Assistant Physician--Bloomingdale Hospital.
PSYCHIATRY, during recent years, has found it to its advantage to turn to a
number of related sciences and allied branches of study for the explanation
of a number of the peculiar symptoms of abnormal mental states. Of these
related studies, none have been of greater value than those which throw
light on the mental development of either the individual or the race. In
primitive races we discover a number of inherent motives which are of
interest from the standpoint of mental development. These motives are
expressed in a very interesting symbolism. It is the duty of the
psychiatrist to see to what extent these primitive motives operate
subconsciously in abnormal mental conditions, and also to learn whether an
insight into the symbolism of mental diseases may be gained, through
comparison, by a study of the symbolism of primitive races. In the
following communication one particular motive with its accompanying
symbolism is dealt with. The application of these findings must be left with
the psychiatrist in his clinical studies.
A great many of the institutions and usages of our present day civilization
originated at a very early period in the history of the race. Many of these
usages are carried on in modified form century after century, after they
have lost the meaning which they originally possessed; it must be
remembered, however, that in primitive races they were of importance, and
they arose because they served a useful end. From the study of these
remnants of former days, we are able to learn the trends of thought which
activated and inspired the minds of primitive people. When we clearly
understand these motives, we may then judge the extent of their influence on
our present day thought and tendencies.
Now, in our present communication, we wish to deal with a motive which we
find expressed very generally in primitive religion; this is the worship of
sex. We not only find evidences of this worship in the records and
monuments of antiquity, but our knowledge of the customs and practices of
certain tribes, studied in comparatively modern times, indicates the
presence of this same primitive religion. We feel that in sex worship we are
dealing with an important motive in racial development, and our object at
present is to give an account of its various phases.
Before we proceed, it is desirable to make reference to some of our sources
of information. There are plenty of books on the history of Egypt, the
antiquities of India or on the interpretation of Oriental customs, which
make scarcely any reference to the deification of sex. We have always been
told, for example, that Bacchus was the god of the harvest and that the
Greek Pan was the god of nature. We have not been told that these same gods
were representations of the male generative attribute, and that they were
worshipped as such; yet, anyone who has access to the statuettes or
engravings of these various deities of antiquity, whether they be of Egypt,
of India or of China, cannot fail to see that they were intended to
represent generative attributes. On account of the incompleteness of many
books which describe primitive races, a number of references are given
throughout these pages, and some Bibliographical references are added.