CHAPTER VI

A CRITICISM OF THE HYPOTHESIS OF PROMISCUITY

(_Concluded_)

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 direction, pp. 115-117.—The jealousy of man and other mammalian species the strongest argument against ancient promiscuity, p. 117.—Jealousy among existing peoples, pp. 117-121.—Punishments inflicted for adultery, pp. 121, 122, 130.—Man’s requirement of virginity from his bride, pp. 123, _et seq._—A wife considered to belong to her husband, not during his lifetime only, but after his death, pp. 124-130.—Widows killed, pp. 125, _et seq._—Duties towards deceased husbands, pp. 126, _et seq._—Widows forbidden to marry again, pp. 127, _et seq._—Prohibition of speedy remarriage, pp. 128-130.—The practice of lending or prostituting wives no evidence for the absence of jealousy, pp. 130, _et seq._—Contact with a ‘higher culture’ misleading natural instincts, pp. 131, _et seq._—No reason to suppose that the feeling of jealousy ever was restrained by conditions which made it necessary for a man to share his wife with other men, pp. 132, _et seq._—The hypothesis of promiscuity essentially unscientific, p. 133.