THE HISTORY OF INSTITUTIONS. 135 



Teutonic witches who divined the success of a 

 war by the way in which the blood ran from 

 the veins of a sacrificed captive." To say this 

 may not seem quite so absurd to us as it did 

 to Voltaire. A scientific student of religions 

 might trace a connection between primitive 

 magic and human sacrifice on the one hand 

 and even tolerably advanced forms of Christian 

 theology on the other. Professor Dicey does 

 not think it necessary, like Mr. Freeman, to 

 bring in the Landesgemeinden of Uri, the 

 witness of Homer, the Germania of Tacitus, or 

 tjie constitution of the Witenagemot, in explain- 

 ing the British constitution as that now is. 1 

 The constitutional lawyer has a different prob- 

 lem from that of the historical antiquarian : and 

 it is well to have it pointed out that we must . 

 explain an institution by considering not only 

 what it came out of, but the way in which it 

 now exists and the purposes it now serves. As 

 we have said, a complete explanation requires 

 both an investigation of origins (material and 

 efficient causes) and an investigation of present 

 nature and functions (formal and final causes). 

 Let me take one other illustration of what I 

 1 Dicey, Law of the Constitution, pp. viii. 13 ff. (Ed. 3). 



