The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1922-01-08

animals do. thinking no more sbout them
and not fearing them.
Many neolithic u,en are buried In o
crouched position, as II they had been
bound. Professor wundt connects these
''crouched bnriais" with the demoniacal
6erceness attributed to the dead The
modern Basato treatment Of the dying man
is grim commentary on these primitive
crouched burials. The dying man is car
ried before he II dead 10 an enclosure out
side the hut and trussed by two women
who are his blood relations with his
hands and knees against his chin.
Trussed or crouched burisis are said to
be one Of the many methods Of preventing
the dead man haunting the survivors. But
1t Is also possible that the crouching att.
tude symbclises the position Of beast Of
prey about TO spring, which would also be
evidence Of mans belief In the maiignity
OF the dead.
ence to the dead shows itself IN funeral
rites and, finally. when the Christian cere-
monial Is introduced, tender affection sup
plants the dread Of demons. Nevertheless
the primitive dread Of the demoniacal
habits and powers Of the dead has taken
deep hold OF mans nature and still per
sists. although he may have accepted more
enrolling religious beliefs.
II II is proved that primitive man re-
garded the dead as malignant demons
who might return to plague him. Il still
remains to explain why he should form
such fantastic idea. Professor Gregory
advances the rather astonishing explana-
ton that II was because primitive men
were very closely bound together IN tribal
groups and that the dead. being outside the
group, were necessarily held to be enemies
and demons
Observations by Professor Scott Elliott
and II. G. Wells are taken to connect fear
of the dead with the group spirit The
professor has found from his observation
of prehistoric burials that fear OF the dead
first made It's appearance late In the neo-
lithic period. II. @. Wells tells us that 1t
was In the same period that the tribal
mind appeared and man sacrificed per
sonal impulse to the group spirit Was
the dead man feared because death threw
him outside the group?
II has been proved that mapy OF our
instructive acts and ways Of thinking are
inherited from the tribal form Of life. Pro
fessor McDougall explains the dominance
Of primitive societies by the group spirit.
Circumstances confne the savage to HIS
group. He thinks of any individual as q
member of a, certain group. RESPONSE
bility for crime falls on the criminals
group. Totems, ornaments. secret So
cieties. ceremonies. limitations confirm and
define connections with group.
Hostility to the outsider Is natural con-
sequence OF such an intense group spirit
and is known to be, and to have been, rife
In primitive communities. II death In
effect by cutting of from participation in
group life converts the dead man into an
outsider, 1t might direct upon him the
fear and hostility which primitive groups
naturally extend to those outside them
selves
Realizing that his theory Of why We fear
the dead will excite surprise and perhaps
shock, Professor Gregory comments:
primitive fear of the dead had probably
complex origin, but Il may be worth sug-
costing, for subsequent conformation or
disproof, that one OF It's motives was ex-
pulsion from the group by the dread event
OF death. The bitterest enemies separate
those who once we're friends: he who was,
when alive. comrade OF the group. might
when dead and expelled. be intensely
feared and bitterly hated"
When primitive man learned TO regard
the dead as evil spirits this was the origin
Of the belief In ghosts. Many persons to-
day who do not hold the primitive super.
stition as TO evil spirits still believe In
ghosts. Ghosts are the spirits OF the dead,
and II is significant that legends nearly
always attribute disastrous results to the
appearance OF ghosts. The ghost tradi.
ton is evidently an important factor In
the complex fear of the dead