Magic Science and Religion 47 



Even among the most primitive peoples, the attitude at death 

 is infinitely more complex and, I may add, more akin to our own, 

 than is usually assumed. It is often stated by anthropologists that 

 the dominant feeling of the survivors is that of horror at the corpse 

 and of fear of the ghost. This twin attitude is even made by no 

 less an authority than Wilhelm Wundt the very nucleus of all 

 religious belief and practice. Yet this assertion is only a half- 

 truth, which means no truth at all. The emotions are extremely 

 complex and even contradictory ; the dominant elements, love of 

 the dead and loathing of the corpse, passionate attachment to the 

 personality still lingering about the body and a shattering fear of 

 the gruesome thing that has been left over, these two elements 

 seem to mingle and play into each other. This is reflected in 

 the spontaneous behaviour and in the ritual proceedings at death. 

 In the tending of the corpse, in the modes of its disposal, in 

 the post-funerary and commemorative ceremonies, the nearest 

 relatives, the mother mourning for her son, the widow for her 

 husband, the child for the parent, always show some horror and 

 fear mingled with pious love, but never do the negative elements 

 appear alone or even dominant. 



The mortuary proceedings show a striking similarity through- 

 out the world. As death approaches, the nearest relatives in 

 any case, sometimes the whole community, forgather by the 

 dying man, and dying, the most private act which a man can 

 perform, is transformed into a public, tribal event. As a rule, a 

 certain differentiation takes place at once, some of the relatives 

 watching near the corpse, others making preparations for the 

 pending end and its consequences, others again performing perhaps 

 some religious acts at a sacred spot. Thus in certain parts of 

 Melanesia the real kinsmen must keep at a distance and only 

 relatives by marriage perform the mortuary services, while in 

 some tribes of Australia the reverse order is observed. 



As soon as death has occurred, the body is washed, anointed 

 and adorned, sometimes the bodily apertures are filled, the arms 

 and legs tied together. Then it is exposed to the view of all, and 

 the most important phase, the immediate mourning, begins. 

 Those who have witnessed death and its sequel among savages and 

 who can compare these events with their counterpart among 

 other uncivilised peoples must be struck by the fundamental 

 similarity of the proceedings. There is always a more or less 



