Note 95 — Chapter V · EVOLUTION OF THE PRINCIPAL CONCEPTS.

“The childish and savage practice of counting on the fingers and toes lies at the foundation of our arithmetical science. Ten seems the most convenient arithmetical basis offered by systems founded on hand-counting, but twelve would have been better, and duodecimal arithmetic is in fact a protest against the less convenient decimal arithmetic in ordinary use. The case is the not uncommon one of high civilisation bearing evident traces of the rudeness of its origin in ancient barbaric life.” (Tylor, loc. cit., I. p. 272)