prising that most of the new literature on the subject, which we have largely omitted here, shows the unmistakable effort to reject a general solution of totemic problems as unfeasible. (See, for instance, B. Goldenweiser in the Journal of American Folklore XXIII, 1910. Reviewed in the Britannica Year Book 1913.) I have taken the liberty of disregarding the chronological order in stating these contradictory hypotheses.
a) The Origin of Totemism
The question of the origin of totemism can also be formulated as follows: How did primitive people come to select the names of animals, plants and inanimate objects for themselves and their tribes?[1]
The Scotchman, MacLennan, who discovered totemism and exogamy for science,[2] refrained from publishing his views of the origin of totemism. According to a communication of Andrew Lang[3] he was for a time inclined to trace totemism back to the custom of tattooing. I shall divide the accepted theories of the derivation of
- ↑ At first probably only animals.
- ↑ “The Worship of Animals and Plants,” Fortnightly Review, 1869-1870. “Primitive Marriage,” 1865; both works reprinted in “Studies in Ancient History,” 1876; second edition, 1886.
- ↑ “The Secret of the Totem,” 1905, p. 34.
