TRANSITION FROM TRIBAL SOCIETY 279 



a few of the more important influences which have heen 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 metronjTuic to patronymic or- 

 ganization seems to have been essential in tlio 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 jiatriarchal 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. ^ 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' - and in polygymy " among the older and 

 powerful chiefs.^ 



1 Dcalpy, J. Q. — The Famili/ in i/.<? S!ocinloriicnl Aspcrffi, 1012, p. 27, sec 

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

 do Coulangos' Ancient City, Robertson Smith's Kinship and Marriage of 

 Early Arabia, Lonis Wallis' Sociological Study of the Bible, Keller's 

 JTomcric Society, Gummere's Germanic Origins, and ITearn's Aryan House 

 hold. ~A marriage system in vliich a woman lias several liusbands. 



3 A marriage system in which a man has several wives 



4Uealey, op. cit., p. 23, 



