Page:The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis II 1921 2.djvu/10

 166 G. r6heim

posed to exist betweefi the child and a part of the country, and that this part of the country is not the place, where the child was born but rather a "mythical duplicate of that place, whereas the important difference is that the attitude of the individual is one of ownership or possession at the Proserpine River whilst amongst the Arunta it is the "touch me not" (taboo) aspect which domi- nates in regard to the Ertnatulunga.i Here we have the germs of a long line of evolution which leads to landed property and agri- culture if the positive aspect of the womb-projection succeeds in, holding the field, whilst the inhibitory or neurotic attitude towards the maternal womb is represented in various local cults and sacred places. 2 The same ambivalent attitude is observed by primitive man with regard to localities where anybody has been buried; It is worth while remarking in this connection that the doubled up position of the corpse has always attracted the attention of anthropologists on account of its similarity to that of the foetus in the womb* and that the idea'of reincarnation was only dis-

' For tabooed or haunted places compare A. van Gennep: Tabou et Totemisme a Madagascar, 1904, p. 194; A. W. Howitt: The Native Tribes of Souh East Australia, 1904, p. 65; G. Bamler: Tami; Neuhauss: Deutsch-Neu- Guinea, HI, S. 191, 513; Skeat and Blagden: Malay Magic, 1900, p, 61; C. G. Seligmann: The Melanesians of British New Guinea, 1910, pp. 183—6; R, Thumwald: "Im Bismarck- Archipel und auf den. Salomo- Inseln." Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie, 1910, S. 133; F. Boas: Indianische Sagen von der Nord Paciiischen KUste Amerikas, 1895, S. 189, 194; S. T, Rand: The Legends of the Micmacs, 1894, p. 84; Andrian: Der HOhenkultus asla- tischer und europSischer VBlker, 1891. This uncanny aspect of hills, caves, lagoons, deserts or forests must be explained on the same lines as agora.' phobia in an obsessional neurosis. In both cases we have to do with the re- pressed desire (converted into fear) for the female genital, the maternal womb,
 * Spencer and Gillen: Native Tribes of Central Australia, 1899, 134,

» Compare A. Dietrich: Mutter Erde, 1913, S. 28; F. von Duhn: "Der Sarkophag aus Hagia Triada", Archiv fur ReUgimswissenschaft, 1909, XII, S. 163, 180; R. Andree: "Ethnologische Betrachtungen ttber Hockerstellung." Archiv fur Anthrofologit, 1907, S. 282-30V; H. Busse: "Gruben mit Hocker- bestattung und FlachgrSber," Prdkistorische Zeitschrift, 1910, II, S. 66; G. Karo: "Archaologische Mitteilungen aus Griechenland," Archiv fir Religions' wissensckaft, Xn, S. 358, 365; E. Lorenz: "Zu Mutter Erde", Arckiv fQr Religionswissensckaft, XVI, S. 307; Th. Preuss: Die Begrabnisarten der Ameiikaner und Nordostasiaten, 1894, 222; F. von Duhn: "Rot und Tot," Archiv fUr Religionswissensckaft, IX, 1906, 15; R. Thumwald; Forschungen auf den Salomoinseln und dem Bismarck-Archipel, 1912, I, S. 202; Id.: "Im