ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM. 403 



the generation of offspring. Surprising as such ignorance may seem to the 

 civilised mind, a little reflection will probably convince us that, if mankind 

 has indeed been evolved from lower forms of animal life, there must have been 

 a period in the history of our race when ignorance of paternity was universal 

 among men. The part played by the mother in the production of offspring 

 is obvious to the senses and cannot but be perceived even by the animals ; 

 but the part played by the father is far less obvious and is indeed a matter 

 of inference only, not of perception. How could the infantine intelligence 

 of the primitive savage perceive that the child which comes from the womb 

 is the fruit of the seed which was sowed there nine months before ? He is 

 ignorant, as we know from the example of the Australian aborigines, of the 

 simple truth that a seed sowed in the earth wall spring up and bear fruit. 

 How then could he infer that children are the result of a similar process ? " 

 He also says that while a savage could not for long ages divine the truth as 

 to the way in which children come into the world, it was inevitable that he 

 should form a theory about it ; that the most natural theory was that the 

 child only enters into the mother's womb at the moment when she first feels 

 it stirring within her ; that, if at that moment the woman saw a kangaroo, 

 butterfly, parrot, or other animal, or plant which struck her fancv and 

 perhaps mysteriously vanished, such animal or plant " might easily be identi- 

 fied b}^ her with the child in her womb. Such maternal fancies, so natural 

 and seemingly so universal, appear to be the root of totemism." 



These long extract.?, which I have deemed it necessary to 

 give, state, I think, the reasons for the conceptional theory as the 

 origin of totemism as completely as is possible in the compass 

 of a short paper. 



It will be well to remember in the consideration of this matter 

 that in trying to account for totemism, or indeed for any primitive 

 custom, there is a great danger of our crediting primitive men 

 with reasons for any particular custom which never influenced 

 them at all, and of supplying them with motives for their conduct 

 and actions for which they never felt any necessity. We are in 

 danger, in fact, of considering the conduct and explaining the 

 actions of primitive men, or of men in primitive conditions, to-day, 

 by the experience and knowledge of our 20th century civilisation. 

 It may be assumed as a very safe rule that the simplest and most 

 apparent reasons are those which most probably influenced primi- 

 tive men. 



For the origin of totemism we must, I think, go back to a 

 period far earlier than that which is indicated by the conceptional 

 idea. That belongs to a later stage of development and, as I 

 at present believe, was confined to a very limited area. We must 

 go back to the time when man first became conscious of the exist- 

 ence of a power, or powers, outside of himself, greater than he, and 

 yet a power or powers with which he was intimately connected and 

 which he could in some way influence and use for his own benefit 

 or for the benefit or injury of others. How that consciousness 

 was created or evolved is a matter with which I am not at present 

 concerned. I myself, whilst accepting all the facts, and believing 

 some of the theories, of evolution and quite prepared to find some 

 day that, so far as the body of man is concerned, every proof has 

 been given of our ascent from the most primitive forms of life, 

 also believe, with Mr. A. R. Wallace and many others, that in 



