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

by John Gregory Bourke

CONTENTS.

Chapter		Page
I.	Preliminary Remarks	[1]
II.	The Urine Dance of the Zuñis	[4]
III.	The Feast of Fools in Europe	[11]
	Comparison between the Feast of Fools and the Urine Dance.—The Feast of Fools traced back to most ancient times.—Disappearance of the Feast of Fools.—The “Szombatiaks” of Transylvania.
IV.	The Commemorative Character of Religious Festivals	[24]
	The generally sacred character of dancing.—Fray Diego Duran’s account of the Mexican festivals.—The Urine Dance of the Zuñis may conserve a tradition of the time when vile aliment was in use.
V.	Human Excrement used in Food by the Insane and Others	[29]
VI.	The Employment of Excrement in Food by Savage Tribes	[33]
VII.	Urine in Human Food	[38]
	Chinook olives.—Urine in bread-making.—Human ordure eaten by East Indian fanatics.
VIII.	The Ordure of the Grand Lama of Thibet	[42]
	Huc and Dubois compared.
IX.	The Stercoranistes	[54]
	Un Dalai-Lamas Irlandais.
X.	The Bacchic Orgies of the Greeks	[62]
	Bacchic orgies in North America.—The sacrifice of the dog a substitution for human sacrifice.
XI.	Poisonous Mushrooms used in Ur-Orgies	[65]
	The mushroom drink of the Borgie well.
XII.	The Mushroom in Connection with the Fairies	[85]
XIII.	A Use of Poisonous Fungi quite probably existed among the Mexicans	[89]
	Mushrooms and toadstools worshipped by American Indians.—A former use of fungus indicated in the myths of Ceylon, and in the laws of the Brahmins.
XIV.	The Onion adored by the Egyptians	[94]
XV.	Sacred Intoxication and Phallism	[97]
XVI.	An Inquiry into the Druidical Use of the Mistletoe	[99]
	Former employment of an infusion or decoction of mistletoe.—The mistletoe alleged to have been held sacred by the Mound-builders.—The mistletoe festival of the Mexicans.—Vestiges of Druidical rites at the present day.—The Linguistics of the mistletoe.
XVII.	Cow Dung and Cow Urine in Religion	[112]
	Cow dung also used by the Israelites.
XVIII.	Ordure alleged to have been used in Food by the Israelites	[119]
	The sacred cow’s excreta a substitute for human sacrifice.—Human ordure and urine still used in India.
XIX.	Excrement Gods of Romans and Egyptians	[127]
	The Assyrian Venus had offerings of dung placed upon her altars.—The Mexican goddess Suchiquecal eats ordure.—Israelitish dung-gods.
XX.	Latrines	[134]
	Posture in urination.
XXI.	An Inquiry into the Nature of the Rites connected with the Worship of Bel-Phegor	[154]
XXII.	Obscene Tenures	[165]
XXIII.	Tolls of Flatulence exacted of Prostitutes in France	[168]
	The sacred character of bridge-building.
XXIV.	Obscene Survivals in the Games of English Rustics	[173]
XXV.	Urine and Ordure as Signs of Mourning	[176]
XXVI.	Urine and Ordure in Industries	[177]
	Tanning.—Bleaching.—Dyeing.—Plaster.—As a cure for tobacco.—To restore the odor of musk and the color of coral.—Cheese manufacture.—Opium adulteration.—Egg-hatching.—Taxes on urine.—Chrysocollon.—For removing ink stains.—As an article of jewelry.—Tattooing.—Agriculture.—Urine used in the manufacture of salt.—Preparation of sal ammoniac, phosphorus, solution of indigo.—Manure employed as fuel.—Smudges.—Human and animal excreta to promote the growth of the hair and eradicate dandruff.—As a means of washing vessels.—Filthy habits in cooking.
XXVII.	Urine in Ceremonial Ablutions	[201]
XXVIII.	Urine in Ceremonial Observances	[206]
	Stercoraceous chair of the Popes.
XXIX.	Ordure in Smoking	[214]
XXX.	Courtship and Marriage	[ 216]
	Ordure in love-philters.—Anti-philters.
XXXI.	Siberian Hospitality	[228]
XXXII.	Parturition	[233]
	Weaning.
XXXIII.	Initiation of Warriors.—Confirmation	[237]
	Fearful rite of the Hottentots.—War-customs.—Arms and armor.
XXXIV.	Hunting and Fishing	[244]
XXXV.	Divination.—Omens.—Dreams	[246]
XXXVI.	Ordeals and Punishments, Terrestrial and Supernal	[249]
XXXVII.	Insults	[256]
XXXVIII.	Mortuary Ceremonies	[261]
XXXIX.	Myths	[266]
XL.	Urinoscopy, or Diagnosis by Urine	[272]
	On the influence of the emotions upon the egestæ.
XLI.	Ordure and Urine in Medicine	[277]
	Extracts from the writings of Dioscorides.—The views of Galen.—Sextus Placitus.—“Saxon Leechdoms.”—Avicenna.—Miscellaneous.—Human Ordure.—Schurig’s ideas regarding the use in medicine of the egestæ of animals.—Ordure and urine in folk-medicine.—Occult influences ascribed to ordure and urine.—Other excrementitious remedies.—Hair.—Superstitions connected with the human saliva.—Cerumen or ear-wax.—Woman’s milk.—Human sweat.—Superstitions connected with the catamenial fluid.—After-birth and lochiæ.—Human semen.—Human blood.—Human skin, flesh, and tallow.—Human skull.—Brain.—Moss growing on human skull.—Moss growing on statue.—Lice.—Wool.—Bones and teeth.—Marrow.—Human teeth.—Tartar impurities from the teeth.—Renal and biliary calculi.—Human bile.—Bezoar stones.—Lyncurius.—Cosmetics.
XLII.	Amulets and Talismans	[370]
XLIII.	Witchcraft.—Sorcery.—Charms.—Spells.—Incantations.—Magic	[373]
XLIV.	A Few Remarks upon Temple or Sacred Prostitution, and upon the Horns of Cuckolds	[405]
XLV.	Cures by Transplantation	[411]
XLVI.	The Use of the Lingam in India	[428]
XLVII.	Phallic Superstitions in France and elsewhere	[431]
XLVIII.	Burlesque Survivals	[432]
	The use of bladders in religious ceremonies.
XLIX.	The Worship of Cocks and Hens	[440]
	The Spanish-American sport of “Correr el Gallo,” and the English pastime of “Throwing at ‘Shrove Cocks.’”—The scarabæus of Egypt.
L.	The Persistence of Filth Remedies	[456]
	Epilepsy.
LI.	An Explanation of the Reason why Human Ordure and Human Urine were employed in Medicine and Religious Ceremonies	[459]
LII.	Easter Eggs	[461]
LIII.	The Use of Bladders in making Excrement Sausages	[464]
LIV.	Conclusion	[467]
BIBLIOGRAPHY		[469]
INDEX		[485]

SCATALOGIC RITES
OF ALL NATIONS.

I.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

“The proper study of mankind is man.”

“The study of man is the study of man’s religion.”—Max Müller.

“Few who will give their minds to master the general principles of savage religion will ever again think it ridiculous.... Far from its beliefs and practices being a rubbish heap of miscellaneous folly, they are consistent and logical in so high a degree as to begin, as soon as even roughly classified, to display the principles of their formation and development; and these principles prove to be essentially rational, though working in a mental condition of intense and inveterate ignorance.”—Primitive Culture, E. B. Tylor, New York, 1874, vol. i. p. 21.

The object of the present monograph is to arrange in a form for easy reference such allusions as have come under the author’s notice bearing upon the use of human or animal ordure or urine or articles apparently intended as substitutes for them, whether in rites of a clearly religious or “medicine” type, or in those which, while not pronouncedly such, have about them suggestions that they may be survivals of former urine dances or ur-orgies among tribes and peoples from whose later mode of life and thought they have been eliminated.

The difficulties surrounding the elucidation of this topic will no doubt occur to every student of anthropology or ethnology. The rites and practices herein spoken of are to be found only in communities isolated from the world, and are such as even savages would shrink from revealing unnecessarily to strangers; while, too frequently, observers of intelligence have failed to improve opportunities for noting the existence of rites of this nature, or else, restrained by a false modesty, have clothed their remarks in vague and indefinite phraseology, forgetting that as a physician, to be skilful, must study his patients both in sickness and in health, so the anthropologist must study man, not alone wherein he reflects the grandeur of his Maker, but likewise in his grosser and more animal propensities.