TOTEMISM IN THE EVOLUTION OF THEOLOGY. 399 



among those clans who have what is called a split totem — that is, 

 parts of animals — only a special part is forbidden as food. Dr. 

 Robertson Smith, who has given us so many evidences of totem- 

 ism among the Semites, says, " In totemism, and in no other sys- 

 tem, laws of forbidden food have a direct religious interpretation, 

 and form the principal criterion by which the members of one 

 stock and religion are marked off from all the others." Colonel 

 Garrick Mallery, in his highly suggestive address, before the As- 

 sociation for the Advancement of Science, on the Israelite and In- 

 dian, assures us that " the survival of totemism may be inferred 

 from the lists of forbidden food in Leviticus, xi, and Deuterono- 

 my, xiv. It would appear that, at about the time of the Exodus, 

 the Israelites were organized upon the basis of families or clans, 

 tracing through female lines, and named Hezir (swine), Achbor 

 (mouse), Aiah (kite), Arod (wild ass), Shapan (coney), and so on. 



Each of the clans refrained from eating the totem animal, or 

 only ate it sacramentally. As the totemic organization declined, 

 the origin would be lost, but the custom lasted, and when the 

 legislation was codified it was incorporated in the code.* 



The primary meaning of sacrifice, is food offered to the gods, 

 for they were supposed to partake of the gifts of food. In Greece 

 originally each clan had its own gods, which were real totem an- 

 cestors. Apollo Lycius had his statue in wolf form at the Lyce- 

 um, and, at this god's sanctuary in Sicyon, " legend preserves the 

 memory of the time when flesh was actually set forth for the 

 wolves, as totem-worshipers habitually set forth food for their 

 sacred animals." Prof. Smith states that even the highest an- 

 tique religions show by unmistakable signs that in their origin 

 sacrifices were literally "the food of the gods." 



In Israel the conception, against which the author of the fif- 

 tieth Psalm protests so strongly, was never eliminated from the 

 priestly ritual in which the sacrifices are called " food of the 

 deity " (Leviticus, xxi).f The idea of a relation between the god 

 and an individual was never grasped by primitive peoples, but 

 they thought the relation existed between the deities and some 

 social group, such as a tribe, clan, or nation. This peculiar method 

 of thought gave rise to the belief that in any offense committed 

 by one member of the tribe all were equally guilty ; consequently, 

 when any calamity came upon them it was an evidence that some 

 sin had been committed that must be expiated. This childish 

 fanoy developed into atoning sacrifices, the primordial germ of 

 which is found in the worship of totem deities. It is evident that 

 human sacrifices predominated in early times, but as people be- 



* See Popular Science Monthly for November and December, 1889. 

 f See article Sacrifices, Encyclopaedia Britannica, ninth edition. 



