Note 594 — Chapter V · ORIGINS OF THESE BELIEFS Critical Examination of Preceding Theories

A very similar idea had already been expressed by Haddon in his Address to the Anthropological Section (B.A.A.S., 1902, pp. 8 ff.). He supposes that at first, each local group had some food which was especially its own. The plant or animal thus serving as the principal item of food became the totem of the group.

All these explanations naturally imply that the prohibitions against eating the totemic animal were not primitive, but were even preceded by a contrary prescription.