ELDEST MALE DESCENDANTS AS QUASI-PRIESTS. 721 



males has &quot;been established, the descent of the priestly 

 function follows the same law as the descent of property ; 

 and there are other facts showing it more directly. 



At the present time the connexion between the two is well 

 displayed in China, where &quot;it is regarded as indispensable 

 that there should be some one to burn incense to the manes of 

 the dead, from the eldest son down to posterity in the direct 

 line of the eldest son, either by an own child or an adopted 

 child;&quot; and where the eldest son, who inherits more than 

 other sons, has to bear the cost of the offerings. So, too, is it 

 in the Corea, where, as already pointed out, the Shangjoo, or 

 chief mourner, is either the eldest son or the eldest son of the 

 eldest. When the corpse is buried, &quot;if there are graves of 

 ancestors in that place already, the Shangjoo sacrifices before 

 them also, informing them of the new arrival.&quot; 



These facts, along with foregoing ones, show that de 

 volution of the sacrificial office accompanies devolution of 

 property, because the property has to bear the costs of the 

 sacrifices. We see that in societies characterized by the 

 patriarchal form of organization, a son, who alone was capable 

 of inheriting, could alone have due means of ministering to 

 the deceased, and therefore could alone be priest. Whence 

 obviously resulted the necessity for having a male descendant, 

 as indicated above. 



At the same time we are shown how, under the patriarchal 

 type of society in its first stages, the domestic, the political, 

 and the ecclesiastical, are undistinguished. These sacrifices 

 made to the departed head of a family-group are primarily 

 domestic. As the family-group develops into the compound 

 group, the patriarch at its head acquires a quasi-political 

 character; and these offerings made to him after death 

 are in the nature of tribute, while fulfilment of the com 

 mands he left, disobedience to which may bring punishment 

 when he returns, implies civil subordination. At the same 

 time, in so far as these actions are performed to propitiate 

 a being distinguished as supernatural, those who perform 

 them acquire a quasi-ecclesiastical character. 



