TABOO AND GENETICS 141 



tend to swing to the opposite pole, and excite- 

 ment and longing are forgotten in the mood of 

 repugnance and exhaustion. This tendency 

 would be very much emphasized in those 

 primitive tribes where the corroboree with its 

 unlimited indulgence was common, and also 

 among the ancients with their orgiastic festivals. 

 In the revulsion of feeling following these orgies 

 woman would be blamed for man's own folly. 

 In this physiological swing from desire to satiety, 

 the apparent cause of man's weakness would be 

 looked upon as the source of the evil — a thing 

 unclean. There would be none of the ethical 

 and altruistic element of modern " love " to 

 protect her. Students agree that these elements 

 in the modern sentiment have been evolved, 

 " not from the sexual instinct, but from the 

 companionship of the battlefield." (56). It is 

 therefore probable that in this physiological result 

 of uncontrolled sex passion we shall find the 

 source of the dualism of the attitude toward sex 

 and womanhood present in taboo. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR CHAPTER I 



1. Crawley, A. E. The Mystic Rose. 492 pp. Mac- 



millan. London, 1902. 



2. Jevons, F. B. History of Religion. 443 pp. Methuen 



& Co. London, 1896. 



3. Tylor, E. B. Early History of Mankind, 3d. ed. 



388 pp. J. Murray. London, 1878. 



4. Frazer, J. G. The Golden Bough : Part I, The Magic 



