4 PRIMITIVE PATERNITY 



and limited, upon the parties entering into them. The 

 stages we shall review are not necessarily successive, 

 still less immediately consecutive. Anthropological 

 knowledge does not warrant our laying down any 

 uniform succession of stages through which conjugal 

 relations must have passed. On the contrary the 

 varying environment of humanity has dictated different 

 modes of life according to the kind of food, its plenti- 

 fulness and the dangers and difficulties attending its 

 collection, the enemies human and non-human to be 

 subdued or at all events avoided, and the general 

 conditions of climate, soil, land and water. Each of 

 these different modes of life has necessitated the 

 adaptation of conjugal relations, not merely for the 

 satisfaction of physical impulses, but for the gratifica- 

 tion of the desire for human companionship and for 

 the preservation of the species. Moreover, these 

 modes of life once formed are not unchangeable. 

 They are modified from time to time by the degree of 

 material civilisation attained, by contact with sur- 

 rounding peoples and by other influences ; and the 

 modifications have entailed further adaptation of the 

 relations between the sexes. 



Among most nations in the lower culture the 

 severance of the matrimonial bond is no difficult matter 

 at all events on the side of the man, and frequently 

 also on that of the woman. The will of the individual 

 parties to the bond is often the only factor in the case. 

 Where this is not so, where the birth of children 

 strengthens the connection of husband and wife, or 

 where the kindred on either side claim an interest in 

 its continuance, even there separation is usually a 

 mere matter of negotiation and arrangement. In 



