TRANSITION FROM TRIBAL SOCIETY 279 



a few of the most important influences which have been at 

 work in combining to produce civilization. 



The germ of a civil state appears when several tribes 

 unite and form a confederation for purposes of mutual 

 protection. We saw that the Iroquois confederacy was, 

 in many respects, like a true civil state. Yet this re- 

 markable organization was really not advanced beyond 

 the stage of ethnic society because it was composed of 

 tribes of Indians who traced descent through the mother 

 line. The change from metronymic to patronymic or- 

 ganization seems to have been essential in the early his- 

 tory of many peoples for the final great transition to civil 

 society. This change appears to have occurred at any 

 stage in social evolution. A patriarchal organization 

 had been already attained by most historic peoples when 

 their earliest known literature was written; in conse- 

 quence, even down to the middle of the nineteenth cen- 

 tury, traditions of earlier metronymic organization had 

 passed from men's minds. 1 In passing from metro- 

 nymic to patronymic organization, society was deeply in- 

 fluenced by the economic struggle for foods. In this 

 period human savagery had full expression. There were 

 ruthless wars of extermination and surplus population 

 within the group was put to death. Social regulations 

 placed a ban upon the marriage of young men, resulting 

 in polyandry 2 and in polygamy 3 among the older and 

 powerful chiefs. 4 



i Dealey, J. Q. The Family in its Rociolonirnl Aspects, 1012, p. 27, see 

 also Howard's Matrimonial Institutions, Morgan's Ancient Society, Fustel 

 de Coulanges' Ancient City, Robertson Smith's Kinship and Marriage of 

 Early Arabia, Louis Wallis' Sociological Rtudy of the Bible, Keller's 

 Homeric Society, Gummere's Germanic Origins, and ITearn's Aryan House- 

 hold. 2 A marriage system in which a woman has several husbands. 



3 A marriage system in which a man has several wives. 



* Dealey, op. cit., p. 23. 



