2 o6 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 



be found in the maxims and proverbs of primitive peoples. Wundt 

 advocates a careful and scholarly judgment of the morals of primitive 

 races. He points out that many of their revolting customs are closely 

 associated with their brightest virtues. The drinking of blood and 

 eating of flesh of deceased relatives were connected with reverence for 

 family ties, and condoned by their failure to differentiate men from 

 other animals. Thus even cannibalism must not be measured by our 

 standards. It was not only the seven sages of Greece who coined 

 valuable maxims of conduct. The primitive Australians had many 

 noble sayings about the conduct of life. In the family relations many 

 of the primitive peoples were comparatively above reproach. 



The whole subject of primitive philosophizing is shown to be rich in 

 suggestion and there can be no doubt that a study of it will banish many 

 crude ideas. For example Conte's opinion that the human mind 

 developed through the three successive stages of religion, metaphysics 

 and positive science, gets a new reputation in this work, inasmuch as it 

 would rather seem that the three modes of thought have developed 

 together in a sense, though not of course quite pari passu in all ages. 



