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MUTILATION (from Lat. mutilus, maimed)

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Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 100 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MUTILATION (from See also:Lat. mutilus, maimed) . The wounding, See also:maiming and disfiguring of the See also:body is a practice See also:common among savages and systematically pursued by many entire races. The varieties of mutilation are as numerous as the instances of it are widespread. Nearly every See also:part of the body is the See also:object of mutilation, and nearly every See also:motive common to humanbeings—vanity, See also:religion, See also:affection, prudence—has acted in giving rise to what has been proved to be a See also:custom of See also:great antiquity. Some forms, such as See also:tattooing and depilation, have stayed on as practices even after See also:civilization has banished the more brutal types; and a curious fact is that analogous mutilations are found observed by races separated by vast distances, and proved to have had no relations with one another, at any See also:rate in historic times. Ethnical mutilations have in certain races a great sociological value. It is only after sub-See also:mission to some such operation that the youth is admitted to full tribal rights (see See also:INITIATION). Tattooing, too, has a semi-religious importance, as when an individual bears a See also:representation of his totem on his body; and many mutilations are tribe marks, or brands used to know slaves. Mutilations may be divided into: (I) those of the skin; (2) of the See also:face and See also:head; (3) of the body and limbs; (4) of the See also:teeth; (5) of the sexual See also:organs. 1. The See also:principal See also:form of skin-mutilation is tattooing (q.v.), the ethnical importance of which is very great. A practice almost as common is depilation, or removal of See also:hair.

This is either by means of the See also:

razor, e.g. in See also:Japan, by depilatories, or by tearing out the hairs separately, as among most See also:savage peoples. The parts thus mutilated are usually the eyebrows, the face, the See also:scalp and the pubic regions. Many See also:African natives See also:tear out all the body hair, some among them (e.g. the Bongos) using See also:special pincers. Depilation is common, too, in the See also:South See also:Sea Islands. The Andaman islanders and the See also:Botocudos of See also:Brazil shave the body, using See also:shell-edges and other See also:primitive See also:instruments. 2. Mutilations of the face and head are usually restricted to the lips, ears, See also:nose and cheeks. The lips are simply perforated or distended to an extraordinary degree. The Botocudos insert disks of See also:wood into the See also:lower See also:lip. Lip-mutilations are common in See also:North See also:America, too, on the See also:Mackenzie See also:river and among the Aleutians. In See also:Africa they are frequently practised. The Manganja See also:women See also:pierce the upper lips and introduce small See also:metal See also:shields or rings.

The Mittu women See also:

bore the lower lip and thrust a wooden peg through. In other tribes little sticks of See also:rock crystal are pushed through, which jingle together as the wearer talks. The women of See also:Senegal increase the natural thickness of the upper lip by pricking it repeatedly until it is permanently inflamed and swollen. The See also:ear, and particularly the See also:lobe, is almost universally mutilated, from the ear-rings of the civilized See also:West to the wooden disks of the Botocudos. The only peoples who are said not to See also:wear any form of ear See also:ornament are the Andaman islanders, the Neddahs, the See also:Bushmen, the Fuegians and certain tribes of See also:Sumatra. Ear mutilation in its most exaggerated form is practised in Indo-See also:China by the Mois of See also:Annam and the Penangs of See also:Cambodia, and in See also:Borneo by the See also:Dyaks. They extend the lobe by the insertion of wooden disks, and by metal rings and weights, until it sometimes reaches the See also:shoulder. In Africa and See also:Asia earrings sometimes weigh nearly See also:half a See also:pound. See also:Livingstone said that the natives of the Zambesi distend the perforation in the lobe to such a degree that the See also:hand closed could be passed through. The Monbuttus thrust through a perforation in the body of the ear rolls of leaves, or of See also:leather, or cigarettes. The See also:Papuans, the inhabitants of the New See also:Hebrides, and most Melanesian peoples carry all sorts of things in their ears, the New Caledonians using them as See also:pipe-racks. Many races disfigure the nose with perforations.

The See also:

young dandies of New See also:Guinea bore holes through the septum and thrust through pieces of See also:bone or See also:flowers, a mutilation found, too, among New Zealanders, Australians, New Caledonians and other Polynesian races. In Africa the Bagas and Bongos hang metal rings and buckles on their noses; the Aleutians cords, bits of metal or See also:amber. In women it is the See also:side of the nose which is usually perforated; rings and jewelled pendants (as among See also:Indian and Arabic women, the See also:ancient Egyptians and See also:Jews), or feathers, flowers, See also:coral, &c. (as in See also:Polynesia), being hung there. Only one side of the nose is usually perforated, and this is not always merely decorative. It may denote social position, as among the Ababdes in Africa, whose unmarried girls wear no rings in their noses. The male Kulus of the See also:Himalaya wear a large See also:ring in the See also:left nostril. See also:Malays and Polynesians sometimes deform the nose by enlarging its See also:base, effecting this by See also:compression of the nasal bones of the newly See also:born. The cheeks are not so frequently mutilated. The See also:people of the Aleutian and Kurile Islands bore holes through their cheeks and See also:place in them the See also:long hairs from the muzzles of See also:seals. The See also:Guaranis of South America wear feathers in the same manner. In some countries the See also:top of the head or the skin behind the ears of See also:children is burnt to preserve them from sickness, traces of which mutilation are said to be discoverable on some See also:neolithic skulls; while some African tribes cut and prick the See also:neck See also:close to the ear.

By many peoples the deformation of the See also:

skull was anciently practised. See also:Herodotus, See also:Hippocrates and See also:Strabo mention such a custom among peoples of the See also:Caspian and See also:Crimea. Later similar practices were found existing among See also:Chinese mendicant sects, some tribes of See also:Turkestan, the See also:Japanese priesthood, in Malaysia, Sumatra, See also:Java and the south seas. In See also:Europe it was not unknown. But the See also:discovery of America brought to our knowledge those races which made a See also:fine See also:art of skull-deformities. At the See also:present See also:day the custom is still observed by the Haidas and Chinooks, and by certain tribes of See also:Peru and on the See also:Amazon, by the Kurds of See also:Armenia, by certain See also:Malay peoples, in the See also:Solomon Islands and the New Hebrides. The reasons for this type of mutilation are uncertain. Probably the See also:idea of distinguishing themselves from lower races was predominant in most cases, as for example in that of the See also:Chinook See also:Indians, who deformed the skull to distinguish themselves from their slaves. Or it may have been through a See also:desire to give a ferocious See also:appearance to their warriors. The deformation was always done at See also:infancy, and often in the See also:case of both sexes. It was, however, more usually reserved for boys, and sometimes for a single See also:caste, as at See also:Tahiti. Different methods prevailed: by bands, bandages, boards, compresses of See also:clay and sandbags, a continued pressure was applied to the half-formed See also:cranial bones to give them the desired shape.

Hand-kneading may also possibly have been employed. 3. Mutilations of the body or limbs by maiming, lopping off or deforming, are far from rare. Certain races (Bushmen, See also:

Kaffirs and See also:Hottentots) cut off the See also:finger See also:joints as a sign of See also:mourning, especially for parents. The Tongans do the same, in the belief that the evil See also:spirits which bring diseases into the body would See also:escape by the See also:wound. Diseased children are thus mutilated by them. See also:Con-tempt for See also:female timidity has caused a curious custom among the See also:Gallas (Africa). They amputate the mammae of boys soon after See also:birth, believing no See also:warrior can possibly be brave who possesses them. The See also:fashion of distorting the feet of Chinese ladies of high See also:rank has been of long continuance and only recently prohibited. 4. Mutilations of the teeth are among the most common and the most varied. They are by breaking, extracting, filing, See also:inlaying or cutting away the See also:crown of the teeth.

Nearly every variety of dental mutilation is met with in Africa. In a tribe north-See also:

east of the See also:Albert See also:Nyanza it is usual to pry out with a piece of metal the four lower incisors in children of both sexes. The women of certain tribes on the Senegal force the growth of the upper incisors outwards so as to make them project beyond the lower lips. Many of the aboriginal tribes of See also:Australia See also:extract teeth, and at See also:puberty the Australian boys have a tooth knocked out. The Eskimos of the Mackenzie River cut down the crown of the upper incisors so as not to resemble See also:dogs. Some Malay races, too, are said to blacken their teeth because dogs have See also:white teeth. This desire to be unlike animals seems to be at the bottom of many dental mutilations. Another See also:reason is the wish to distinguish tribe from tribe. Thus some Papuans break their teeth in See also:order to be unlike other Papuan tribes which they despise. In this way such practices become traditional. Finally, like many mutilations, those of the teeth are trials of endurance of See also:physical See also:pain, and take place at ceremonies of initiation and at puberty. The Mois (Stiengs) of See also:Cochin-China break the two upper See also:middle incisors with a See also:flint.

This is always ceremoniously done at puberty to the See also:

accompaniment of feasting and prayers for those mutilated, who will thus, it is thought, be preserved from sickness. Among Malay races the filing of teeth takes place with similar ceremony at puberty. In Java, Sumatra and Borneo the incisors are thinned down and shortened. Deep transverse grooves are also made with a See also:file, a See also:stone, See also:bamboo or See also:sand, and the teeth filed to a point. The Dyaks of Borneo make a small hole in the transverse groove and insert a See also:pin of See also:brass, which is hammered to a See also:nail-head shape in the hollow, or they inlay the teeth with See also:gold and other metals. The ancient Mexicans also inlaid the teeth with See also:precious stones. 5. Mutilations of the sexual organs are more ethnically important than any. They have played a great part in human See also:history, and still have much significance in many countries. Their antiquity is undoubtedly great, and nearly all originate with the idea of initiation into full sexual See also:life. The most important, See also:circumcision (q.v.), has been transformed into a religious rite. Infibulation (Lat. fibula, a clasp), or the attaching a ring, clasp, or See also:buckle to the sexual organs, in See also:females through the labia majora, in See also:males through the prepuce, was an operation to preserve chastity very commonly practised in antiquity.

At See also:

Rome it was in use; Strabo says it was prevalent in See also:Arabia and in See also:Egypt, and it is still native to those regions (See also:Lane, See also:Modern Egyptians, i. 73; Arabic See also:Lexicon, s.v. " hafada "). See also:Niebuhr heard that it was practisedbn both shores of the See also:Persian Gulf and at See also:Bagdad (Description de l'Arabie, p. 7o). It is common in Africa (see See also:Sir H. H. See also:Johnston, See also:Kilimanjaro Expedition, 1886), but is there often replaced by an operation which consists in stitching the labia majora together when the girl is four or five years old. Castration is practised in the East to See also:supply See also:guards for harems, and was employed in See also:Italy until the See also:time of See also:Pope See also:Leo XIII. to provide " soprani ' for the papal See also:choir; it has also been voluntarily submitted to from religious motives (see See also:EUNUCH). The operation has, however, been resorted to for other purposes. Thus in Africa it is said to have been used as a means ofPannihilating conquered tribes. The Hottentots and Bushmen, too, have the curious custom of removing one testicle when a boy is eight or nine years old, in the belief that this partial emasculation renders the victim fleeter of See also:foot for the See also:chase.

The most dreadful of these mutilations is that practised by certain Australian tribes on their boys. It consists of cutting open and leaving exposed the whole length of the urethral See also:

canal and thus rendering sexual intercourse impossible. Accordingto some authorities it is hatred of the white See also:man and dread of See also:slavery which are the reasons of this racial See also:suicide. Among the Dyaks and in many of the Melanesian islands curious modes of ornamentation of the organs (such as the kalang) prevail, which are in the nature of mutilations. Penal Use.—Mutilation as a method of See also:punishment was common in the criminal See also:law of many ancient nations. In the earliest See also:laws of See also:England mutilation, maiming and dismemberment had a prominent place. " Men branded on the forehead, without hands, feet, or See also:tongues, lived as examples of the danger which attended the See also:commission of See also:petty crimes and as a warning to all churls " (See also:Pike's History of See also:Crime in England, 1873). The Danes were more severe than the See also:Saxons. Under their rules eyes were plucked out; noses, ears and upper lips cut off; scalps See also:town away; and sometimes the whole body flayed alive. The earliest See also:forest-laws of which there is See also:record are those of Canute (1016). Under these, if a freedman offered violence to a keeper of the See also:king's See also:deer he was liable to lose freedom and See also:property; if a serf, he lost his right hand, and on a second offence was to See also:die. One who killed a deer was either to have his eyes put out or lose his life.

Under the first two See also:

Norman See also:kings mutilation was the punishment for poaching. It was, however, not reserved for that, as during the reign of See also:Henry I. some coiners were taken to See also:Winchester, where their right hands were lopped off and they were castrated. Under the kings of the West Saxon See also:dynasty the loss of hands had been a common See also:penalty for coining (The Obsolete Punishments of See also:Shropshire, by S. Meeson See also:Morris). Morris quotes a case in See also:John's reign at the Salop Assizes in 1203, where one Alice Crithecreche and others were accused of murdering an old woman at Lilleshall. Convicted of being See also:accessory, Crithecreche was sentenced to See also:death, but the penalty was altered to that of having her eyes plucked out. During the Tudor and See also:Stuart periods mutilations were a common form of punishment extra-judicially inflicted by order of the privy See also:council and the See also:Star Chamber. There are said to be preserved at Playford See also:Hall, See also:Ipswich, instruments of Henry VIII.'s time for cutting off ears. This penalty appears to have been inflicted for not attending See also:church. By an See also:act of Henry VIII. (33 See also:Hen. VIII. c.

12) the punishment for " striking in the king's See also:

court or See also:house " was the loss of the right hand. For See also:writing a See also:tract on The Monstrous Regimen of Women a See also:Nonconformist divine (Dr W. See also:Stubbs) had his right hand lopped off. Among many cases of severe mutilations during Stuart times may be mentioned those of See also:Prynne, See also:Burton, See also:Bastwick and See also:Titus See also:Oates.

End of Article: MUTILATION (from Lat. mutilus, maimed)

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