a ladder may have originally been based on some idea
of its being derogatory or dangerous to the head, though not, of
course, from the fear of being struck by a falling brick. Similarly,
as shown in the article on Nai, the belief that the bodily strength
and vigour were located in the hair, and to a less extent in the
nails and teeth, has had a world-wide prevalence. But this cannot
have been primary, because the hair had first to be conceived of
apart from the rest of the body, and a separate name devised for it,
before the belief that the hair was the source of strength could
gradually come into existence. The evolution of these ideas may have
extended over thousands of years. The expression 'white-livered,'
again, seems to indicate that the quality of courage was once held to
be located in the liver, and the belief that the liver was the seat
of life was perhaps held by the Gonds. But the primary idea seems
necessarily to have been that the life was equally distributed all
over the body. And since, as will be seen subsequently, the savage
was incapable of conceiving the abstract idea of life, he thought of
it in a concrete form as part of the substance of the flesh and blood.

And since primitive man had no conception of inanimate matter it
followed that when any part of the body was severed from the whole,
he did not think of the separate fraction as merely lifeless matter,
but as still a part of the body to which it had originally belonged and
retaining a share of its life. For according to his view of the world
and of animate nature, which has been explained above, he could not
think of it as anything else. Thus the clippings of hair, nails, teeth,
the spittle and any other similar products all in his view remained
part of the body from which they had been severed and retained part of
its life. In the case of the elements, earth, fire and water, which
he considered as living beings and subsequently worshipped as gods,
this view was correct. Fractional portions of earth, fire and water,
when severed from the remainder, retained their original nature and
constitution, and afforded some support to his generally erroneous
belief. And since he had observed that an injury done to any part
of the body was an injury to the whole, it followed that if one got
possession of any part of the body, such as the severed hair, teeth
or nails, one could through them injure that body of which they still
formed a part. It is for thi