66 SEX-LORE 



ing to some authorities, all humanity is supposed to 

 have passed through in succession. This, however, 

 is now disputed, and it is thought that tribes which 

 are at one stage need not necessarily have gone 

 through the previous stage. But, on the whole, we 

 can arrange matrimonial institutions into some sort 

 of series, indicating more or less the stages of the 

 evolution of marriage. Sometimes a link may be 

 completely missing, and then, again, we may find 

 two stages overlapping and appearing at the same 

 time in the same tribe. 



We can divide marriage into three main types : the 

 matriarchate, the patriarchate, and individual mar- 

 riage. 



1. MATRIARCHATE. 



We find more and more signs of the matriarchate 

 as we go down in the scale of civilization, but still 

 there are traces of it even among civilized nations. 

 Matriarchate means the rule of the mother in con- 

 tradistinction to that of the father, which is so familiar 

 to us. Researches in ancient and modern customs 

 have led to a theory that there was once a period 

 when women had the ruling power in the family. 

 This, however, has been shown to be erroneous. 

 What is true is, that there existed mother-right and 

 not mother-rule. Mother-right imples that descent is 

 reckoned in the female line and inheritance passes 

 through the mother. In some cases the daughters 

 only can inherit from the mother. Under this system 

 the wife remains a member of her own family, and 

 the husband goes to live with her. The children take 

 the mother's name and belong to her kindred. It is 

 her family that protects her and her children, some- 



