SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—H. 441 
Who were the Picts? The people of Aberdeenshire were Picts in the ninth 
century ; there is no reason to question that the bulk of the present population 
of that county are their children. The characters of Aberdeenshire people are 
well known from the investigations made by Dr. James Tocher and the late 
Mr. John Gray. An Aberdeenshire man cannot be recognised from another 
native of Scotland except by his speech. ‘The Picts, Celts, and Saxons of Scot- 
land are all of one breed—the descendants of the pioneer race which settled 
North-West Europe when the last ice-sheet lifted. There has been only one 
intrusive element—the round-head of late neolithic introduction. 
Prof. THomas H. Bryce.—We now know that Scotland was inhabited as far 
back as Azilian times. We have no direct evidence regarding the physical 
characters of these early inhabitants, but there is a strong presumption that the 
primitive basis of the population was Nordic in character. Superimposed on 
this, came, first, in late neolithic times, the men of the chambered cairns, second, 
the Beaker folk of the Bronze Age. These three elements, blended in different 
proportions, made up the population of pre-Roman times, since when it has been 
altered only by the intrusion of similar elements and reassemblage. In S.E. 
Scotland there are traces of a new element in the Iron Age with a late La Téne 
culture. It resembles the Gaulish, but the interments are native, not Gaulish. 
The distribution of the chambered cairns and burials of the Bronze Age indicate 
a grouping of the elements which, taken in conjunction with the movements 
of historical times, explains the well-known features of the present-day 
population. 
In the afternoon an excursion took place to Traprain Law, etc. The 
excavations on Traprain Law were explained by Mr. J. E. Crer. A 
Picts’ house visited on the journey was explained by Mr. D. 
MacRircuiz. 
Monday, September 12: 
7. Sir Wintiam Ripceway.—Totemism. 
For more than half a century three theories have greatly influenced anthro- 
pological and classical studies—the Sun Myth, the Tree Spirit, and Totemism. 
The Sun Myth was the product of German philologists, who assumed that the 
primitive Aryans used a language consisting of abstract roots. Though Little- 
dale and Lyall dealt deadly blows to this theory, for some years. past it has again 
reared its head in alliance with Mannhardt’s Tree Spirit and the manifold 
speculations that arose from J. F. McLennan’s famous papers on ‘ The Worship 
of Animals and Plants ’ (1869-70). Practically all writers have held, and hold, 
that Vegetation spirits and the phenomena embraced under the term Totemism 
are independent of the belief in the existence of the human soul after the 
death of the body, and consequently independent of Ancestor-worship. But I 
had already maintained (1911) that Vegetation spirits and Totemic beliefs are 
merely Secondary phenomena, depending on the Primary belief of mankind in 
the continued existence of the soul after the death of the body and of its trans- 
migration. As the authors of the latest theory of thé origin of Tragedy laid 
under contribution Tree spirits and Totemism, in my ‘ Dramas and Dramatic 
Dances of Non-European Races ’ (1915) I had to test the truth or falsity of our 
respective theories, and a long series of inductions led me to conclude that 
the sacredness of certain rocks, trees, plants, etc., on investigation turns out 
to be due to the belief that they are the abode of the spirits of those who 
were buried under or near them, or were killed at or near them, and 
that in all regions where Totemism is known it arises from a like belief in 
the continued existence of spirits and in their transmigration. It must be 
borne in mind that in many, if not all, regions where Totemism exists the 
bodies of the dead were, or still are, left to be devoured by wild beasts, whilst 
in ancient Hyrcania chiefs kept large dogs to be their own tombs. The Burmese 
hold that the souls of those eaten by tigers or crocodiles inhabit their 
devourers, whilst the Papuans, etc., have a similar belief, but it is not merely 
the spirits of those eaten that migrate into animals. The ancient Egyptians, 
who were certainly Totemists, believed in transmigration, a doctrine also held 
by the primitive Greeks, who, if not actually Totemists, had beliefs closely 
resembling Totemism. Some Indonesians venerate the crocodile, considering it 
1921 HH 
