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piercing-purposes ? 17. Is a plough used, consisting of a tree- 
stem, with a branch as a share P 18. Are trees or skins used 
as boats, the people sitting outside? 19. Are caves, rock- 
shelters, or tree-tops used as dwellings ? 20. Can the use of 
these be traced in the architecture of the people? 21. Are 
leaves used for roofing ? 
No. XCL—CONSERVATISM. 
By E. B. TYLOB, Esq., F.B.S. 
The indisposition of most men to change of habits is to be 
studied for its immense practical effect as a barrier to improve¬ 
ment in art and reformation in society, while also, to a great ex¬ 
tent, it tends to preserve existing art and knowledge from decay. 
Among its results, one has special value to anthropologists as a 
means of tracing the history of civilization. This is ee survival,” 
which takes place when old arts and fashions, though super¬ 
seded for ordinary purposes, are kept up under special circum¬ 
stances, especially on state occasions and in solemn ceremonies, 
as may be exemplified in our official retention of garments 
otherwise disused, or in the making of fire for religious pur¬ 
poses in India by the almost forgotten process of friction of 
wood. These u survivals ” prove that the people keeping them 
up had them in ordinary use at some earlier period, informa¬ 
tion which history often fails to give. 
1. Is there a general attachment to ancestral habits and dis¬ 
like to change and reform ? 2. Does this refer to all the pro¬ 
ceedings of life, or especially to matters of state, magic, reli¬ 
gion, &c. ? 3. Are weapons, houses, &c. made in a way which 
is practically unreasonable, and only intelligible as the keeping 
up of ancient ruder practices ? 4. Are any rude arts or incon¬ 
venient customs kept up as matters of ceremony while disused 
for ordinary purposes ? 5. Do any of the usages at festivals, 
peculiar dishes and costumes, &c., appear to be relics or “ sur¬ 
vivals ” from an earlier state of civilization ? 
No. XCII.—VARIATION. By E. B. TYLOB, Esq., F.B.S. 
Every slight variety which distinguishes the art and custom 
of a tribe from those of its neighbours is worth study, as afford¬ 
ing evidence of the course of development into new forms. 
