Man into Wolf: An Anthropological Study of Sadism, Masochism, Lycanthropy

MAN INTO WOLF AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF SADISM, MASOCHISM, AND LYCANTHROPY a lecture delivered at a meeting of the Royal Society of Medicine by ROBERT EISLER with an introduction by SIR DAVID K. HENDERSON F. R. G. P. Ed. and Lon., F. R. S. E. ROUTLEDGE AND KEGAN PAUL LTD Broadway House, Carter Lane London First published in 1951 by Routledge and Kegan Paul Limited Broadway House, 68-74 Carter Lane, London, B. C. 4 Printed in Great Britain by Butler and Tanner Limited Frome and London 9 Eanv yaQ n rjdovrj hony cfvyyevrj. For there is a kind of pleasure that is akin to pain. Metrodorus, quoted by Seneca, Epistulae ad Lucilium Epist. xcix. 26 . . . curae sua cuique voluptas Haec quoque ab alterius grata dolor e venit. Each man is concerned with his own pleasure and that is sweet which springs from anothers pain Ovid, Ars amatoria, I. 749 s. Animal prius est hominc. The animal is prior to man. Boethius, Arilhmetica, I. i. p. 10 Quisque suos patimur manes. Each man suffers his own spirit. Virgil, Ac ieid, VI. 743 As to the diseases of the body the physician is now in command. The microbes which cause the acute infections are in full retreat. That retreat might before long become a rout. I can tell you no such tale of triumph when we have tried to follow the working of the mind and its many aberrations. In this field our innocence is disconcerting. In consequence of this gap in our knowledge, we have not acquired the art of living together, cither at home, where there is a threat of civil discord, or abroad, where there is the menace of war. This is the crucial problem which confronts society in our time. Lord Moran, President of the Royal College of Physicians, speaking in Canterbury Cathedral, 25 June 1949. The Observer, 26 June 1949- CONTENTS INTRODUCTION BY PROFESSOR SIR DAVID K. HENDER SON, F. R. C. P. Ed. and Lon., F. R. S. E. page I I AUTHORS FOREWORD 15 MAN INTO WOLF THE LECTURE 23 NOTES 53 APPENDICES i. PROFESSOR JUNGS ARCHETYPES AND NEO LAMARCKISM 247 II. THE ROMAN LUPERCI AND THE LUPERCALIA RITUAL. CONTEMPORARY PARALLELS 254 III. THE FLAGELLATION OF WOMEN IN THE DIO NYSIAN MYSTERIES 259 IV. A CLEAR CASE OF VAMPIRISM. JOHN GEORGE HAIGH 264 V. GOING BERSERK 271 INDEX 275 INTRODUCTION BY PROFESSOR SIR DAVID K. HENDERSON F. R. G. P. Ed. and Lon., F. R. S. E. IT is a great privilege and honour to be invited to write a fore word to Dr. Robert Eislers book dealing with c An Anthropo logical Interpretation of Sadism, Masochism and Lycanthropy. I was fortunate enough to be the Chairman of the Psychiatric Section of the Royal Society of Medicine when Dr. Eisler lec tured to the Section on this topic. I was enthralled and amazed by the arresting manner in which he presented his material, by the depth of his knowledge, and by his modesty. He con veyed a message to his audience, and he made me realize, as I had never fully done before, how much psychiatrists, lawyers and judges, schoolmasters, and ministers of religion might profit by a far greater knowledge of anthropological data, and their application to human development. This, then, is a book which is long overdue, but there is some satisfaction in the thought that, at last, it has been undertaken by a man whose scholarly and cultural interests have developed over many years, and covered a wide variety of topics. At one time or another in his career he has interested himself in such subjects as physics, archaeology, the history of art, the his tory of religion, astrology, and ancient manuscripts, any one of which might be thought sufficient for any man. But Eisler has advanced much further than that, because his publications in the form of books and lectures have received recognition all over the world. Furthermore, he has taken part in and addressed important Congresses he has lectured at the Sor bonne on religious, social and economic problems, and has even addressed the British Parliamentary Finance Committee, and the U. S...