i 3 4 PHYSICAL BASIS OF CIVILIZATION 



normal arrangements. The force of economic con- 

 ditions, however, seems to be already tending 

 towards a readjustment of existing sexual relations. 

 For the increasing complexity of socio-economic 

 conditions, and more still the concentration of eco- 

 nomic power in the hands of the few ; the increasing 

 demands of an ever more complex order of society; 

 the increasing facilities for satisfying the demands 

 of the reproductive instinct in an illegitimate way; 

 the rapid decay of all reliance upon the supposed 

 supernatural sanction for marital unions — all these 

 causes co-operate to produce an ever-increasing 

 number of bachelors and spinsters and to lessen the 

 opportunities for attractive marital relations. As 

 the number of unmarried women increases, more 

 and more of them are forced into industrial, self- 

 supporting occupations, and the demand for in- 

 creased opportunities of this kind will rapidly become 

 more urgent, and is bound to make itself heard. 



Even animals of comparatively low organization 

 and intelligence resort to nidification during the mat- 

 ing season. But the love of home in the human race 

 is more deeply rooted. It springs from the very struc- 

 ture of man's organism. For this structure made the 

 hiding habit of the females, and the support of mother 

 and offspring by the male, absolute necessities on 

 which the survival of the race depended. And these 

 two habits made a permanent and secure abiding- 

 place for the family as unavoidably necessary for the 

 survival of the race as those habits themselves were. 



