Item 27 - Letter from B. Malinowski to Sir James Frazer

1 item

27, Pentland Terrace, Edinburgh - Encloses a translation of the fire myth from the village of Moligilagi of two women of the Lukwasisiga clan mentioned in the letter of 1 September, and an account of the thunder (Pilapala) myth; is working on Social Psychology, problems connected with 'Phantom of the Collective Soul'; has been reading [William] McDougall's 'Group Mind', [Wilfred] Trotter's 'Herd Instinct' ['Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War'], and [Martin] Conway's 'Crowd' ['The Crowd in Peace and War'] and finds them full of interesting suggestions, sometimes sound, sometimes preposterous, 'all ignore the need of looking to facts for main inspiration'; the two most dangerous blind alleys at present are the 'Collective Soul' school and the branch of the 'Culture contact' school 'which denies all value and possibly psychological analysis'; may be in London soon to meet a French Jewish trader from the Trobriands interested in the native ignorance of procreation, who speaks the native language quite well.

Accompanied by the envelope.