TITLES. 177 



the holder/ Burton says &quot; The dignities seem to be in 

 terminable; except amongst the slaves and the canaille, 

 handles are the rule, not the exception, and most of them 

 are hereditary. So, too, under Oriental despotisms. &quot; The 

 name of every Burman disappears when he gets a title of 

 rank or office, and is heard no more; &quot; and in China, &quot; there 

 are twelve orders of nobility, conferred solely on the mem 

 bers of the imperial house or clan,&quot; besides &quot; the five an 

 cient orders of nobility.&quot; Europe supplies further evi 

 dence. Travellers in both Russia and Germany, with their 

 social organizations adapted to war, comment on the &quot; in 

 sane rage for titles of every description: &quot; the results being 

 that in Russia &quot; a police-office clerk belongs to the eight 

 eenth grade, and has the right to the title of Your Hon 

 our; &quot; and in Germany the names of rank and names of 

 office so abundantly distributed, are habitually expected and 

 studiously given, in both speech and writing. Meanwhile 

 England, for ages past less militant in type, has ever shown 

 this trait in a smaller degree ; and along with the growth of 

 industrialism and accornpaying changes of organization, 

 the use of titles in social intercourse has decreased. 



With equal clearness is this connexion seen within each 

 society. By the thirteen grades in our army and the four 

 teen grades in our navy, we are shown that the exclusively- 

 militant structures continue to be characterized in the high 

 est degree by numerous and specific titular marks. To the 

 ruling classes, descendants or representatives of those who 

 in past times were heads of military forces, the higher dis 

 tinctions of rank still mostly belong; and of remaining 

 titles, the ecclesiastical and legal are also associated with the 

 regulative organization developed by militancy. Mean 

 while, the producing and exchanging parts of the society, 

 carrying on industrial activities, only in exceptional cases 

 bear any titles beyond those which, descending and spread 

 ing, have almost lost their meanings. 



It is indisputable, then, that serving first to commemo- 



