Mar., 1890. 
THE PRINCIPLES OF SOCIOLOGY. 
57 
a son, as the continuator of the direct line of a family, can a woman 
escape from her degradation and become to a certain degree her hus¬ 
band’s equal, but then only in household affairs, especially the female 
department, and in the ancestral hall. (8) In the other world woman’s 
condition is exactly the same, for the same laws of existence apply. 
She is not the equal of her husband; she belongs to him, and is de¬ 
pendent for her happiness on the sacrifices offered by her descendants. 
These are the doctrines taught by Confucius, Mencius, and the ancient 
sages, whose memory has been revered in China for thousands of 
years.” 
I am not quite sure that similar ideas do not linger even 
to the present day in remote parts of our own island—and, 
indeed, in parts not so very remote, if we may judge by Mr. 
Grant Allen’s extraordinary diatribe in the “ Fortnightly” 
for October. If a Museum of Evolutional Psychology should 
ever be established—in the 21st century, let us say—that 
article will have a distinct value as a curious instance of 
reversion. 
But the most practical part of the student’s work is to 
examine his own prejudices, and to recognise them as sur¬ 
vivals of beliefs which were once rational, but which now, 
undermined by maturer knowledge, are evidently destitute 
of foundation. This task would be one of the most important 
that the section could possibly undertake ; though, perhaps, it 
will be best accomplished by each member acting as his own 
private inquisitor. When we have traced out the mixture 
of truth and error which constitutes our own beliefs, we shall 
be more ready and more able to perceive the rational element 
in the sociological conceptions of contemporary races. When 
I was in India last year, I was talking once to a very en¬ 
lightened Brahmin, a university professor of Sanskrit, who 
had cast aside many religious and social prejudices, and was 
anxious to keep his little daughter of nine unmarried till the 
comparatively ripe age of twelve, if only his family and caste 
could be brought to consent to so great an innovation. I said 
something about the bondage of caste being the root of all 
evil, and asked whether he did not think that its fetters 
would soon be relaxed. But he gravely replied “ No ! I will 
speak to you quite frankly. My ancestors for ages back have 
come of a stock devoted to intellectual pursuits, and the love 
of these has become hereditary. I should not like to sully 
the purity of our blood by intermixing it with that of another 
caste engaged in meaner occupations. Does not Darwin 
show us that ancestral characteristics are reproduced in the 
offspring, and are preserved by natural or artificial selection?” 
I felt rather crushed by having Darwin brought down upon 
me in this unexpected manner, and although the Pundit’s 
