TABOO AND GENETICS 137 



or purchase, woman came to be regarded as a 

 part of man's property, and as inviolate as any 

 other of his possessions. Under these circum- 

 stances virginity came to be more and more of an 

 asset, since no man wished his property to be 

 defiled by the touch of another. Elaborate 

 methods for the preservation of chastity both 

 before and after marriage were developed, and 

 in many instances went so far as to consider 

 a woman defiled if she were accidentally touched 

 by any other man than her husband. Here we 

 have once more the working of sympathetic 

 magic, where the slightest contact works 

 contamination. 



We have in other connections alluded to the 

 seclusion of young girls in Korea, among the 

 Hindus, among the North American Indians, and 

 in the South Seas. One of the most beautiful 

 examples of this custom is found in New Britain. 

 From puberty until marriage the native girls 

 are confined in houses with a bundle of dried 

 grass across the entrance to show that the house 

 is strictly taboo. The interior of these houses 

 is divided into cells or cages in each of which a 

 girl is confined. No light and little or no air 

 enters, and the atmosphere is hot and stifling. 



The seclusion of women after marriage is 

 common among many peoples. In the form in 

 which it affected western civilization it probably 

 originated among the Persians or some other 



