ragical a fashion up to a late historical period.

Because of the element of mystery present in taboo we are led to
conclude that taboo is more than negative magic if we accept so definite
a concept as "a false association of ideas." The presence of power in
the tabooed object turns our attention to _mana_ as giving us a better
understanding of why man must be wary. Mana must however be liberally
interpreted if we are to see to the bottom of the mystery. It must be
thought of as including good as well as evil power, as more than the
"black magic" of the witch-haunted England of the 17th century, as is
shown by the social position of the magicians who deal with the Mana of
the Pacific and with the Orenda of the Iroquois. It implies
"wonder-working," and may be shown in sheer luck, in individual cunning
and power, or in such a form as the "uncanny" psychic qualities ascribed
to women from the dawn of history. With this interpretation of mana in
mind, taboo may be conceived as negative mana; and to break taboo is to
set in motion against oneself mystic wonder-working power.

Our study thus far has made it clear that there are mystic dangers to be
guarded against from human as well as extra-human sources. There is
weakness to be feared as well as power, as shown by the food and sex
taboos. And once again there is mystery in the different, the unusual,
the unlike, that causes avoidance and creates taboos. Man's dislike of
change from the old well-trodden way, no matter how irrational, accounts
for the persistence of many ancient folkways[6] whose origins are lost
in mystery.[A] Many of these old and persistent avoidances have been
expanded in the development of social relationships until we agree with
Mr. Crawley that taboo shows that "man seems to feel that he is treading
in slippery places." Might it not be within the range of possibility
that in the study of taboo we are groping with man through the first
blind processes of social control?[B]

[Footnote A: Prof. Franz Boas explains this tendency: "The more
frequently an action is repeated, the more firmly it will become
established ... so that customary actions which are of frequent
repetition become entirely unconscious. Hand in hand with this decrease
of consciousness goes an increase in the emotional value of the omission
of these activities, and still more of the performance of acts contrary
to custom."[7]]

[Footnote B: No study of the tabu-mana theory, however de