MARITAL JEALOUSY 243 



whether the masculine passion of jealousy can be as 

 fundamental and primitive as it is sometimes asserted 

 to be. If the answer be, as I believe it must be, in 

 the negative certain hypothetical reconstructions of the 

 history of marriage will need reconsideration. 



Our immediate business however is not with these : 

 we are concerned rather with the relation of parent 

 and child. The evidence before us culminating in the 

 present chapter proves beyond doubt a general in- 

 difference in the lower culture to the actual paternity 

 of a child. It is true that among many nations the 

 pregnancy of an unmarried girl must be followed by 

 her marriage ; while among others the alternative of 

 abortion or infanticide is preferred. Economic causes 

 are frequently responsible for this : the girl-mother's 

 family are unwilling to support an additional member 

 who ought to be dependent on another person. Or 

 the pressure of social forms is often responsible. The 

 transfer of the potestas to the husband tends to the 

 servitude of all women, unmarried as well as married. 

 A girl's freedom is abridged ; her right to entertain 

 lovers decays ; she is married by the time she is 

 mature or as soon afterwards as possible. Often she 

 is betrothed when a mere child and compelled to 

 continence until marriage. There is no place in the 

 social framework for the offspring of her amours ; it 

 becomes a disgrace for any other than a wife to bring 

 a child into the world. On the other hand, it is by no 

 means uncommon that a girl who is pregnant or has 

 given birth to a child is more readily married ; her 

 value increases when she is shown to be prolific. 

 Her husband is sure of at least one child ; and whether 

 he himself is the begetter or not is a matter about 



