Excerpt from The Drama of Savage Peoples Under the influence of the study of evolution, especially social evolution, and of the science of society, it has become a practice to investigate the simpler stages of social institutions in order to be resolved as to their essential nature. Thus, Frazer has done much with the early history of religion; Westermarck, with that of marriage; and Tylor with that of culture in general. Among social institutions must be included also the drama. What can we find out about the nature of the drama by studying its earlier stages The following work is an attempt to go back of the Greek drama, which has currently been con ceived of as the source of the dramatic art, and to develop the more primitive phases of this institution. Such a study leads one among savage peoples the world over, with the result of reveal ing, in their various rites, ceremonies, dances, and pleasures, the germ of the drama. It is very crude in its beginning, yet it shows the earliest known steps which man took in this line; and, the simpler forms being at length set in the series, we may say that we have carried one more social institution further back towards its origin. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.