meaning, and of ' inferring, without sufificient reasons, from the prevalence of a 

 custom or institution among savage peoples, that this custom, this institution, is a 

 relic of a stage of development that the whole human race once went through.' 

 Finally, Mr. Westermarck is never satisfied that a custom or institution is explained 

 until he has endeavored to trace it to something fundamental in the physical or 

 psychical nature of the race. . . . We lay the volume down with the conviction that 

 it is a masterly contribution to a growing science, and that its author's argument will 

 stand, even although one may not accept with him the anthropoid ape as a man and 

 a brother."— John J. Halsev, in The Dial. 



'• It is scholarly, thoughtful, and comprehensive. There is nothing in it to stay 

 the souls of persons having * advanced views' of the marriage relations; the author 

 finds that nature, like sentiment, reason, and religion, has decreed that one man shall 

 be the mate of one woman, and that any deviations from this rule bring enduring 

 penalties with them. The book contains much curious information about the mar- 

 riage customs of various countries, savage and civilized, but is devoid of anything 

 that can stimulate erotic imaginations. A portion of Professor Westermarck's work 

 which might be read to advantage by almost any one is the chapter showing the 

 changes which have been made from time to time in woman's degree of dependence 

 upon man and independence of him. Since the earliest period of written history, 

 woman, in most civilized countries, has been regarded as the inferior partner in the 

 family relation, and often has sunk to the position of a mere dependent. One of the 

 boasted glories of modern civilization is the elevation — too often nominally only — 

 of the wife to equality with the husband. Yet traditions of the oldest races, and the 

 practice of some modern peoples who are scarcely civilized, show that woman has 

 been at times the head of the family and absolutely her own ruler. . . . The world 

 would not willingly go back to all primitive customs, ignorance, and discomfort, that 

 woman might fully reassert herself; but it is one of Civilization's satires upon herself 

 that woman was never so independent of man as when she supported herself." — The 

 New York Herald. 



" This is one of the most elaborate works on the history of social institutions that 

 we have met with. The author is lecturer on sociology in the University of Finland at 

 Helsingfors, yet his book was written by himself in English, which is to him a foreign 

 language. He modestly tells us in his preface that, as originally written, the book 

 contained some un-English expressions, which were corrected by his English friends; 

 but the ease and clearness of his style show that he is a master of the art of expres- 

 sion, and make his work far more interesting than works on such subjects are apt to 

 be. . . . As a descriptive history of marriage in the many forms it has assumed, the 

 work could hardly, in the present state of our knowledge, be surpassed. . . . He 

 shows a very wide as well as intimate knowledge of the facts, so far as they have 

 been discovered, and both his facts and his arguments will have to be considered by 

 all who may write on the subject hereafter. His opinions on certain fundamental 

 points are at variance with those of most previous writers, and hence his work is 

 likely to give rise to some controversy. He rejects the hypothesis that promiscuous 

 intercourse was once everywhere prevalent, and his arguments on this point deserve 

 careful attention. . . . Whatever may be thought of some of Mr. Westermarck's 

 theories, his work will be indispensable to all students of the early history of 

 marriage." — Science, 



MACMILLAN & CO., 



66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YOBK. 

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