HIGHER FUNCTIONS 187 



it is evident he is only fulfilling a general biological law; 

 but it also follows that if infantile helplessness is pro- 

 longed, his parental duties are liable to a similar exten- 

 sion. Here is evidently the beginning of that association 

 of mother, father, and child which, lasting beyond a 

 brief period comprised in courtship, the suckling of help- 

 less young, and the guarding of mother and offspring, 

 lays the foundation of the family. 



When infancy is brief, the family bond is similarly of 

 short duration; and, the period of suckling being ended, 

 there comes a time of expansion of infantile enterprises, 

 a time marked by some internecine strife and much 

 parental intolerance. It becomes a necessity for the 

 mother to repel the young when mammary activity is 

 ended ; it devolves upon the father to chastise any possible 

 rivals: and in most large littered animals the family tie 

 loosens and dissolves as soon as the young are fully 

 capable of fending for themselves. As the period of 

 dependence of the solitary offspring becomes more pro- 

 tracted, the advent of the dissolution of the family is 

 naturally delayed it may be delayed until the recurrence 

 of the next natural parental sexual season. This I 

 imagine to be a very important factor. If the bond of 

 the helpless offspring keeps the male in attendance until 

 the next sexual period of the female, there is likely to be 

 a recurrence of the whole process, and a step towards the 

 permanence of their union. 



Although, as Professor Hickson has observed, there 

 is a striking poverty of observations upon these very 

 details of Primate economy, enough has been recorded 

 to warrant some general statements. The Anthropoid 

 Apes are met with almost invariably as family parties, ; 

 or as solitary wandering individuals, and it is believed 

 that pairing lasts for life. " The gorilla lives in a scje%~ 

 consisting of male and female and their young of varying 

 ages " (Koppenfels, quoted by Hartman). " The Chim- 

 panzee either lives in separate families, or in small groups 



