Chapter I: Primitive Man

1. THE DISCOVERY OF PRIMITIVE MAN Early philosophical
hypotheses--Prehistoric remains--Schweinfurth's discovery of the
Pygmies of the Upper Congo--The Negritos of the Philippines, the
inland tribes of Malacca, the Veddahs of Ceylon.

2. THE CULTURE OF PRIMITIVE MAN IN ITS EXTERNAL EXPRESSIONS Dress,
habitation, food, weapons--Discovery of bow and arrow--Acquisition
of fire--Relative significance of the concept 'primitive.'

3. THE ORIGIN OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY Bachofen's "Mother-right"
and the hypothesis of an original promiscuity--Group-marriage and
the Malayan system of relationship--Erroneous interpretation of
these phenomena--Polygyny and polyandry--The monogamy of primitive
peoples.

4. PRIMITIVE SOCIETY The primitive horde--Its relation to the
animal herd--Single family and tribe--Lack of tribal organization.

5. THE BEGINNINGS OF LANGUAGE Languages of primitive tribes of
to-day--The gesture-language of the deaf and dumb, and of certain
peoples of nature--natural gesture-language--Its syntax--General
conclusions drawn from gesture-language.

6. THE THINKING OF PRIMITIVE MAN The Soudan languages as examples
of relatively primitive modes of thinking--The so-called 'roots'
as words--The concrete character of primitive thought--Lack of
grammatical categories--Primitive man's thinking perceptual.

7. EARLIEST BELIEFS IN MAGIC AND DEMONS Indefiniteness of the
concept 'religion'--Polytheistic and monotheistic theories of
the origin of religion--Conditions among the Pygmies--Belief
in magic and demons as the content of primitive thought--Death
and sickness--The corporeal soul--Dress and objects of personal
adornment as instruments of magic--The causality of magic.

8. THE BEGINNINGS OF ART The art of dancing among primitive
peoples--Its importance as a means of magic--Its accompaniment
by noise-instruments---The dance-song--The beginnings of
musical instruments--The bull-roarer and the rattle--Primitive
ornamentation--Relation between the imitation of objects and
simple geometrical drawings (conventionalization)--The painting of
the Bushmen--Its nature as a memorial art.

9. THE INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PRIMITIVE
MAN Freedom from wants--Significance of isolation--Capacity
for observation and reflection--No inferiority as to original
endowment demonstrable--Negative nature of the morality of
primitive man--Dependence upon the environment.