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Beginning Direct3D Game Programming Prima Tech s
Game Development 1st Edition Wolfgang Engel Digital
Instant Download
Author(s): Wolfgang Engel, Amir Geva
ISBN(s): 9781417541904, 1417541903
Edition: 1
File Details: PDF, 7.01 MB
Year: 2001
Language: english
 Beginning
Direct3D®
Game
Programming
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 Beginning
Direct3D®
Game
Programming

Wolfgang F. Engel
Amir Geva
Series Editor
André LaMothe
CEO Xtreme Games LLC
©2001 by Prima Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval sys-
tem without written permission from Prima Publishing, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.
A Division of Prima Publishing
Prima Publishing and colophon are registered trademarks of Prima Communications, Inc. PRIMA TECH is a
trademark of Prima Communications, Inc., Roseville, California 95661.

Publisher: Stacy L. Hiquet

Managing Editor: Sandy Doell
Acquisitions Editor: Emi Smith
Associate Marketing Manager: Jenni Breece
Technical Reviewer: Mason McCuskey
Book Production and Editorial: Argosy
Cover Design: Prima Design Team
Copyright Microsoft Corporation, 2000. All rights reserved.
Important: Prima Publishing cannot provide software support. Please contact the appropriate software manufacturer’s techni-
cal support line or Web site for assistance.
Prima Publishing and the author have attempted throughout this book to distinguish proprietary trademarks from descrip-
tive terms by following the capitalization style used by the manufacturer.
Information contained in this book has been obtained by Prima Publishing from sources believed to be reliable. However,
because of the possibility of human or mechanical error by our sources, Prima Publishing, or others, the Publisher does
not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy, or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omis-
sions or the results obtained from use of such information. Readers should be particularly aware of the fact that the
Internet is an ever-changing entity. Some facts may have changed since this book went to press.

ISBN: 0-7615-3191-2
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 0-011047
Printed in the United States of America.
00 01 02 03 04 II 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Für meine Frau, Katja Engel
vi Beginning Direct3D® Game Programming

Acknowledgments
This book couldn’t have been completed without the help of many people. In particular, I want to thank
my parents, who gave me a wonderful and warm childhood.
The first 90% of a book is normally easy to write. The problems arise in the second 90%. That was the
case with this book. The last four weeks of finishing up this project were really hard, both in my private
and professional life. So my corrections and reviews of edits were sometimes a little bit behind schedule.
Nevertheless, the team at Prima Publishing was very friendly and sensible. I would like to thank those peo-
ple, who also helped to make this book possible: Caroline Roop, Emi Smith, and Eve Minkoff.
I would also like to thank André LaMothe, for teaching me game programming with his books.
A lot of people wrote tutorials on game programming and published them on the Internet. I learned a lot
from these. So I would like to thank all those people on the Internet, for giving away their knowledge of
game programming for free.
—Wolfgang Engel
 Contents at a Glance vii

Contents at a Glance
Introduction ...........................................xiv Part III Hardcore DirectX Graphics
Part I DirectX Graphics: Programming..............................209
Don’t Hurt Me ...............................1 Chapter 9: Working with Files................211
Chapter 1: History of Direct3D/DirectX Chapter 10: Quake 3 Model Files ...........247
Graphics................................................3 Chapter 11: Game Physics (written by
Chapter 2: Overview on DirectX Amir Geva) ........................................291
Graphics/HAL/COM .............................7 Chapter 12: Collision Detection (written by
Chapter 3: C++/COM Programming Rules Amir Geva) ........................................301
for Direct3D .........................................15
Part IV Appendices ....................343
Chapter 4: Geometry/Shading/Texture
Appendix A: Windows Game Programming
Mapping Basics ....................................23
Foundation.........................................345
Chapter 5: The Basics .............................35
Appendix B: C++ Primer........................373
Chapter 6: First Steps to Animation ..........73
Appendix C: The Common Files
Part II Knee-Deep in DirectX Framework .........................................401
Graphics Programming ..............125 Appendix D: Mathematic Primer............463
Chapter 7: Texture Mapping Appendix E: Game Programming
Fundamentals .....................................127 Resource.............................................485
Chapter 8: Using Multiple Textures.........153 Index ....................................................489
viii Beginning Direct3D® Game Programming

Contents
Introduction ..................................................xiv Render() ..................................................51
InvalidateDeviceObjects() ......................55
Part I: DirectX Graphics: DeleteDeviceObjects()............................55
Don’t Hurt Me......................1 FinalCleanup() ........................................55
Basic2 Example ............................................55
Chapter 1: History of Direct3D/ InitDeviceObjects().................................57
RestoreDeviceObjects() ..........................60
DirectX Graphics........................3 Render() ..................................................62
Chapter 2: Overview of DirectX InvalidateDeviceObjects() ......................64
DeleteDeviceObjects()............................65
Graphics/HAL/COM .................7 FinalCleanup() ........................................65
Direct3D HAL ................................................9 Basic3 Example ............................................65
Pluggable Software Devices.........................11 RestoreDeviceObjects() ..........................68
Reference Rasterizer....................................12 Render() ..................................................70
Controlling Devices......................................12 InvalidateDeviceObjects() ......................72
COM..............................................................13
Chapter 6: First Steps to
Chapter 3: C/C++ and COM Animation ................................73
Programming Rules for The Third Dimension .....................................75
Direct3D ..................................15 Transformation Pipeline .................................77
Code Style .....................................................18 Transformation Math.......................................80
Debugging DirectX......................................20 Matrices.............................................................80
Return Codes................................................21 The World Matrix.........................................82
The View Matrix...........................................86
Chapter 4: Geometry/Shading/ Camera Rotation about a Camera
Texture-Mapping Basics.............23 Axis .........................................................88
Orientation ...................................................26 Camera Rotation with Quaternions ......92
Faces ..............................................................27 The Projection Matrix .................................95
Normals.........................................................29 Lighting.............................................................96
Normals and Gouraud Shading..................29 Material .........................................................97
Texture-Mapping Basics...............................31 Lighting Models ...........................................97
Vertex Color (Optional)..............................99
Chapter 5: The Basics.................35 Depth Buffering .............................................100
The DirectX Graphics Common Down to the Code..........................................104
Architecture................................................37 OneTimeSceneInit() .................................105
Basic Example ..............................................38 InitDeviceObjects()....................................110
OneTimeSceneInit() ..............................40 RestoreDeviceObjects().............................110
InitDeviceObjects().................................41 FrameMove()..............................................113
RestoreDeviceObjects() ..........................41 Render() .....................................................117
FrameMove()...........................................51 InvalidateDeviceObjects().........................118
 Table of Contents ix

DeleteDeviceObjects()...............................119 Dark Map Blended with Material Diffuse

FinalCleanup()...........................................119 Color .........................................................164
Next Steps to Animation ...............................119 Glow Mapping ............................................166
RestoreDeviceObjects().............................119 Detail Mapping...........................................167
FrameMove()..............................................120 Alpha Operations...........................................170
More Enhancements .................................120 Modulate Alpha..........................................172
Quiz...............................................................120 Environment Mapping ..................................173
Spherical Environment Mapping .............173
Additional Resources ..................................124
Cubic Environment Mapping ...................175
Part II: Knee-Deep in RestoreDeviceObjects() ........................176
RenderSceneIntoCube()......................177
DirectX Graphics RenderScene() ......................................179
Programming....................125 ConfirmDevice() ...................................181
Bump Mapping ..............................................182
Chapter 7: Texture-Mapping ApplyEnvironmentMap()..........................183
Fundamentals .........................127 InitBumpMap()..........................................187
Render() .....................................................191
Texture Coordinates......................................129
ConfirmDevice() ...................................193
Texture-Addressing Modes............................132
Dot Product Texture Blending.....................194
Wrap Texture-Addressing Mode...............132
InitDeviceObjects()....................................195
Mirror Texture-Addressing Mode.............133
Render() .....................................................198
Clamp Texture-Addressing Mode.............134
Multitexturing Support .................................200
Border Color Texture-Addressing Mode .135
Texture Management ....................................201
MirrorOnce Texture-Addressing Mode ...136
Quiz...............................................................201
Texture Wrapping........................................137
Additional Resources...................................206
Texture Filtering and Texture Anisotropy.......................................................207
Anti-Aliasing...............................................140 Detail Mapping ..............................................207
Mipmaps .........................................................142
Cubic Environment Mapping.......................207
Nearest-Point Sampling.................................143
Stencil Buffers ................................................207
Linear Texture Filtering................................143
Bump Mapping ..............................................207
Anisotropic Filtering......................................144
Dot Product Texture Blending.....................207
Full-Scene Anti-Aliasing.................................146
Alpha Blending ..............................................148
Part III: Hard-Core
Chapter 8: Using Multiple DirectX Graphics
Textures..................................153 Programming ....................209
Color Operations ...........................................156
Dark Mapping ............................................157 Chapter 9: Working with Files ...211
Animating the Dark ...................................161 Building Worlds with X Files ......................212
Blending a Texture with Material Diffuse 3-D File Formats .............................................213
Color .........................................................161 X File Format .................................................213
x Beginning Direct3D® Game Programming

Header ........................................................215 Chapter 11: Game Physics

Mesh ............................................................216
MeshMaterialList........................................218 (written by Amir Geva) ...........291
Normals.......................................................221 3-D Math .........................................................292
Textures.......................................................221 Newton’s Laws ................................................294
Transformation Matrices ...........................229 Calculating the Frame Time.........................296
Animation ...................................................233 Air Resistance .................................................297
Using X Files ..................................................235 Static Friction .................................................297
The Example ..................................................241 Kinetic Friction ..............................................298
InitDeviceObjects()....................................242 Chapter 12: Collision Detection
RestoreDeviceObjects() and
InvalidateDeviceObjects() ......................243 (written by Amir Geva) ...........301
Render() .....................................................243 The Most Basic Optimization .......................302
Extending X Files...........................................245 Bounding Volumes ........................................302
Additional Resources ..................................245 2-D Collision Detection .................................302
Brute Force ............................................304
Chapter 10: Quake III Bit Arrays ................................................304
Model Files.............................247 Sprite Bounds ........................................309
Group Processing...........................................313
Files of the Trade ...........................................249
Axis Sort .................................................314
Animation.cfg.................................................253
Grid.........................................................316
The .skin File..................................................255
Static Objects .........................................317
Textures and the Shader File........................256
Automatic Transparent Static Marking....319
Custom Sounds ..............................................262
3-D Collision Detection .................................319
The .md3 Format...........................................263
Dealing with this Complex Problem........320
Md3.h ..........................................................264
Portals.....................................................320
Md3.cpp ......................................................271
Calculating Distance of Cylinder
CreateModel().......................................271
from Wall .............................................322
CreateTextures() ...................................278
BSP (binary space partitioning) ..........323
CreateVB().............................................282
Sliding Off Walls....................................323
Render() ................................................283
3-D Mesh Collision Detection.......................324
DeleteTextures() ...................................284
Bounding Volumes.....................................324
DeleteVB().............................................285
Convexity of Models..............................325
DeleteModel() .......................................285
Convex Models Intersection.................326
Md3view.cpp ...............................................285
Concave Models Intersection...............326
OneTimeSceneInit() ............................286
Axis Aligned Bounding Boxes.........327
InitDeviceObjects()...............................286
Axis Aligned Bounding
Render() ................................................287
Boxes Tree.......................................327
DeleteDeviceObjects()..........................287
How to Divide the Box................329
FinalCleanup() ......................................288
Oriented Box Intersections ........330
MsgProc() ..............................................288
Triangle Intersection ...................332
Additional Resources ..................................289
 Table of Contents xi

Using ColDet with DirectX 8.0.....................332 Polymorphism ............................................392

Collision Reaction......................................334 Inline Functions .........................................393
3-D Object Group Processing ...................336 C++ Enhancements to C............................394
Quiz...............................................................336 Default Function Arguments ...............395
Placement of Variable Declarations.....395
Additional Resources ..................................341
Const Variable........................................396
Part IV: Appendixes .........343 Enumeration..........................................397
Function Overloading and Operator
Appendix A: Windows Game Overloading.........................................397
Function Overloading...........................397
Programming Foundation........345 Operator Overloading .....................399
How to Look through a Window .................346
Additional Resources...................................400
How Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000
Interacts with Your Game ...........................346 Appendix C: The Common
The Components of a Window ....................347 Files Framework .....................401
A Window Skeleton .......................................347
Create() ..........................................................407
Step 1: Define a Window Class .................351
Step 1: Create the Direct3D Object with
Windows Data Types .............................354
Direct3DCreate8()...................................409
Step 2: Register the Window Class ...........354
Step 2: Search for the Proper
Step 3: Creating a Window of
Device Driver with the Help of
that Class...................................................354
BuildDeviceList().....................................410
Step 4: Display the Window ......................357
Step 1 in BuildDeviceList() ..................419
Step 5: Create the Message Loop .............358
Step 2 in BuildDeviceList() ..................427
The Window Procedure ............................361
Step 3: Create a Window with
A Window Skeleton Optimized for
CreateWindow() ......................................428
Games ...........................................................361
Step 4: Initialize the Geometry Data
Windows Resources .......................................366
of your Game with OneTimeScene
Additional Resources ..................................371 Init() .........................................................428
Appendix B: C++ Primer ...........373 Step 5: Initialize the 3-D Environment
with Initialize3DEnvironment().............428
What’s Object-Oriented Programming? ......374
Step 1 in Initialize3DEnvironment() ...433
Abstraction..................................................374
Step 2 in Initialize3DEnvironment():
Classes..........................................................377
CreateDevice() ....................................433
Encapsulation .............................................378
Step 3 in Initialize3DEnvironment():
Declaring a Class ........................................379
SetWindowPos()..................................435
Constructor.................................................384
Step 4 in Initialize3DEnvironment():
Destructor ...................................................384
GetDeviceCaps() .................................435
This Pointer ...........................................385
Step 5 in Initialize3DEnvironment():
Class Hierarchies and Inheritance ...........386
GetDesc().............................................437
Inheriting Code.....................................387
Step 6 in Initialize3DEnvironment():
Inheriting an Interface .........................390
D3DUtil_SetDeviceCursor() ..............438
Virtual Functions........................................391
xii Beginning Direct3D® Game Programming

Step 7 in Initialize3DEnvironment(): Vector Addition: U + V .........................469

Initialize the Application’s Device Vector Subtraction: U – V.....................471
Objects .................................................438 Vector Multiplication ............................472
Step 8 in Initialize3DEnvironment() ...439 Scalar Product...................................472
Step 6: Starting the Timer with Dot Product.......................................473
DXUtil_Timer().......................................440 Cross Product....................................476
Run() ..............................................................444 Unit Vector .................................................477
Step 1 in Render3DEnvironment(): Matrices...........................................................478
TestCooperativeLevel() and Multiplication of a Matrix with
Resize3DEnvironment().....................448 a Vector.....................................................480
Step 2 in Render3DEnvironment(): Matrix Addition and Subtraction .............480
FrameMove().......................................451 Matrix Multiplication.................................481
Step 3 in Render3DEnvironment(): Translation Matrix......................................481
Render() ..............................................451 Scaling Matrix.............................................481
Step 4 in Render3DEnvironment(): Rotation Matrices .......................................482
Fill the Frame Count String...............452 Rotation about the y-axis ......................482
Step 5 in Render3DEnvironment(): Rotation about the x-axis......................482
Present() ..............................................453 Rotation about the z-axis ......................483
MsgProc().......................................................455
Appendix E: Game Programming
Appendix D: Mathematics Resources ...............................485
Primer ...................................463 General ...........................................................486
Points in 3-D ...................................................464 DirectX Graphics ...........................................486
Vectors.............................................................467 FAQ .................................................................487
Bound Vector..............................................467
Free Vector..................................................468 Index........................................489
 Letter from the Series Editor xiii

Letter from the Series Editor

Dear Reader,
The 3D API wars on the PC are over. And no matter how you feel, Direct 3D is the victor on the PC
platform. Amazingly enough, it sure didn’t have to do with an over-abundance of clear documentation
about Direct 3D! In fact, after years of the Direct 3D API being available, only one or two books are of
any merit on the subject. With this in mind the Author of Beginning Direct 3D Game Programming, Mr.
Wolfgang Engel, set out to write a beginner’s book on Direct 3D that also covered Direct X and General
Game Programming theory. I can without hesitation state that he has succeeded, and succeeded where oth-
ers have failed.
This text is fantastic; it has a pace that is both challenging and cutting-edge, but not intimidating. You will
find yourself learning very complex ideas very easily. Moreover, this book is one of the most graphically
annotated books on Direct 3D, so you won’t be left wondering what something is suppose to look like!
Additionally, although this book is for beginners it doesn’t mean that the material is basic. In fact, as the
chapters progress you will cover advance concepts such as multitexturing, lighting, TnL, 3-D file formats,
and more!

André LaMothe
March 2001
xiv Beginning Direct3D® Game Programming

Introduction
When I finished my first degree in law back in 1993, I was very proud and a little bit exhausted from the
long learning period. So I decided to relax by playing a new game called Comanche by NovaLogic.
I started the night of January 11 and ended up about three days later with only a few hours of sleep. With
the new experience in my head, I decided to start computer game programming. My target was to program
a terrain engine like Comanche.
My then-girlfriend—now my wife—looked a little bit confused when a young, recently finished lawyer
told her that he’s going to be a game programmer.
About two years later, after becoming a member of the Gamedev Forum on Compuserve and reading a
few books on game programming by André La Mothe and a good article by Peter Freese on height-map-
ping engines, I got my own engine up and running under OS/2. I wrote a few articles on OpenGL and
OS/2 game programming in German journals, coauthored a German book, and started with the advent of
the Game SDK (software development kit) on Windows game programming.
In 1997 I wrote my first online tutorials on DirectX programming on my own Web site. After communi-
cating with John Munsch and the other administrators of www.gamedev.net, I decided to make my tutori-
als accessible through this Web site also. In the summer of 1998, as a Beta tester of the DirectX 6.0 SDK,
I decided to write the first tutorial on the Direct3D Immediate Mode Framework. At that time I used
www.netit.net as the URL of my Web site. There was a mailing list with a lot of interested people, and I
got a lot of e-mails with positive feedback.
It started to be real fun. In 1999 I fired up my new Web site at www.direct3d.net, which is now also
accesible through www.directxgraphics.net, with the sole purpose of providing understandable and
instructive tutorials on Direct3D programming.
This is also the target of the book that lies in front of you; it should help you to understand and learn
DirectX Graphics programming.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to e-mail me. A lot of things are implemented with the questions
of readers in mind.
Mainz, Germany, December 2000
Wolf ([email protected])

What You’re Going to Learn

This book covers all of the elements necessary to create a Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000 or short
Windows-based Direct3D/DirectX Graphics game for the PC:
• 3-D graphics and algorithms
• Game programming techniques and data structures
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uniformly wrong; no sooner did he find out what the right mixture
should be than he gave correct results. The hypnotic subject really
does not perceive anything; he tells what he believes the master
wants him to see under the given conditions. The subconscious fear
instinct makes the hypnotized subject obey and please the
hypnotizer, as the dog obeys his master.
 CHAPTER XXV

TR ANCE SER VIL ITY

Dr. C., a known psychoanalyst, on whom I carried on a series of

experiments, goes into a deep somnambulistic state. He is an
excellent visualizer and takes readily visual hallucinations. Being a
physician and psychiatrist the subject’s account is all the more
valuable. Now Dr. C. describes his hypnotic hallucinations as “mental
pictures,” as “auditory memories,” which “lack exteriority, are not
located in space.” He aptly characterizes his hallucinations, visual,
auditory, and others, as “fixed ideas.”
Mr. M. goes into deep hypnosis. When in one of the deep trance-
states a suggestion is given to him that on awakening he shall see a
watch. When awake he claims he sees a watch. He was asked: “Do
you really see it?” He replied, “Yes.” The interesting point here was
the fact that the subject did not even look in the direction where the
suggested hallucinatory watch was supposed to be placed and
where he himself claimed that the watch was located. When tested
by automatic writing the hand wrote: “Yes, I see the watch.” The
subconscious then was also under the influence of the suggested
hallucination. It is well to bear in mind this point.
Re-hypnotized, and suggested that on awakening he would see
two watches. One was a real silver watch and the other was
suggested hallucinatory. The subject claimed he saw both, but he
only handled the hallucinatory one, and when asked which of the
two he would prefer he pointed to the hallucinatory watch. When
asked why, he replied that the suggested watch was bigger. He was
really indifferent to the chosen watch and paid no further attention
to it, as if it did not exist for him. He tried to please the master
hypnotizer of whom he was subconsciously in awe.
 He was again put into the hypnotic state and was suggested to
see a flower. On awakening he claimed he saw a flower and smelled
it in an indifferent, perfunctory fashion. The subconscious was then
tested by automatic writing and the writing was to the effect that he
saw it. “I see a flower.” The subconscious then had also the same
hallucination. A series of similar experiments was carried out with
the same results. The subconscious claimed in automatic writing that
the suggested hallucination was real.
The subject was again put into hypnosis and was given the
suggestion that he would see a watch on awakening, but here I
made some modification. “When you wake up you will be sure to see
a watch,” I said, emphatically. “Look here; I want you to write what
you really see and not what you do not see.” When awake he saw a
watch, but he immediately wrote: “I do not see anything.” Here the
subconscious disclaimed the suggested hallucinations which it had
claimed and insisted on before.
Re-hypnotized, and was given the suggestion that on awakening
he would see three watches. He was awakened and a real silver
watch was put before him; the other two were suggested
hallucinatory. He claimed he saw all three. Meanwhile, in automatic
writing he wrote: “One silver watch, real, the others golden, not
real; nothing there.” A series of similar experiments was made and
with the same results. The automatic writing disclaimed the
hallucinations, although before, under the same conditions, it most
emphatically insisted on their reality.
The subject was put into hypnosis and a post-hypnotic suggestion
was given to him that he would see his wife and child. When awake,
he began to smile. When asked why he smiled he said: “I see my
wife and child”; but he wrote “I see nobody.” When put again in
hypnosis he still continued to smile and said: “I see my wife and
child”; but he wrote (in hypnotic state): “I really do not see them; I
see nothing; I see my child, but I really see nothing.” That was when
the psychopathic patient got the inkling that I wished to know the
truth rather than to be misled by his slavish obedience and fears by
complying with my orders. “What do you mean,” I asked, “by ‘I see
my child, but I really see nothing?’” To which he replied in automatic
writing: “I mean that I see my child in my mind only, but I don’t see
anything.”
I then gave him a post-hypnotic suggestion to see a snake. He
claimed on awaking that he saw a snake. He manifested little fear.
He certainly did not behave as if he really saw a snake and instead
wrote “I see a snake. I see it in my mind.” A great number of similar
experiments were carried out by me, varying the suggestions, and
all with the same results. I shall not burden the reader with a
detailed account, as they all gave identical results.
At first the automatic writing claimed emphatically the presence of
the hallucinatory object and when the truth of the automatic writing
was insisted on, the writing disclaimed fully the perception of the
hallucinatory object. Finally we came on the real character of the
suggested hallucination; “I see my child, but honestly, I do not see
anything; I see my child in my mind only, I don’t see anything.” In
other words, if we take the facts plainly and do not play hide and
seek with the subconscious, we come to the conclusion that in the
suggested hallucinations the subject does not perceive anything as is
the case in an actual hallucination. He does not perceive, but he
simply thinks of the suggested hallucination.
As long then as the automatic writing was regarded by the subject
as independent, for which he was not responsible, as long as the
suggestion of the hallucination was not taken as directly addressed
to it, the subject himself frankly acknowledged the fact that he did
not see anything. When this truth of automatic writing was brought
home to the subject he was bound by suggestion to claim that he
actually saw the suggested hallucination, although he really did not
see anything at all.
This clearly shows that the hypnotic consciousness, from the very
nature of its heightened suggestibility, clings most anxiously to the
given suggestion, and insists on the reality of its fulfillment. We
must, therefore, be on our guard and not trust the subject’s
introspective account, unless it is well sifted by good circumstantial
evidence. It is because such precautions have not been taken in the
close interrogation of the subject’s actual state of mind, and because
of the deep-rooted psychological fallacy as to the relation of
ideational and perceptual activities, that the prevalent belief in the
validity of suggested hallucinations has passed unchallenged. If not
for those factors, it would have been quite evident that the hypnotic
and post-hypnotic suggested hallucinations are not genuine, but are
essentially spurious. Hypnotic hallucinations, unlike actual
hallucinations, are not really experienced. Hypnotically suggested
hallucinations are only forms of delusions, attempts to appease the
master hypnotizer of whom the subconscious stands in awe and fear.
The state of hypnotic subconsciousness is a state based on the
will to conform to the master hypnotizer’s commands. At bottom the
subconscious trance-will is one of slavish obedience to the
authoritative, fear-inspiring will of the master hypnotizer, whom the
hypnotic subconscious attempts to please and obey slavishly. The
hypnotic state is a fear state of a primitive type. It is the fear state
of the Damara ox obeying the herd, or the leader of the herd.
Man is hypnotizable, because he is gregarious, because he is
easily controlled by self-fear, because he easily falls into a self-less
state of complacent servility. Man, subconscious man, is servile, in
fear of his Lord. The independent, free man is yet to come.

FOOTNOTE:
[13] I use the term “suggested hallucination” to indicate the
character and origin of the latter. The term seems to me
convenient and may prove acceptable.
 CHAPTER XXVI

TH E H YPN OIDAL STATE AND SUPER STITIO NS

The hypnoidal state into which man is apt to fall so easily, is well
adapted to fear suggestions, since the fear instinct and the impulse
of self-preservation are present in the subconsciousness, exposed
during trance states to all sorts of fear suggestions and
superstitions. It is during these brief periods of primitive hypnoidal
states that the animal is exposed to attacks of enemies whose
senses become sharpened to detect the weak spots in the armor of
their victims, immersed in the momentary rest of the hypnoidal
state.
During these periods of repose and passivity or of sleep stage, the
animal can only protect itself by all kinds of subterfuges, such as
hiding in various inaccessible places, or taking its rest-periods in
shady nooks and corners, or in the darkness of the night. Each
hypnoidal period closely corresponds to the larval stage of the
insect, reposing in its cocoon,—the most critical time of the insect
organism, most exposed to the depredations of its enemies. And still
the hypnoidal state is requisite to the animal in order to restitute its
living matter and energy which have been wasted during the active
moments of its life activities. Hence the weakness of the animal
depends on the very constitution of its organism.
The hypnoidal state, although absolutely necessary in the process
of metabolism, is also the moment of its greatest danger, and the
fear instinct is specially intense at the onset of that hypnoidal
moment, the lowest point of the weakness of the organism. The
animal, after taking all precautions, is finally paralyzed into
temporary immobility at the risk of its own existence.
 The fear instinct determines the nature and character of rest and
sleep. The lower the animal, the scantier are its means of defense in
the ceaseless struggle for its preservation. The simpler the animal,
the greater and more numerous are the dangers menacing it with
total extinction,—hence it must be constantly on its guard. A state of
sleep such as found in the higher animals is rendered impossible.
The sleep must be light, and in snatches, rapidly passing from rest
into waking,—the characteristic of the hypnoidal state. The fear
instinct is the controlling factor of sleep and rest. When we are in
danger the sleep is light and in snatches, and we thus once more
revert to an ancient form of rest and sleep.
The insomnia found in cases of neurosis is a reversion to primitive
rest-states, found in the lower animals. The insomnia is due to the
fear instinct which keeps dominating the conscious and subconscious
mental activities, a state which has prevailed in the early stages of
animal life. That is why the sleep of neurotics is unrefreshing and full
of dreams of dangers and accidents, and peopled with visions of a
terrorizing nature. Hence the neurotic fear of insomnia which is itself
the consequence of the obsession, conscious and subconscious, of
the fear instinct.
In my work on sleep I was greatly impressed with the place fear
holds in animal life existence. From the lowest representative, such
as the insect to the highest, such as man, fear rules with an iron
hand. Every animal is subject to cataplexy of fear and to the
hypnoidal state itself, the consequence of fear-adaptations to the
external conditions of a hostile environment. Cataplexy and the
consequent hypnoidal state which paralyze the animal, depriving it
of all defense, are grounded in the imperfections of living
protoplasm.
Man is subject to the hypnoidal periods of primitive life. It is
during those periods that the shafts of suggestion are most apt to
strike his subconsciousness, divorced as it is during those moments
from the nodding self consciousness. During these nodding moments
of his life he is exposed to harmful suggestions, since they are apt to
arouse the fear instinct, the most sensitive of all human instincts. It
seems as if the fear instinct is never fully asleep, and is the easiest
to arouse. It seems to be watchful or semi-watchful during the most
critical moments of man’s helplessness.
Fear of darkness and fear of invisible foes are specially strong in
man, because of the deeply rooted fear instinct, but also because of
his memories of accidents and dangers that have befallen him, and
which may befall him. Man’s fears hang round dark places, gloomy
corners and nooks, caves and forests, and more especially during
the darkness and shades of night, appearing as treacherous visions
and specters of lurking dangers. And still from the very nature of his
being man must rest and sleep, hence the association of terrors with
night time. He can only overcome his night terrors by living and
sleeping in more or less secure corners, in the neighborhood of his
fellow-beings who by the mere fact of numbers multiply not only the
means of defense, but actually increase susceptibility for the scent of
danger and possible speedy defense. In the society of his fellows the
sense organs of the individual are increased by the presence of
others who are in various stages of vigilance, and hence there is
greater protection against dangers and invisible foes that lurk in the
darkness of night, foes of which primitive man is in terror of his life.
The fear of the unknown, the mysterious, and the dark, peoples
the mind of primitive man with all sorts of terrible spectres, ghosts,
spirits, goblins, ghouls, shades, witches, and evil powers, all bent on
mischief, destruction and death. Primitive man suffers from chronic
demonophobia. Fear states are specially emphasized at night when
the “demons” have the full power for evil, and man is helpless on
account of darkness and sleep which paralyze him. Hence the terrors
of the night, especially when man is alone, and defenseless.
The fear of solitude comes out strongly in the intense fear that
obsesses man in the gloomy darkness of the night horrors. Fire and
fellow-beings can alone relieve his night terrors. The fear of foes, of
demons, of evil powers does not abate in the day, only it is relieved
by reason of light, of association, and of wakefulness. Man, more
than any other animal, is the victim of the fear instinct. Many tribes,
many races of men perished, due to superstitions and fear
obsessions.
The Homo sapiens is rare. We may agree with Tarde that Homo
somnambulis would be a proper definition of the true mental
condition of most specimens of the human race. For the human race
is still actuated by the principle of “Credo, quia absurdum est.” I
need not go far to substantiate the fact that this principle still guides
the life of the average specimen of civilized humanity. Spiritualism,
theosophy, telepathy, ghost hunting, astrology, oneiromancy,
cheiromancy, Christian Science, psychoanalytic oneiroscopy
employed in events and situations of individual and social life, and
many other magical practices whose name is legion, based on the
mysteries of communication with ghosts, spirits, demons, and
unknown fearsome powers, still haunt the credulous mind, obsessed
with conscious and subconscious horrors of the terrible, invisible
spirit world.
Against the fears of diseases, the scares of the day and terrors of
night, civilized man still uses the magic arts and mysterious,
miraculous powers of the magician, the wizard, the witch, the
mental healer, the shaman, the medicine man, the miracle man, and
the psychoanalyst. Just at present under my own eyes I witness the
pitiful credulity of man, driven by the terrors and horrors of the fear
instinct. In San Jose, San Diego, in Los Angeles, and in many other
Western “culture” centers mystic cults hold high carnival, swaying
the minds of fear-crazed, deluded humanity. As typical specimens of
superstitious fears and absurd beliefs, due to the fear instinct, we
may take as illustrations the following occurrences in the centers of
the far West, obsessed by the aberrations of the fear instinct (I
quote from Los Angeles papers):
“Faith Healer at Los Angeles, Venice, California, after several
wonder cures, orders sun’s rays to be darkened. ‘Brother Isaiah,’
called by thousands the ‘Miracle Man,’ claimed to have repeated the
marvel of dimming the sun at Venice yesterday evening.
 “At 6 o’clock the disciple of healing by faith raised his hands and
announced that as evidence of his power he would blot out the
brilliant solar rays. He gazed at the dazzling red ball above the
waters of the Pacific, and his lips moved in low murmurs.
“‘It is done,’ he said. ‘I have clouded the sun. All those who have
seen this miracle raise your hands.’ Hundreds of hands waved in the
air.
“The first time ‘Brother Isaiah’ claimed to have dimmed the sun’s
rays was at Miracle Hill, when he had been in Los Angeles but a few
days.
“Brother Isaiah stepped to one side of his wooden platform on the
Venice Beach yesterday. He placed a silver police whistle to his lips
and blew. The piercing crescendo sent a shiver through the tense
mass of humanity which stretched from the sand back to the ocean
walk.” Similar miracles and cures were carried on by Mrs. Amy
McPherson in San Diego, San Jose, and all along the Pacific coast.
The self-impulse and the fear instinct, in their intensified forms,
are the bane of deluded, neurotic humanity.
 CHAPTER XXVII

NEU R OSIS AND HER EDITY

The following discussion in the form of questions and answers

may prove of interest to the physician and to the intelligent layman.
The discussion occurred in the course of correspondence. A friend of
mine thought the subject of sufficient importance to have it brought
to the attention of the cultured public.
The questions are as follows:
“Are not all neuropathic conditions the results of a morbid,
unstable nervous organism, the basis of which lies in a faulty
heredity?
“Are not weak nerves the cause of hysterical, neurasthenic and
neuropathic affections in general?
“Is not all neurosis due to defective parent stock?
“If the occasions for fear, as some psychopathologists claim, were
more frequent in primitive times than now, then the cave men must
have had more psychopathic affections than civilized man.”
To these questions the following answers are given:
Psychopathic diseases are not hereditary—they are acquired
characteristics, having their origin in the abnormal, hypertrophied
growth of the fear instinct which is at the root of the primal impulse
of self-preservation. This is proved by psychopathological studies of
clinical cases; and it can be further demonstrated by experimental
work in the laboratory even in the case of animals. “Weak nerves,”
“a run down, exhausted nervous system,” whatever the terms may
mean, may overlap psychopathic conditions, but the two are by no
means equivalent, much less identical. Psychopathic, psychoneurotic
states are not “weak nerves” or “fatigued nerves.” Above all, there is
no need to obscure the matter and resort to the much abused,
mystical and mystifying factor of heredity. It is easy to shift all blame
on former generations, when, in most cases, the fault is close at
hand, namely, a debased environment, a defective training, and a
vicious education.
There is good reason to believe that primitive man had a far
greater tendency to dissociation, to subconscious psychopathic
states than modern man. Even the Middle Ages teem with
psychopathic mental epidemics of the most puerile type. In the
course of evolution, social and individual, this neurotic, psychopathic
tendency has gradually diminished, but has never been completely
eliminated. Increase of knowledge, better education, the increase of
social safeguards, sanitary and hygienic conditions with consequent
increase of safety from dangers, have all helped materially in
decreasing the occasions for the cultivation of the fear instinct.
Under the rigorous conditions of primitive life individuals who have
been unfortunate and have become affected with mental troubles
and emotional afflictions of the fear instinct are mercilessly
exterminated by the process of tribal and social selection. Each
generation weeds out the individuals who have been unfortunate
enough to fall under unfavorable circumstances and have become
mentally sick, suffering from acquired psychopathic disturbances. In
primitive life the crippled, the maimed, the wounded, the sick fall by
the way, and are left to perish a miserable death. In fact, the less
fortunate, the wounded and the stricken in the battle of life, are
attacked by their own companions,—they are destroyed by the
ruthless, social brute. The gregarious brute has no sympathy with
the pains and sufferings of the injured and the wounded. The faint
and the ailing are destroyed by the herd.
Civilization, on the other hand, tends more and more towards the
preservation of psychopathic individuals. We no longer kill our sick
and our weak, nor do we abandon them to a miserable, painful
death,—we take care of them, and cure them. Moreover, we prevent
pathogenic factors from exercising a harmful, malign social selection
of the “fit.” We do our best to free ourselves from the blind,
merciless, purposeless selection, produced by pathogenic micro-
organisms and by other noxious agencies. We learn to improve the
external environment.
We do not condemn people to death because they are infected
with smallpox, typhus, typhoid bacilli, or because of an infected
appendix. We no longer regard them as sinful, unclean, accursed,
and tabooed. We vaccinate, inoculate, operate, and attempt to cure
them. By sanitary and prophylactic measures we attempt to prevent
the very occurrence of epidemics. Our valuation of individuals is
along lines widely different from those of the stone age and cave
man. We value a Pascal, a Galileo, a Newton, a Darwin, a Pasteur,
and a Helmholtz far above a Milo of Croton or an African Johnson.
Civilization is in need of refined, delicate and sensitive
organizations, just as it is in need of galvanometers, chronometers,
telephones, wireless apparatuses, and various chemical reagents of
a highly delicate character. We are beginning to appreciate delicate
mechanisms and sensitive organizations. We shall also learn to train
and guard our sensitive natures until they are strong and resistant to
the incident forces of an unfavorable environment. The recognition,
the diagnosis, and the preservation of psychopathic individuals
account for the apparent increase of neurotics in civilized
communities.
It may be well to add that, although occasions for sudden,
intense, overwhelming fears are not so prevalent in civilized societies
as they are in primitive savage communities, the worries, the
anxieties, the various forms of slow grinding fears of a vague,
marginal, subconscious character present in commercial and
industrial nations, are even more effective in the production of
psychopathic states than are the isolated occasions of intense frights
in the primitive man of the paleolithic or neolithic periods.
 CHAPTER XXVIII

N EUR OSIS AND EUGENIC S

In my work on Psychopathology I lay special stress on the fact

that the psychopathic individual has a predisposition to dissociative
states. Early experiences and training in childhood enter largely into
the formation of such a predisposition. Still, there is no doubt that a
sensitive nervous system is required—a brain susceptible to special
stimuli of the external environment. This, of course, does not mean
that the individual must suffer from stigmata of degeneration. On
the contrary, it is quite possible, and in many patients we actually
find it to be so, that the psychopathic individual may be even of a
superior organization. It is the sensitivity and the delicacy of nervous
organization that make the system susceptible to injurious
stimulations, to which a lower form of organization could be
subjected with impunity.
An ordinary clock can be handled roughly without disturbance of
its internal workings, but the delicate and complicated mechanism of
a chronometer requires careful handling and special, favorable
conditions for its normal functioning. Unfavorable conditions are
more apt to affect a highly complex mechanism than a roughly made
instrument. It is quite probable that it is the superior minds and
more highly complex mental and nervous organizations that are
subject to psychopathic states or states of dissociation. Of course,
unstable minds are also subject to dissociative states, but we must
never forget the fact that highly organized brains, on account of
their very complexity, are apt to become unstable under unfavorable
conditions. A predisposition to dissociation may occur either in
degenerative minds or in minds superior to the average. Functional
psychosis requires a long history of dissociated, subconscious
shocks, suffered by a highly or lowly organized nervous system, a
long history dating back to early childhood.
As Mosso puts it: “The vivid impression of a strong emotion may
produce the same effect as a blow on the head or some physical
shock.” We may, however, say that no functional psychosis, whether
somatopsychosis or psychoneurosis, can ever be produced simply by
physical shocks. In all functional psychoses there must be a mental
background, and it is the mental background alone that produces
the psychosis and determines the character of the psychopathic
state.
Fear is an important factor in the etiology of psychopathic
affections which include somatopsychoses and psychoneuroses.
To regard fear as “error,” as do some sectarians, is absurd, and is
certainly unscientific. Abnormal fear which is the basis of all
functional nervous or psychopathic maladies, is essentially a
pathological process affecting the organs in general and the nervous
system in particular in as definite a way as the invasion and infection
of the organism by various species of bacteria, bacilli, and other
micro-organisms which attack the individual during his lifetime.
Like infectious diseases, the deviations, abnormalities, and
excesses of the fear instinct are acquired by the individual in the
course of his relations with the external environment, and are as real
and substantial as are syphilis, smallpox, diphtheria, cholera, and the
bubonic plague. To regard them as imaginary or to relegate them to
the action of Providence or to heredity is theoretically a
misconception, and practically a great danger to humanity.
There is nowadays a veritable craze for heredity and eugenics.
Biology is misconceived, misinterpreted, and misapplied to social
problems, and to individual needs and ailments. Everything is
ascribed to heredity, from folly and crime to scratches and sneezes.
The goddess Heredity is invoked at each flea-bite—in morsu pulicis
Deum invocare.
 Even war is supposed to be due to the omnipotent deity of
Heredity. Superior races by their patriotism and loyalty destroy the
weak and the helpless, and relentlessly exterminate all peaceful
tribes. Such warlike stock comes of superior clay. The dominant
races have some miraculous germ-plasm, special “unit characters,”
wonderful dominant “units” which, like a precious heritage, these
races transmit unsullied and untarnished to their descendants.
Wars, carnage, butcheries make for progress, culture, and
evolution. Our boasted civilization with its “scientific” business
thoroughness and its ideal of “efficiency” attempts to carry into
effect this quasi-evolutionary doctrine—this apotheosis of brute force
under the aegis of science. The eugenic belief is really a
recrudescence of the ancient savage superstition of the magic
virtues of noble blood and of divine king stock.
All nervous, mental, neuropathic, and psychopathic maladies are
supposed to be a matter of heredity. If people are poor, ignorant,
superstitious, stupid, degraded, brutal, and sick, the eugenists
unhesitatingly put it all down to poor stock.
The eugenic remedy is as simple as it is believed to be efficacious:
Introduce by legislation “efficient” laws favoring “eugenic” marriage,
and teach the masses control of births. The select and chosen stock
alone should multiply—the millennium is then bound to come. Such
is the doctrine of our medico-biological sages.
“Scientific” farmers and breeders of vegetables, fruits, and cattle
are regarded as competent judges of human “breeders.”
Agriculturists and horticulturists set themselves up as advisers in
“the business of raising good crops of efficient children.” Bachelors,
spinsters, and the childless generally, are specially versed in eugenic
wisdom and pedagogics.
All social ills and individual complaints are referred to one main
source—heredity. With the introduction of eugenic legislation, with
the sterilization of the socially unfit, among whom the greatest men
and women may be included, with the breeding of good “orthodox,
common stock,” and with eugenic Malthusian control of births, all
evil and diseases on earth will cease, while the Philistine “superman”
will reign supreme forevermore.
In the Middle Ages all diseases and epidemics, all wars, all social
and private misfortunes were considered as visitations of Divine
wrath. The fear instinct held sway, terrorizing poor, deluded
humanity. In modern times our would-be eugenic science refers all
ills of the flesh and woes of the mind to an outraged Heredity. The
dark ages had resort to prayers, fasts, and penitence, while our age
childishly pins its faith to the miraculous virtues and rejuvenating,
regenerative powers of legislative eugenic measures, and to the
eugenic Malthusian control of births.
Our scientists in eugenics gather hosts of facts, showing by
elaborate statistical figures that the family history of neurotics
reveals stigmata of degeneration in the various members of the
family. The eugenic inquirers do not stop for a moment to think over
the fact that the same sort of evidence can be easily brought in the
case of most people. In fact, the eugenists themselves, when
inquiring into the pedigree of talent and genius, invariably find
somewhere in the family some form of disease or degeneration. This
sort of “scientific” evidence leads some eugenic speculators, without
their noticing the reductio ad absurdum, to the curious conclusion or
generalization that degeneration is present in the family history of
the best and the worst representatives of the human race.
The so-called scientific method of the eugenists is faulty, in spite
of the rich display of colored plates, stained tablets, glittering
biological speculations, brilliant mathematical formulae, and
complicated statistical calculations. The eugenists pile Ossa on Pelion
of facts by the simple method of enumeration which Bacon and the
thinkers coming after him have long ago condemned as puerile and
futile. From the savage’s belief in sympathetic, imitative magic with
its consequent superstitions, omens, and taboos down to the articles
of faith and dogmas of the eugenists, we find the same faulty,
primitive thought, guided by the puerile, imbecile method of simple
enumeration, and controlled by the wisdom of the logical post hoc,
ergo propter hoc.
What would we say of the medical man who should claim that
measles, mumps, cholera, typhoid fever, yellow fever, malaria,
tetanus, and various other infectious diseases are hereditary by
quoting learnedly long tables of statistics to the effect that for
several generations members of the same family suffered from the
same infectious diseases? What would we say of the medical advice
forbidding marriage to individuals whose family history reveals the
presence of exanthemata? We stamp out epidemics not by eugenic
measures, but by the cleansing of infectious filth, and by the
extermination of pathogenic micro-organisms.
Every human being has a predisposition to smallpox, cholera,
tetanus, bubonic plague, typhus fever, malaria, and to like infectious
diseases, but there is no inherent necessity for everyone to fall a
victim to the action of pathogenic organisms, if the preventive and
sanitary conditions are good and proper. No one is immune against
the action of bullets, cannon balls, shells, and torpedoes, or to the
action of various poisons, organic and inorganic, but one is not
doomed by fate to be killed by them, if one does not expose himself
to their deadly action.
Every living organism is, by the very nature of its cellular tissues,
predisposed to wounding by sharp instruments, or to the burning
action of fire, but this does not mean an inherent organic weakness
to which the organism must necessarily submit and perish. We are
all of us predisposed to get injured and possibly killed, when we fall
down from a high place, or when we are run over by an automobile
or by a locomotive, but there is no fatalistic necessity about such
accidents, if care is taken that they should not occur.
We may be predisposed to neurosis by the very nature of
complexity, delicacy, and sensitivity inherent in the structure of a
highly organized nervous system, and still we may remain healthy
and strong all our life long, provided we know how to keep away
from noxious agencies. The creed of the inevitable fatality of
neurosis is as much of a superstition as the Oriental belief in the
fatalism of infectious diseases, plagues, and accidents of all kinds.
Such fatalistic superstitions are dangerous, fatal, because they
distract the attention from the actual cause and from the requisite
prophylactic measures.
We go far afield in search for the remote source of our troubles,
when the cause is close at hand. We need only open our eyes to see
the filth of our towns, the foul, loathsome slums of our cities, the
miserable training, the wretched education given to our children, in
order to realize at a glance the source of our ills and ailments. We
should lay the guilt at the door of our social order. We starve our
young. We starve our children physically and mentally. We piously
sacrifice our tender children and the flower of our youth to the
greedy, industrial Moloch of a military, despotic, rapacious
plutocracy.
Witness semi-civilized Europe with its lauded culture brutally
shedding the blood of its youth and manhood on the altar of
commercial patriotism! It is not heredity, it is the vicious conditions
of life that stunt the physical, nervous, and mental growth of our
young generation. When we are confronted with the miserable,
degraded, crippled forms of our life, we fall back cheerfully on some
remote grandparent, and credulously take refuge in the magic
panacea of eugenics.
The practical aspect is clear. Psychopathic neurosis in its two
varieties, somatopsychosis and psychoneurosis, is not hereditary, but
acquired. We should not shift the blame on former generations and
have resort to eugenics, but we must look to the improvement of
mental hygienic conditions of early childhood, and to the proper
education of the individual.
It is easy to put the blame on grandparents,—they are dead and
cannot defend themselves. Could they arise from their graves, they
could tell some bitter truths to their descendants who are ready to
shift responsibility to other people’s shoulders. It is about time to
face the truth fairly and squarely, a truth which is brought out by
recent investigations in psychopathology, that no matter where the
fons et origo of neurosis be, whether in self-preservation and its
accompanying fear instinct, the condition of life primordial, or in the
other forms of self-preservation, the formation of psychopathic
neurosis with all its characteristic protean symptoms is not
hereditary, but acquired. Neurosis arises within the life cycle of the
individual; it is due to faulty training and harmful experience of early
child life.
Future medicine will be largely prophylactic, preventive, sanitary,
hygienic, dietetic. What holds true of medicine in general holds true
of that particular branch of it that deals with neurosis. The treatment
will become largely prophylactic, preventive, educational, or
pedagogic. It is time that the medical and teaching profession
should realize that functional neurosis is not congenital, not inborn,
not hereditary, but is the result of a defective, fear-inspiring
education in early child life.
The psychopathic diathesis can be overcome by dispelling the
darkness of ignorance and credulity with their false fears and
deceptive hopes, above all, by fortifying the critical, controlling,
guiding consciousness. Let in sun and air into the obscure
cobwebbed regions of the child and man. The gloom and the ghosts
of the fear instinct are dispersed by the light of reason.
As the great Roman poet, Lucretius, well puts it:
“Hunc igitur terrorem animi tenebrasque necessest
Non radii solis neque lucida tela diei
Discutiant, sed naturæ species ratioque.”[14]

FOOTNOTE:
[14] Darkness and terror of the soul are not dispelled by the rays
of the sun and glittering shafts of the day, but by the rational
aspect of nature.
 CHAPTER XXIX

P RIMITIVE FEARS

Various authorities in Ethnology and Anthropology concur in their

description and testimony as to the superstitious fears that obsess
primitive man.
Professor Baldwin Spencer, the anthropologist, writes of the
Australian aborigines that they have “an intense belief in evil magic.
The natives have no idea of disease or pain as being due to anything
but evil magic, except that which is caused by an actual accident
which they can see.... Anything they do not understand they
associate with evil magic.... You have only to tell a native that he is
the victim of evil magic, and he succumbs at once, and can only be
cured by the exercise of counter magic.
“The number of supernatural beings feared by aborigines of
Australia is exceedingly great. For not only are the heavens peopled
with such, but the whole face of the country swarms with them;
every thicket, most watering places abound with evil spirits. In like
manner, every natural phenomenon is believed to be the work of
demons, none of which seem to be of a benign nature, one and all
apparently striving to do all imaginable mischief to the poor black
fellow.”
The same is true of the negro. “The negro is wont to regard the
whole world around him as peopled with envious beings, to whom
he imputes every misfortune that happens to him, and from whose
harmful influence he seeks to protect himself by all kinds of magic
means.” “The religion of the Bolok (of the Upper Congo River),”
writes an observer, “has its basis in their fear of those numerous
invisible spirits which surround them on every side, and are
constantly trying to compass them in their sickness, misfortune and
death; and the Boloki’s sole object in practising their religion is to
cajole, or appease, cheat or conquer or kill those spirits that trouble
them, by their Nganga (medicine men), their rites, their ceremonies,
and their charms. If there were no evil spirits to circumvent there
would be no need of medicine men and their charms.... The Boloki
folk believe that they are surrounded by spirits which try to thwart
them at every twist and turn, and to harm them every hour of day
and night.... I never met among them a man daring enough to go at
night through the forest that divided Monsembe from the upper
villages even though a large reward was offered. Their invariable
reply was: ‘There are too many spirits in the bush and forest.’ The
spirits whom the people dread so much are the mingoli, or
disembodied souls of the dead; the life of the Boloki is described as
‘one long drawn out fear of what the mingoli may next do to them.’
Those dangerous beings dwell everywhere, land and water are full of
them; they are ever ready to pounce on the living and carry them
away, or to smite them with disease, and kill them.... The belief in
witchcraft affects their lives in a vast number of ways. It regulates
their actions, modifies their mode of thought and speech, controls
their conduct towards each other, causes cruelty and callousness in a
people not naturally cruel, and sets the various members of a family
against each other.... Belief in witches is interwoven into the very
fiber of every Bantu speaking man and woman; and the person who
does not believe in them is a monster, a witch to be killed.”
The fear of evil spirits, the fear of witchcraft, and the fear of
malicious spiritual agencies have been the pests of credulous, fear-
obsessed humanity in all the ages of its existence. The crusades,
and religious wars have shown us the blight suffered by humanity,
obsessed by the impulse of self-preservation and the fear instinct.
Fear or pretended Love of the great spirit, under whatever name, is
used for the avoidance of fears and evils.
Sir E. F. im Thurn describes the Indian of Guiana as haunted by
the omnipresence of malicious ghosts and spirits. “The whole world
of the Indian swarms with these beings. If by a mental effort, we
could for a moment revert to a similar mental position, we should
find ourselves surrounded everywhere by a host of harmful beings....
It is not therefore, wonderful that the Indian fears to move beyond
the light of his camp-fire after dark ... nor is it wonderful that
occasionally the air round the settlement seems to the Indian to
grow so full of beings, that a sorcerer is employed.”
The Indians of Paraguay “live in constant dread of supernatural
beings and if nothing else contributed to make their life miserable,
this ever present dread would be in itself quite sufficient to rob it of
most of its joys.”
Professor Powell writes of the Indians: “The Indians believed that
diseases were caused by unseen evil beings and by witchcraft, and
every cough, every toothache, every headache, every fever, every
boil and every wound, in fact all their ailments were attributed to
such a cause. Their so-called medical practice was a horrible system
of sorcery and to such superstition human life was sacrificed on an
enormous scale....”
Similarly, the malignant spirits of the Maori are “so numerous as to
surround the living in crowds.” The Maori claims: “the spirits throng
like mosquitoes, ever watching to inflict harm.” The Melanesian “sees
himself surrounded at every step by evil spirits and their influences.”
The Papuans “people land and sea with mysterious, malignant
powers which take up their abode in stones and trees or in men, and
cause all kinds of misfortunes, especially sickness and death.” The
Bakua of New Guinea are in constant fear of spirits.... “Of forest
spirits the number is infinite; for it is above all in the mysterious
darkness, the tangled wilderness of the virgin forests that the spirits
love to dwell.... The spirits are never bent on good, they live in evil
places. At night-fall the native hears the voices of the spirits, they
make inroads into human habitations, and drive man crazy.”
In Java, the people are firmly convinced that “the number of
spirits is innumerable, they are a source of fear and anxiety.” The
natives of Sumatra are possessed of “fear of unknown powers....
Every misfortune bespeaks the ill-will of hostile spirits. The whole
world is a meeting place of demons.” The Batakas “live in perpetual
fear of evil spirits.”
Professor M. Williams writes of the Hindoos: “The great majority
of the inhabitants of India are, from the cradle to the burning
ground, victims of a form of mental disease which is best explained
by the term demonophobia. They are haunted and oppressed by a
perpetual dread of demons. They are firmly convinced that evil
spirits of all kinds, from malignant fiends to mischievous imps and
elves, are ever on the watch to harm, harass and torment them, to
cause plague, sickness, famine, and disaster, to impede, injure and
mar every good work. The worship of at least ninety per cent of the
people of India in the present day is a worship of fear. The simple
truth is that evil of all kinds, difficulties, dangers and disasters,
famines, diseases, pestilences and death, are thought by an ordinary
Hindoo to proceed from demons, or more properly speaking, from
devils, and from devils alone.” “The underlying principle (of the
religion of the Kacharis of Assam) is characteristically one of fear or
dread.”
“The Thibetans,” writes an observer, “are thorough-going demon
worshippers. In every nook, path, big tree, rock, spring, waterfall
and lake there lurks a devil,—for which reason few individuals will
venture out alone after dark. The sky, the ground, the house, the
field, the country, have each their special demons; and sickness is
always attributed to malign demoniacal influence.”
The Burmese, the Laosians of Siam, the Thay of Indo-China are in
all their activities controlled by the fear instinct which is at the
bottom of all their beliefs. “The Thay cannot take a single step
without meeting a demon on the path.... Spirits watch him, ready to
punish negligence, and he is afraid. Fear is not only for him, the
beginning of wisdom, it is the whole of his wisdom.”
The Koreans may be regarded as the most superstitious people
among the Orientals. Before me lies a Korean book full of
superstitions which can only be matched in their absurdities with
those of Australian aborigines who, in their savage culture, belong to
the paleolithic period. The whole course of the Korean’s life is
controlled to the very minutiae by the terrors and horrors of
demoniacal, invisible, deadly, malignant powers of demons, spirits,
ghosts, hobgoblins, specters, and witches. According to the Korean
belief the earth is a pandemonium in which witches and evil spirits
hold high carnival.
J. M. de Groot writes “In Korean belief, earth, air, and sea are
peopled by demons. They haunt every umbrageous tree, shady
ravine, spring and mountain crest.... They make a sport of human
destinies. They are on every roof, ceiling, oven and beam. They fill
the chimney, shed, the living room, the kitchen, they are on every
shelf and jar. In thousands they waylay the traveler as he leaves his
home, beside him, behind him, dancing in front of him, whirring over
his head, crying out upon him from air, earth, and water. They are
numbered by thousands of billions, and it has been well said that
their ubiquity is an unholy travesty of Divine Omnipresence. This
belief, and it seems to be the only one he possesses, keeps the
Korean in a perpetual state of nervous apprehension, it surrounds
him with indefinite terrors, and it may be truly said of him that he
passes the time of his sojourning here in fear.... The spirits keep the
Korean in bondage from birth to death.”
Im Bang, a Korean writer on Korean beliefs, has a characteristic
story of a poor relative of some Korean dignitary. This poor relative
of the high official once a year gathered hundreds of thousands of
spirits whom he checked off, so as to keep their malignant
disposition under control. And this gentleman was but one of the
many clerks; he was but one census man of the vast bureaucratic
spiritistic machinery for the regulation and control of evil demons.
The same holds true of the other tribes in Asia. Thus the Gyliaks
think that all the places on earth are filled with malicious demoniacal
agencies. Similarly, the Koryaks on the Amoor are terrorized by the
malignancy of evil spirits that dog their steps. W. Jochelson tells of
the Koryaks that “when visiting the houses to cause diseases and to
kill people, they (the spirits or demons) enter from under the
ground.... They are invisible to human beings, they are sometimes
so numerous in houses that they sit on the people, and fill up all
corners.... With hammers and axes they knock people over their
heads and cause headache. They bite, and cause swellings. They
shoot invisible arrows which stick in the body causing death. The
demons tear out pieces of flesh from people, thus causing sores and
wounds to form on the body.” The same spirit of fear of the invisible
and of the mysterious, fear of evil powers, controlling the fate of
man, constitutes the central belief of almost every primitive tribe,
semi-civilized, ancient, as well as modern nation. They are all
controlled by the fundamental instinct of life—the fear instinct.
The Semitic scholar, R. H. Harper, writes of the Assyrians and
Babylonians as follows: “There is no place in the universe where evil
spirits can not penetrate. Every manner of evil and disaster is
ascribed to them, from pestilence, fever, and the scorching wind of
the desert, down to the trifles of life,—a quarrel, a headache, a
broken dish, or a bad dream. They walk the street, slip into the door,
get into the food, in short, are everywhere, and the danger from
their presence is always imminent.... Corresponding to a widespread
belief in demons was a similar belief in witchcraft. It was not at all
strange that the demons, who worked in every possible corner of the
universe, should take possession of human beings....”
The tablets excavated in the imperial library of Ashurbanipal show
the spirit of the people even of the highest classes debased with
delusions and religious hallucinations due to self-preservation and
fear instinct, so dominant in man who, when common-sense departs
from him, may be regarded as the irrational animal par excellence.
We may give the following illustration taken from one of the many
tablets of the Shurpu series:
“The evil spirits like grass have covered the earth. To the four
winds they spread brilliancy like fire, they send forth flames. The
people living in dwellings they torment, their bodies they afflict. In
city and country they bring moaning, small and great they make to
lament. Man and woman they put in bonds, and fill with cries of
woe. Man they fall upon and cover him like a garment. In heaven
and earth like a tempest they rain; they rush on in pursuit. They fill
him with poison, his hands they bind, his sides they crush.”
According to the ancient rabbis, a man should not drink water by
night, for thus he exposes himself to the Shavriri, demons of
blindness. What then should he do if he is thirsty? If there be
another man with him, let him rouse him up and say: “I am thirsty,”
but if he be alone, let him tap upon the lid of the jug (to make the
demon fancy there is some one with him), and addressing him by
his own name, let him say: “Thy mother bid thee beware of the
Shavriri, vriri, riri, ri.” Rashi, a mediaeval commentator, says that by
this incantation the demon gradually contracts and vanishes as the
sound of the word Shavriri decreases.
The ancient rabbis instruct that “no one should venture out at
night time on Wednesday or Saturday, for Agrath, the daughter of
the demon Machloth, roams about accompanied by eighteen myriads
of evil demons, each one of which has power to destroy.” The rabbis
claim that the air, land and sea are full of demons, all bent on evil
and destruction of man. In this respect the learned rabbis differ but
little from the superstitious Koreans and Australian savages. The
rabbis warn the pious Jew that “should he forget to fold his prayer
cover, he is to shake it thoroughly next morning, in order to get rid
of the evil spirits that have harbored there during the night.” The evil
spirits are infinite in number. Thus the Talmudic authorities are in full
accord with the ancient Babylonians, Assyrians, and with the lowest
savages, ancient and modern, obsessed by the fear of spirits, by
Demonophobia.
One cannot help agreeing with the English anthropologist, Frazer,
who after his study of the subject, arrives at the following
conclusion: “In India from the earliest times down to the present day
the real religion of the common folk appears always to have been a
belief in a vast multitude of spirits of whom many, if not most, are
mischievous and harmful. As in Europe beneath a superficial layer of
Christianity a faith in magic and witchcraft, in ghosts and goblins has
always survived and even flourished among the weak and the
ignorant (and apparently cultivated) so it has been and so it is in the
East (and we may say also in the West). Brahmanism, Buddhism,
Islam may come and go, but the belief in magic and demons
remains unshaken through them all, and, if we may judge of the
future from the past, it is likely to survive the rise and fall of other
historical religions. For the great faiths of the world, just in so far as
they are the outcome of superior intelligence, of extraordinary fervor
of aspiration after the ideal, fail to touch and move the common
man. They make claims upon his intellect and his heart, to which
neither the one nor the other is capable of responding. With the
common herd who compose the great bulk of every people, the new
religion is accepted only in outward show.... They yield a dull assent
to it with their lips, but in their heart they never abandon their old
superstitions (and fears of evil and mysterious miraculous agencies);
in these they cherish a faith such as they can never repose in the
creed which they nominally profess; and to these, in the trials and
emergencies of life, they have recourse as to infallible remedies.”
And he quotes Maxwell to the effect that “The Buddhists in Ceylon,
in times of sickness and danger ... turn to demons, feared and
reverenced in the same way as do ‘the Burmese, Talaings, and
Malays.’”
The Jews firmly believed in demoniacal agencies. “When the even
was become, they brought unto Him many that were possessed with
devils; and He cast out the spirits with His word, and healed all that
were sick.” “And in the synagogue there was a man which had a
spirit of an unclean devil; and he cried out with a loud voice.” “And
devils also came out of many ..., and He rebuking them suffered
them not to speak.” “And there was a herd of many swine feeding on
the mountains.... Then went the devils out of the man, and entered
into the swine, and the herd ran violently down a steep place, and
were choked.” “Casting out devils” was a sure proof of divine
mission.
Perhaps a quotation from the Talmud will make clear the fear of
demons which obsesses the Jew: Abba Benjamin says, “if the eye
were permitted to see the malignant spirits that beset us, we could
not rest on account of them.” Abai, another sage, says: “They
outnumber us, they surround us as the heaped up soil in our garden
plots.” Rav Hunna says: “Every one has a thousand on his left side
and ten thousand on his right.” Rava claims: “The crowding at the
schools is caused by their (demons) pushing in; they cause the
weariness which the rabbis experience in their knees, and even tear
their clothes by hustling against them. If one would discover traces
of their presence, let him sift some ashes upon the floor at his
bedside, and next morning he will see their footmarks as of fowls on
the surface. But if one would see the demons themselves, he must
burn to ashes the after-birth of a first born black kitten, the offspring
of a first-born black cat, and then put a little of the ashes into his
eyes, and he will not fail to see the demons.”
In the words of Lord Avebury, the archeologist, “the savage is a
prey to constant fears.... Savages never know but what they may be
placing themselves in the power of these terrible enemies (the
demons); and it is not too much to say that the horrible dread of
unknown evil hangs like a thick cloud over savage life and embitters
every pleasure.”
In our modern times the preachers, the revivalists, the pulpit,
appeal to fear and to hell in order to keep their flock in the fold. Fear
of eternal damnation for infidels is the war cry of religion.
Professor Dreslar elicited from 875 California normal school
students four-fifths of whom were young women, 3225 confessions
of belief in superstitions.... “How thin is the veneer of culture over
that great mass of irrational predisposition which in the hour of fear
and excitement resumes control of the popular mind, and leads on
to folly and ruin!” (Ross).
Buckle is right in pointing out the significant fact that superstition
is found in any walk of life in which risk or danger predominates.
Sailors are more superstitious than landsmen, while farmers and
business people, especially gamblers and speculators, are more
superstitious than industrial workers. Similarly Cumont is right in
ascribing the superstitions of soldiers as due to risks and dangers of
war.
After the great world war one notices the rise of all sorts of
superstitions. Superstitions and fear are close companions. A
modern historian does not hesitate to declare that “Europe is held in
hate, because the nations fear each other.... What sentiment has
dug the ditch separating Russia from the rest of the world? It is fear.
The states of Western Europe, which the Soviets regard as their
persecutors, think themselves menaced in their turn by the Soviet
republic.” The Great War was produced by self-preservation and fear.
The world is still in the grip of the fear instinct.
The Bible claims: Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The
Latin poet declares: Primus in orbe deos fecit timor. The real state of
things is: Self and fear are the Lords of life, individual and social.
Bacon in his essay “On the Wisdom of the Ancients,” with his clear
insight has stated the matter succinctly: “In the Panic terrors there is
set forth a very wise doctrine; for by the nature of things all living
creatures are endued with a certain fear and dread, the office of
which is to preserve their life and existence, and to avoid or repel
approaching mischief. But the same nature knows not how to keep
just measure,—but together with salutary fears ever mingles vain
and empty ones; insomuch that all things (if one could see into the
heart of them) are quite full of Panic terrors; human things most of
all; so infinitely tossed and troubled as they are with superstition
(which is in truth nothing but a Panic terror), especially in seasons of
hardship, anxiety, and adversity.”
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