Tradition

(tră-dish'un.) [From L. traditio; from tr ado, I transmit.] That which is handed down from age to age by oral communication; or, the delivery of opinions, doctrines, practices, rites, and customs from father to son, or from ancestors to posterity. There is nothing which requires greater caution than the credence we give to tradition ary information. Every person, every country, every age, involuntarily gives a coloring to facts; to say nothing of intentional mi tatements. How many evident inventions creep into notice, and soon become widely repeated and believed, either because they suit the purposes of a party, or because they are presented with an air of credibility! It therefore becomes all persons, but more especially the historian, to examine, so far as he is able, into the origin of every statement, and the character and situation of those on whose authority it rests. [s. 903]