ABSTRACT
Sacrifice as a means of influencing supernatural powers is almost unknown to very backward tribes, whereas in the highest religions it has disappeared as representing too naive and materialistic an idea of the god. Sacrifice, like religious ritual in general, among the lower races is based mainly on self-interested considerations. The species of animal selected for sacrifice is nearly always one domesticated by the worshippers themselves. The ritual of sacrifice itself and the ideas which are associated with it may, of course, be very different in different religions. An intimate relationship between those who made the sacrifice and the animal sacrificed was considered necessary. The procedure of leading the sacrificial victim round the idol and turning its eyes towards the god before killing it was evidently not merely a symbolical act, but had real significance. Human sacrifices for crops have, moreover, been found in North and South America.
