COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



to accept, when once propounded, the present 

 series of inferences.^ 



For the process here described, when long 

 enough continued, must inevitably differentiate 

 and integrate a herd or troop of gregarious ape- 

 like men into a number of small family com- 

 munities such as are now found among the 

 lowest savages. The prolonged helplessness of 

 the offspring must keep the parents together 

 for longer and longer periods in successive 

 epochs ; and when at last the association is so 

 long kept up that the older children are grow- 

 ing mature while the younger ones still need 

 protection, the family relations begin to become 

 permanent. The parents have lived so long in 

 company that to seek new companionships in- 

 volves some disturbance of ingrained habits ; 

 and meanwhile the older sons are more likely 

 to continue their original association with each 

 other than to establish associations with stran- 

 gers, since they have common objects to achieve, 

 and common enmities, bequeathed and acquired, 

 with neighbouring families. As the parent dies, 

 the headship of the family thus established de- 

 volves upon the oldest, or bravest, or most sa- 

 gacious male remaining. Thus the little group 

 gradually becomes a clan, the members of which 

 are united by ties considerably stronger than 



^ [See Introduction, § 26, for further references regarding 

 this theory.] 



134 



