3 1 6 



NATURE 



[May 29, 191 3 



THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY. 

 The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the 

 Dead. By Prof. J. G. Frazer. Vol. i. : The 

 Belief among the Aborigines of Australia, the 

 Torres Straits Islands, New Guinea, and 

 Melanesia. Pp. xxi + 495. (London : Macmillan 

 and Co., Ltd., 1913.) Price 10s. net. 



THE publication of Prof. Frazer's Gifford 

 lectures has been awaited with interest by 

 students of anthropology and religion. Their 

 subject was one of the first to occupy the author's 

 attention; his paper on primitive burial customs 

 placed the study of the belief in immortality and 

 the worship of the dead in a new light. He has 

 now given us the first instalment of a comprehen- 

 sive survey of the whole institution. Psychical and 

 ceremonial though it is, the doctrine and cult 

 form an institution as deserving of the name as 

 political government. The belief in some degree 

 of immortality has been practically universal, and 

 is still a "last infirmity of noble mind"; some 

 form of "worship," fear of the ghost or actual 

 veneration of the deified ancestor, has accom- 

 panied the belief in the case of the majority of 

 peoples. The author acutely points out, for the 

 consideration of "historians and economists, as 

 well as of moralists and theologians," that the 

 direct consequences of this moral institution have 

 been grave and far-reaching, such as no mere 

 sentiment could have produced, not only in primi- 

 tive but in civilised history. It has, he says, 

 " not merely coloured the outlook of the individual 

 upon the world ; it has deeply affected the social 

 and political relations of humanity in all ages; for 

 the religious wars and persecutions, which dis- 

 tracted and devastated Europe for ages, were only 

 the civilised equivalents of the battles and murders 

 which the fear of ghosts has instigated amongst 

 almost all races of savages of whom we possess a 

 record. . . . And when we consider further the 

 gratuitous and wasteful destruction of property, 

 as well as of life, which is involved in sacrifices 

 to the dead, we must admit that with all its 

 advantages the belief in immortality has entailed 

 heavy economical losses upon the races — and they 

 are practically all the races of the world — who 

 have indulged in this expensive luxury." 



The treatment of the subject is, so far, merely 

 descriptive ; it is not even comparative. But the 

 analysis of belief and practice among the abori- 

 gines of Australia, the Torres Straits, New 

 Guinea, and Melanesia, which occupies nearly 

 400 pages of this volume, is a masterly perform- 

 ance. The intention of the author is to pursue 

 this method from the lower to the higher planes of 

 culture. The savage conception of death as un- 

 natural, and due, first to sorcery, and secondly 

 to the operation of ghosts or spirits, is further 

 studied, and shown in its development towards a 

 NO. 2274, VOL. 91] 



recognition of disease and accident as causes. The 

 interesting view of Weismann and Wallace that 

 death in higher organisms may actually be an 

 acquired adaptation is cited in comparison. 



There is an extraordinary likeness between the 

 varieties of belief and ceremony, which never 

 degenerates into mechanical sameness. In one 

 case their connection with tabu results in a very 

 sensitive regard for the rights of property; in 

 another, the fear of sorcery leads to a punctilious 

 system of sanitation and scavenging ; in several 

 cases the dramatic art finds its beginnings in the 

 ghost-dance and similar propitiatory ceremonial. 

 Incidentally, the author quotes interesting varie- 

 ties of the belief in the soul, which he assumes, 

 though he does not go further than Tylor's dream- 

 theory, to be the cause of the general belief in 

 survival after death. It is to be hoped that in 

 future volumes the author will treat the cause with 

 the same fullness as he has treated the effect. 

 A. E. Crawley. 



RECENT PSYCHOLOGY AND LOGIC. 



(1) Elements of Physiological Psychology. A 

 Treatise of the Activities and Nature of the 

 Mind from the Physical and Experimental Points 

 of View. By Prof. G. T. Ladd and Prof. R. S. 

 Woodworth. (Thoroughly revised and re- 

 written.) Pp. xix + 704. (New York: Charles 

 Scribner's Sons, 191 1.) Price 4 dollars net. 



(2) Formal Logic: a Scie7itific and Social Problem. 

 By Dr. F. C. S. Schiller. Pp. xviii + 423. 

 (London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1912.) Price 

 10s. net. 



(3) Der Mechanismus des menschlichen Denkens. 

 By Erich Ruckhaber. (Humboldt-Bibliothek, 

 Heft 2.) Pp. 126. (Brackwede i. W. : Dr. W. 

 Breitenbach, 191 1.) Price 2 marks. 



(4) Religion and Modern Psychology. By J. 

 Arthur Hill. Pp. vii + 200. (London: Wm. 

 Rider and Son, Ltd., 191 1.) 



(5) Is the Mind a Coherer? By L. G. Sarjant. 

 Pp. 304. (London : George Allen and Co., Ltd., 

 1912.) Price 65. net. 



THE first two books of those mentioned above 

 are by far the most important of the group. 

 The new, largely re-written edition of (1) Ladd's 

 " Physiological Psychology " will be welcomed by 

 students of psychology. Nearly twenty-five years 

 have passed since the first edition of the book, a 

 period within which the then new branch of experi- 

 mental psychology has forced its way to the front. 

 Very considerable additions have been made to this 

 book in the section on the physiology of the 

 nervous system. It may be questioned whether 

 such a full study of physiological processes is not 

 better obtained, even by the student of psychology, 

 directly from standard works on physiology. It 



