Page:The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis III 1922 1.djvu/118

 no. BOOK REVIEWS

country as well as in the forest [and therefore the possibility of inhabiting all portions of the earth's surface where animal food can be obtained). Among the numerous characteristics and changes held by Mr. Read to be indirectly consequent on the adoption of the hunting Hfe may be mentioned: on the physical side, the adoption of the upright gait, the specialisation and modification of hands, teeth, skull, jaw and skin; on the social and psychological side, a great increase of cooperation and gregariousness, the development of certain forms of sympathy, the loss of seasonal marriage, cannibalism, aggressivess, claim to property, strategy, persistence, generally increased intelligence, emulation, war, constructiveness {at first in the use of weapons), recognition of leaders and submission to their authority. Writing perhaps mider the influence of the War, Mr. Read takes a rather gloomy view of the number and strength of the undesirable tendencies fostered in men by their past life as hunters, even suggesting that we must explain ' the more amiable side of human nature, partly at least by derivation from the frugivorous Primates, extensively modified by our wolfish adaptation, but surviving as a latent character' (p. 6i). He admits however that a certain amount of friendliness, together with such virtues as generosity and mercy on the one hand and charity and long-suffering on the other, may have been fostered by the conditions of the hunting pack. A relatively small influence in specifically human development is attributed to the institution of the family, Mr. Read's view differing in this respect from that which Freud (following Darwin and Atkinson) has put forward in 'Totem and Taboo'. The hunting hypothesis here developed fails indeed to throw light upon most of the problems with which Freud was there concerned, but this Mr. Read would probably regard as inevitable, for he says that in his opinion ' it is altogether vain to try to deduce from the primitive form of societj', which may have existed three or four million years ago, any of the known customs ot savages concerning marriage, such as avoidance, totemism, exogamy; which would be of comparatively recent date if we put back their origin 500,000 years. Many such rules can only have arisen when there was already a tradition and a language capable of expressing relationships' (p. 40).

The second and larger portion of the book deals with the origin and development of human superstitions ; successive chapters dealing with: Belief and Superstition, Magic, Animism, The Relations between Magic and Animism, Omens, The Mind of the Wizard, Totemism, Magic and Science. It is impossible to deal even cursorily in a review of this kind with the very large number of interesting and important topics treated under each of these headings. Only a few outstanding features can be mentioned here. Mr. Read finds the ultimate distinction between true and false beliefs in that 'true beliefs seem to rest on perception or inferences verified by perception, and false beliefs seem to depend