ioo THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



question by legal enactments, or by endeavoring to modify public 

 opinion as to the beneficial character of monogamy and perma- 

 nence in marriage. That the existing popular opinion is the true 

 one is well and briefly shown by Miss Chapman in a recent num- 

 ber of Lippincott's Magazine ; and as her statement of the case 

 expresses my own views, and will, I think, be approved by most 

 thinkers on the subject, I here give it : 



1. Nature plainly indicates permanent marriage as the true human relation. 

 The young of the human pair need parental care and supervision for a great num- 

 ber of years. 



2. Instinct is strongly on the side of indissoluble marriage. In proportion as 

 men leave brutedom behind and enter into the fullness of their human heritage, 

 they will cease to tolerate the idea of two or more living partners. 



3. History shows conclusively that where divorce has been easy, licentious- 

 ness, disorder, and often complete anarchy have prevailed. The history of civili- 

 zation is the history of advance in monogamy, of the fidelity of one man to one 

 woman, and one woman to one man. 



4. Science tells the same tale. Physiology and hygiene point to temperance, 

 not riot. Sociology shows how man, in spite of himself, is ever striving, through 

 lower forms, upward, to the monogamic relation. 



5. Experience demonstrates to every one of us, individually, the superiority of 

 the indissoluble marriage. "We know that, speaking broadly, marriages turn out 

 well or ill in proportion as husband and wife are let me not say loving but 

 loyal, sinking differences and even grievances for the sake of children and for the 

 sake of example. 



We have now to consider what would be the probable effect of 

 a condition of social advancement, the essential characteristics of 

 which have been already hinted at, on the two great problems 

 the increase of population, and the continuous improvement of 

 the race by some form of selection which we have reason to be- 

 lieve is the only method available. In order to make this clear, 

 however, and in order that we may fully realize the forces that 

 would come into play in a just and rational state of society, such 

 as may certainly be realized in the not distant future, it will be 

 necessary to have a clear conception of its main characteristics. 

 For this purpose, and without committing myself in any way to 

 an approval of all the details of his scheme, I shall make use of 

 Mr. Bellamy's clear and forcible picture of the society of the 

 future, as he supposes it may exist in America in little more 

 than a century hence.* 



The essential principle on which society is supposed to be 

 founded is that of a great family. As in a well-regulated modern 

 family, the elders, those who have experience of the labors, the 

 duties, and the responsibilities of life, determine the general mode 

 of living and working, with the fullest consideration for the con- 



* Looking Backward. See especially chapters vii, ix, xii, and xxv. 



