Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-06-05

this should have been so vitiated by the in
corporation OF ecclesiastical fables and fanta-
sizes but so it is, and the result is, that while
those who sre already well grounded in &C.
ology and ethnology may find much that Is
interesting in the volume, to new beginners
it is calculated to bring more confusion than
enlightenment. 1t is probable that it is des-
tined to be one of the last books of the kind.
There is no point of contact between Science
aud Theology, aud this truth the world is
coming to see. Professor Winchell has made
a venture which will assuredly please neither
side, and he will ind himself distrusted by
the class he has been most anxious to avoid
offending, and abandoned by those whose
desire for the truth he naturally sympathizes
with. but whose ranks he is prevented from
joining by the unfortunate and parslyxins
persistence of his theological bias.
CEREMONIAL INSTITUTIONS. By Herbert Spencer
New York d. Appleton & Co.
This volume constitutes the fourth part of
the Principles Of Sociology. 1t is devoted to-
an analysis of ceremonial institutions, tracing
them through savagerX and barbarism to
modern civilization, and exhibiting the uni
versatility of the advance in Indignation, in
heterogeneity, in defniteness, and in coher-
ence, which is common. to all the processes OF
evolution. It would appear that by far the
greater number of ceremonies which involve
the capitalization of reverence or respect
L
or fear, and fear as well of the dead as
of the living. There is probably little
doubt that ancestor worship sprang
from the FIRST dim persistence Of fear which
living warriors had instiled. The puissant
warrior was dead, but it was well to continue
on the right side of him, for after al he might
come back. Then conquest came TO be ex-
pressed by mutilation, as of the ears, or the
teeth, OF the fingers, these members being
marked or cut to represent surrender of the
whole body by the giving up of a small part
of it, just as in Ireland the surrender of land
is represented by. the giving up of piece of
turf. And so in similar ways Thousand GER
emonies come into existence; nearly ali
III Nt5CA hCOuo VI PtAhi-
tive societies, but presently undergoing
notifications which obscured their origi-
nal meaning. Thus in South Africa
there is tribe which to-day has
peculiar method of honoring visitors. When
it bis sought to pay special respect to any
stranger deputation of these savages sets
out to meet him, and on his approach they
all throw themselves on their backs on the
ground, and roll from side to side, slapping
their launches violently with their hands.
At present this ceremonial is only grotesque,
but it is plain that it was originally symbol
of absolute surrender, and that the attitude
assumed was chosen because it involved COM
plete incapacity for self-detense. In the
course of time the primitive purpose of
the. ceremony has been forgotten. and
it has become mere token of respect.
All the vagaries of Fashion have had
like selfish and barbarous beginnings,
and in fact the origin of Fashion was fear,
which led men to initiate their rulers and
chiefs lest they should offend them. The po-
lite attentions which civilized Americans and
Europeans now pay to one another are IN
nearly every case survivals from savagery,
and originally had very different signi6ca-
tions. 1t must be remembered, in order to
comprehend the force of these conventions,
that in the dawn of civilization nothing
was go little secure as human life. The
chief in that epoch exercises the most
= oop&rot Aha Twas Of oil HI,
followers, and. as at present in Cen
trail Africa, does not hesitate to kill
men for the most trihing fault. Fear
for life thus became the normal condi-
ton of most savages, and accordingly they
are led to observe whatever ceremonies are
likely to protect them, with the most rigid
fidelity OF course it follows that great
many of the ceremonial institutions which
exist are not only without meaning as now
used, but are practically absurd by reason of
their modification. They are in fact uncon-
scious survivais, like that which we see ex-
hibited by domesticated dogs when, before
lying down anywhere, they turn round sew
eral times. This habit was learned by wild
dogs, who found that by turning round sew
eral times IN the long grass they could make
nests for themselves; but the modern tame dogs
continue to turn round before they lie down,
though they may be lying on a chair or
hearth-rug. The survival in the dog is pre-
cisely analogous to the survival in man, and
a similar analogy runs all through the subject
of ceremonial institutions. The most inter-
esting part of the inquiry, however, is that
which shows with what grim and realistic
purpose our poor ancestors devised those
ceremonies which now seem to us so odd and
fantastic. There was no play of the imagina-
ton about their creation, but stern, hard
seeking for methods to propitiate cruel and
reckless chiefs. Fear ruled the early world, and
stamped its impress upon all primitive habits
and customs. Fear still rules the lowers avages,
as may be seen by reference to the govern
ment of Central African races of the present
day. The growth of ceremonial institutions
can be traced in such countries now with
complete facility, and therefore there can be
no room to doubt the accuracy of the hypoth-
esis which infers the evolution of the cere-
monies of civilization from such elementary
conditions. The volume we have been no
ticing is, it is perhaps unnecessary to say writ.
ten with Mr.. Spencer's characteristic lucid
ity and wealth of illustration, and his efforts
to compress vast amount of erudition
within small compass have made it
remarkable storehotse of reconcile facts.
To those who are following the progress of
the magnificent system of philosophy which
is being erected by this great thinker, how
ever. it will be apparent that the new volume
steadily carries forward the central ideas of
the master, and adds confirmation from
Thousand sources to the soundness of the evo-
lutionary hypothesis.
PROGRESS IN SCIENCE.
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