344 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Sept. 28, 1 J 



city life as a pis aller. Our civilisation, in so far as 

 it is a reality, would not be thrown back fifty years, as 

 Mrs. Richards thinks, if the population were dispersed. 

 But this is a subject not coming directly within our pur- 

 view, and upon which, consequently, we do not wish to 

 enlarge. 



Heed should be given to a passage quoted from Dr. 

 Wight, " The unsanitary conditions of school-buildings 

 slacken the speed of educational progress more than one- 

 third." Here is much truth, yet unsanitary conditions 

 are not confined to school-buildings alone, but extend to 

 educational systems which in pupil or teacher exact 

 brain-work under the stress of anxiety. 



The burden of Mrs. Richards's song, and a very praise- 

 worthy one, is that the public must be individually trained 

 insanitary lore, and that they must be prepared to sacrifice 

 whatsoever stands in the way. Till this is done legis- 

 lation must remain a dead letter. Lastly, we must 

 remember that the task of sanitary reform is not so much 

 to increase the quantity as to raise the quality of human 

 life. The " masses " of our great cities are an essentially 

 morbid product, developed under unnatural conditions. 



CUSTOMS OF SAVAGE RACES. 



Lecture Delivered by Sir John Lubbock, M.P., F.R.S., 

 to the Working-Classes of Bath. 



(Continued from p. 319.^ 



THE lowest savages, indeed, appear to be entirely devoid 

 of any belief in a future life. A friend of Mr. Lang's 

 cnce tried to explain to an Australian the idea of a soul, 

 but in vain he tried to describe a living entity, without 

 a body, without arms or legs, or a mouth to eat. The 

 native could not believe he was serious, and when he did 

 realise it the more serious the teacher was the more 

 ludicrous it appeared to the black, but when once grasped 

 it is accepted with unwavering faith. The Ancient 

 Britons are said to have lent money readily on promise 

 of repayment in the next world. Not long ago a Hindoo 

 thought he had been cheated out of 40 rupees, upon 

 which, with his mother's full consent, he cutoff her head 

 in order that her spirit might torment the man who had 

 robbed them. But a belief in the survival of the spirit 

 is by no means the same as one in the immortality of the 

 soul. In some parts of Polynesia it is supposed that the 

 common people are mortal, and that the chiefs only go 

 to the land of spirits ; others think that while men have 

 souls, this is not the case with women. Some negro 

 tribes believe that their father and mother are still alive 

 (for do they not visit them in their dreams ?) but of their 

 grandfather they say sadly, " Amekwisha," — " it is 

 finished." The firm faith of the New Zealanders in the 

 existence ot another world beyond the grave made it a 

 serious thing to kill an enemy, for what was the result ? 

 Embittered by his defeat the dead man went to the land 

 of spirits, prepared his revenge, and when his old enemy 

 died took him at a terrible disadvantage. On the other 

 hand, if a man was eaten as well as killed, there was an 

 end of him — at least, of his separate existence. His 

 spirit, strength, and courage were absorbed into, and 

 appropriated by, the victor. Hence, in war, the con- 

 querors were most anxious to eat any chiefs who had 

 fallen in battle. 



It is not an uncommon belief that as a man dies so he 

 will rise again, and that this applies to the body as well 

 as the mind. Moreover, the way to the land of spirits 



was long, dangerous, and beset with demons. Many 

 perished on the way, and no one who was not in posses- 

 sion of all his faculties could hope to arrive in safety. 

 So convinced were the Feejians of this, that as soon as 

 a man felt the least sign of old age he was anxious to 

 start on his long journey. Mr. Hunt tells us that one 

 day a young man in whom he took much interest came 

 to him and invited him to attend his mother's funeral, 

 which was to take place the next morning. Mr. Hunt 

 accepted the invitation and went. As he walked along 

 in the procession he was surprised to see no corpse, and 

 asked the young man where his mother was, when he 

 pointed to a woman who was walking along just in front, 

 to use Mr. Hunt's words, " as gay and lively as any of 

 those present. When they arrived at the grave she 

 took an affectionate farewell of her children and friends, 

 and then submitted to be strangled." So general, in- 

 deed, was this custom in the islands that in many vil- 

 lages there were literally no old people, all having been 

 put to death ; and if we are shocked at the error which 

 led to such fearful results, we may at least see much to 

 admire in the firm faith with which they acted upon their 

 religious belief. 



In a great many cases there are supposed to be deities 

 of Disease, of Misfortunes, and of Crimes. These wicked 

 spirits naturally encourage evil rather than good. In 

 one part of India, when small-pox was prevalent, there 

 was a temple to the goddess of that terrible disease. An 

 energetic friend of mine, who was sent as magistrate 

 there, in spite of some opposition had all the people vac- 

 cinated. The disease ceased, much to the astonishment 

 of the natives. But the Priests of the Goddess of Small- 

 pox were not disconcerted. One morning they came 

 as a deputation to my friend. They said, " We have 

 made a mistake. We have worshipped the wrong Deity. 

 You are evidently the true God of Small-pox," and they 

 petitioned him to give them some emblem or repre- 

 sentation of himself which they might enshrine in their 

 temple. In fact, that mysterious problem of the origin 

 of Evil which has exercised so many of the highest in- 

 tellects, the savage solves by his creation of evil deities. 

 We who are fortunate enough to live in this com- 

 paratively enlightened century hardly realise how our 

 ancestors suffered from their belief in the existence 

 of mysterious and malevolent beings ; but among savages 

 we find life still overshadowed 2nd embittered by those 

 awful apprehensions. From such evil beings sorcerers 

 and witches derived their hellish powers. No one was 

 safe. No one knew where danger lurked. Actions, 

 apparently the most trifling, might be fraught with 

 serious risk ; objects apparently most innocuous might 

 be fatal. In some cases an image was made to 

 represent the persons whom it was wished to murder, 

 and it was supposed that the destruction of the 

 image involved the death of the victim ; in others 

 it was supposed enough to obtain a hair, or even 

 a piece of dress, the destruction of which would involve 

 that of its owner. In others, even the knowledge of a 

 person's name was sufficient to place them in the power 

 of the sorcerer. Hence we find that in many races a 

 person's true name was kept a profound secret. As , 

 man, however, gradually became better acquainted with 

 the world in which we live, his religious conceptions 

 were raised, he was able to form a higher ideal of the i 

 divine nature, not only as respects power but with re- 

 ference to morality also. The assistance which science j 

 has thus rendered religion has not, I think, been suffi- 



