of totemism to religion._ As the beginnings of totemism
are obscure it is not possible to say exactly what a man's attitude
toward his totem was in the earliest period. But, when the totemic
relation became a definite feature of social organization, the feeling
was that the totem was in the nature of a clansman, of the same blood as
the human group, and entitled to all the respect and affection with
which men regarded their clan-brethren. The sentiment, in this point of
view, was sacred in the sense in which this term may be used of the
feeling existing between persons of the same human group; it involved a
certain sense of obligation toward fellow members--to respect their
rights and to defend them against enemies was an imperative duty.

+571+. Totemic clanship, however, differed from ordinary human clanship
in that the nonhuman clan-brother was regarded as a specially powerful
being, endowed with the superhuman qualities with which all animals and
plants and certain other objects were credited. Regard for the totem
was, thus, part of the regard paid to nonhuman objects in general, only
emotionalized and intensified by the belief that the nonhuman group was
in a peculiar way allied to the human group. There was not only
unwillingness to injure the totem--there was fear that one would suffer
by such an act. The totem, it was believed, was able in its turn to
inflict injury; and this belief added an element of awe to the feeling
with which it was regarded.

+572+. In another respect, also, the totem shared the powers of other
nonhuman objects--it could aid its friends. The expectation of totemic
aid is, however, vague in the earlier stages of organization, that is,
in communities in which totemism proper is well-defined--it appears to
amount to little more than a feeling that things will go well if respect
is paid to the totem. In cases where there is more definite aid there is
always the question whether the aid is afforded by the totem in its
specific character of clan-brother or merely in its character of
nonhuman powerful thing. Omens, for example, are given by all natural
objects; when an object of this sort happens to be a totem, it is not
clear that its capacity of omen-giving belongs to it simply as totem.

+573+. There is similar uncertainty in the case of the Queensland
practice, when a man, on lying down at any time or rising in the
morning, whispers the name of the animal after which he is called or the
na