42 MENTAL STATUS 



at pleasure' (Burton). Among the Soudan negroes there is 

 no family or personal love. Of certain South African negroes 

 Dr. Rainey writes, e It is seldom that one cares for another : 

 the utmost they will do is to assist each other if their back 

 itches. Even for their sick and dying they have no concern.' 

 Among the Australian blacks ' it is only at the beginning 

 that the mother concerns herself about her child. After- 

 wards the original connection is entirely forgotten ' in other 

 words, the offspring is callously deserted. The Indians of 

 Tierra del Fuego ' will sooner kill their old women than their 

 dogs' (Biichner). 



13. The universality of infanticide. The South African 

 Bushmen ' will kill their children without remorse, strangling 

 or smothering them when food is scarce. When a mother 

 dies bearing an infant, it is often buried alive with her, to 

 save the trouble which it would give ' (Richerer) . Putting 

 to death the aged for similar reasons to save trouble and 

 food is equally common. The Australian aborigines thus 

 murder both their young and old. In New Caledonia the 

 aged are buried alive (Biichner). 



14. No respect for the dead ; no proper burial or burial 

 rites. 



15. The suckling of young animals by women. Even at 

 the present day Maori women give suck at their breasts to 

 young pigs and dogs ; c a disgusting habit, for which I can 

 offer no reasonable explanation,' says a recent traveller in 

 the north island of New Zealand (Tinne). 



16. Fondness for other animals, or the reverse; aptitude 

 on the one hand for attracting their confidence, and thus 

 taming them for instance, among the Indians of South 

 America (Brown) and on the other abuse or ill-usage a 

 propensity and practice only too common also among civilised 

 men. 



17. Cruelty to each other, exclusive of the various forms 

 already specified, including refinement in torture and 

 enjoyment of the manifestations of pain, physical and 

 mental. 



18. Wrestling for wives for instance, among the 

 Indians comparable to the strength trials that characterise 



