Steps In Man’s Development IITHE HIGHER PROGRESS OF MANKIND
Steps In Man’s Development II
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SPIRITUAL culture may develop in the directions of knowing and of feeling. These two forms of the manifestation of consciousness are originally not to be separated from each other; but as time goes on, a preponderance of one or the other becomes noticeable. Language is the first result of spiritual culture: the communication of thoughts by means of words (sound pictures of ideas). Language arises from the necessities of life, from the need for communication among the members of a social aggregate.
GUTENBERG, THE INVENTOR OF PRINTINGNothing has eclipsed the printing press as an agency of man’s intellectual and spiritual advancement.
GUTENBERG, THE INVENTOR OF PRINTING
Nothing has eclipsed the printing press as an agency of man’s intellectual and spiritual advancement.
A much later acquisition, the art of writing, or the fixation of language in a definite, permanent form, stands in close connection with speech. Writing develops according to two systems: the one based on the symbolising or picturing of ideas—picture-writing, hieroglyphics; and the other on the breaking up of the speech-sounds of a language into a notation of syllables or letters—syllabic or letter writing. According to the first method thoughts are directly pictured; according to the second, sounds, not ideas, are represented by symbols—that is, the sounds which stand for the ideas are transformed into signs. The transition from sign to syllabic writing comes about in this manner: if, during its development, a language uses the same sound to express various conceptions, men represent this sound by one sign; and whenever a foreign word is reproduced in writing it is first separated into syllables, and the syllables are then pictured by the same signs as are employed to represent similar sounds—but different ideas—in the native speech. Thus symbols are employed more and more phonetically, and less and less meaning comes to be attached to them. This process must continue its development if the pronunciation changes as time goes on; the old writing, with its national symbol-method, may be retained; but with the changing of speech-sounds the new writing is altered; syllables are now represented by signs, and combinations of syllables are reproduced by means of a combination of their corresponding symbols. Thus phonetic writing was not an invention, but a gradual development. Together with the phonetic symbols, ideograms or hieroglyphs also exist, as in Babylonian. It is especially interesting, and indicative of the unity of the human mind, that the transition to syllabic writing has been arrived at independently by different races; the Aztecs, for example, exhibit a wholly independent development.
The Spreading of Ideas
Communication by writing may be either single or private, or general and public; in the latter case plurality is attained through such methods as the affixing of bills and placards, or by means of transcripts or reproductions of the original copy. At first the latter are made in accordance with the ordinary methods of writing; and in slave-holding communities—Rome, for example—slaves who wrote to dictation were employed as scribes. The discovery of a method by which to obtain a plurality of copies through a single mechanical process was epoch-making. The printing-presshas performed a far greater service to humanity than have most inventions; for, with the possibility of producing thousands of copies of a communication, the thoughts embodied in it become forces; they may enter the minds of many individuals who are either convinced or actually guided by them. Ideas become active through their suggestion on the masses of the population. This may lead to a one-sided rule of public opinion; but a healthy race will travel intellectually in many directions, and various beliefs supplement one another, struggle together, conquer, and are conquered. In this manner thoughts awaken popular movements, rousing a people to a hitherto unknown degree, and forcing men to think and to join issues. Thus the Press becomes a factor in civilisation of the very first importance. The necessity for periodic communication, together with curiosity that refuses to wait long for information, leads to the establishment of regularly recurrent publications; and thus, in addition to the book-press, the newspaper-press, that has learned how to hold great centres of population under its control, appears. Naturally this method of aiding the progress of civilisation has its disadvantages, as have all other methods; the conception of the world becomes superficial; individuality loses in character; not only a certain levelling of education, but also a levelling of views of life and of modes of thought, results. But, on the whole, knowledge is spread abroad as it never was before.
EXAMPLES OF AZTEC HIEROGLYPHIC SCULPTURE AND WRITINGThe hieroglyphics and script of the Aztecs were independently developed. The first illustration is from a sculpture in Mexico, and the other is a small reproduction of a page of the Maya manuscript at Dresden. In both cases the symbolism is only imperfectly understood at present.
EXAMPLES OF AZTEC HIEROGLYPHIC SCULPTURE AND WRITING
The hieroglyphics and script of the Aztecs were independently developed. The first illustration is from a sculpture in Mexico, and the other is a small reproduction of a page of the Maya manuscript at Dresden. In both cases the symbolism is only imperfectly understood at present.
Man, as a thinking being, craves for a conception of life; and in his inmost thoughts he seeks for an explanation of the double relationship of Man to Nature and of Nature to Man, striving to bring all into harmony. This he finds in religion.
FrithTHE GREAT BUDDHA AT KAMAKURA, IN JAPANProfessor Kohler points out that in the history of the world’s religions, although the belief in the omnipotence of God has become so widespread, it is not thought inconsistent that a Buddha, claiming to incarnate the Supreme Being completely within himself, should appear.
Frith
THE GREAT BUDDHA AT KAMAKURA, IN JAPAN
Professor Kohler points out that in the history of the world’s religions, although the belief in the omnipotence of God has become so widespread, it is not thought inconsistent that a Buddha, claiming to incarnate the Supreme Being completely within himself, should appear.
Man’s Craving for ReligionBeginnings of Nature WorshipThe Realm of Shadows
Religion is belief in God; that is, belief in spiritual forces inseparable from and interwoven through the universe—forces that render all things distinct and separate, yet make all coalescent and firm, permeating all, and giving to every object its individuality. Man is impelled by Nature to conceive of the universe as divine. This idea exhibits itself universally among primitive folk in the form of animism—a belief that the entire internal and external world is animated, filled with supernatural beings that have originally no determinate nature, but which may appear in the most varied of forms, may vanish and may create themselves anew, as clouds arise from unseen vapour in the air. Spirits are supposed to be not far removed from man; families as well as individuals consider themselves to stand more or less in connection with them; and men, too, have a share in the invisible worldwhen they have cast aside the garment of the body in dream or in death. Thus, every man is thought to have his protecting spirit, hismanitou, that reveals itself to him through signs and dreams. Special incarnations, objects in which supernatural beings are inherent or with which they are in some way connected, are called “fetiches”; hence arises fetichism, in regard to which the strangest ideas were held in previous centuries when the science of anthropology was unknown. Trees, rocks, rivers, bits of wood, images of one’s own making—any of these are thought capable of containing beings of divine nature. Naturally, the tree or the fragment of wood or of stone is not worshipped, as men formerly thought, but the spirit that is believed to have entered it. In many cases the belief approaches worship of Nature, especially among agricultural peoples. Divinity is recognised in the shape of factors essential to agriculture—sun, sky, lightning, thunder; these being the beneficent deities, in contrast to whom are the earth-spirits who bring pestilences, earthquakes, and other evils to mankind. Thus the cult is refined; spirits are no longer attached to fetiches, but men worship the heavens, and the earth also. Religion accompanies man from birth to death. Spirits both for good and for evil are supposed to hover about him at his very birth. The soul of some being—perhaps an animal, perhaps an ancestor—enters into the new-born child, and from this spirit he receives his name.
Oftentimes there is a new consecration at the time of marriage; often when an heir-apparent succeeds to the chieftainship. At his decease primitive folk believe that man enters the realm of shadows. At first he hovers over the sea or river of death, and often only after having passed through many hardships does he arrive in the new kingdom, where he either continues to live after the manner of his former existence, or, according to whether his life on earth has been good or evil, inhabits a higher or a lower supernatural sphere. To the dead are consecrated their personal possessions—horses, slaves, wives even—that they may make use of them during the new existence; men go head-hunting in order to send them new helpmates. On the other hand great care is often taken that the spirits of the departed, satisfied with their new existence, may no longer molest the world of the living: propitiative offerings are made; men avoid mentioning the name of the departed, that he may not be tempted to visit them with his presence; they seek to make themselves unrecognisable during the time immediately following his death, wear different clothes, and adopt other dwelling-places. Sometimes the light placed near the deceased for the purpose of guiding him back to his oldhome is moved further and further away, so that his ghost, unable to find the right path, shall never return.
Thus the belief in spirits encompasses primitive man, following him step by step.
The Belief in Many GodsHappiness found in Religion
From animism develops worship of heroes and polytheism, with their attendant mythological narrations. The idea of the unity of the supernatural world becomes lost; and the indefinite forms of spirit become separate, independent beings, that are developed more and more in the direction of the souls either of animals or of men. This splitting up of the deity, which destroys the tendency toward unity in religion, is followed by a reaction that comes about partly through a belief in creation by a father of the gods, partly through acceptance of a historical origin of the mythological world from a single source (theogonic myths), and partly through direct banishment of the plurality of gods and a new formation of the belief in a unity according either to theistic or to pantheistic ideas. In spite of the conception of a world permeated and pervaded by God alone, the belief that certain persons and places are more powerful in respect to the divinity than others is retained; and the appearance from time to time of a Buddha who incarnates and manifests the Supreme Being directly and completely within himself—in a special manner apart from other natural phenomena—is also not looked upon as inconsistent.
A STRANGE RELIGIOUS RITE: FUNERAL SACRIFICE OF THE TODAS IN SOUTHERN INDIAThe elaborate and extraordinary funeral rites of the Todas illustrate admirably the older notions of life and death. A funeral endures for several days; the body is cremated; last of all the buffaloes of the deceased are slaughtered at the grave and thought to enter into mystic reunion with their master. In olden times a whole troop would be slaughtered, but under British influence the number has been limited to one for a common person and two for a chief.
A STRANGE RELIGIOUS RITE: FUNERAL SACRIFICE OF THE TODAS IN SOUTHERN INDIA
The elaborate and extraordinary funeral rites of the Todas illustrate admirably the older notions of life and death. A funeral endures for several days; the body is cremated; last of all the buffaloes of the deceased are slaughtered at the grave and thought to enter into mystic reunion with their master. In olden times a whole troop would be slaughtered, but under British influence the number has been limited to one for a common person and two for a chief.
Religion is a thing of the emotions, not merely in the sense of having its origin in fear, or in the remembrance of lasting sensations derived from visions or dreams, but emotional in so far that it satisfies the necessity felt by men for a consistent life-conception—not an intellectual but an emotional conception. It is not the matter-of-fact desire for knowledge that finds its expression in religion, but the joy of the heart in a supreme power, the call for help of the needy, and the consciousness of our own insignificance and ourmortality. Judgment is not yet abstracted from the other psychic functions; indeed, it really retires behind the emotions.
NOAH’S SACRIFICEFrom the painting by Daniel Maclise, R.A.
NOAH’S SACRIFICE
From the painting by Daniel Maclise, R.A.
The Basis of WorshipThe Growth of the Priesthood
When men thus believe in divinity, if the belief have an active influence on the emotions, it follows that the individual must establish some connection between himself and the object of his worship. This is brought about through certain actions, or through the creation of circumstances in which special conditions of consecration are perceived, and therewith the possibility of a close relationship with the Supreme Being. The acts through which this relationship may be brought about, taken collectively, are embraced in the word “worship,” and if performed according to a strict system they are called “rites.” Sacrifice has an important place among the ceremonies observed in accordance with ritual. It is based on a conception of the wants and necessities of the higher beings, and, in later times, is refined into a representation of man’s ethical feelings—unselfishness and gratitude, which give pleasure to the Deity and thus contribute to its happiness. But sacrifice does not retain its unselfish character for any great length of time. Man thinks of himself first: he makes offerings to the good spirits, but more particularly to the evil gods, in order to pacify their fury and appease their evil desires. Sacrifices are also offered to the dead, and from such offerings and memorials is developed the idea of a “family” or “clan,” which outlives the individual.
Thus, emotion is the principal active agent; but intellectual power also must gradually lay its hold on the system of belief. The principles discovered are formulated into a science and the cultivation of this science becomes the special duty of the priesthood, often as a secret art—esoteric system—in which concealment is conducive to the maintenance of the exclusiveness and peculiar power of the priest class. The science becomespartly mythologic-historical, partly dogmatic, and partly ritualistic.
Out of Religion Came Art
The artistic instinct develops partly in connection with worship, partly in the direction of its practical application to life; and although no very sharp line of distinction is drawn between the two tendencies, the germ at least of the difference between the fine and the industrial arts is thus in existence from the very earliest times. Worship gives rise to images and pictures, at first of the very roughest form. They are not mere symbols; they are the garments or habitations with which the spirit invests itself. The spirit may take up its abode anywhere according to the different beliefs of man—in a plant, an animal, a stone, above all, in a picture or effigy that symbolically reflects its peculiarities. Therefore, the ghosts of ancestors are embodied in ancestral images. Just as skulls were reverenced in earlier times, in later days the images of the dead (korwar) are worshipped. Such images are the oldest examples of the art of portraiture; and the oldest dolls are the rude puppets which according to the rites of many races—the American Indians, for example—widows must wear about them as tokens, or as the husks or wrappers of their husbands’ doubles.
Religion itself becomes poetry. The belief in the identity of spirits of the departed with animals, and the myths of metamorphosis, take the form of fables and fairy tales; the cosmogonic and theogonic conceptions develop into mythologies; hero sagas become epics; the myths of life in Nature become a glorification of the external world, an expression of unity with Nature, and thus a form of lyric poetry.
Artistic Expression of Life
Everyday life, too, demands artistic expression. At first the childish passion for the changing pictures that correspond with different ideas of the imagination joins with the desire to impress others, and finery in dress and ornamentation result. This has developed in every clime. Tattooing arises not only from a religious motive, but also from the desire for ornament. The painting of men’s bodies, the often grotesque ideas, such as artificial deformation of the head, knocking out and blackening of teeth, ear ornaments and mutilation of ears, pegs thrust through the lips, and various methods of dressing the hair, may be in part connected with religious conceptions, for here the most varied of motives co-operate to the same end. Yet, on the other hand, there is no doubt that they are also the outcome of a craving for variation in form and in colour. In the same way the dance is not only an act of worship; it is also a means of giving vent to latent animal spirits: thus, dances are often expressions of the tempestuous sensual instincts of a people.
The Birth of the Drama
The dance exhibits a special tendency to represent the ordinary affairs of life in a symbolic manner; thus there are war and hunting dances, and especially animal dances in which each of the participants believes himself to be permeated by the spirit of some animal which throughout the dance he endeavours to mimic. In this way dramatic representation, which is certainly based on the idea of personification, on the notion that a man for the time being may be possessed by the spirit of some other creature that speaks and acts through him, originates. Thus arose the primitive form of masques, in which men dressed themselves up to resemble various creatures, real or imaginary, as in the case of the animal masques of old time; for according to the popular idea the spirit dwells in the external, visible form, and through the imitation or adoption of its outward appearance we become identified with the spirit whose character we assume. Among many races not only masks proper were worn, but also the hides and hair or feathers of the creatures personated. Dramatic representation was furthered by the dream plays—especially popular among the American Indians—in which the events of dreams are adapted for acting and performed. Even as men seek illumination in dreams as to questions both divine and mundane, so do they anticipate through dreams the dramatic representations which shall be performed on holidays as expressions of life.
SAVAGE DANCES: THE FAR-OFF BEGINNINGS OF THE DRAMAThe dance is an effort to give symbolic expression to affairs and moods of everyday life. Thus the Zulu wedding dance is self-evident in its purpose. The second illustration depicts a strange religious dance of the Australian natives, associated with totemism or animism. The third picture shows dancers in Kandy endeavouring to banish evil spirits, and the last illustrates an Australian corroboree. From such sources the drama has been slowly evolved.LARGER IMAGE
SAVAGE DANCES: THE FAR-OFF BEGINNINGS OF THE DRAMA
The dance is an effort to give symbolic expression to affairs and moods of everyday life. Thus the Zulu wedding dance is self-evident in its purpose. The second illustration depicts a strange religious dance of the Australian natives, associated with totemism or animism. The third picture shows dancers in Kandy endeavouring to banish evil spirits, and the last illustrates an Australian corroboree. From such sources the drama has been slowly evolved.
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Art & Play in the Life of Man
Play is a degeneration of the dance, and it arises less from the instinct for beauty than from a desire to realise whatever entertainment and excitement may be got from any incident or occurrence. From another special inclination originate those satirical songs of Northern peoples, written in alternating verses,in which the national tribunal and the voice of the people are given expression at the same time. Thus they have a truly educative character. These are the preliminary steps to the free satire and humour that gleam through the lives of civilised peoples, now like the flicker of a candle, now like a purifying lightning flash, freeing men from life’s monotony, and illuminating the night of unsolved questions. Capacity for organised play is a characteristic that lifts man above the lower animals. The expression of individuality without any particular object in view, the elevation of self above the troubles of life, and free activity, uncoerced by the necessities of existence, are characteristic both of play and of art. Thus play, as well as art, exhibits to a pre-eminent degree man’s consciousness of having escaped, if only temporarily, from the coercion of environing nature; being without definite object, it proves that he can find employment when released from the pressure of the outer world—that is, when he is momentarily freed from his endeavour to establish a balance between himself and the necessities of life, with a view to overcoming the latter. Man stands in close connection with his environment and with the immutable laws of nature; but in play and in art he develops his own personality—a development that neither in direction nor in object is influenced by the outer world and its constraint.
Fall of Man and Rise of the Race
The step that leads to the overcoming of custom is the recognition of right. “Right” is that which society strictly demands from every individual member. Not all that is customary is exacted by right; a multitude of the requirements of custom may be ignored without opposition from the community as a whole, although, of course, detached individuals may express their displeasure. The aggregate, however, grants immunity to all who do not choose to follow the custom. In other words, the separation of custom from right signifies the development of a sharper line of demarcation between that which is and that which ought to be. In primitive times “is” and “ought to be” are fairly consonant terms; but gradually a spirit of opposition is developed; cases arise in which custom is opposed, in which the actions of men run counter to a previous habit. Man is conscious of the possibility of raising himself above the unreasoning tendencies toward certain modes of conduct, and he takes pleasure in so doing—the good man as well as the evil. Whoever oversteps the bounds of custom, even through sheer egotism, is also a furtherer of human development; without sin the world would never have evolved a civilisation; the Fall of Man was nothing more than the first step toward the historical development of the human race.
This leads to the necessity for extracting from custom such rules as must prove advantageous to mankind, and this collection of axioms—which “ought to be”—becomes law.
Custom, Right, and Morality
The distinction between right and custom was an important step. The relativity of custom was exposed with one stroke. Many, and by no means the worst members of communities, emancipate themselves from custom. It is the opening in the wall through which the progress of humanity may pass. Nor do the demands of right remain unalterable and unyielding. A change in custom brings with it a change in right; certain rules of conduct gradually become isolated owing to the recession of custom, and to such an extent that they lose their vitality and decay. And as new customs arise, so are new principles of right discovered. In this manner an alteration in the one is a cause of change in the other—naturally, in conformity with the degree of culture and contemporary social relations. Custom and right mutually further each other, and render it possible for men to adapt themselves to newly acquired conditions of civilisation.
Together with right and custom a third factor appears—morality. This is a comparatively late acquisition. It, too, contains something of the “ought to be,” not because of the social, but by virtue of the divine authority or order based on philosophical conceptions. Morals vary, therefore, as laws vary, according to peoples and to times. The rules of morality form a second code, set above the social law, and they embody a larger aggregate of duties. The reason for this is that men recognise that the social system of rules for conduct is not the only one, that it is only relative and cannot include all the duties of human beings, and that over and beyond the laws of society ethical principles exist.
Naturally conflicts arise between right and morals, and such struggles lead to further development and progress.
The late appearance of ideas of morality proves that ethical considerations were originally foreign to the god-conceptions. The spirits, fetiches, and world-creators of different beliefs are at first neutral so far as morals are concerned; myths and legends are invented partly from creation theories, partly from historic data, and partly through efforts of the imagination. In primitive beliefs there is no trace of an attempt to conceive of deities as being good in the highest—or even in a lower—sense; and it would not be in accordance with scientific ethnology to appraise, or to wish to pass judgment on, religions according to the point of view of ethics. Not until the importance of morality in life is realised, and the profound value of a life of moral purity recognised, do men seek in their religious beliefs for higher beings of ethical significance, for morally perfect personalities among the gods.
Underwood & UnderwoodTHE EMBLEM OF A TRIBE: ALASKAN INDIAN TOTEMThis mysterious “totem” distinguishes a family or tribe of the old Hydah Indians and is erected at Wrangel in Alaska.
Underwood & Underwood
THE EMBLEM OF A TRIBE: ALASKAN INDIAN TOTEM
This mysterious “totem” distinguishes a family or tribe of the old Hydah Indians and is erected at Wrangel in Alaska.
Different elements of civilisation vary greatly in their development in different civilised districts; one race may have a greater tendency toward intellectual, another toward material culture. No race has approached the Hindoos in philosophic speculation, yet they are as children in their knowledge of natural science. One people may develop commerce to the highest extent, another poetry and music, a third the freedom of the individual. The language of the American Indians is in many respects richer and more elegant than English. Therefore nothing is farther from the truth than to say that, in case one institution of civilised life is found to exist in a hunting people, another in an agricultural race, or the one in an otherwise higher, and the other in an otherwise lower nation or tribe, the institution in question must have reached a state of perfection corresponding with the general development of the people possessing it. According to this, the monogamic uncivilised races were further advanced than the polygamous Aryans of India and the Mohammedans; and the Polynesians, with their skill in the industrial arts and their dramatic dances, perhaps in a higher state of civilisation than Europeans!
Development fulfils itself in communities of men. Except in a human aggregate it cannot come to pass; for the germs of development which are brought forth by the potentiated activity of the many may exist only in a society of individuals.
It has therefore been a significant fact that from the very beginning men have joined together in social aggregates, partly on account of an instinctive impulse, partly because of the necessity for self-defence. Thus it came about that primitive men lived together in wandering, predatory hordes, or packs. The individuals were bound to one another very closely; there was no private life; and the sex-relationships were promiscuous. Men not only dwelt together in groups, but the groups themselves assimilated with one another, inasmuch as marriages were reciprocally entered into by them. So far as we are able to determine, one of the earliest of social institutions was that of group-marriage. Individuals did not first unite in pairs, and then join together in groups—such would soon have fallen asunder; on the contrary, group-marriage itself created the bond that held the community together; the most violentinstinct of mankind not only united the few but the many, indeed, complete social aggregates.
THE BEGINNINGS OF MONARCHY: AFRICAN CHIEF SEATED IN STATE AMONG HIS HEADMENThe tribal state has a fixed form of government. The chiefs or patriarchs of the various families stand at the head of affairs, the position of chief being either hereditary or elective. In most cases, however, it is determined by a combination of both methods, a blood descendant being chosen, provided he is able to give proof of his competence.
THE BEGINNINGS OF MONARCHY: AFRICAN CHIEF SEATED IN STATE AMONG HIS HEADMEN
The tribal state has a fixed form of government. The chiefs or patriarchs of the various families stand at the head of affairs, the position of chief being either hereditary or elective. In most cases, however, it is determined by a combination of both methods, a blood descendant being chosen, provided he is able to give proof of his competence.
Group-marriage is the form of union established by the association of two hordes, or packs, according to which the men of one group marry the women of the other; not a marriage of individual men with individual women, but a promiscuous relationship, each man of one group marrying all the women of the other group—at least in theory—and vice versâ; not a marriage of individuals, but of aggregates. Certainly with such a sex-relationship established, sooner or later regulations develop from within the community, through which the marital relationships of individuals are adjusted in a consistent manner; but the principle first followed was, as community in property, so community in marriage; and this must of itself lead to kinships entirely different from those with which we are familiar.
Group-marriage was closely bound up with religious conceptions; single hordes, or packs, considered themselves the embodiment of a single spirit. And since at that time spirits were only conceived of as things that existed in nature, the horde felt itself to be a single class of natural object—some animal or plant, for example; and the union of one pack with another was analogous to the union of one animal with another. Each group believed itself to be permeated by the spirit of a certain species of animal, borrowed its name thence and the animal species itself was looked upon as the protecting spirit. The ancestral spirit was worshipped in the animal, and the putting to death or injuring of an individual of the species was a serious offence.
Such a belief is called Totemism. “Totem”—a word borrowed from the language of the Massachusetts Indians—is the natural object or animal assumed as the emblem of the horde or tribe, and correspondingly the group symbolised by the class of animal or natural object is called a Totem-group.
This belief led to a close union of all who were partakers of the spirit of the same animal; it also strictly determined whichgroups could associate with one another. And as the totem-group mimicked the animal in its dances, and fancied itself to be possessed by its spirit, it also ordered the methods of partaking of food, and all marriage, birth, and death ceremonies in accordance with this conception. It is said that, the totem being exogamous, marriages were not possible within the totem, but only without it. Precisely so; for the original conception was not that individuals formed unions, but that the whole totem entered the marriage relationship; a single marriage would have been considered an impossibility.
To which totem the children belonged—to the mother’s, to the father’s, or to a third totem—was a question that offered considerable difficulty. All three possibilities presented themselves; the last mentioned, however, only in case the child belonged to another group, a sub-totem, and in that event its descendants could return to the original totem.
The First Ideas of Kinship
Descent in the male or in the female line occasioned in later times the rise of important distinctions between nations. If a child follow the mother’s totem, we speak of “maternal kinship”; conversely, of “paternal kinship” in case of heredity through the father. Which of these is the more primitive, or did tribes from the very first adopt either one or the other system, thus making them of equal antiquity, is a much-vexed question. There is reason to believe that maternal kinship is the more primitive form, and that races have either passed with more or less energy and rapidity to the system of descent through males, or have kept to the original institution of maternal succession. There are many peoples among whom both forms of kinship exist, and in such instances the maternal is undoubtedly the more primitive; from this it appears very probable that development has thus taken place, the more so since there are traces of maternal kinship to be found in races whose established form is paternal.
Growth of Marriage
As time passed, marriage of individuals developed from group-marriage or totemism. Such unions may be polygamous—one man having several wives—or polyandrous—one woman having several husbands. Both forms have been represented in mankind, and, indeed, polygamy is the general rule among all races, excepting Occidental civilised peoples. The form of marriage toward which civilisation is advancing is certainly monogamy; through it a complete individual relationship is established between man and wife; and although both individualities may have independent expression, each is reconciled to the other through the loftier association of both. Nearly associated with
monogamy is the belief in union after death; it arises from the religious beliefs prevalent among many peoples. Among other races there is at least the custom of a year of mourning, sometimes for husband, sometimes for wife, often for both.
Marriage of individuals has developed in different ways from group or totem marriage: sometimes it was brought about through lack of subsistence occasioned by many men dwelling together; sometimes it arose from other causes. One factor was the practice of wife-capture: whoever carried off a wife freed her, as it were, from the authority of the community, and established a separate marriage for himself. Marriage by purchase was an outcome of marriage by capture and of the paying of an indemnity to the relatives of the bride; men also learned to agree beforehand as to the equivalent to be paid. The practice of acquiring wives by purchase developed in various directions, especially in that of trading wives and in the earning of wives by years of service. Gradually the purchase became merely a feigned transaction; and a union of individuals has evolved—now sacerdotal, now civil in form—from which every trace of traffic and of exchange has disappeared.
Religion Ennobles Marriage
Thus already in early times marriage had become ennobled through religion. It is a widespread idea that through partaking of food in common, blood-brotherhood, or similar procedures, a mystic communion of soul may be established; and in case of marriages brought about by the mediation of a priesthood the priest invokes the divine consecration. Marriage is thereby raised above the bulk of profane actions of life; it receives a certain guarantee of permanency; indeed, in many cases, by reason of the mystic communion of souls, it is looked upon as absolutely indissoluble.
THE IDEA OF MARRIAGE: WEDDING CUSTOMS IN MANY LANDSIn countries where women are subservient to men the idea of marriage by capture or by compulsion prevails. The Bedouin bride (2) makes a pretence of escaping and is pursued by the bridegroom and his kinsmen. Some Africans (4) show their love by knocking down their prospective brides. The Moorish bride (6) shrouded and seated in bed is an object of curiosity. 1, 3, and 5 represent respectively the marriage customs of Persians, Chinese, and Moslems.LARGER IMAGE
THE IDEA OF MARRIAGE: WEDDING CUSTOMS IN MANY LANDS
In countries where women are subservient to men the idea of marriage by capture or by compulsion prevails. The Bedouin bride (2) makes a pretence of escaping and is pursued by the bridegroom and his kinsmen. Some Africans (4) show their love by knocking down their prospective brides. The Moorish bride (6) shrouded and seated in bed is an object of curiosity. 1, 3, and 5 represent respectively the marriage customs of Persians, Chinese, and Moslems.
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The ownership of property also was originally communistic, and the idea of individual possession has been a gradual development. The idea of the ownershipof land, especially when developed by agricultural peoples, is of a communistic nature; and, from common possession, family and individual ownership gradually comes into being. It is brought about in various ways, chiefly through the division of land among separate families: at first only temporary, held only until the time for a succeeding division arrives; later, owned in perpetuity. Nor was it a rare method of procedure to grant land to any one who desired to cultivate it—an estate that should be his so long as he remained upon it and cultivated the soil, but which reverted to the community, on his leaving it. There gradually developed a constant relationship between land and cultivator as agriculture became more extended and lasting improvements were effected on the soil. Land became the permanent property of the individual; it also became an article of commerce.
Ownership of movable property even was at first of communistic character. Clothing and weapons, enchantments effectual for the individual alone, such as medicine-bags or amulets, were, to be sure, assigned to individuals in very early times; but all property obtained by labour, the products of the chase or of fishing, originally belonged to the community, until in later days each family was allowed to claim the fruits of its own toil, and was only pledged to share with the others under certain conditions. Finally, individuals were permitted to retain or to barter property which they had produced by labour; and exchange, especially exchange between individuals, attained special significance through the division of labour.
The individualisation of the ownership of movable property was especially furthered by members of families performing other labour, outside the family, in addition to their work within the family circle. Although the fruit of all labour accomplished within the family was shared by the members in common, the results of work done outside became the property of the particular individual who had performed the labour. Consequent expansion of the conception of labour led men to one of the greatest triumphs of justice, to the idea of establishing individual rights in ideas and in combinations of ideas, to the recognition of intellectual or immaterial property—right of author or inventor—one of the chief incentives to modern civilisation.
THE CHURCH AND MARRIAGE: A WEDDING SCENEIn very early times marriage had assumed a religious significance and came to be regarded among the sacred as opposed to the secular functions of life.
THE CHURCH AND MARRIAGE: A WEDDING SCENE
In very early times marriage had assumed a religious significance and came to be regarded among the sacred as opposed to the secular functions of life.
On the other hand, individual rights in transactions led to conceptions concerning obligations and debts. Exchange, either direct or on terms of credit, brought with it duties and liabilities for which originally the persons and lives of the individuals concerned were held in pledge, until custody of the body—which also included possession of the corpse of a debtor—was succeeded by public imprisonment for debt, and finally by the mere pledging of property, imprisonment for debt having been abolished—a course ofdevelopment through which the most varied of races have passed.
Rights of Property
The relation of the individual to his possessions led men at first to place movable property in graves, in order that it might be of service to the departed owner during the life beyond; hence the universal custom of burning on funeral pyres, not only weapons and utensils, but animals, slaves, and even wives. In later times men were satisfied with symbolic immolations, or possessions were released from the ban of death and put into further use. The property of the deceased reverted to his family, and thus the right of inheritance arose. There was no right of inheritance during the days of communism; on the death of a member of the family a mere general consolidation of property resulted; with individual property arose the reversion of possessions to the family from which they had been temporarily separated. Thus property either reverted to the family taken as a whole, or to single heirs, certain members of the family; hence a great variety of procedure arose. Up to the present day inheritance by all the children, or inheritance by one alone, exists in Eastern Asia as in Western nations.
In like manner criminal responsibility was originally collective; the family or clan was held responsible for the actions of all its individual members except those who were renounced and made outcasts. Such methods of collective surety still exist among many exceedingly developed peoples; but the system is gradually dying away, the tendency being for the entire responsibility to rest upon the individual alone.
Beginning of the Community
The state is a development of tribal, or patriarchal, society. The tribal group is a community of intermarried families, all claiming descent from a common ancestor. From tribal organisation the principle is developed that participation in the community is open only to such individuals as belong to one or other of the families of which it is composed; and the political body thus made up of individuals related either by blood or through marriage is called a patriarchal, or tribal, state. This form of community was enlarged even in very early times, advantage being taken of the possibility of adopting strangers into the circle of related families, and of amalgamating with them. Still, the fundamental idea that the community is composed of related families always remains uppermost in the minds of uncivilised peoples. The tribal state gradually develops into the territorial state. The connection of the community with a definite region becomes closer; strange tribes settle in the same district; they are permitted to remain provided tribute is paid and services are performed, and are gradually absorbed into the community, the strangers and the original inhabitants—plebeians and patricians—united together into one aggregate. Thus arises the conception of a state which any man may join without his being a member of any one of the original clans or families.
Growth of the Idea of a State
In this way the idea of a state becomes distinct from that of a people bound together by kinship, the latter being especially distinguished by a certain unity of external appearance, custom, character, and manner of thought. This is not intended to suggest that an amalgamation of different race elements in a state and an assimilation of different modes of thought and of feeling are not desirable, or that a spirit analogous to the sense of unity in members of the same family is not to be sought for; such a condition is most likely to be attained if a certain tribe or clan take precedence of the others, as the most progressive, to which the various elements of the people annex themselves.
“IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE”: SOME OLD METHODS OF TORTUREThese pictures represent: 1. Roman gaolers cutting off a Christian’s ears. 2. The cangue as still used in China. 3. A prisoner on the rack in Mediæval England. 4. Torture of the Iron Chair. 5. The ordeal of fire and branding.LARGER IMAGE
“IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE”: SOME OLD METHODS OF TORTURE
These pictures represent: 1. Roman gaolers cutting off a Christian’s ears. 2. The cangue as still used in China. 3. A prisoner on the rack in Mediæval England. 4. Torture of the Iron Chair. 5. The ordeal of fire and branding.
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Tribes and their Chiefs
The tribal state has a fixed form of government. The chiefs or patriarchs of the various families stand at the head of affairs, the position of chief being either hereditary or elective. In most cases, however, it is determined by a combination of both methods, a blood descendant being chosen provided he is able to give proof of his competence. In addition there is often the popular assembly. In later times many innovations are introduced. Passion for power united to a strong personality often leads to a chieftainship in which all rights and privileges are absorbed or united in the person of one individual; so that he appears as the possessor of all prerogatives and titles, those of other men being entirely secondary, and all being more or less dependent upon his will. Religious conceptions, especially, have had great influence in this connection. Nowhere is this so clearly shown as in “teknonymy,” an institution formerly prevalent in the South Pacificislands, according to which the soul of the father is supposed to enter the body of his eldest son at the birth of the latter, and that therefore, immediately from his birth, the son becomes master, the father continuing the management of affairs merely as his proxy. Other peoples have avoided such consequences as these by supposing the child to be possessed by the soul of his grandfather, therefore naming first-born males after their grandfathers instead of after their fathers. Another outcome of the institution of chieftainship is the chaotic order of affairs which rules among many peoples on the death of the chieftain, continuing until a successor is seated on the throne—a lawless interval of anarchy followed by a regency.
The power of a chieftain is, however, usually limited by class rights; that is, by the rights of sub-chieftains of especially distinguished families, and of the popular assembly, among which elements the division of power and of jurisdiction is exceedingly varied. These primitive institutions are rude prototypes of future varieties of coercive government, of kingship, either of aristocratic or of republican form, in which the primitive idea of chieftainship as the absorption of all private privileges is given up, and in its place the various principles of rights and duties of government enter.