TABOO AND GENETICS 115 



also the fear of the mysterious and supernatural, 

 whether conceived as the mana force or as a 

 principle of " bad magic." 



Dr. J. G. Frazer has collected into the many 

 volumes of " The Golden Bough " a mass of 

 evidence concerning the taboos of primitive 

 society. On the basis of his definition of magic 

 as " a misapplication of the ideas of association 

 by similarity and contiguity," Dr. Frazer divided 

 magic into " positive magic," or charms, and 

 " negative magic," or taboo. " Positive magic 

 says, ' Do this in order that so and so may 

 happen/ Negative magic or taboo says ' Do 

 not do this lest so and so should happen.' " 

 (4 : p. Ill, V. L) 



But Dr. Frazer's conclusion, v/hich he himself 

 considered only tentative, was not long left 

 unassailed. Prof. R. R. Marett in his essay 

 " Is Taboo a Negative Magic ? " (5) called 

 attention to the very evident fact that Dr. 

 Frazer's definition would not cover the 

 characteristics of some of the best known taboos, 

 the food taboos of Prof. Tylor to which we have 

 previously alluded in this study, as a consequence 

 of which " the flesh of timid animals is avoided 

 by warriors, but they love the meat of tigers, 

 boars, and stags, for their courage and speed." 

 (3 : p. 131.) Are not these food taboos rather, 

 Dr. Marett asks, a " misapplication of the ideas 

 of association by similarity and contiguity " 



