Chapter XIX: Human Sacrifice

The prevalence of human sacrifice, pp. 434-436.--This practice much more frequently found among barbarians and semi-civilised peoples than among genuine savages, p. 436 _sq._--Among some peoples it has been noticed to become increasingly prevalent in the course of time, p. 437.--Human sacrifice partly due to the idea that gods have an appetite for human flesh or blood, p. 437 _sq._--Sometimes connected with the idea that gods require attendants, p. 438.--Moreover, an angry god may be appeased simply by the death of him or those who aroused his anger, or of some representative of the offending community, or of somebody belonging to the kin of the offender, pp. 438-440.--Human sacrifice chiefly a method of life-insurance, based on the idea of substitution, p. 440.--Human victims offered in war, before a battle, or during a siege, p. 440 _sq._--For the purpose of stopping or preventing epidemics, p. 441 _sq._--For the purpose of putting an end to a devastating famine, p. 442 _sq._--For the purpose of preventing famine, p. 443 _sq._--Criticism of Dr. Frazer's hypothesis that the human victim who is killed for the purpose of ensuring good crops is regarded as a representative of the corn-spirit and is slain as such, pp. 444-451.--Human victims offered with a view to getting water, p. 451 _sq._--With a view to averting perils arising from the sea or from rivers, pp. 452-454.--For the purpose of preventing the death of some particular individual, especially a chief or a king, from sickness, old age, or other circumstances, pp. 454-457.--For the purpose of helping other men into existence, p. 457 _sq._--The killing of the first-born child, or the first-born son, p. 458 _sq._--Explanation of this practice, pp. 459-461.--Human sacrifices offered in connection with the foundation of buildings, p. 461 _sq._--The building-sacrifice, like other kinds of human sacrifice, probably based on the idea of substitution, pp.462-464. --The belief that {xvii} the soul of the victim is converted into a protecting demon, p. 464 _sq._--The human victim regarded as a messenger, p. 465 _sq._--Human sacrifice not an act of wanton cruelty, p. 466.--The king or chief sometimes sacrificed, _ibid._--The victims frequently prisoners of war or other aliens, or slaves, or criminals, pp. 466-468.--The disappearance of human sacrifice, p. 468.--Human sacrifice condemned, p. 465 _sq._--Practices intended to replace it, p. 469.--Human effigies or animals offered instead of men, p. 469 _sq._--Human sacrifices succeeded by practices involving the effusion of human blood without loss of life, p. 470.--Bleeding or mutilation practised for the same purpose as human sacrifice, p. 470 _sq._--Why the penal sacrifice of offenders has outlived all other forms of human sacrifice, p. 471.--Human beings sacrificed to the dead in order to serve them as slaves, wives, or companions, pp. 472-474.--This custom dwindling into a survival, p. 475.--The funeral sacrifice of men and animals also seems to involve an intention to vivify the spirits of the deceased with blood, p. 475 _sq._--Manslayers killed in order to satisfy their victims' craving for revenge, p. 476.