Page:Origin of the Anglo-Saxon Race.djvu/182

168 upwards and others are downwards, and others are travers or sidewards. Ancestors succeed on failure of those below them. The computation does not go beyond the sixth grade or degree—i.e., great-great-grandfather’s great-grandfather, because such a computation would be beyond the memory of mankind.’

The early German method of reckoning the degrees of side-relationships is described in documentary evidence of the thirteenth century. but comes down from a much earlier time. It is explained by reference to the joints of the human body from the head to the tips of the fingers. There are thus to be observed seven joints in the human frame—viz, those of (1) the neck, (2) the shoulders, (3) the elbow, (4) the wrist, and (5, 6, and 7) the joints of the fingers. Then we read: ‘Now mark where the sippe begins and where it ends. In the head it is ordered that man and wife do stand who have come together in lawful wedlock. In the joint of the neck stand the children, born of the same father and mother. Half-brothers and sisters may not stand in the neck, but descend to the next. Full brothers’ and sisters’ children stand in the joint where the shoulder and arm come together. This is the first quarter of the sippe which is reckoned to the maegen, brothers’ and sisters’ children. In the elbow stands the next; in the wrist the third; in the first joint of the middle finger the fourth; in the next joint the fifth; in the third joint of the middle finger the sixth; in the seventh stands a nail, and therefore ends here the sippe, and this is called the nail mage.’

All this is important in considering the influence of the mægth or kindred in connection with the English settlement and Old English life. The name constantly comes before us in records of the period. We read of the