Both of the great Ottoman institutions were founded upon groups of ideas and not upon racial descent. This subject, discussed above in the Introduction, has been shown to be true to an extreme in the Ruling Institution, which drew its members from every direction except from the existing stock of the nation. The Moslem Institution embodied a religion of universal claim. Though originally given to the Arabs, the Moslem faith was intrinsically independent of race, as its subsequent history revealed. Belief, and not blood, became the sole test of membership. This common hospitality of its two great institutions to all who might wish to join them laid firmly the foundation of the Ottoman nation, and made possible the greatness and the permanence of its dominion. Both Ottoman institutions were self-perpetuating through education. Each had a great educational system which was adapted to its special character, and which was life-long in extent. The Ruling Institution trained its pupils physically as well as mentally, whereas the Moslem Institution neglected physical education in favor of a greater amount of intellectual training. Otherwise their work was largely parallel. One institution took its pupils from the children of Christian subjects and neighbors, and trained them to conquer and to rule. The other took its pupils from the children of Moslems and trained them to know, practise, teach, and enforce the Moslem rules of law and life. The one system raised the ablest Christian-born individuals to the highest positions, and the other raised the ablest Moslem-born individuals similarly. Both continually brought in new material at the bottom, and continually worked upon all their material to increase its value. Each offered such rewards and promotions as to induce its members to put forth their most strenuous exertions, that they might develop their own powers and visibly help their institution. Whatever faults of plan and structure the institutions may have had, they were able to survive all dangers and disasters largely through the trained ability of the individuals whom their educational systems had brought to the front.