TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 507 



There is, however, another aspect of primitive secret societies, very prominent 

 in the fraternities of American Indians, but hitherto not sufficiently emphasised 

 in the discussion of related organisations elsewhere. The initiates constitute a 

 theatrical troupe, with masked and costumed actors personating animals, and 

 presenting songs, dances, and pageants, which together form a vivid dramatisation 

 of legendary history. Ancestor-worship and the cult of the dead loom large 

 in their rituals. Ceremonies undoubtedly magical in character, such as rain- 

 making and sorcery, the preparation of charms and spells, and the cure of disease 

 belong to many of the organisations. 



These and other features of developed secret societies appear to be closely 

 connected with the structure and functions of totemic clans. The formation of 

 tribal aggregates from clans would gradually bring about a transference, partial 

 or complete, of characteristic clan rites — initiatory, funereal, magico-religious, 

 and dramatic — from the clan to the larger community of initiated men, and 

 thence, in many instances, to esoteric associations of limited membership. 

 Accordingly, the secret societies of primitive peoples would represent one of the 

 results of the disintegration of the ancient totemic groupings. A study of 

 various areas should disclose how this process of development has worked out in 

 different environments and under the stress of diverse circumstances. 



(v) Some Methodological Remarks on Totemism. 

 By Professor E. Waxweiler. 1 



Light can only be thrown on the question of so-called totemism by the applica- 

 tion of a scrupulously accurate method of analysis. That method should be 

 mainly sociological — i.e., it should consider the so-called totemic facts as being 

 imposed by the conditions of organised social life amongst men. Further, its 

 starting-point should be ' functional ' ; it must search for the social function from 

 which totemism has sprung. It follows that : — 



(a) It is out of the question to discuss 'forms' and the typical character or 

 purity of forms 2 of totemism or to represent this or that form as a trace of an 

 anterior form, more or less complete; 



(o) it is improper to build up an evolution of totemism as such : a social 

 function displays itself just as it can, according to the social conditions of the 

 individuals whose organisation this function realises; 



(c) the investigation of the social function that totemism performs should 

 extend to civilised as well as to primitive societies ; where the function is not 

 traceable in civilised societies, or where it appears otherwise than in a primitive 

 society, the causes of this change should be detected. 



As first results of those principles, it may be shown that totemism is 

 'functionally' independent of: (a) religion, (b) exogamy so-called, (c) ancestral 

 descent, (d) relationship of individuals with their totem, (e) social interdicts 

 (tabus), (/) name of the totemic group, (g) protecting or serviceable character 

 of the totem, and (h) representative emblems of the totem. These are all 

 merely ' symptoms,' 3 and do not appear as distinctive features of totemism, as 

 is commonly contended. 



As a second result of the application of those principles, the following inter- 

 pretation of totemism might be suggested : That functionally totemism is a social 

 device for sanctioning permanent situations wherein individuals, or more fre- 

 quently groups of individuals, appear to remain and which arc considered as 

 essential or peculiar in the organisation of the group. 



To create such a sanction in primitive society, a very simple and altogether 

 very efficient method seems to have been (a) to ' vow ' the group to one well- 

 known and familiar thing (animal, plant, object) — that condition being of ecurse 

 necessary, for it makes the occasions of sanctioning numerous— or even to more 

 than one thing; 4 (b) simultaneously to associate with those things, positively or 



1 I have to thank Miss Nadine Ivanitzky for her assistance in the preparation of 

 this note. 



2 Cf. Rivers, Jour. Anthrop.lnst., 1909, p. 156. 



8 Comp. Goldenweiser, Totemism, an Analytical Study, p. 182 and passim. 

 4 Comp. Wolf, Anlhropos, 1911, pp. 451 and scq. 



