THE STUDY OF SOCIOLOGY. 13 



especially between officers ; and even now in Continental armies duel- 

 ling is not only recognized as proper, but is, in some cases, imperative. 

 And then, showing most curiously how in connection with the oldest 

 part of the governing organization these oldest usages survive longest, 

 we have, in the coronation ceremony, a champion in armor uttering by 

 herald a challenge to all comers on behalf of the monarch. 



If, from the agencies by which law is enforced, we pass to legal 

 forms, language, documents, etc., the like tendency is everywhere con- 

 spicuous. Parchment is retained for law-deeds, though paper has re- 

 placed it for other purposes. The form of writing is an old form. 

 Latin and Norman-French terms are still in use for legal purposes, 

 though not otherwise in use ; and even old English words, such as 

 " seize," retain, in Law, meanings which they have lost in current 

 speech. In the execution of documents, too, the same truth is illus- 

 trated ; for the seal, which was originally the signature, continues, 

 though the written signature now practica'ly replaces it nay, we re- 

 tain a symbol of the symbol, as may be seen in every share-transfer, 

 where there is a paper-wafer to represent the seal. Even still more 

 antique usages survive in legal transactions ; as in the form extant in 

 Scotland of handing over a portion of rock when an estate is sold, which 

 evidently answers to the ceremony among the ancient nations of send- 

 ing earth and water as a sign of yielding territory. 



From the working of State-departments, too, many kindred illus- 

 trations might be given. Even under the peremptory requirements 

 of national safety, the flint-lock for muskets was but tardily replaced 

 by the percussion-lock ; and it was generations after tbe rifle had been 

 commonly in use for sporting purposes before it came into more than 

 sparing use for military purposes. Book-keeping by double entry had 

 long been permanently established in the mercantile world before it 

 superseded book-keeping by single entry in Government offices its 

 adoption dating back only to 1834, when a still more antique sys- 

 tem of keeping accounts, by notches cut on sticks, was put an end to 

 by the conflagration that resulted from the burning of the Exchequer 

 tallies. 



The like holds with apparel, in general and in detail. Cocked hats 

 are yet to be seen on the heads of officers. An extinct form of dress 

 still holds its ground as the court-dress ; and the sword once habit- 

 ually worn by gentlemen has become the dress-sword worn only on 

 State-occasions. Everywhere officialism has its established uniforms, 

 which may be traced back to old fashions that have disappeared from 

 ordinary life. Some of these antique articles of costume we see sur- 

 mounting the heads of judges ; others there are which still hang 

 round the necks of the clergy ; and others which linger on the legs of 

 bishops. 



Thus, from the use of a flint-knife by the Jews for the religious 

 ceremony of circumcision, down to the pronunciation of the terminal 



