SCOPE OF ANTHROPOLOGY 305 



which would have been impossible if they had 

 understood the conditions with which they were 

 interfering. 



In other cases customs may escape change 

 because they lie so deeply beneath the surface 

 that they do not attract the attention of the 

 rulers and remain altogether outside their ken. 

 Such customs may be of the utmost importance to 

 the people and may even furnish the key to the 

 proper understanding of their social life. Moreover, 

 they may in no way conflict with European 

 standards of morality, and yet their persistence may 

 act as a definite hindrance to good government, 

 merely because they are not understood and serve 

 as a perennial source of misunderstanding and 

 distrust. 



The object of this essay is to illustrate some of 

 the ways in which anthropological knowledge may 

 prevent mistakes and help rulers to make use of the 

 beneficial customs so often practised even by rude 

 and apparently degraded peoples. 



The tasks of the anthropologist fall under three 

 heads : (i) the collection, description and classifica- 

 tion of facts ; (ii) the inquiry into the past history 

 of customs and institutions thus recorded and de- 

 scribed, and into the laws which govern the processes 

 of growth and degeneration which this history 

 reveals ; (iii) the study of the instincts, sentiments 

 and beliefs which underlie both the social conduct 

 of the present time and the laws which govern the 



S. S. N. 2O 



