The Origin of Man and of His SuperstitionsRead, Carveth
Philosophy
The Origin of Man and of His Superstitions
Read, Carveth
Animism; Human beings -- Origin; Magic; Superstition; Totemism
(4) The pack has a disposition to aggression upon every sort of
animal outside the pack, either as prey or as a competitor for prey:
limited no doubt by what we should call considerations of prudence or
utility; which must vary with the size of the pack, the prowess of its
individuals, the possession of weapons, etc. After the invention of
weapons and snares, many savage tribes can kill every sort of animal in
their habitat, as the palæolithic Europeans did many thousands of years
ago. From the outset the human pack must have come into competition
with the true carnivores, must have defended itself against them, may
have discovered that attack was the safest defence, and may have been
victorious even without weapons. Mr. G. P. Sanderson writes: “It is
universally believed by the natives (of South India) that the tiger is
occasionally killed by packs of wild dogs.... From what I have seen of
their style of hunting, and of their power of tearing and lacerating, I
think there can be no doubt of their ability to kill a tiger.... Causes
of hostility may occasionally arise between the tiger and wild dogs
through attempted interference with each other’s prey.”[43]
(5) A hunting-pack, probably, always claims a certain territory. This
is the first ground of the sense of property, so strongly shown
by domestic dogs: the territorial claims of the half-wild dogs of
Constantinople are well known. To nourish a pack the hunting-grounds
must be extensive. Mr. Thompson Seton says that in Canada the wolf
has a permanent home-district and a range of about fifty miles.[44]
Very many generations must have elapsed before the deviation of our
forebears from anthropoid habits resulted in the formation of so many
packs as to necessitate the practical delimitation of hunting-grounds.
Then the aggressiveness of the pack turned upon strangers of its own
species; the first wars arose, and perhaps cannibalism on the part of
the victors. It is certain that, in North America, wolves kill and eat
foxes, dogs, coyotes; and it is generally believed that wolves will eat
a disabled companion; though, according to Mr. W. H. Hudson, a wolf
will only eat another when it has killed that other, and then only as
the carrying out of the instinct to eat whatever it has killed.[45] It
may be so.
(6) A pack must have a leader, and must devotedly follow him as long as
he is manifestly the best of the pack; and here we have a rudimentary
loyalty.
(7) Every individual must be subservient to the pack, as long as it
works together; and this seems to be the ground of the “instinct of
self-abasement” (McDougall), so far as the attitudes involved in such
subserviency are due to a distinct emotional impulse, and are not
rather expressive of fear or of devotion.
(8) The members of the pack must be full of emulation; in order that,
when the present leader fails, others may be ready to take his place.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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