392 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Oct. 12, IS 



giving the track of the Challenger, and tables of the geogra- 

 phical and bathymetrical distribution of the specimens 

 taken on the voyage, add greatly to the beauty and use- 

 fulness of the volume. The wide geographical distribu- 

 tion of some genera, such as Sertularia, which is found in 

 nearly all parts of the globe, from Britain to Cape Horn, 

 and the varying depth at which others are dredged, as 

 Cryptolaria from near the surface and a tropical tempera- 

 ture in Mid-Pacific down to depths of over three miles at 

 34 , prove how these apparently delicate organisms can 

 adapt themselves to extreme conditions of temperature. 

 One giant of seven feet in length, Monocaulus by name, 

 the most remarkable Hydroid obtained in the cruise, was 

 brought up from a depth of 2,900 fathoms, or nearly four 

 miles. 



What Dr. Allman modestly styles a " Sketch of 

 Hydroid Morphology " is a remarkably clear and simple, 

 and at the same time, as might be expected from one 

 who is facile princeps in this department, able and com- 

 plete exposition of the structure and development of the 

 group as at present known. Lack of space prevents us 

 from referring at further length to this interesting division 

 of Prof. Allman's work, but we may add that a descrip- 

 tion of the curious genus Myriohela, and of its aberrant 

 embryonic changes, forms an important section of this 

 part of the memoir, which is worthily ended by a clear 

 tabular classification of the chief Hydroid groups. 



TOTEM CLANS AND STAR WORSHIP. 



A Paper Read by Mr. George St. Clair, F.G.S., before 

 the Anthropological Section of the British Asso- 

 ciation. 



A TOTEM may be described as the badge or crest of a clan 

 or gens, owned and used by all the members of the 

 clan, and serving to distinguish them from members of other 

 clans in the same tribe or in other tribes. It is commonly of 

 an animal form, such as a bear, wolf, turtle, etc., and may be 

 tatooed on the body or inscribed on the shield, or put for- 

 ward in other suitable ways. Those who use such a crest — 

 as bear or wolf — call themselves bears or wolves, or sons of 

 the animal. They regard the animal as their ancestor, some- 

 times as their creator and god, and often show some religious 

 reverence for it. They shrink from killing and eating the 

 animal after which they are named, while they have no 

 objection to killing the sacred animal of their neighbours. 

 They credit stories of men having been changed into animals, 

 and in some instances they look forward to a similar trans- 

 formation for themselves after death. Totemism is thus 

 seen to be connected with the doctrine of the transmigration 

 of souls. It is also connected with the practice of exogamy, 

 or marriage out of the clan ; for it is a general rule among 

 barbarians that no man is to marry a woman of the same 

 totem-crest or clan-name with himself. The existence of 

 totemism is almost universal among the natives of Australia, 

 among the Red men of America, and is widely prevalent in 

 Asia and Africa ; while its former existence among the early 

 Arabs, and the ancient Greeks and Egyptians can be shown. 



These are the principal facts, and as some of them have 

 no appearance of necessary connection, the meaning of them 

 has proved difficult to fathom. 



I have been led to connect the clan divisions with divi- 

 sions of the year and periodical duties ; and, through the 

 seasons and months, with the constellations of the months, 

 and the animal forms of the constellations. 



Beginning with a small community, which has its camp 

 to guard, and perhaps its religious tabernacle, let us sup- 

 pose that the eldest son of every mother is liable to military 

 service. As the guard need not be too numerous, the camp 

 is divided into four quarters, and the young men serve in 

 turn for a fourth part of the year. In larger tribes the 

 division may be into twelve, a number suggested by the 



fact that the year is already divided into months. The 

 religion of the tribe is astral, like that of the ancient Chal- 

 deans, and the watchers know what constellations are upper- 

 most in the various months. If the first band finds the bull 

 constellation in high heaven in the dead of night during its 

 month, it will reverence the bull ; the young men will return 

 to their tents at the month's end and speak of the bull ; 

 they will remember that when the bull is next in the ascen- 

 dant they will have to do duty again ; and will come to be 

 known as the bulls. For the like reason others become 

 goats and scorpions, or kangaroos andblacksnakes, accord- 

 ing to the names of the star-groups with different peoples. 

 The bulls tattoo themselves with the bull crest, and carry it 

 as a military ensign. The members of the bull clan become 

 known as the bulls, or are designated by the equivalent 

 expression, "sons of the bull," the bull is said to be their 

 father, the father of the clan, their great ancestor, and is not 

 to be used as food. But no sooner is the original tribe thus 

 divided into twelve clans, than a great danger threatens its 

 existence, and the integrity of its worship. In the first 

 instance, the whole tribe reverenced all the host of heaven, 

 and was interested in the rise of each zodiacal constellation 

 in turn ; but now they are becoming separately enamoured 

 of special gods. The good object of the division into clans 

 was to divide labour and to protect the whole community 

 from outsiders ; but the result threatens to be to convert the 

 tribe into so many antagonistic clans. For the division into 

 twelve, or into four, was local and territorial, and the clans 

 thus formed and kept apart are now coming to have separate 

 interests. It is therefore mutually consented, that no man 

 shall take a wife from his own clan, though he may go to 

 either of the other three or eleven. It is already the custom 

 of society that children are reckoned to their mother's kin ; 

 and so this new rule of exogamy ensures that no son shall 

 ever be of the same clan as his father, while every clan must 

 see its daughters dispersed among every other throughout 

 the tribe. Thus, notwithstanding the twelve clan divisions 

 and the twelve special gods, provision is made for preserving 

 the integrity of the original tribe, as far as barbarian states- 

 manship can do it. This is a brief synthetical statement of 

 the system, as I regard it, and of the logical connection 

 between the several features of totemism. 



Against this view there is the preliminary objection that 

 barbarians would not be advanced enough to frame a re- 

 ligious and social system upon an astronomical basis. Frazer 

 says it is remarkable how small a part is played in totemism 

 by the heavenly bodies A star or constellation ap- 

 pears only twice (pp. 25, 26). But in the same connection 

 he allows that the sun occurs as a totem in Australia, Africa, 

 and America, and on another page (30) he quotes Indians 

 who painted the moon as well as the sun, and divers birds 

 and beasts as totems upon their shields. 



Mr. Dawson, a writer who is credited with understanding 

 the Australian aborigines, assures us* that " their knowledge 

 of the heavenly bodies greatly exceeds that of most white 

 people, and is taught by men selected lor their intelligence 

 and information." But are barbarous tribes influenced by 

 sentiments of religion and worship ? They are, for Mr. 

 Morgan, in his profound work on " Ancient Society," tells us 

 that "after the fashion of barbarians the American IndiaDS 

 were a religious people. The tribes generally held religious 

 festivals at particular seasons of the year, which were ob- 

 served with forms of worship, dances, and games."t The 

 preliminary objection, therefore, founded on the supposed 

 ignorance and irreverence of early men, is met and re- 

 moved. 



The Journal of the Anthropological Institute for August, 

 1888, containing further important notes on the Australian 

 Class Systems, by Mr. Howitt, only reached me after the 

 present paper was finished and sent in. Mr. Howitt, like all 

 other writers, confesses that " to explain the rise of totem- 

 ism is as yet one of the unperformed tasks of anthropology." 

 He is apparently as far as possible from imagining an astro- 

 nomical origin. Yet he supplies facts which lend the strongest 



* See A. Lang, " Custom and Myth," p. 126. 



f "An cient Society." By Lewis H. Morgan, LL.D, 



