Note 112 — Chapter VI · SOCIAL EXPRESSION
Reading edition
An almost simian tendency to imitation has been noticed among several primitive races, such as the Australians (Spencer, Descr. Soc. Div. i. No. 3, p. 5, quoting Sturt) and the Fuegians (Spencer, ibid. quoting Weddel).
As is well known, imitation is in tribes of a hysterical disposition, such as the Malays and the Lapps, apt to become an endemic disease. Cf. with regard to the Malays, Swettenham, Malay Sketches, pp. 70-82; Stoll, Suggestion und Hypnotismus, p. 74; with regard to the Lapps, Düben, Lappland, p. 192; Schmidkunz, Psychologie der Suggestion, p. 199. Instances of contagious mental diseases and pathological imitation among civilised nations are too familiar to be enumerated.