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ON THE ETHNOGRAPHICAL SURVEY OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. 629 
is that all historical investigation is justified, however much the labour, 
however extensive the research. Secondly, considering the very few results 
which the study of folklore has hitherto produced upon the investigations 
into Prehistoric Europe, it must be worth while for the student of custom 
and belief to conduct his experiments upon a recognised plan in order to 
get at the secret of man’s place in the struggle for existence, which is 
determined more by psychological than by physical phenomena. Thirdly, 
if the psychical anthropology of prehistoric times is to be sought for in the 
customs and beliefs of modern savages, it is of vital importance to anthropo- 
logical science that this should be established by methods exactly defined. 
Whatever of traditional custom and belief is capable of bearing the test 
and of being definitely labelled as belonging to prehistoric man becomes 
_thereafter the data for the psychical anthropology of civilised man. 
Now if the several items of custom and belief preserved by tradition 
are really ancient in their origin, they must be floating fragments, as it 
were, of an ancient system of custom and belief—the cultus of the people 
among whom they originated. This cultus has been destroyed. It has 
either struggled unsuccessfully against foreign and more vigorous systems 
of religion and society, or it has slowly developed from one stage to 
another. In the western world at all events we know that the former 
has been the process at work, and that it is matter of definite historical 
record that all non-Christian culture has had to succumb to Christianity. 
To be of service to the historian of our country and people, therefore, each 
floating fragment of ancient custom and belief must not only be labelled 
‘ancient,’ but it must be placed back in the system from which it has been 
torn away. To do this is to a great extent to restore the ancient system ; 
and to restore an ancient system of culture, even if the restoration be 
only a mosaic and a shattered mosaic, is to bring into evidence the pre- 
historic race of people to which it belongs. 
This hypothesis of traditional custom and belief being relics of an 
ancient cultus helps to form the method and principles of enquiry. It 
would be impossible to suppose that all these relics have been preserved 
equally well, all at the same stage cf arrested development, all equally 
untouched by later influences. Their existence has been attacked in 
different places, at different times, by different influences ; and therefore 
the actual form of their survival must vary almost as frequently as an 
example occurs. The modern connection of a custom or belief is no 
sure guide, and is very often a misleading guide, to its ancient connection. 
it is only by correct analysis and classification, therefore, that the various 
examples can be put into a condition for examination and identification. 
We have for our purpose nothing more than a series of notes of cus- 
toms and beliefs obtaining among the lower and lowest classes of the 
people, and not being the direct teaching of any religious or academic 
body. These notes are very unequal in value owing to the manner in 
which they have been made. They are often accidental, they are seldom 
if ever the result of trained observation, and they are often mixed up 
with theories as to their origin and relationship to modern society and 
modern religious beliefs. 
The method of using these notes for scientific purposes is therefore a 
very important matter. It is essential that each single item should be. 
treated definitely and separately from all other items, and, further, that 
the exact wording of the original note upon each separate item should be 
kept intact. The original account of every custom and belief is an 
