SAMUEL BIRCH, D.C.L., LL.D., &c., PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR. The following Presents were announced, and thanks ordered to be returned to the Donors : From the Society of Antiquaries :-The Proceedings. Second Series. Vol. X, No. 2. January 31st to June 26th, 1884. 8vo. London. 1885. From the Geological Society :-The Quarterly Journal. Vol. XLI, List of the Geological Society of London. November, 1885. From the Royal Institute of British Architects:-The Journal of Proceedings. Vol. II, New Series. Nos. 2 and 3. 4to. 1885. From the Anthropological Institution of Great Britain and Ireland: The Journal. Vol. XV, No. 2. 8vo. London, 1885. [No. LVI.] 37 From the Royal Archæological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland-The Archæological Journal. Vol. XLII, No. 167. 1885. 8vo. 8vo. London. From the Canadian Institute, Toronto :-Proceedings, Third Series. Vol. III. Fasciculus No. 2. 8vo. Toronto. 1885. From the Author :-Un Poème Satyrique composé à l'occasion de la maladie du poète musicien Hérault d'Insurrection Hor-ut'a (APYNOHM) (Papyrus de Vienne). Par Eugene Revillout. 4to. Paris. 1885. From the Author:-Étude sur la Chorographie d'Éphèse, avec un Plan. Par Professeur Georges Weber. Two parts. 8vo. Smyrna, 1884. From the Author :-Additions and Corrections to the fifth Volume of the Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, IV. and V. Two texts from Sippara of the Sungod. Additional Notes to the same :-) -By Theo. G. Pinches. 3 Reprinted from the Zeitsch. für Keilschriftforschung II, and 4. The following were elected Members of the Society, having been nominated at the Meeting on November 3rd, 1885 E. G. Keen, Warwick, Chester Co., Penna., U.S.A. Rev. F. H. Chase, M.A., 2, Trumpington Street, Cambridge. E. B. W. Balmer, Loughrig, Ambleside. W. Muir Farquhar, 114, Beaufort Street, Chelsea, S. W. To be added to the List of Subscribers: The Academical Oriental Society, Berlin. Hubert Grimme, The following were nominated for election at the next Meeting on January 12th, 1886:— Rev. George Hilley Gilbert, Dorset, Belmont, U.S.A. Sidney Herbert, Carlton Street, Cheltenham. William Greenwood Hird, 25, Cordingley Street, Bradford. Mr. Joseph Jacobs read a Paper entitled, "Are there Totem-Clans in the Old Testament?" The investigation of "survivals" often enables us to penetrate into the social arrangements of prehistoric times. Thus Maclennan's investigations into the form of capture in marriage ceremonies brought him to the theory of the origin of the family in the totemclan consisting of members worshipping (and not eating) a totem animal, whose name they inherit from their mother, and marrying only outside the clan (exogamy). This theory is now widely accepted by anthropologists, and was applied first by Maclennan to Jews in the Fortnightly Review, 1870, and then by Professor W. R. Smith to Arabs and Jews in the Journal of Philology, 1880, an application tested and modified in the present paper, which discusses traces of totem worship under the following heads : : I. Animal names. A list given of 160 persons with such names (against only 30 by W. R. Smith). These, mostly personal not clan names, and of the former not so many as would be found among Englishmen (3 per cent.). But in one case, the clans of Edom (Gen. xxxvi) and their offshoot Caleb (Dog Tribe), these names too frequent to be mere chance. Probable totemism among nomad Edomites. II. Exogamy and descent through females are characteristic of the totem arrangement. Some indications of former among Seirites were pointed out by Professor Smith, and these are supplemented in the present paper by many indications among lists of Israelite clans (Num. xxvi), of clans of same name in different tribes, as would happen under a totem system. A distinct reference to exogamy in the case of Ibzan the Judge (Judges xii, 9). Instances of descent reckoned through female in Abraham's marriage (half-sister being unrelated through female kinship), &c., but these could be explained by polygamy as well as totemism. III. Ancestor worship seen in Teraphim, Elohim as ghosts (witch of Endor) sacrifices to dead (Is. viii, 19: Ps. cvi, 28; Pirke Aboth, iii, 5; Judges ix, 13). Smith sees in David a member of serpent clan, because one of his ancestors was named Nahshon, the father named Nahash, he has Teraphim, and there was a brazen serpent in king's palace. This doubtful, since the last is attributed to Moses, and the descent is not traced through females. If true, introduced by Ruth, Moabitess, and cannot conclude for all Israel. Ancestor worship a later stage than animal worship. IV. Animal worship seen in the Golden Calf, brazen serpent, second commandment (“ things which are in heaven above," &c. = birds, beasts, and fishes), and in Isaiah lxvi, 17. Cardinal passage, Ezekiel viii, 11, creeping beasts and abominations, "and all the idols of house of Israel" with Jaaphaniah ben Shaphan (CONEY) officiating as priest. But (1) a vision (2), the name a piece of irony William Ewart Disraeli, (3) probably introduced from Egypt, (4) no other traces of the totem clan arrangement so late. V. Forbidden Food. No satisfactory explanation has hitherto been given. As a survival of totem tabu, the religious horror explained. It was characteristic of Judaism to utilize earlier religion for purer purposes, e.g., sacrifice. Difficulties, (1) many names of "clean" beasts in our list (43 clean to 42 unclean), (2) tolerably simple explanation as survival of folk medicine. Result: a few of anomalies, e.g., Coney, can be explained as "survivals" of totem worship. VI. Tattooing and clan crests. probably referred to Deut. xxxii, 5. Former in Lev. xix, 28, also blessing, cf. medieval heraldry of the twelve tribes. VII. Blood feud and wergild existed in Bible times, but the Goel was unconnected with totems. Conclusion. If anthropology regards totemism as a necessary or usual stage in social development: (1). There is sufficient evidence of the existence of totem clans among the nomad Edomites. (W. R. Smith.) (2). We have seen sufficient 'survivals' of totemism in the personal and tribe-names, in the forbidden food, tattooing, and clancrests, in the ancestor-worship, animal-images, and blood-feud of the Israelites to warrant the assumption that they were once organised on the totem system. (3). But Professor Smith's specific instances of David as a member of a serpent clan, and the existence of totem rites in the temple at the time of Ezekiel, are unjustified. Remarks were added by Rev. A. Löwy, Rev. W. Wright, D.D., Mr. Abrahams, Rev. Isidore Harris, Mr. J. Offord, jun., Rev. J. Marshall, Mr. Jacobs, and the President. |