a condition of mind in which no hard and
fast line was drawn between man and animate and inanimate nature. The
discovery of the wide distribution of the social arrangements based
on this belief is entirely due to Mr. J. F. M'Lennan, the author of
Primitive Marriage. Mr. M'Lennan's essays ("The Worship of Plants and
Animals," "Totems and Totemism") were published in the Fortnightly
Review, 1869-71. Any follower in the footsteps of Mr. M'Lennan has it
in his power to add a little evidence to that originally set forth, and
perhaps to sift the somewhat uncritical authorities adduced.(1)

(1) See also Mr. Frazer's Totemism, and Golden Bough, with chapter on
Totemism in Modern Mythology.

The name "Totemism" or "Totamism" was first applied at the end of the
last century by Long(1) to the Red Indian custom which acknowledges
human kinship with animals. This institution had already been recognised
among the Iroquois by Lafitau,(2) and by other observers. As to the
word "totem," Mr. Max Muller(3) quotes an opinion that the interpreters,
missionaries, Government inspectors, and others who apply the name
totem to the Indian "family mark" must have been ignorant of the Indian
languages, for there is in them no such word as totem. The right word,
it appears, is otem; but as "totemism" has the advantage of possessing
the ground, we prefer to say "totemism" rather than "otemism". The facts
are the same, whatever name we give them. As Mr. Muller says himself,(4)
"every warrior has his crest, which is called his totem";(5) and he
goes on to describe a totem of an Indian who died about 1793. We may
now return to the consideration of "otemism" or totemism. We approach
it rather as a fact in the science of mythology than as a stage in the
evolution of the modern family system. For us totemism is interesting
because it proves the existence of that savage mental attitude which
assumes kindred and alliance between man and the things in the world.
As will afterwards be seen, totemism has also left its mark on the
mythologies of the civilised races. We shall examine the institution
first as it is found in Australia, because the Australian form of
totemism shows in the highest known degree the savage habit of confusing
in a community of kinship men, stars, plants, beasts, the heavenly
bodies, and the forces of Nature. When this has once been elucidated, a
shorter notice of other totemistic races will serve our purpose.

(1) Voyages and