TABOO AND GENETICS 147 



the mystic mana force, while on the other she 

 was the source of " bad magic " and Hkely to 

 contaminate man with her weaknesses. Alto- 

 gether, the study of primitive taboos would 

 indicate that the latter conception predominated 

 in savage life, and that until the dawn of history 

 woman was more often regarded as a thing 

 unclean than as the seat of a divine power. 



At the earliest beginnings of civilization 

 man's emotions seem to have swung to the 

 opposite extreme, for emphasis fell on the 

 mystic and uncanny powers possessed by 

 woman. Thus it was that in ancient nations 

 there was a deification of woman which found 

 expression in the belief in feminine deities and 

 the establishment of priestess cults. Not until 

 the dawn of the Christian era was the emphasis 

 once more focussed on woman as a thing unclean. 

 Then, her mystic power was ascribed to demon 

 communication, and stripped of her divinity, 

 she became the witch to be excommunicated 

 and put to death. 



All the ancient world saw something super- 

 natural, something demoniacal, in generation. 

 Sometimes the act was deified, as in the phallic 

 ceremonials connected with nature worship, 

 where the procreative principle in man became 

 identified with the creative energy pervading 

 all nature, and was used as a magic charm at 

 the time of springtime planting to insure the 



