This comprehensive anthropological monograph compiles evidence from over one thousand historical and observational sources to document the worldwide distribution of stercoraceous and scatological rites. The author addresses the widespread historical use of excrementitious and urinary agents in religion, medicine, love-philters, divination, and witchcraft. The investigation begins with field observations of the Nehue-Cue medicine order among the Zuni and Moqui Indians, examining ceremonial urine-drinking and simulated religious practices. From these New World observations, the study broadens to examine historical European analogues, notably the Feast of Fools in medieval and Renaissance France, analyzing their symbolic and theatrical features as survivals of pre-Christian traditions.
The work explores the profound veneration historically accorded to the bodily refuse of sacred personages, examining records concerning the Grand Lama of Thibet, ancient Hindu sects such as the Aghozis, and historical Christian theological disputes regarding the literal digestion of sacramental elements known as stercorarianism. Extensive attention is directed toward the ritualistic consumption of intoxicating fungi, particularly the Amanita muscaria, among the native tribes of Siberia and the Pacific coast, detailing the physiological effects and the subsequent propagation of the narcotic property through human urine.
The volume further details the symbolic and therapeutic use of excrement, urine, and specialized botanical growths like mistletoe among ancient Celtic Druids, classical Roman and Egyptian agricultural deities of dung and sewers, and various indigenous tribes of Africa, Australia, and the Americas. Throughout this extensive compilation, the author argues that these repulsive and bizarre practices are not random manifestations of madness, but represent consistent, logical developments of early religious thought. By contrasting primitive actions and beliefs with modern standards of sanitation and propriety, the work provides a framework for measuring the intellectual and moral progress of humanity upward from ancient superstitions.
