The Growth of the Marriage Relation. 81 



assigned for the origin of systematic individual marriage, 

 which, before it could be exhibited in the higher phase of 

 monogamy, must pass through the lower form (a) of monan- 

 dry, which allows a man under special circumstances to 

 enter into the marriage relation with another woman during 

 his wife's lifetime. There is no doubt that individual mar- 

 riage may exist alongside of polygyny or polyandry. In fact, 

 where the former of these systems is permitted, it is 

 restricted in practice to men who are well-to-do, the major- 

 ity being necessarily limited to one wife, as in polyan- 

 drous communities they have to be satisfied with a share 

 in one. There does not appear, however, to be any evidence 

 that monandry, except of this accidental kind, existed in 

 the earliest times. The wife-purchase, which Mr. Spencer 

 supposes to have aided at a later date in the establishment 

 of monogamy, is, moreover, associated with the earlier 

 systems of polygyny and polyandry. In fact it is a question 

 how far wife-purchase was practised by the truly monog- 

 amous peoples of antiquity. 



Among the causes which, with monandrous peoples, 

 induce men to enter into the marriage relation a second 

 time while the first wife is living, one of the most import- 

 ant is the desire for children. Where a wife is childless, 

 or has no son, it is not surprising if, considering the natural 

 object of marriage, a man marries a second wife, with or 

 without divorcing the first one. To the ordinary reasons 

 for desiring male offspring, was added at an early date, 

 a superstitious one based on the necessity of having a 

 sou to perform the funeral rites. The idea that happiness 

 in the future life was thus secured is universal among 

 the ancient nations. It was founded on the belief, enter- 

 tained also by many existing races, that the father lives 

 again in his son. Hence, the not having a son, was always 

 regarded as a sufficient justification for the marrying of a 

 second wife. 



Although, according to what appears to me to be the 

 proper view of so-called "marriage by capture," it is a 

 mere ceremony, and has to do with kinship rather than the 

 evolution of marriage, a notice of it may be introduced 

 here, as it is practised chiefly among peoples having sys- 

 tematic monandry. The essential element of that ceremony 

 is stated by Dr. McLennan, when he says, "the marriage is 

 agreed upon by bargain, and the theft or abduction follows 



