516 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [BTH. ANN. 31 



Omaha. Mr. J. G. Frazer 1 and Emile Durkheim 2 both discuss my 

 arguments from this point of view. Their interpretation of my 

 remarks is undoubtedly founded on their method of research, which 

 has for its object an exhaustive interpretation of ethnic phenomena 

 as the residt of a single psychic process. 



My own point of view — and I should like to state this with some 

 emphasis — is a quite different one. 3 I do beheve in the existence of 

 analogous psychical processes among all races wherever analogous 

 social conditions prevail; but I do not beheve that ethnic phenomena 

 are simply expressions of these psychological laws. On the contrary, 

 it seems to my mind that the actual processes are immensely diversi- 

 fied, and that similar types of ethnic thought may develop in quite 

 different ways. Therefore it is entirely opposed to the methodological 

 principles to which I hold to generalize from the phenomenon found 

 among the Kwakiutl and to interpret by its means all totemic 

 phenomena. 



There are two reasons that determine me to take this position. 

 The first is that the ethnic phenomena which we compare are seldom 

 really alike. I agree with the view of Doctor Golden weiser, 4 who 

 holds that the specific contents of totemism are quite distinct in 

 character in different totemic areas. Common to totemism in the 

 narrower sense of the term is the view that sections of a tribal unit 

 composed of relatives or supposed relatives possess each certain 

 definite customs which differ in content from those of other similar 

 sections of the same tribal unit, but agree with them in form or pat- 

 tern. These customs may refer to taboos, naming, symbols, or 

 religious practices of various kinds, and are in their special forms 

 quite distinctive for different totemic areas. There is no proof that 

 all these customs belong together and are necessary elements of what 

 Doctor Goldenweiser calls a " totemic complex." Since the contents 

 of totemism as found in various parts of the world show such impor- 

 tant differences, I do not believe that all totemic phenomena can be 

 derived from the same psychological or historical sources. Totemism 

 is an artificial unit, not a natural one. 



I am inclined to go a step farther than Doctor Goldenweiser does 

 in his later publications. I consider it inadvisable to draw a rigid 

 line between totemic phenomena in a still more limited sense, — namely, 

 in so far as the characteristics of tribal exogamic sections deal with the 

 relations of man to animals and plants, — but believe that we should 



1 Totemism an<l Kxoyamy, iv. |> tv 



2 Les formes eiementaires de la vie religieuse, pp. 246 et seq. 



' "The. Origin of Totemism" (Journal of American Folk-Lore, xxm, p. 392); "Some Traits of Primi- 

 tive Culture" (ibid., xvn, 1904, p. 251); Psychological Problems in Anthropology, Lectures and 

 Addresses delivered before the Department of Psychology and Pedagogy in celebration of the Twentieth 

 Anniversary of Clark University, Worcester, 1910, pp. 125 etaeq.,"see also The Mind of Primitive Man, 

 pp. 174 el seq. 



•"Totemism, an Analytical Study" I Journal of American Folk-Lure, xxm, 1910, pp. 179 et seq.) 



