274 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



exogamy carried out by marrying, from within the tribe, women bear- 

 ing family names which implied that they were foreign in blood. 



In tracing the development of higher forms of the domestic rela- 

 tions, Mr. McLennan postulates, as we have seen, that the scarcity of 

 -women " led at once to polyandry within the tribe, and the capturing 

 of women from without." Describing and illustrating the different 

 forms of polyandry, ending in that highest form in which the hus- 

 bands are brothers, he points out that at this stage there arose recog- 

 nition not only of descent in the female line, but also of descent in 

 the male line ; since the father's blood was known, if not the father. 



Then through gradually-established priority of the elder brother, 

 as being the first of the group to marry, and the first likely to have 

 children, it became an accepted fiction that all the children were his: 

 "the elder brother was a sort of paterfamilias /" and "the idea of 

 fatherhood " thus caused was a step toward kinship through males, 

 and " a step away from kinship through females " (pp. 243, 244). 



Pointing out that among some polyandrous peoples, as the Kan- 

 dians, the chiefs have become monogamists, Mr. McLennan argues 

 (p. 245) that their example would be followed, and "thus would arise 

 a practice of monogamy or of polygamy." And he thence traces the 

 genesis of the patriarchal form, the system of agnation, the institu- 

 tion of caste. 



Though this outline of Mr. McLennan's theory is expressed, where- 

 ever regard for brevity permits, in his own words, yet possibly he 

 may take exception to it , for, as already hinted, there are incongru- 

 ities in his statements, and the order in wdiieh they are placed is in- 

 volved. That many of the phenomena he describes exist, is beyond 

 question. It is undeniable that the stealing of women, still habitual 

 with sundry low races, was practised in the past by races now higher; 

 and that the form of capture in marriage ceremonies prevails in so- 

 cieties where no real capture occurs at present. It is undeniable that 

 kinship through females is, among various primitive peoples, the only 

 kinship avowedly recognized; and that it leads to the descent of 

 name, rank, and property, in the female line. It is undeniable that in 

 many places where wife-stealing is, or has been, the practice, marriage 

 is forbidden between those of the same family name, who are assumed 

 to be of the same stock. But while admitting much of the evidence, 

 and while accepting some of the inferences, we shall find reason for 

 doubting Mr. McLennan's theory taken as a whole. Let us consider, 

 first, the minor objections. 



Sundry facts inconsistent with his conclusion, though referred to 

 by Mr. McLennan, he passes over as of no weight. He thinks there 

 is warrant for the belief that exogamy and wife-capture have "been 

 practised at a certain stage among every race of mankind" (p. 138) : 

 this stage being the one now exemplified by sundry low races. Nev- 



