open for discussion the exact kind
of evidence which these elements of tradition supply, the particular
period or people from which they have descended, the particular
department of history to which they relate. All this is highly
disputed.

Folklore has in this department been greatly aided by Dr. Tylor's
impressive terminology, whereby the custom, ceremony, practice, and
belief which have come down by tradition are classed as "survivals."
This term implies an ancient origin, and the necessary work of the
student is to get back to the original. Until very lately the fact of
survival has carried with it the presumption of ancient origin, but
Mr. Crawley has raised an objection which I think it is well to meet.
He urges that "the history of religious phenomena exemplifies in the
most striking manner the continuity of modern and primitive culture;
but there is a tendency on the part of students to underestimate this
continuity, and, by explaining it away on a theory of survivals, to
lose the only opportunity we have of deducing the permanent elements
of human nature."

This sentence at once prepares us for much that follows; but Mr.
Crawley leaves the point itself untouched, except by implication,
until he is in the middle of his book, and then we have his dictum
that "it may be finally asserted that nothing which has to do with
human needs ever survives as a mere survival."[215] It will at once be
seen that we have here a new estimate of the force which survivals
play in the evidence of human progress. They prove the continuity of
modern and primitive culture. They are part and parcel of modern life,
filling a vacuum which has not been filled by modern thought, carrying
on, therefore, the standard of religious belief and religious ideal
from point to point until they can be replaced by newer ideas and
concepts. This definition of survivals is very bold. It answers Mr.
Crawley's purpose and argument in a way which no other fact in human
history, so far as we can judge, could answer it. It is the basis upon
which his whole argument is founded. Occupying such an important
place, it should have received explicit investigation, instead of
being treated as a sort of side issue of incidental importance.

When explicit investigation is undertaken, Mr. Crawley's case must, I
think, break down. Survivals are carried along the stream of time by
people whose culture-status is on a level with the culture in which
the survivals o