though not open to the objection mentioned
above, is geographically limited.

+553+. _Theories based on clan action._ Here the starting-point is the
clan, which is supposed to have come into existence somehow; it is not
essential to determine precisely the method of its origination, though
the question of method is sometimes included in the discussion of a
theory. The clan finds itself confronted by various natural objects with
which, it believes, it must form helpful relations; or some sort of
relation is forced on it by the conditions of life. The question is how
a human group came to enter into the totemic relation.

+554+. The simplest answer is that the primitive clan deliberately chose
among all associated objects some one to be its particular friend or its
special associate,[909] naturally valued and respected this object,
refrained from eating it when it was edible, took its name, came to
regard it as ancestor, and created myths explanatory of these
conceptions. This general theory has assumed various forms, but the
objection usually made to its central supposition is that such
deliberate choice is out of keeping with the known methods of early
societies. Though a certain amount of reflection must be assumed for
primitive men (the lower animals, indeed, show reflection), it is held
that so elaborate a system as totemism, like other institutions, must
have been the product of accidental experiences, developed through a
long period of time. Something more definite, it is said, is required in
order to account for the details of the system--all that can be safely
assumed is that early man, constantly on the alert to better his
condition, took advantage of every situation to strengthen himself by
taking precautions against enemies or by securing the aid of surrounding
objects, human and nonhuman.

+555+. The totem is supposed by some to have been originally merely the
mark or badge by which a human group distinguished itself from
neighboring groups. In hunting expeditions and migrations such a mark
would be necessary or, at any rate, useful.[910] More generally, it was
natural for a clan to have a name for itself, as it had names for its
individual members and for other objects. It might take its name from an
associated animal or plant or heavenly body or from a place. The badge
and the name once adopted, other totemic features would follow. Such
badges are common in Northwestern America, and are found elsewhere,