Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 28, 1917.djvu/195

 Btill-baiting, Bull-racing, Bull-fights. 163

Again, we are charged with adopting unscientific methods by comparing, for the purpose of explaining difficulties, facts drawn from un-related cultures. This criticism may be fairly urged against my attempt to quote facts from India and Nigeria to interpret a custom or ritual in the Hellenic or Aegean societies. At the same time, an ad- vancing science like ours must always be starting hares, always suggesting new interpretations. If such suggestions prove to be of no scientific value beyond attracting attention to a problem and encouraging further research and the collection of new material, they may serve some useful purpose.

W. Crooke.