The Adoption of Children 199 



doption of Moses, set forth in the words of Holy 

 Writ,— 'And she adopted him for a son and 

 called him Moses, saying I took him out of the 

 water.' The Hebrew law is silent on the sub- 

 ject. Some writers have urged that the words 

 of St. Paul show that it was well known to them, 

 but it is submitted that these similes were 

 painted by the great apostle for the Romans and 

 the Galatians, people who knew and practised 

 adoption. Adoption among the ancient Ger- 

 mans was attended with military ceremonies 

 and the placing of warlike weapons in the hands 

 of the adopted. * * * * We find it among the 

 tribal customs of the Indians of the Western 

 World. * * * * While adoption is now general 

 in the United States, it was not until the middle 

 half of the nineteenth century that statutes 

 changing the common law so as to permit the 

 same were enacted, Massachusetts, in 1851, 

 being the first of the common law States to 

 pass the same." 



Statutes permitting and regulating adoption 

 are now in force in most of the States of the 

 Union. The legal relations are the same as 



