184 PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTIONS. 



A further reason why the professions thus implied, and 

 others not included among them, such as those of the lawyer 

 and the teacher, have an ecclesiastical origin, is that the 

 priest-class comes of necessity to be distinguished above 

 other classes by knowledge and intellectual capacity. His 

 cunning, skill, and acquaintance with the natures of things, 

 give the primitive priest or medicine-man influence over his 

 fellows; and these traits continue to be distinctive of him 

 when, in later stages, his priestly character becomes dis 

 tinct. His power as priest is augmented by those feats and 

 products which exceed the ability of the people to achieve 

 or understand; and he is therefore under a constant stimu 

 lus to acquire the superior culture and the mental powers 

 needed for those activities which we class as professional. 



Once more there is the often-recognized fact, that the 

 priest-class, supplied by other classes with the means of liv 

 ing, becomes, by implication, a leisured class. Not called 

 upon to work for subsistence, its members are able to de 

 vote time and energy to that intellectual labour and disci 

 pline which are required for professional occupations as dis 

 tinguished from other occupations. 



Carrying with us these general conceptions of the nature 

 of professional institutions and of their origin, we are now 

 prepared for recognizing the significance of those groups 

 of facts which the historical development of the professions 

 presents to us. 



