ABSTRACT
With the assumption of an automatic obedience to all custom, anthropology has to give up any attempt at introducing into the facts order and classification, which is the first task of science. The force of habit, the awe of traditional command and a sentimental attachment to it, the desire to satisfy public opinion–all combine to make custom be obeyed for its own sake. But love of tradition, conformism and the sway of custom account but to a very partial extent for obedience to rules among dons, savages, peasants, or Junkers. Limiting theirselves strictly to savages once more, there are among the Trobrianders a number of traditional rules instructing the craftsman how to ply his trade. There are also norms pertaining to things sacred and important, the rules of magical rite, funerary pomp and such like.
