16 SEX 



deals with the history of marriage, of adoles- 

 cence-ceremonies, of courtship, of concu- 

 binage, of prostitution, and so on. It varies, 

 of course, as emphasis is laid on the anthropo- 

 logical, the economic, or the religious aspects 

 of the facts, but its method is definitely 

 historical. It aims at tracing out; the evolu- 

 tion of the sex-relations from their pre-human 

 to their human, from their primitive to their 

 civilised expressions. 



(b) Another method is that of comparative 

 anthropology, which studies the customs at 

 present to be observed in different peoples, 

 especially of those who are called savages, 

 who may be more profitably called our " con- 

 temporary ancestors." Thus the study of 

 the aborigines of Central Australia, as pur- 

 sued by men like Spencer and Gilleri, has 

 yielded very valuable results, especially those 

 bearing on exogamy and totemism. But 

 without going outside our own civilisation 

 there is much to be gained from a comparative 

 study of customs, rites, and lingering super- 

 stitions. Logically pursued, this comparative 

 method may be extended to a study of the 

 sex-relations among animals. 



(c) A third method is biological the study 

 of sex as seen in animals and plants, and this 

 is usually pursued along two somewhat 

 different lines. On the one hand, we have 

 physiological investigations, into the r61e of 

 sex-functions in the internal economy of 

 the organism; on the other hand, we have 

 the study, more observational than experi- 

 mental, of the expressions of sex in plant and 

 animal, in insect and bird, in amphibian 



