poses;
they do not create an unreal world of convention.[1540] This is the
extreme view of realism and nature. As has been shown above, however, so
soon as objects were attached to the body for any purpose whatever, the
conventional view that bodies so distinguished were alone right and
beautiful was started, and all the rest of the convention of ornament
and dress followed.

+473. Obscene representations for magic.+ The Indians on the Shingu
river, Brazil, wear little or no clothing.[1541] They have full suits
for dancing, but the tabooed organs are represented on the outside of
these artificially and of exaggerated size. Evidently it was not the
purpose of the dress to conceal organs the sight of which was
tabooed.[1542] In Central Borneo, in order to drive off evil spirits,
rough figures of human beings are cut in wood, the tabooed organs being
exaggerated. Those organs are the real amulets which exorcise demons,
for they are often cut on the timbers of the houses without the rest of
the figure. Then, by further derivation, such representations became
purely ornamental on houses, weapons, etc.[1543] The Egyptians used
representations of what were later tabooed organs as hieroglyphics, and
in their conversation admitted no taboo. Pictures in the tombs of the
Twentieth Dynasty (1180-1050 B.C.) show the lack of any taboo, and there
are inscriptions by them which show an absence of any restriction on
realism.[1544] This is evidently the naive realism of children who have
not yet learned any conventions. Reproduction and growth have direct
connection with food supply, and abundance of reproduction means joy of
life and merriment, with good cheer for men. Consequently the most
matter-of-fact interest of man was intertwined with all the reproductive
energies in nature. The popular and comic _mimus_ of the Greeks is
traced back to ritual acts of magic, in which the corn demons or growth
demons are represented at work, making the reproduction and growth of
the crops. The ritual was sympathetic magic, and it was securing the
food supply. What was desired was success in agriculture, and the
husbandman in his choice of rites, symbols, and emblems was entirely
realistic. The growth demons, when they appear in art, are vulgar
figures of an exaggerated sensual type. They were meant to suggest
reproductive vigor, exuberance, and abundance. The tabooed organs are
represented in various ways, but always obtrusively and with
exaggerat