( a ) The Origin of Totemism

The question of the origin of totemism can also be formulated as follows: How did primitive people come to select the names of animals, plants and inanimate objects for themselves and their tribes?

The Scotchman, MacLennan, who discovered totemism and exogamy for science, refrained from publishing his views of the origin of totemism. According to a communication of Andrew Lang he was for a time inclined to trace totemism back to the custom of tattooing. I shall divide the accepted theories of the derivation of totemism into three groups, (α) nominalistic, β) sociological, (γ) psychological.