SURVIVALS EXIST IN ALL KINDS OF SOCIETIES 153 



These two points being established our conclu- 

 sions drawn from them may be given a very wide 

 application. 



^ 



1. Instances of survival in various groups. 



" It is a well-known fact," says Kowalevsky, 

 " that as the past gives place to the present it 

 leaves traces which vary in number and impor- 

 tance." * 



This is obviously the case with regard to most 

 customs, but it is unnecessary to point out all the 

 instances of survival which abound among the 

 peoples of the countries round about us. They are 

 naturally most common in barbarous societies 

 where the servile imitation of the ancestor plays a 

 much greater part than with us. This is strongly 

 urged by Bagehot in the following passage : 



" Man," he says, " may be defined as a creature 

 of habit. As he has done a thing once, so he will 

 probably do it again, and the oftener he has done 

 a thing the more likely he will be to repeat it in 

 the same way, and, what is more, to insist upon 

 others doing the same. 



" By means of counsel and example he transmits 

 to his offspring the customs he himself originated. 

 This is true of the human beings to-day and will 

 doubtless hold good for all time. It is character- 



1 Kowalevsky, Tableau des origines de la propritt6 et de la 

 famille, p. 7. 



