GILD REGULATION. 451 



themselves. Here are illustrations taken from extinct and 

 remote societies. 



Concerning the Hebrews it may be remarked that the 

 name &quot; bakers street&quot; (Jer. xxxvii. 21) shows that in 

 Jerusalem the bakers dwelt together; and again that &quot; the 

 cheesemakers of Jerusalem dwelt together in a special 

 quarter, the cheesemakers valley (Jos. War. v. 4. 1).&quot; This 

 clustering together is indirectly implied by the fact which 

 Lumbroso points out : 



&quot; We learn from the Talmud that among the Jews who formed a 

 large part of the industrial population of Alexandria, the goldsmiths 

 and the silversmiths, the weavers, and the blacksmiths occupied 

 different places in the great synagogue.&quot; 



Moreover in Nehemiah iii. 8, 31, 32, allusion is made to 

 something like gilds of goldsmiths, apothecaries, and spice- 

 merchants. 



How the implied usage, spontaneously originating, gradu 

 ally passes into imperative law, or something like it, is shown 

 in the case of ancient Egypt. Rawlinson writes : 



&quot; Although the son did not necessarily or always follow his father s 

 calling, yet the practice was so general, so nearly universal, there was 

 such a prejudice, such a cojisensus in favour of it, that foreigners com 

 monly left the country impressed with the belief that it was obligatory 

 on all, and that the classes were really castes in the strictest sense.&quot; 



As already shown in 733, such specialized groups of 

 workers had arisen in Rome before recorded times. 



Let us turn to existing peoples. In China, where ancestor- 

 worship is so dominant and family-organization consequently 

 so pronounced, there are unions of silk-weavers and dyers, 

 gold-beaters, blacksmiths, millers, needle-makers, carpenters, 

 masons, barbers, kittysols, pewterers, fishing-boat-owners, 

 tea-merchants, bankers. And though, in the following 

 extract from Williams, we get no clue to the origin of these 

 gilds, which doubtless dates back thousands of years, yet 

 we get evidence concerning their nature and actions quite 

 congruous with the hypothesis of family-origin. 



