Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 22, 1911.djvu/404

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68 Correspondence.

passion very imperfectly developed. They raise the presumption that it is largely dependent on the sense of ownership developed under the influence of matrimonial regulations, all later than the hypothetical primitive condition. The other observation is that the hypothesis of primitive monogamy proceeds on the assumption that man evolved from a solitary anthropoid ape, — an ape, that is, dwelling apart in a kind of family consisting of parents and infant offspring. Now, with the most profound respect for the great name of Darwin, which has been associated with it, this postulate is one that cannot be granted. The weight of argument appears to lie on the side of those who contend that man was from the first gregarious, and that the solitary habits of the gorilla and others of the higher apes have had not a little to do with the arrest of their evolution, and with their gradual failure in the struggle for existence. Leaving this problem, however, to biologists, it is enough now to note that the hypotheses of primitive monogamy, primitive jealousy, and primitive innate aversion hang together. In what follows I venture to postulate the contrary hypothesis of primitive promiscuity.

Starting from this hypothesis, what is the origin of exogamy? On the threshold of the enquiry I confess myself at a disadvantage. It is one thing to attempt to criticize the theories of others ; it is quite another thing to advance an alternative theory. I share Dr. Frazer's inability to commit myself to any definite opinion in the present state of our knowledge. Suspense of judgement is often wise in the discussion of scientific questions : nay, it is often absolutely necessary. But, lest I should seem to shirk the question, let me state for the sake of discussion one suggestion that has occurred to me in the course of investigation into savage social conditions. In doing so I do not wish to ignore the possibility that exogamy may have had more than one origin. It may have arisen independently in distant regions, and the pressure of environment may have operated quite differently in every case, though a similar result may have been produced.

The suggestion is that the exogamic clan originated in a first effort at the organization of human society. It must have been preceded by a dimly-growing consciousness of blood-relationship, probably extending only to the relation of mother and child, and