Eliminate felt from Chinese, Greek, and Roman civiliza-
tions, and they would still remain what they are, not being in the least
affected by this minus. Eliminate the same element from the life of the
nomadic populations, and they would cease to exist, they would never
have come into existence. With these peoples felt is a fundamental of
culture, an absolutely essential feature and necessity of life, while with the
highly civilized nations like the Chinese, Indians, Greeks, and Romans
it is a side issue, an incident, an element of occasional and minor im-
portance.
Another interesting point of difference is that to the civilized na-
tions felt was simply a utilitarian product which they adopted because it
was useful and practical, whereas among the nomads it was associated with
religious and ceremonial practices.
