"Ecological modes change and it is in their progressive adaptation to these changes that culture adapt their characteristic forms," Marvin Harris said yesterday at the Peabody Museum lecture series.

Harris, professor of anthropology at Columbia, discussed the evolution of the "Indian sacred cow complex" in his lecture entitled "Forbidden Flesh."

Speaking to a crowd of about 120 people, Harris said, "it lies within the realm of possibility for humans to exert determinant influences over the course of history--it is not biologically determinded, we have cultural choices." He cited the existence of India's sacred cow as a case in point.

Harris said the taboo on the slaughter of cattle in India began and persists for economic and ecological reasons. Contrary to popular belief, cow herds are not responsible for the destruction of crops and do not therefore act as a drain on the Indian economy, Harris added.

"The cattle are fed on marginal resources and provide a vital in strument of production as traction animals," Harris said. "The cow is the mother of agriculture; the economy is not being held back, in fact Hinduism does more for the Indian economy than Protestantism does for Western ones," he added.

Yet one audience member at the close of the lecture said Harris's explanations are "too simple--he knows there are other factors involved."