The history of human marriage

Our investigation has now come to an end. The development of human marriage in all its aspects has been examined, according to the method suggested in the introductory chapter....

[384] Lubbock, _loc. cit._ p. 132. Post, ‘Die Geschlechtsgenossenschaft der Urzeit,’ pp. 34, _et seq._ Le Bon, ‘L’homme et les sociétés,’ vol. ii. p. 292. Lippert, _loc. cit._ v...

The desire for self-decoration, although a specifically human quality, is exceedingly old. There are peoples destitute of almost everything which we regard as necessaries of lif...

It has also been asserted that monogamy is the natural form of human marriage because there is an almost equal number of men and women. But this is by no means the case. The num...

It has been asserted that, if there be really an innate horror of incest, it ought to show itself intuitively when persons are ignorant of any relationship. But ancient writers...

[2742] Dutt, ‘Hindu Civilisation of the Brahmana Period,’ in ‘The Calcutta Review,’ vol. lxxxv. p. 266. Kaegi, ‘The Rigveda,’ p. 15. Roth, ‘On the Morality of the Veda,’ in ‘Jou...

The inference drawn in the last chapter is opposed to the view held by most sociologists who have written upon early history. According to them, man lived originally in a state...

The horror of incest is an almost universal characteristic of mankind, the cases which seem to indicate a perfect absence of this feeling being so exceedingly rare that they mus...

Sexual love is the passion which unites the sexes. The stimulating impressions produced by health, youth, and beauty, and ornaments and other artificial means of attraction, are...

By the “Sexual Selection of Man” is meant the choice made by men and women as regards relations with the opposite sex. Mr. Darwin has shown that such selection takes place among...

It would be easy to adduce numerous instances of savage and barbarous tribes among whom a girl is far from having the entire disposal of her own hand. Being regarded as an objec...

Most of the lower animal species are by instinct either monogamous or polygynous. With man, every possible form of marriage occurs. There are marriages of one man with one woman...

With wild animals sexual desire is not less powerful as an incentive to strenuous exertion than hunger and thirst. In the rut-time, the males even of the most cowardly species e...

We are indebted to Mr. Lewis H. Morgan for information as to the names of various degrees of kinship among no fewer than 139 different races or tribes. This collection shows tha...

The time during which marriage lasts, varies very considerably among different species. According to Dr. Brehm, most birds pair for life,[3252] while among the mammals, with the...

Against the hypothesis of promiscuity Sir Henry Maine has urged that a good deal of evidence seems to show that promiscuous intercourse between the sexes tends to a pathological...

From remote antiquity we are told of kings and rulers who instituted marriage amongst their subjects. We read in ‘Mahâbhârata,’ the Indian poem, that formerly “women were unconf...

The practice of capturing wives prevails in various parts of the world, and traces of it are met with in the marriage ceremonies of several peoples, indicating that it occurred...

The expression, “Sexual Selection,” was first used by Mr. Darwin. Besides natural selection, which depends on the success of both sexes, at all ages, in relation to the general...

Professor Leuckart assumes that the periodicity in the sexual life of animals depends upon economical conditions, the reproductive matter being a surplus of the individual econo...

It has often been said that the position of women is the surest gauge of a people’s civilization. This assertion, though not absolutely, is approximately true. The evolution of...

If it be admitted that marriage, as a necessary requirement for the existence of certain species, is connected with some peculiarities in their organism, and, more particularly...

A powerful instinct keeps animals from pairing with individuals belonging to another species than their own. “L’animal,” says M. Duvernoy, “a l’instinct de se rapprocher de son...

Among primitive men marriage was, of course, contracted without any ceremony whatever; and this is still the case with many uncivilized peoples. Among the Eskimo, visited by Cap...

from father to son.[563] Le Vaillant and Kolben state the same with reference to the Hottentots and Bushmans;[564] and Andersson affirms that, among the Namaquas, daughters take...

As to the history of the forms of human marriage, two inferences regarding monogamy and polygyny may be made with absolute certainty: monogamy, always the predominant form of ma...

Speaking of the male and female reproductive cells of plants, Professor Sachs remarks that, wherever we are able to observe an external difference between the two, the male cell...

It is in the firm conviction that the history of human civilization should be made an object of as scientific a treatment as the history of organic nature that I write this book...

The ‘classificatory system of relationship,’ pp. 82-84.—‘Marriage in a group’ and the ‘consanguine family,’ pp. 84, _et seq._—Mr. Morgan’s assumption that the ‘classificatory sy...

The proportion between the sexes varies among different peoples, pp. 460-464.—Causes to which the disparity in the numbers of the sexes is due, pp. 465-482.—The higher mortality...

No innate aversion to marriage with near relations, p. 320.—Innate aversion to sexual intercourse between persons living very closely together from early youth, pp. 320-330.—Loc...

The compound character of love, p. 356.—Conjugal affection, at the lower stages of civilization, less intense than parental love, pp. 356-358.—Conjugal affection among savages,...

Female selection among animals and the indifference of the males, p. 253.—Woman more particular in her choice than man, pp. 253, _et seq._—Female appreciation of manly strength...

The hypothesis of promiscuity, pp. 51, _et seq._—The evidence adduced in support of it, p. 52.—Notices of savage nations said to live promiscuously, pp. 52-55.—Some of the facts...

Promiscuous intercourse between the sexes tends to a pathological condition unfavourable to fecundity, p. 115.—The practice of polyandry does not afford evidence in an opposite...

Marriage by capture as a reality or as a symbol among uncivilized races, pp. 383-386.—Among peoples of the Aryan race, pp. 386, _et seq._—No evidence that marriage by capture ha...

Mr. Darwin’s theory of ‘Sexual Selection,’ pp. 240, _et seq._—Contradiction between the theories of natural and sexual selection, pp. 241, _et seq._—The colours of flowers, pp....

Monogamy more prevalent at the lowest stages of civilization than at somewhat higher stages, pp. 505-508.—Polygyny favoured by social differentiation, pp. 505, _et seq._—The ver...

Hypotheses as to the periodicity in the sexual life of animals, p. 25.—Every month or season of the year the pairing season of one or another mammalian species, pp. 25, _et seq....

parties was under the age of twenty-one years, if celebrated without publication of banns, or without the consent of the father or unmarried mother, or guardian to be absolutely...

The horror of incest almost universally characteristic of mankind, p. 290.—Intercourse between parents and children, pp. 290, _et seq._—Between brother and sister, pp. 291-294.—...

Savage predilection for ornaments, pp. 165, _et seq._—For self-mutilation, pp. 166, _et seq._—For dressing the hair, p. 167.—For showy colours and paint, p. 168.—For tattooing,...

Polygyny permitted by many civilized nations and the bulk of savage tribes, pp. 431-435.—Among many savage peoples developed to an extraordinary extent, pp. 434, _et seq._—Among...

The decay of marriage by purchase among civilized peoples, pp. 403-405.—Marriage by purchase transformed into a symbol, pp. 405, _et seq._—Arbitrary presents and sham sale, p. 4...

Marriage a necessary requirement for the existence of the human race, p. 39.—The hypothesis that the maternal uncle was the guardian of the children, pp. 39-41.—The father the h...

The time during which marriage lasts varies, p. 517.—Peoples among whom separation is said to be unknown, _ibid._—Human marriage, as a general rule, not necessarily contracted f...

Instinctive aversion among animals to pairing with individuals belonging to another species, pp. 278-280.—Infertility of first crosses and of hybrids, pp. 279, _et seq._—‘The La...

Tales of the origin of marriage, pp. 8, _et seq._—The subject regarded from a scientific point of view, p. 9.—Parental care among Invertebrata, _ibid._—The relations of the sexe...

Peoples who have no marriage ceremony, pp. 417, _et seq._—The rise of marriage ceremonies, pp. 418-421.—When the mode of contracting a marriage altered, the earlier mode, from h...

Voluntary abstinence unheard of in a state of nature, p. 134.—Celibacy rare among savage and barbarous races, pp. 134-136.—Savage views on celibacy, pp. 136, _et seq._—Savages m...

Females ‘engaged’ in infancy, pp. 213, _et seq._—The right of giving a girl in marriage, pp. 214, _et seq._—Considerable liberty of selection allowed to women among the lower ra...

Males active, females comparatively passive, in courtship, pp. 157, _et seq._—Courtship by women among certain peoples, pp. 158, _et seq._—Courtship by proxy, p. 159.—Fighting f...