We have now finished the examination of a number of definite ceremonies. Our object in analyzing them was to determine in what the significance of the common elements lay, and what general historical and psychological tendencies were operative in their growth. We may now examine the results of our study in the light of Schurtz’s theory, and examine the data upon which Schurtz based his theory in the light of the leading points of view emphasized above. VII. RÉSUMÉ AND CONCLUSION.—The main thesis Schurtz sought to establish was the demonstration of the parallel historical development of society as determined by certain psychological tendencies of the race. It is of prime importance to remember that he claimed to have found certain survivals by means of which he was able to reconstruct the stages in the history of society. Initiation degrees, the exclusion of women, etc., he considered “symptomatic” of these stages. His main object was to prove the existence of these symptoms. Wherever he found them, he was satisfied that he was dealing with vestiges of the stages through which society had passed. All these symptoms, according to Schurtz, had definite and specific connotations, and were associated with definite and specific stages in the development of society. We have seen, in the analysis of the ceremonies of a limited area, that the common elements which were supposed to be symptomatic of historical relationship had no such value, and that they entered into a number of cultural complexes historically distinct one from another. In the same way we will now examine the more fundamental symptoms—initiation, degrees, and the exclusion of women—to see whether any specific significance attaches to them, and whether they, too, have not become associated with a number of cultural complexes historically distinct. If they have thus become associated, then their value as criteria for definite stages of social evolution is _nil_.