MABRIAOB 695 MABBIAOB
oubinage). The principal peoples among whom the elements of human nature. Taking the word natural
practice still exists are those under the sway of Mo- in its full sense, we may unhesitatingly affirm that
hammedanism, as those of Arabia, Turkey, and some monogamy, is the only natural form of marriage,
of the peoples of India. Its chief home among un- While promiscuity responds to certain elementalpas-
civilized races is Africa. However widespread polyg- sions and temporarily satisfies certain superficial
amy has been territorially, it has never been practised wants, it contradicts the parental instinct, the welfare
by more than a small mmority of any people. Even of children and of the race, and the overpowering
where it has been sanctioned by custom or the civil forces of jealousy and individual preference in both
law, the vast maiority of the population have been men and women. While polyandiy satisfied in some
monogamous. The reasons are obvious: there are not measure the temporary and exceptional wants arising
sufficient women to provide every man with several from scarcity of food or scarcity of women, it finds an
wives, nor are the majority of men able to support insuperable barrier in male jealousy, in the male sense
more than one. Hence polygamous marriages are of proprietorship, and is directly opposed to the wel-
found for the most part among the kings, chiefs, fare of the wife, and fatal to the fecimdity of the race,
strong men, and rich men of the community; and While polygamy has prevailed among so many peoples
its prevailing form seems to have been bigamy. More- and over so long a period of history as to suggest that
over, polygamous unions are, as a rule, modined in the it is in some sense natural, and while it does seem to
direction of monogamy, inasmuch as one of the wives, furnish a means of satisfying the stronger and more
usually the first married, occupies a higher place in the frequently recurring desires of the male, it conflicts
household than the others, or one of them is the fa- with the numerical equaUty of the sexes, with the
vourite, and has exceptional privileges of intercourse jealousy, sense of proprietorship, equality, dignity,
with the common husuand. and general welfare of the wife, and with the best in-
Among the principal causes of polygamy are: the terests of the offspring, relative scarcity of males, arising sometimes from nu- In all those regions in which polygamy has existed merous destructive wars, and sometimes from an ex- or still exists, the status of woman is extremely low; cess of female births; the unwillingness of the husband she is treateu as man's property, not as his compaiH to remain continent when intercourse with one wife is ion; her life is invariably one of great hardship, while undesirable or impossible; and unrestrained lustful her moral, spiritual, and intellectual qualities are al- cravings. Still another cause, or more properly, a most utterly neglected. Even the male human being condition, is a certain degree of economic advance- is in the highest sense of the phrase naturally monoga- ment in a people, and a certain amount of wealth ac- mous. His moral, spiritual, and Aesthetic faculties can cumulated by some individuals. In the rudest socio- obtain normal development only when his sexual rela- ties p^ygamy is almost unknown, because hunting tions are confined to one woman in the common life and fishing are the chief means of livelihood, and fe- and enduring association provided by monogamy, male labour has not the value that attaches to it when The welfare of the children, and, therefore, of the race, a man's wives can be employed in tending flocks, culti- obviously demands that the offspring of each pair shall vating fields, or exercising useful handicrafts. Before have the undivided attention and care of both their the pastoral stage of industry has been reached parents. When we speak of the naturalness of any scarcely any man can afford to support several women, social institution, we necessarily take as our standard, When, however, some accumulation of wealth has not nature in a superficial or one-sided sense, or in its taken place, polygamy becomes possible for the more savage state, or as exemplified in a few individuals or wealthy, and for those who can utilize the productive in a sin^e generation, but nature adequately consid* labour of their wives. Hence the practice has been ered, in all its needs and powers, in all the members of more frequent among the higher savages and barba- the present and of future generations, and as it ap- rians than among the very lowest races. At a still pears in those tendencies which lead toward its high- higher stage it tends to give way to monogamy. est development. The verdict of experience and the
We may now sum up the whole historical situation voice of nature reinforce, conse<]^uently, the Christian
concerning the forms of sexual union and of maniage teaching on the unity of marriage. Moreover, the
in the words of one of the ablest living authorities in progress of the race toward monogamy, as well as
this field of investigation: ** It is not, of course, impos- toward a purer monogamy, during the last two thou-
sible that, among some peoples, intercourse between sand years, owes more to the influence of Christianity
the sexes may have been almost promiscuous. But than to all other forces combined. Christianity has
there is not a shred of genuine evicience for the notion not oidy aboli^ed or diminished polyandry and polyg-
that promiscuity ever formed a general stage in the amy among the savage and barbarous peoples which
history of mankind . . . although polygamy occurs it lias converted, but it has preserved Europe from the
among most existing peoples, and polyandry among polygamous civilization of Mohammedanism, has kept
some, monogamy is by far the most common form of nefore the eyes of the more enlightened peoples the
human marriage. It was so among the ancient peo- ideal of an unadulterated monogamy, and has given to
pies of whom we have any direct knowledge. Mouog- the world its highest conception of the equality that
amy is the form which is generally recognized and pei^ should exist between the two parties in the marriage
mitted. The great majority of peoples are, as a rule, relation. And its influence on behalf of monogamy
monogamous, and the other forms of marriage are usu- has extended, and continues to extend, far beyond the
ally modified in a monogamous direction. We may confines of those countries that call tJouemselves Chris-
without hesitation assert that, if mankind advance in tian.
the same direction as hitherto; if, consequently, the (3) Deviations from Marriage. — Our discussion of
causes to which monogamy in the most progressive the various forms of marriage would be incomplete
societies owes its origin continue to operate with con- without some reference to those practices that nave
stantly growing force; if, especially, altruism increases, been more or less prevalent, and yet that are a trans-
and the feeling of love becomes more refined, and more gression of every form of marriage. Sexual license
exclusively directed to one, — the laws of monogamy amounting almost to promiscuity seems to have pre-
can never be changed, but must be followed much vailed among a few peoples or tribes. Among some
more strictly than they are now " (Westermarck, op. andent peoples the women, especially the unmarried,
cit.. pp. 133, 459, 510). practised prostitution as an act of religion. Some
The experience of the race, particularly in its move- tribes, botn ancient and relatively modern, have main-
ment toward and its progress in civilization, has ap- tained the custom of yielding the newly married bride
proved monogamy for the simple reason that monog- to the relatives and guests of the bridegroom. Unlim-
amy is in harmony with the essential and immutable ited sexual intercourse before marriage has been sane-
