224 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. II., No. 29. 



manencj-, and cannot be expected to be found 

 extensively' prevailing at anj' age of the world. 

 It is essentially a transition stage, and, like 

 transition forms in biology, is characterized 

 by an ephemeral duration. Nevertheless, it 

 has numerous living representatives among the 

 lower existing tribes, particularly among the 

 Fuegians, interior Australians, AVood-Veddas, 

 and Bushmen." The illustrations given of 

 this second stage are also idle tales. These 

 people must also have had the organization 

 mentioned above as based on sex ; and it is 

 now known that some of them at least, espe- 

 ciallj' the Australians, have a highlj- organized 

 system of social aggregation based on kinship. 

 These people are, in fact, organized as tribes. 

 In the presence of facts, the first and second 

 periods of Mr. Ward disappear. 



Ti'avellers among savage peoples, seeking 

 for the institutions with which the.y were them- 

 selves acquainted among civilized men, have 

 found them not, and have sometimes reported 

 the peoples to be without institutions, and at 

 other times have completely misinterpreted 

 what they did discover. If we accept such 

 statements, we must believe that some tribes 

 were without organization, and some had the 

 institutions and governments of civilization. 

 And if we compare the statements of a number 

 of travellers about the same people, we shall 

 discover that most of the savage tribes of the 

 earth have been reported, now as being desti- 

 tute of government and sociologic institutions, 

 and now as having kings, aristocracies, and 

 the elaborate paraphernalia of civilized govern- 

 ments. None of these accounts are true : all 

 are to be rejected. But there j-et remains a 

 body of sociologic data relating to the lower 

 tribes of mankind, collected by scientific an- 

 thropologists, chieflj- during the last two or 

 three decades. We owe much of this knowl- 

 edge to Morgan's researches, and the investi- 

 gations of others which have grown out of his 

 suggestions. We now know something of the 

 organization of almost everj^ tribe on the face 

 of the earth, though in many cases our knowl- 

 edge is exceedingly meagre and fragmentary. 

 Yet perhaps enough is known to warrant the 

 assertion, that there is no tribe so low bnt that 

 it has a sociologic organization highly de- 

 veloped in comparison with that mentioned 

 above as based on sex and exhibited among 

 the lower animals. The outlines of tliis plan 

 of organization must be set forth. 



The tribes of mankind, as distinguished 

 from nations, have each an organization based 

 on kinship. This system of kinship invariably 

 recognizes grades, based primarily' on degrees 



of affinity and consanguinitj-, and secondaril}' 

 on relative age, or the series of generations 

 which maj- be extant among a people at any 

 given time. All of the relations which exist 

 among such a people, and which raa3' be de- 

 nominated as rights and duties, are deter- 

 mined bj- the kinship relations recognized in 

 their social organization, and expressed in 

 their language. This subject is too vast for 

 thorough exposition here, and a single illus- 

 tration must suffice. Among all such tribes 

 age gives authority, but no method of de- 

 termining the absolute age of anj* individual 

 exists among them. Dates of birth are soon 

 forgotten. But there is in the language of 

 every such tribe a device by which relative 

 age is invariably- expressed ; for every man, 

 woman, and child accosts and designates every 

 other man, woman, and child within the tribe 

 bj' a term which in itself expresses relative 

 age. Thus, in these languages there is no 

 term for brother; but there is one term for 

 elder brother, and another for younger brother. 

 A man cannot speak of his ' brother ' as such 

 simpl}' : he must use a term which says ' m)' 

 elder brother,' or ' my younger brother,' as 

 the case ma3' be. In the same manner, if he 

 speaks to or of any other person in the tribe, 

 the term by which that person is designated 

 will itself show the relative ages of the persons 

 speaking and spoken to or of. Age gives au- 

 thorit}-, and this authority is so important and 

 so universal that it is woven into the texture 

 of every tribal language. Ever^- tribe is or- 

 ganized as a great family, — a sj'stem of kin- 

 dred. 



From this plan of earl 3- tribal organization, 

 there is a great development exhibited in 

 manj' waj-s ; for tribes are differentiated into 

 classes, or clans, or gentes, which are interde- 

 pendent bodies politic. 



This tribal organization, so briefl}' character- 

 ized, has its fundamental idea in kinship ; and 

 the minds of the people in this stage can con- 

 ceive of no other form of organization. If 

 two or more tribes form an alliance, temporary' 

 or permanent, for defensive or oflfensive pur- 

 poses, one or both, the same thought prevails. 

 In a council for sucli an alliance, one of the 

 first propositions to be settled is, ' What shall 

 be the kinship relations existing between us ?' 

 and, before the alliance can be consummated, 

 this must be settled. 



Once upon a time the Cherokees, Choctaws, 

 Chickasaws, Muskokees, and other tribes met 

 in council for the purpose of forming an alli- 

 ance against the upper Mississippi tribes of 

 the Dakota stock ; and it was decided, that, 



