FROM PRIMITIVE TO MODERN MAN 765 



tions. Iina.m'S and ])K'tur(.'s arc (_'ssc'ntial tcaturcs in tlu'sc pii)|)it iator\ vvw- 

 iiionit's, a sort ot mayic talisman by means ol w hich to exercise an mlluencc 

 over those annuals whuli ser\(,' lor loocl. 



It IS not necessary, ho\\f\t'r, to pass so lar hack as the preiiistory ol the 

 Old Stone Aij;e, or even to iiucsti^ate tlu' snperstitions ol |)c'0|)le still rt'inain- 

 inp in the most primitne stage ot ethnical aci\ ancement, to detect the work- 

 ing ot this superstition. It \\as not so long ago that tlu' j)ictiire ot a man was 

 believed to be an actual iinanation Irom him and that the possessor of such 

 a picture must exert powt'r ()\er the person whose prest'iice might thus 

 mysteriously be coniured u|). Only a tew centuries ago this was a common 

 jjclu't, and many leariu'd iiidges condemned both men and wonu'ii tockvith on 

 the evidence ot their having possessed images or |)Ktures of people the\ were 

 accused ot bewitching. It is not at all unlikt'l\ that there are still to be tound 

 to-day in Najiles or Sicilx certain sorcerers w ho, tor a stipulated price, will 

 undertake to destroy an\ undesirabk' indi\idual bv tlu' ri'latively simple 

 executionarx' method ot sticking pins into the wax image ot the person thus 

 proscribed, or b\ melting the Image bi'tore a slow lire. In this light it may be 

 understood wh\- the .Australian nalufs and American Indians set such 

 store !)\ the pictorial representation ot those elements in nature which con- 

 tribute to their stock ot loodstulls. It is also to \k- noted that the .Aurignacian 

 and III tact all ot the Cro-Magnon art tt'iuls to portray those forms ot ani- 

 mals which were emplo\ ed lor food, while those animals not so emploxed arc 

 cons|)icuous by their absence trom thest' artistic reproductions. \\ hile this 

 mav not \k' accepted as the linal solution of that question — why did Paleo- 

 lithic man resort to art? it ma\ ne\ erthele.ss otler a working hypothesis to 

 show an essential ulterior moti\c' for his elForts in this direction. To his mind 

 at least his works ot art assured him peculiar magic control over the animal 

 lite w Inch was necessary to his maintenance and well-being. 



