THE EVOLUTION OF MORAL CODES 85 



families, although there was more or less harmony 

 among the members of the same family. But as soon 

 as families began to unite to form larger groups the 

 earlier condition of feuds and warfare between fami- 

 lies would surely be fatal to any union ; indeed, large 

 associations of men would be impossible until there 

 was some cessation of the hostilities that at first 

 plainly existed among families. Amid the constant 

 warfares which were going on among primitive tribes 

 and clans those groups of men which had a union 

 strong enough to enable them to act as a unit would 

 have exceptional advantage over those in which con- 

 certed action was not possible ; and as a result natu- 

 ral selection would soon leave in existence only those 

 which had been able to unite into compact masses. 

 Since union would be impossible unless the inter- 

 family feuds should cease, selection would in time 

 preserve those clans where the original family hos- 

 tilities were in a measure checked. Moreover, man, 

 with his growing intelligence, perhaps began to real- 

 ize, that success against a foreign foe was dependent 

 upon unity, and that this in turn was dependent upon 

 the disappearance of the family hostilities which 

 seem to have been the normal condition of early man. 

 Under such forces there gradually arose methods 

 of settling without open hostility the quarrels that 

 were constantly arising among families. An injured 

 family would agree, perhaps influenced by a dis- 

 inclination to fight a more numerous family, to 

 accept payment for an injury instead of demanding 

 retaliation in kind as was the primitive method of 

 settling disputes. There were sometimes definite 

 payments specified for a murder and other j^ayments 

 for the injury of stealing a woman. Such peaceful 



