Preface

SCATALOGIC RITES OF ALL NATIONS. _A Dissertation upon the Employment of Excrementitious Remedial Agents in Religion, Therapeutics, Divination, Witchcraft, Love-Philters, etc., in all Parts of the Globe._ BASED UPON ORIGINAL NOTES AND PERSONAL OBSERVATION, AND UPON COMPILATION FROM OVER ONE THOUSAND AUTHORITIES. BY CAPTAIN JOHN G. BOURKE, THIRD CAVALRY, U. S. A., FELLOW OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE; MEMBER OF THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY, OF WASHINGTON, D.C.; MEMBER OF THE “CONGRES DES AMÉRICANISTES;” ASSOCIATE MEMBER OF THE VICTORIA INSTITUTE AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN; MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE; AUTHOR OF THE “SNAKE DANCE OF THE MOQUIS OF ARIZONA;” “AN APACHE CAMPAIGN;” “NOTES ON THE THEOGONY AND COSMOGONY OF THE MOJAVES”; “THE GENTILE ORGANIZATION OF THE APACHES;” “MACKENZIE’S LAST FIGHT WITH THE CHEYENNES,” AND OTHER WORKS. NOT FOR GENERAL PERUSAL. WASHINGTON, D.C. W. H. LOWDERMILK & CO. 1891. _Copyright, 1891_, BY JOHN G. BOURKE. University Press: JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. PREFACE. The subject of SCATALOGIC or STERCORACEOUS RITES AND PRACTICES, however repellent it may be under some of its aspects, is none the less deserving of the profoundest consideration,—if for no other reason than that from the former universal dissemination of such aberrations of the intellect, as well as of the religious impulses of the human race, and their present curtailment or restriction, the progress of humanity upward and onward may best be measured. Philosophical and erudite thinkers of past ages have published tomes of greater or less magnitude upon this subject; among these authors, it may be sufficient, at this moment, to mention Schurig, Etmuller, Flemming, Paullini, Beckherius, Rosinus Lentilius, and Levinus Lemnius. The historian Buckle regarded the subject as one well worthy of examination and study, as will appear in the text from the memoranda found in his scrap-books after his death. The philosopher Boyle is credited with the paternity of a work which appeared over the signature “B,” bearing upon the same topic. The anonymous author or authors of the very learned pamphlet “Bibliotheca Scatalogica,” for the perusal of which I am indebted to the courtesy of Surgeon John S. Billings, collected a mass of most valuable bibliographical references. Quite recently there have appeared in the “Mitterlungen Gesselsch.,” Wien, 1888, two pages of the work of Dr. M. Hofler, “Volksmedicin und Aberglaube in Oberbayern Gegenwart und Vergangenheit,” describing some of the excrementitious remedies still existing in the folk-medicine of Bavaria. But while treatises upon this subject are by no means rare, they are not accessible, except to those scholars who are within reach of the largest libraries; and while all, or nearly all, indicate the association of these practices with sorcery and witchcraft, as well as with folk-medicine, no writer has hitherto ventured to suggest the distinctively religious derivation to be ascribed to them. From the moment when the disgusting “Urine Dance of the Zuñis” was performed in the author’s presence down to the hour of concluding this work, a careful examination has been made of more than one thousand treatises of various kinds and all sizes, from the musty pig-skin covered black letter of the fifteenth century to the more modest but not less valuable pamphlet of later years. These treatises have covered the field of primitive religion, medicine, and magic, and have likewise included a most liberal portion of the best books of travel and observation among primitive peoples in every part of the world; not only English authorities, but also the writings of the best French, Spanish, German, Latin, Greek, Arabic, and Celtic authors are here presented, together with an examination of what has come down to us from leaders of Eastern religious thought and from the monastic “leeches” of the Anglo-Saxons. A great number of examples of the use of stercoraceous remedies has been inserted under the head of “Therapeutics,” for two excellent reasons: first, to show that the use of such remedies was most widely disseminated; and secondly, to demonstrate that this use had been handed down from century to century. Had any other course been followed, objection might have been raised that unusual remedies, or those of eccentric practitioners only, had been sought for and quoted for the purpose of proving that Filth Pharmacy was a thoroughly consistent and fully developed school in the science of therapeutics, from the most primitive times down to and even overlapping our own days. A perusal of this volume cannot fail to convince the most critical that it has been written in a spirit of fairness as much as is possible to human nature, and without prepossession or prejudice in any direction. The fact that so many citations have been incorporated in this compilation without comment, may be claimed as an additional proof of the unbiassed character of the work. No collection of facts constitutes a science. All that can properly be done with facts not positively known to be related, is to place them, as here placed, in juxtaposition, leaving the reader to frame his own conclusions; by no other method can an author escape the imputation of distorting or perverting evidence. The great number of letters received from distinguished scholars in all parts of the world, from Edinburgh to New South Wales, attests the interest felt in this treatise, and at the same time places the author under obligations which words cannot express. Special acknowledgments are due to:— Professor W. ROBERTSON SMITH, Editor of the Encyclopædia Britannica. Major-General J. G. FORLONG, author of “The Rivers of Life,” Edinburgh. HAVELOCK ELLIS, Esq., Editor of the Contemporary Science Series. Prof. TYRRELL S. LEITH, of Bombay (since dead). FRANK REDE FOWKE, Esq., South Kensington Museum, London. JAMES G. FRAZER, Esq., M. A., author of “The Golden Bough,” Trinity College, Cambridge. Dr. GUSTAV JAEGER, of Stuttgart. Dr. J. W. KINGSLEY, of Cambridge. Prof. E. B. TYLOR, Oxford. Prof. E. N. HORSFORD, Harvard University. Prof. F. W. PUTNAM, Peabody Archæological Museum, Cambridge, Mass. Surgeon WASHINGTON MATTHEWS, U. S. Army. Surgeon B. J. D. IRWIN, U. S. Army. F. B. KYNGDON, Esq., Secretary Royal Society, Sydney, New South Wales. J. F. MANN, Esq., Sydney, New South Wales. JOHN FRAZER, Esq., LL.D., Sydney, New South Wales. Capt. HENRI JOUAN, French Navy. Dr. BERNARD, Cannes, France. Dr. ROBERT FLETCHER. Dr. FRANZ BOAS, Clark University, Worcester, Mass. Dr. HENRY STRICKER, Frankfort, Germany. Chief Engineer MELVILLE, U. S. Navy. Prof. OTIS T. MASON, National Museum, Washington, D. C. WILLIAM H. GILDER, the Arctic explorer and writer. Dr. ALBERT S. GATSCHET, Bureau of Ethnology, Washington, D. C. Rev. HENRY CLAY TRUMBULL, Editor of “The Sunday School Times,” of Philadelphia, Penn. Hon. LAMBERT TREE, ex-minister to Russia. ANDREW LANG. J. S. HITTEL, San Francisco, Cal.