70 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 40 



extent a matter of accident. Even at the present time, and within 

 a rather narrow range, great variations in this respect may be found. 

 Examples are the use of the veil in Turkey, the more or less rigid 

 use of the glove in our own society, and the difference between street 

 costume and evening dress. A lady in full evening dress in a street- 

 car, during the daytime, would hardly appear in place. 



We ail are at once conscious of the intensity of these feelings of 

 modesty, and of the extreme repugnance of the individual to any act 

 that goes counter to the customary concepts of modesty. In a 

 number of cases the origin of a costume can readily be traced, and 

 in its development no considerations of modesty exert any influence. 

 It is therefore evident that in this respect the grouping-together 

 of certain customs again develops entirely unconsciously, but that, 

 nevertheless, they stand out as a group set apart from others with 

 great clearness as soon as our attention is directed toward the feel- 

 ings of modesty. 



To draw a parallel again between this ethnological phenomenon 

 and linguistic phenomena, it would seem that the common feature 

 of both is the grouping-together of a considerable number of activi- 

 ties under the form of a single idea, without the necessity of this 

 idea itself entering into consciousness. The difference, again, would 

 lie in the fact that the idea of modesty is easily isolated from other 

 concepts, and that then secondary explanations are given of what 

 is considered modest and what not. I believe that the unconscious 

 formation of these categories is one of the fundamental traits of ethnic 

 life, and that it even manifests itself in many of its more complex 

 aspects; that many of our religious views and activities, of our eth- 

 ical concepts, and even our scientific views, which are apparently 

 based entirely on conscious reasoning, are affected by this tendency 

 of distinct activities to associate themselves under the influence of 

 strong emotions. It has been recognized before that this is one of 

 the fundamental causes of error and of the diversity of opinion. 



It seems necessary to dwell upon the analogy of ethnology and 

 language in this respect, because, if we adopt this point of view, 

 language seems to be one of the most instructive fields of inquiry in 

 an investigation of the formation of the fundamental ethnic ideas. 

 The great advantage that linguistics offer in this respect is the fact 

 that, on the whole, the categories which are formed always remain 



