48 fHE COMING OF MAN 



rodents and many carnivora we find what may be called a 

 maternal family, from which the male is excluded. From 

 apes upward the genuine female-plus-male family is and must 

 be on the increase. 



Havelock Ellis says that Nature takes the female under 

 her protection.^ He seems to be right. But we might add 

 that in mammals and many other forms the males, if of no 

 use in protecting the female and young, are encouraged and 

 stimulated to fight and kill each other off and thus save feed- 

 ing useless mouths. 



The form of the family is still uncertain. Promiscuity could 

 hardly have been prevalent. Polygamy seems improbable un- 

 der the conditions. The question is still under discus- 

 sion. But Westermarck's plea for primitive monogamy is 

 very convincing, and seems to be generally gaining accep- 

 tance.® 



The advantages of family life are so many and clear that we 

 need and can notice only a very few of them. First, and 

 not yet sufficiently emphasized, is the prolongation of im- 

 maturity and possibility of full development. Living anthro- 

 poids seem to mature about the age of six or eight years. 

 Certain curious facts in the growth of the child lead us to 

 suspect that our latest arboreal ancestors matured between 

 seven and nine. Southern and primitive races still mature 

 much earlier than those who have wandered into northern 

 climates and been held back by its hardships. 



The child matures slowly under the most favorable con- 

 ditions for his physical and mental welfare. In our devo- 

 tion to the study of heredity we have too much neglected to 

 put proper emphasis on nurture, early environment. The soil 

 and culture is almost as important as the seed in producing 

 a good harvest. If the seed be a human germ-cell packed 

 full of diverse mental possibilities and tendencies inherited 

 from different strains and times, early nurture can accom- 



7 60 



* U. 34. 



