28o HUMAN BIOLOGY 



and duration. In other words, the community that does not 

 maintain a well-ordered system of marriage is in danger of 

 extinction. 



THE PERIOD OF INFANCY 



So far we have looked upon marriage as primarily a matter 

 of mating, whereas the biological necessity in human life 

 is the rearing of children. It is a reasonable expectation, 

 then, that both the biological and the social aspect of mar- 

 riage will be adapted to the child; hence, it would appear 

 that marriage is primarily a social adjustment to the bearing 

 and rearing of children, rather than to sex life. That primitive 

 peoples have given thought to the child, there is abundant 

 evidence. A child born out of wedlock is looked upon as 

 abnormal, but not necessarily for the same reason that we 

 assign to such happenings. In defence of these practices, 

 they insist that the child and the mother need the care of a 

 man, and where there is a child there should be both a wife 

 and a husband. So taking account of the way even primitive 

 peoples react toward the child bearing and rearing cycle, 

 it appears that any serious consideration of marriage must 

 recognize children as an important, if not the important 

 element in the social complex. 



The child, also, is a probable factor in the duration of 

 marriage. In contrast to the young of other mammals, the 

 child grows slowly, causing an overlapping of childhood 

 in the family. If the child matured in a season, unions of 

 short duration might suffice; but since a woman may 

 bear children at short intervals for approximately thirty 

 years, their childhoods will so overlap that, during this 

 whole period one or more will be dependent. So the long 

 growing period of the child, as a biological factor, puts a 

 condition upon tribal marriage practice. 



We have called attention to the reports of observers 

 that some primitive tribes permit unmarried unions to 

 continue until a child is born and it is usual to assume the 

 truth of what is implied, viz., that the custom is for no 

 marriage to take place until a child is born. If, however, it 

 were the custom to postpone marriage, then an earlier 



