ears and so
destroy each other's morale, may be said to constitute a very primitive
type of public.

Discussion, as might be expected, takes curious and interesting forms
among primitive peoples. In a volume, _Iz Derevni: 12 Pisem_ ("From the
Country: 12 Letters"), A. N. Engelgardt describes the way in which the
Slavic peasants reach their decisions in the village council.

In the discussion of some questions by the _mir_ [organization
of neighbors] there are no speeches, no debates, no votes. They
shout, they abuse one another--they seem on the point of coming
to blows; apparently they riot in the most senseless manner.
Some one preserves silence, and then suddenly puts in a word,
one word, or an ejaculation, and by this word, this
ejaculation, he turns the whole thing upside down. In the end,
you look into it and find that an admirable decision has been
formed and, what is most important, a unanimous decision....
(In the division of land) the cries, the noise, the hubbub do
not subside until everyone is satisfied and no doubter is
left.[287]

4. Crowds and Sects

Reference has been made to the crowds that act, but crowds do not always
act. Sometimes they merely dance or, at least, make expressive motions
which relieve their feelings. "The purest and most typical expression of
simple feeling," as Hirn remarks, "is that which consists of mere random
movements."[288] When these motions assume, as they so easily do, the
character of a fixed sequence in time, that is to say when they are
rhythmical, they can be and inevitably are, as by a sort of inner
compulsion, imitated by the onlookers. "As soon as the expression is
fixed in rhythmical form its contagious power is incalculably
increased."[289]

This explains at once the function and social importance of the dance
among primitive people. It is the form in which they prepare for battle
and celebrate their victories. It gives the form at once to their
religious ritual and to their art. Under the influence of the memories
and the emotions which these dances stimulate the primitive group
achieves a sense of corporate unity, which makes corporate action
possible outside of the fixed and sacred routine of ordinary daily life.

If it is true, as has been suggested, that art and religion had their
origin in the choral dance, it is also true that in modern times
religious sects and social movements have had th