration of a blood covenant giving rise to 

 a characteristic tribal mutilation. We see, too, in it very clearly 

 a substitute for Iniman sacrifice (see Exod. iv, 24). In Gen. xvii, 

 7, 10, 11, 17, 23: "And I will establish my covenant between me 



Fift. 11. — PoKTioN OF Human Skdll from 

 WHICH Chaems have been cut. Illinois 

 Mound. 



