SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— H. 389 



Examples slill extant. 



1 . The Abbots Bromley Honi Dance. 



2. Bean Setting (much later in spirit, by magical imitation of the sowing of the 

 seed the dancers invoke or prepare a good harvest). 



3. Shepherd's Hey (still less primitive, yet clearly showing the action of invocation). 

 In other countries, Mutil Dantza ] 



Danse de la Pelle I Basque. 

 Danse de I'Ours | 



(6) Processional Lustrations. 



Used for a twofold purpose — to purify the village of winter and want ; to bring 

 in summer, health, and wealth. Gf. Rogation Processions, the primitive ritual now 

 directed by the Church. 



Examples still extant. 



1. Helston Furry Dance. 



2. Castleton Garland Dance. 



3. Tideswell Processional Morris. 



In other countries : Danse des Volants, Basque ; Farandole, Provence. 



4. Examples of English Morris with Processional to gain new dancing place. 



(c) Sacrificial Dances. 



The ritual dance now used for a very different purpose — the purpose of much 

 later and more sophisticated minds. The god is now conceived as anthropomorphic, 

 and, like a man, must be humoured and propitiated. Therefore, men gave him of 

 their best — the village Chief. 



Dances still extant showing sacrifice. 



1. Kirby Malzeard Sword Dance, in which captain is killed. 



2. Selections from other North of England Sword Dances. 



3. Winlaton Sword Dance — showing the lock of swords as a symbol of the for- 

 gotten decapitation. 



Examples in other countries : Czech Sword Dances. Basque Sword Dances, 

 Viscaya and Guipuzcoa. Pueblo de Guzman. 



{d) Maypole Dances. 



The Maypole a symbol of the god of spring or vegetation. 



Hardly any examples extant. 



1. Gathering Peascods. 



2. Sellenger's Round. 



Monday, August 9. 



15. Presidential Address by Prof. H. J. Fleure on The Regional 



Bakmce of Racial Evolution. (See ji. 181.) 



1 6. Dr. R. T. GuNTHER. — The Hairlessness of Man. 



The acceptance of any theory as to the Descent of Man from lower mammals 

 involves the acceptance of the view that his ancestors were fully clothed with hair. 

 Whether for retaining the heat of the body, as a shaggy defence against blows or 

 excessive solar radiation, hair is of such obvious utility to its possessor, and is a 

 feature that is so persistently retained by heredity, that we are confronted with unusual 

 difficulties when we try to account for its widespread reduction and loss. Clearly 

 there must have been some general cause, yet no explanation hitherto given has been 

 generally approved. Even Darwin felt that sexual selection was not wholly adequate. 



The theory now put forward is one primarily of Natural Selection. We siiggest 

 that there was a time when hairy man was a positive danger to himself, and at a 

 disadvantage as compared with the hairless man ; also that hairlessness, whether 

 accidentally or artificially acquired, became the outward and visible sign of the 

 attainment of a certain standard of intellectual development. The special conditions 

 which would render a thick hairy coat a peril were present when man had begun to play 

 with fire without having learnt how to exercise caution in its use. A 



