Abstract
PROF. J. H. HUTTON'S presidential address to the Folk-lore Society deals with the subject of cannibalism (Folk-lore, 54 ; 1943). The thesis is upheld that the origins of the practice were many and various, and that several causes were responsible for the growth of the custom among any given people. Among the reasons for the eating of his own kind by man, Prof. Hutton enumerates the following: famine, lack of meat food in the case of folk living largely on such starchy materials as potatoes and manioc, etc., revenge, and magic. In the last case ideas of sacrifice, of obtaining the life essence or qualities of the person eaten, and of getting an extra .'dollop' of soul-stuff by the same means can be traced. One is told that 'long pig' makes good eating, but Prof. Hutton does not include this possible motive. It would appear that no one of these reasons by itself is sufficient to generate the custom-indeed the fact that among some cannibals only criminals are eaten suggests that, on the whole, man does not relish eating man. When, however, several of the above factors operate, for example, when famine has started the practice, then it may develop into a custom as a result of the operation of one or more of the other motives. Such an analysis of a 'savage' practice is very interesting and helps to show the ordinary Englishman how complex are the ideas of modern primitive peoples.
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The Cannibal Complex. Nature 152, 381 (1943). https://doi.org/10.1038/152381b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/152381b0