1909] on Influence of Superstition on Groivtii of Institulions. 451 



nowadays we should condemn unreservedly as superstitious and 

 absurd. The institutions in regard to which I shall attempt to prove 

 this are four, namely, government, private property, marriage, and 

 the respect for human life. And what I have to say may be summed 

 up in four propositions, as follows : — 



I. Among certain races and at certain times superstition has 

 strengthened the respect for government, especially monarchical 

 government, and has thereby contributed to the establishment and 

 maintenance of civil order. 



II. Among certain races and at certain times superstition has 

 strengthened the respect for private property, and has thereby con- 

 tributed to the security of its enjoyment. 



III. Among certain races and at certain times superstition has 

 strengthened the respect for marriage, and has thereby contributed 

 to a stricter observance of the rules of sexual morality, both among 

 the married and the unmarried. 



IV. Among certain races and at certain times superstition has 

 strengthened the respect for human life, and has thereby contributed 

 to the security of its enjoyment. 



Before proceeding to deal with these four propositions separately, 

 I wish to make two remarks, which I beg you to bear in mind. 

 First, in what I have to say I shall confine myself to certain races of 

 men and to certain ages of history, because neither my knowledge 

 nor my time permits me to speak of all races of men and all ages of 

 history. How far the conclusions which I shall draw for some races 

 are applicable to others must be left to further inquiries to determine. 

 That is my first remark. My second is this. If it can be proved 

 that in certain races the institutions in question have been based 

 partly on superstition, it by no means follows that even among these 

 races they have never been based on anything else. On the contrary, 

 as all the institutions which I shall consider have proved themselves 

 stable and permanent, there is a strong presumption that they rest 

 mainly on something much more solid than superstition. No insti- 

 tution founded wholly on superstition, that is, on falsehood, can be 

 permanent. If it does not answer to some real human need, if its 

 foundations are not laid broad and deep in the nature of things, it 

 must perish, and the sooner the better. That is my second remark. 



I. With these two cautions I address myself to my first proposi- 

 tion, which is, that among certain races and at certain times super- 

 stition has strengthened the respect for government, especially 

 monarchical government, and has thereby contributed to the 

 establishment and maintenance of civil order. 



Among many peoples the task of government has been greatly 

 facilitated by a superstition that the governors belong to a superior 

 order of beings, or possess certain magical or supernatural powers to 

 which the governed can make no claim and can offer no resistance. 

 Thus Dr. Codrington tells us that among the Melanesians "the 



