GEYSERS AND HOW THEY ARE EXPLAINED. 407 



political and religious governments do little more than maintain sys- 

 tems of ceremony, directed toward particular persons living and 

 dead : the codes of law enforced by the one, and the moral codes 

 enunciated by the other, come later. There is, again, the evidence 

 derived from the possession of certain elements in common by the 

 three controls, social, political, and religious ; for the forms observ- 

 able in social intercourse occur also in the political and religious inter- 

 course as forms of homage and forms of worship. More significant 

 still is the circumstance that ceremonies may mostly be traced back 

 to certain spontaneous acts which manifestly precede legislation, civil 

 and ecclesiastical. Instead of arising by dictation or by agreement, 

 which would imply the preestablished organization required for mak- 

 ing and enforcing rules, they arise by modifications of acts performed 

 for personal ends ; and so prove themselves to grow out of individual 

 conduct before social arrangements exist to control it. Lastly, we 

 note that when there arises a political head, who, demanding subordi- 

 nation, is at first his own master of the ceremonies, and who presently 

 collects round him subservient attendants performing propitiatory acts, 

 which by repetition are made definite and fixed, there arise ceremonial 

 officials. Though, along with the growth of organizations which en- 

 force civil laws and enunciate moral precepts, there has been such a 

 decay of the ceremonial organization as to render it among ourselves 

 inconspicuous; yet in early stages the body of officials who conduct 

 propitiation of living rulers, supreme and subordinate, homologous 

 with the body of officials who conduct propitiation of dead apotheo- 

 sized rulers, major and minor, is a considerable element of the social 

 structure; and it dwindles only as fast as the structures, political 

 and ecclesiastical, which exercise controls more definite and detailed, 

 usurp its functions. 



Carrying with us these general conceptions, let us now pass to 

 the several components of ceremonial rule. We will deal with them 

 under the heads Trophies, Mutilations, Presents, Obeisances, Forms 

 of Address, Titles, Badges and Costumes, Further Class Distinctions, 

 Fashion, Past and Future of Ceremony. 



GEYSERS AND HOW THEY ARE EXPLAINED. 1 



By Prof. JOSEPH LE CONTE. 



A GEYSER may be defined as a periodically eruptive spring. 

 They are found only in Iceland, in the Yellowstone Park, Unit- 

 ed States, and in New Zealand. The so-called geysers of California 

 are rather fumaroles. Those of Iceland have been long studied; we 

 will, therefore, describe these first. 



1 From Le Conte's " Elements of Geology." 



