12 HUMAN DISSECTION. ITS DRAMA AND STRUGGLE 



He might have tried to act directly on the person or deliver him 

 over to a wild beast, a snake, a malevolent spirit or an enemy 

 (Brinton, 1899). 



A person who suffered a violent death, as a result of an ac- 

 cident, starving during a famine, being hit by a thunderbolt, sui- 

 cidal action or from the effects of childbirth was treated in a spe- 

 cial manner. Because he had come to a "bad end" due to the 

 ^\Tath of unseen, occult powers for some crime committed, his 

 soul acquired a disposition for evil beyond the ordinary. His body 

 was strictly avoided and all relationship between him and the 

 members of his tribe terminated immediately at death. The pen- 

 alty to the living for not so doing was to share an identical fate. 



The outstanding characteristic of primitive opinion regard- 

 ing death, therefore, was that it was a manifestation of mystic or 

 supernatural power working through the medium of ghostly 

 spirits or the magical method of witchcraft. The aboriginal was 

 impervious to the relation of cause and effect and no attempt was 

 made to delve into the background conditions which produced 

 this phenomenon. He lacked intellectual curiosity which was 

 overbalanced by his extreme emotional response to death and ac- 

 cidents. Although, he might not show surprise at such events, it 

 was sure he would show a strong sensitivity or feeling about them. 

 Repeated experiences of the same kind taught him nothing as to 

 the real etiology because he bothered little with logical coherence 

 or abstract thought. 



To the savage mind, therefore, there were two worlds, those 

 of the living and the dead. In other words, the deceased were alive, 

 at least for a certain time, and were considered to be personalized, 

 intelligent agents of somewhat different shape than himself. As 

 such, they were still able to participate remarkably in his daily 

 life; only by slow degrees did a ghost cease to belong to his social 

 group. In a sense, they were more important to him than his liv- 

 ing associates. 



The picture which the primitive had in mind about the 

 ghost of a newly dead was not a salutary one. As a rule, it was 

 evil-disposed and ready to do harm to survivors including its 

 nearest of kin. It became irritative, vindicative, weak, unhappy 

 and suffered while hovering nearby, watching its mortal body 



