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Title: The population problem
A study in human evolution
Author: A. M. Carr-Saunders
Release date: January 23, 2026 [eBook #77753]
Language: English
Original publication: Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1922
Credits: Richard Tonsing, Aaron Adrignola, Tim Lindell, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POPULATION PROBLEM ***
THE POPULATION PROBLEM
=A Study in=
HUMAN EVOLUTION
BY
A. M. CARR-SAUNDERS
OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1922
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
London Edinburgh Glasgow Copenhagen New York Toronto Melbourne
Cape Town Bombay Calcutta Madras Shanghai
HUMPHREY MILFORD
Publisher to the University
PREFACE
Many different questions connected with population are frequently
discussed at the present day. This book is designed not so much as a
contribution to the study of any one of these questions in particular as
an attempt to trace back to their origin the main problems which now
attract attention and to indicate their relation one to the other—to
view the whole problem in fact from an historical and evolutionary
standpoint. The book is an accident of the war. When war broke out I was
engaged in collecting material which is incorporated in this book with
the object of discussing certain aspects of the population problem. It
had occurred to me that I might write an introduction showing how these
aspects are related to the problem as a whole. Further than that I had
not gone when there followed five years of active service during which
the project of writing an introductory sketch became converted into the
far more ambitious project of treating at some length the population
problem as a whole. Had it thus not been for these years during which it
was possible only to elaborate schemes for future work, I should never
have embarked on so ambitious a task. The task is not an easy one,
involving as it does both difficulties of proportion and difficulties
arising from the necessity of touching upon biological, anthropological
and economic problems, with regard to all of which no one man can
pretend to have extensive knowledge. Nevertheless, quite apart from the
question as to whether this book does in any measure achieve its
purpose, those best acquainted with modern population literature will
probably agree that there is room for an attempt to view the whole
population problem in historical perspective. If therefore this book
does no more than draw the attention of those interested in particular
aspects of the matter to the necessity of so doing, it will not
altogether have failed of its purpose.
I wish to express my very great obligations to Professor L. T. Hobhouse,
who read through the whole book in manuscript and furnished me with
numerous most valuable suggestions and criticisms. To Mr. Julian Huxley,
who read the chapters which deal most directly with biological problems,
I am also indebted for valuable help. The calculations which appear in
the last section of the fifth chapter I owe to Mr. H. T. Tizard.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PAGE
HISTORICAL 17
(1) Problems of population fall under two headings—quantitative
and qualitative; the former have long attracted attention; the
latter have, until recently, only sporadically aroused interest.
(2) Numbers were discussed in a restricted sense in Greece and
Rome, but it was not until the sixteenth century (3) that
quantitative problems were considered from a modern point of
view when (4) a dense population was generally held to be
advantageous. (5) This view was not everywhere accepted, and (6)
the relation between numbers and the food-supply was from time
to time discussed, and the position of Malthus more or less
anticipated. (7) In 1798 Malthus published his book, which (8)
was favourably received. (9) Neomalthusian propaganda, though
not approved by Malthus, began early. (10) Darwin and Wallace
were influenced by Malthus in founding the hypothesis of natural
selection, and from 1858 onwards qualitative problems have come
to assume an equally important place.
CHAPTER II
THE BASIS OF THE POPULATION PROBLEM: (1) THE QUANTITATIVE
ASPECT 37
(1) The ancestors of man were once subject to the conditions
prevailing among species in a state of nature. These conditions
are studied. (2) Reproduction, the necessity for which can be
explained, (3) always consists in the fusion of two gametes, but
(4) is accomplished by different methods. (5) Whatever the
method, most ripe ova are fertilized, though among lower forms
failures may not be infrequent. A reference to the nature of (6)
reflex action, (7) instinct, (8) intelligence, and (9) reason
shows that, (10) whatever the stage of mental evolution reached
among species in a state of nature, reproduction is essentially
‘mechanical’. (11) The vast number of ova (12) is only partially
called for by the fact that a certain proportion only is
fertilized. The vast number is necessary because (13) owing to
the interdependence of all species a large proportion of the
young of (14) both animals (15) and plants perish before
maturity (16) and is determined by the sum of the dangers to
which the young are exposed.
CHAPTER III
THE BASIS OF THE POPULATION PROBLEM: (2) THE
QUALITATIVE ASPECT 64
(1) In the chromatin of the nucleus we have apparently to
recognize the physical basis of the inherited qualities which
(2) take the form of predispositions towards the development of
certain characters. (3) Difference between modifications and
mutations. (4) ‘Pure Line’ and (5) Mendelian investigations
indicate nature and behaviour of latter on crossing. (6)
Germinal change consists in the apparent addition, dropping out,
or modification of ‘factors’, the causes of which (7) are
unknown, and are not due to the inheritance of acquired
characters. (8) Owing to the death-rate being selective,
different germinal constitutions are differently favoured, and
thus (9) permanent change among species in a state of nature
comes about.
CHAPTER IV
THE POPULATION PROBLEM AMONG MEN 80
(1) The population problem among men has, owing to the evolution
of reason, assumed in both aspects a wholly different form. (2)
To follow the nature, causes, and results of these changes a
sketch is required of human evolution—especially of social
evolution. History only provides a partial record for a few
thousand years, and (3) we are thus dependent for social history
upon our knowledge of primitive races which may be applied to
prehistoric races. (4) Outline of future chapters.
CHAPTER V
HUMAN FECUNDITY 88
(1) We have to ask whether human fecundity has changed and what
the effect of certain customs is upon fecundity. (2) It is not
to factors influencing the male (3) but to factors influencing
the female that we have to look. (4) The length of the mature
period increases with good conditions; (5) the interval between
births has decreased in mankind, (6) while the number at a birth
has probably increased (7) owing to good conditions. (8) That
human fecundity has increased is supported by other evidence,
(9) including the number of children, and (10) was held by
Darwin and others. (11) Polygamy has had no influence, but
lactation, age at marriage, early intercourse, and development
of fat adversely affect fecundity. (12) Calculations of possible
increase.
CHAPTER VI
HUMAN HISTORY 106
(1) The outline of human history can be roughly dated by (2)
estimating the length of the geological eras. (3) Little is
known as to the evolution of the Primate stock, but (4) the
association of geological data, fossils, and cultural data give
a table of human history. (5) Fossil remains of man before the
fourth glacial epoch. (6) Neanderthal man in the fourth glacial
epoch. (7) Numerous remains in the post-glacial epoch. (8)
Putting aside eoliths, (9) we have Lower, Middle, and Upper
Palaeolithic cultures, followed by (10) Neolithic culture and
(11) the age of metals. (12) Putting together fossil and
cultural evidence, we reach a scheme the details of which can be
filled in by (13) our knowledge of existing primitive races with
(14) certain reservations.
CHAPTER VII
HUNTING AND FISHING RACES 135
(1) A survey of these races is undertaken to show the prevalence
of factors bearing upon fertility and elimination, and evidence
of (2) pre-puberty intercourse, (3) prolonged lactation, (4)
initiation ceremonies, (5) postponement of marriage, and (6)
abstention from intercourse is given. (7) Evidence of small
average size of family. (8) Among factors of elimination,
abortion, (9) infanticide, (10) warfare, (11) feuds, (12)
killing of old and sick, (13, 14) disease, and (15) child
mortality are investigated.
CHAPTER VIII
PRIMITIVE AGRICULTURAL RACES 162
(1) A similar survey of these races is undertaken, and evidence
is given regarding the prevalence in America (2) of pre-puberty
intercourse, (3) postponement of marriage, (4) prolonged
lactation, (5) abstention from intercourse, (6) small size of
the family, (7) abortion, (8) infanticide, (9) war, (10) feuds,
(11) disease, (12) and child mortality. (13) In Africa similarly
regarding pre-puberty intercourse, (14) lactation, (15)
marriage, (16) abstention from intercourse, (17) contraceptive
methods, (18) size of family, (19) abortion, (20) infanticide,
(21) warfare, (22) feuds, (23) disease, (24) and child
mortality. (25) In Oceania regarding pre-puberty intercourse,
(26) lactation, (27) marriage, (28) abstention from intercourse,
(29) contraceptive practices, (30) size of family, (31)
abortion, (32) infanticide, (33) warfare, (34) feuds, (35) and
child mortality. (36) In Asia of the same practices.
CHAPTER IX
THE REGULATION OF NUMBERS AMONG PRIMITIVE RACES 197
(1) The theory of Malthus has long been disproved, and (2) has
been replaced by the modern theory of an optimum density of
population. (3) Territories are strictly defined among hunting
and fishing races, and (4) among primitive agricultural races.
(5) Among all these races there is co-operation in the search
for food. (6) The principle of the optimum number holds good for
all of them, and by the natural selection of customs, practices
restrictive of increase come everywhere into use in the shape of
abstention from intercourse, abortion, and infanticide. (7)
Evidence of these practices is incomplete, (8) but shows that
they are so practised as to keep numbers down to a certain
level, (9) and, though they may be adjusted solely by natural
selection, yet some semi-conscious adjustment may take place.
(10) That adjustment should take place, a certain standard of
skill is necessary on the part of those who set up new families
and is ensured by marriage customs. (11) General conditions of
savage life afford evidence that customs are effective. (12)
There is no correlation between these practices and economic
stages; though evidence is lacking, the presumption is that some
such practices were everywhere in use (13) not only among
primitive but also among prehistoric races, (14) who have moved
slowly away from the conditions prevalent in the intermediate
stage.
CHAPTER X
HISTORICAL RACES 243
(1) These races fall under four sub-headings. For all of them
the evidence is discussed concerning (2) disease, (3) warfare,
(4) and child mortality. (5) In sub-groups 1 and 2 celibacy and
postponement of marriage, (6) pre-puberty marriage, (7)
lactation, (8) restraint from intercourse, (9) contraceptive
practices, (10) size of family, (11) abortion, (12) and
infanticide. (13) In sub-groups 3 and 4 pre-puberty intercourse
and lactation, (14) celibacy and marriage, (15) contraceptive
practices, (16) abortion and infanticide, (17) and venereal
disease.
CHAPTER XI
THE REGULATION OF NUMBERS AMONG HISTORICAL RACES 270
(1) Among these races, in spite of certain complications, the
principle of the optimum number holds good. (2) The evidence for
the first sub-group is too scanty to base conclusions upon. (3)
Among the races of the second sub-group we see how the pressure
is felt, and (4) we have knowledge of the factors at work, but
(5) in India, China, and Egypt there is evidence that the
factors are not effective, and that over-population occurs. (6)
In the third sub-group, where the factors are different, (7) we
can see in disabilities placed upon serfs, and (8) in
difficulties, (9) restrictions, and (10) Poor Law provisions
hindrances to marriage. (11) The system was generally effective,
though over-population occasionally occurred. (12) In the fourth
sub-group there is no evidence of over-population; (13) the
factors are rather different, and (14) pressure comes about by
unconscious response to economic conditions. (15) Summarizing
the position for all groups we find that owing to the great
power of increase, customs restrictive of increase are always
necessary, and (16) have taken various forms (17) with varying
effectiveness. (18) Changes in quantity are a result rather than
a primary cause of historical events. (19) Neither migration
(20) nor war is due directly to over-population, though the
position as regards quantity may be an element in the situation
predisposing nations towards migration and war.
CHAPTER XII
SOME MODERN PROBLEMS 308
(1) The recent increase in numbers was in response to economic
requirements, and affords no ground for pessimism as to the
future. (2) The density desirable may be considered from the
point of view of moral welfare (3) and of national safety, as
well as from the economic standpoint. (4) The importance of
minor fluctuations. (5) Methods of limiting increase at the
present day. (6) Different ratios of increase as between
different classes, (7) between different races in the same
country, and (8) between different countries.
CHAPTER XIII
THE QUALITATIVE PROBLEM 322
We have to ask how far those changes which constitute history
are due to germinal changes, and are therefore comparable to
changes among species in a state of nature. Analysis of
remaining chapters.
CHAPTER XIV
THE INFLUENCE OF THE ENVIRONMENT AMONG ANIMALS
AND PLANTS 325
(1) Observations show that environment and heredity are
complementary one to the other. (2) Abnormal stimuli may produce
almost any result, but (3) for each species there is a normal
environment, to certain elements in which marked responses may
be made, though (4) generally speaking sessile organisms are far
more responsive to differences in the environment than are
free-living organisms. (5) Among free-living species in a state
of nature closely related to man, modifications are not of great
importance in producing variations.
CHAPTER XV
THE INFLUENCE OF THE ENVIRONMENT UPON MAN 336
(1) Among men there is no normal environment. (2) The effect of
exercise, (3) of general conditions, (4) and of climate. (5)
Huntington’s theory of optimum climatic conditions. (6) The
effect of food, altitude, &c. (7) Statistical results. (8)
Effect of disease. (9) Evidence derived from twins. (10)
Conclusion that modifications, with the exception of those
produced by disease, are not of great importance, though of more
importance than in the case of species closely allied to man.
CHAPTER XVI
HEREDITY IN MAN 356
(1) Recent work in heredity leads to the conclusion that at the
basis of all human characters lies a vast number of
unit-factors; but few have yet been recognized, and (2) we have
to depend upon statistical data, which show that all mental and
physical characters are inherited. Further discussion of the
inheritance of (3) disease, (4) temperament, (5) instinct, and
(6) intellect. (7) Conclusion.
CHAPTER XVII
THE EVOLUTION OF PHYSICAL CHARACTERS 368
(1) Preliminary notice of certain difficulties—cause of
mutation, strength of selection. (2) During the intermediate
period great changes took place, but (3) in general during the
first and second periods the tendency was towards the evolution
and preservation of certain types, (4) which is comprehensible
when the conditions among primitive races are studied. (5) In
the third period more variations have been allowed to persist;
disease becomes of importance. (6) At all times warfare,
migration, and crossing have influenced physical characters. (7)
Factors of possible importance other than selection. (8)
Conclusion.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE EVOLUTION OF MENTAL CHARACTERS 385
(1) We have to inquire into the stage of mental evolution
reached at different times. (2) After discussing evidence
derived from fossils, (3) from the study of primitive races, (4)
from Binet-Simon tests, and (5) elsewhere, we conclude that by
far the greater part of mental evolution had been accomplished
in Palaeolithic times. (6) Conditions in the intermediate period
strongly favoured intellect, (7) but in the first and second
periods there ceased to be any considerable premium upon
intellect, (8) while, though at the opening of the third period
some advance was favoured, later conditions merely allowed of
the existence of greater diversity. (9) Definite conclusions
postponed until tradition has been studied.
CHAPTER XIX
THE NATURE OF TRADITION 407
(1) The evolution of conceptual thought went hand in hand with
that of language, (2) and has passed through a series of stages.
(3) The products of conceptual thought are stored up in various
ways, (4) are transmitted by language and by the operation of
suggestion and sympathy, and (5) are retained by habit. (6) In a
relatively unimportant way tradition is present among the higher
animals. (7) Tradition moulds the degree and direction of the
use of mental faculties, and (8) is naturally selected.
CHAPTER XX
THE ORIGIN OF TRADITION 419
(1) Supposing other things to be equal, we have to study the
influence of differences in fertility and contact upon
tradition. (2) Fertility is a purely relative term. (3) The
greater the fertility, the greater the incentive to increase in
skill and to the transmission of skilled processes. (4) Since
fertility is relative there is a shifting of the centres of
progress. (5) Contact varies in quantity and quality, and
facilitates the transmission and encourages the formation of
skill. (6) Contact is hindered by isolation by sea, deserts, and
mountains, and is facilitated by rivers. Importance of location
and language. (7) Contact also influenced by economic factors
which have brought about (8) the evolution from the segmentary
to the organic form of social organization. (9) Thus the origin
and transmission of tradition have been very greatly encouraged
in the third period, (10) though certain influences work against
the full realization of the organic type in modern communities.
(11) Differences in economic organization are correlated with
other differences in social organization.
CHAPTER XXI
THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF TRADITION AND HEREDITY 437
(1) Definite conclusions are difficult to reach. (2) History in
the intermediate period was due to germinal change. (3) The
natural endowment of America, (4) Asia, (5) Africa, (6) and of
other regions, (7) and their geographical features, (8) suggests
that history in the subsequent periods was chiefly of the nature
of traditional change. (9) Though germinal changes are important
they do not account for the outstanding events, though they have
contributed to them. (10) Lesser germinal changes colour
tradition, but are not determining factors in history. (11)
Known germinal changes, such as those produced by crossing, are
less important than accompanying traditional changes, (12) of
which there are many instances in the third period. (13) The
direct effect of the environment is not negligible, and has
influenced the course of history. (14) The cyclic course of
civilization, which has been attributed to germinal change, is
in the main due to traditional changes. (15) Tradition at the
present day overlays the manifestation of mental characters in
so great a degree that (16) differences between classes may well
seem wholly traditional, but (17) psychological tests and (18)
other evidence show that innate mental differences are present,
(19) though it is difficult to appraise their value and the
importance of modern differential fertility.
CHAPTER XXII
CONCLUSION 475
Summary of the argument and of the conclusions.
APPENDIX I 483
Summary of evidence as to restriction of increase amongst
Primitive Races.
APPENDIX II 488
LIST OF AUTHORITIES QUOTED 489
INDEX 509
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
_A. R. B. E._ = Annual Report. Bureau of Ethnology, Smithsonian
Institution.
_A. R. S. I._ = Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution.
_Am. Anth._ = American Anthropologist.
_Am. Jour. Obstet._ = American Journal of Obstetrics.
_Am. Stat. Ass._ = Publications of the American Statistical
Association.
_Ann. de Pal._ = Annales de Paléontologie.
_Ann. Mus. Congo Belge_ = Annales du Musée du Congo Belge.
_Arch. für Anth._ = Archiv für Anthropologie.
_Aust. Med. Jour._ = Australian Medical Journal.
_Biol. Bull._ = Biological Bulletin.
_Bull. Soc. Anth._ = Bulletin de la Société d’Anthropologie.
_C. I. A._ = Congrès International d’Anthropologie.
_Cent. für Min., Geol. und Pal._ = Centralblatt für Mineralogie,
Geologie und Paläontologie.
_Coll. Mon. Eth._ = Collection de Monographies Ethnographiques.
_Eug. Lab. Mem._ = Eugenic Laboratory Memoirs.
_Eug. Rev._ = Eugenics Review.
_Geog. Jour._ = Geographical Journal.
_Int. Arch. Eth._ = Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie.
_J. A. I._ = Journal of the Anthropological Institute.
_Jour. Eth. Soc._ = Journal of the Ethnological Society.
_Jour. Pol. Soc._ = Journal of the Polynesian Society.
_Jour. Roy. Agric. Soc._ = Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society.
_J. R. S. S._ = Journal of the Royal Statistical Society.
_Mem. Am. Anth. Soc._ = Memoirs of the American Anthropological and
Ethnological Societies.
_Mem. Anth. Soc._ = Memoirs of the Anthropological Society.
_Mem. & Proc. Man. Lit. & Phil. Soc._ = Memoirs and Proceedings of the
Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society.
_Mém. Soc. Anth._ = Mémoires de la Société d’Anthropologie.
_Phil. Trans._ = Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.
_Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc._ = Quarterly Journal of the Geological
Society.
_Q. J. M. S._ = Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science.
_Rev. Col. Inter._ = Revue Coloniale Internationale.
_Rev. d’Anth._ = Revue d’Anthropologie.
_Rev. d’Eth._ = Revue d’Ethnographie.
_S. I. B. E._ = Smithsonian Institute, Bureau of Ethnology.
_Soc. Rev._ = Sociological Review.
_Trans. Amer. Gyn. Soc._ = Transactions of the American Gynecological
Society.
_Trans. & Proc. N. Z. Inst._ = Transactions and Proceedings of the New
Zealand Institute.
_Trans. Edin. Obstet. Soc._ = Transactions of the Edinburgh
Obstetrical Society.
_Trans. Eth. Soc._ = Transactions of the Ethnological Society.
_U. S. Geog. & Geol. Survey_ = United States Geographical and
Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region.
_Z. G. E._ = Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde.
_Zeit. für all. Erd._ = Zeitschrift für allgemeine Erdkunde.
_Zeit. für Eth._ = Zeitschrift für Ethnologie.
_Zeit. für Morph. und Anth._ = Zeitschrift für Morphologie und
Anthropologie.
_Zeit. für Soc._ = Zeitschrift für Socialwissenschaft.
I
HISTORICAL
1. Problems of population fall into two main groups—those connected with
the quantity and those connected with the quality of the population.
Considerations of the population problem are commonly devoted to one of
these chief aspects to the exclusion of the other with the result that
the relation between them is seldom appreciated. It is one of the
objects of this book to show that all problems of population have the
same origin. The development of biological knowledge in the last
century, and in particular the discussion of evolution, have made it
clear that the whole population question and all the problems arising
therefrom have their origin in the fact that mankind has a definite
position in the animal kingdom. In the next two chapters an attempt is
made to set out the basis of the whole question in the light of modern
research, and in the fourth chapter are discussed the nature of the
various problems and their relation to one another; first those which
are connected with the quantity and then those that are connected with
the quality of the population.
This was not, however, the manner in which the question was first
approached. There was not, to begin with, an understanding of the
zoological position of man leading to a growing comprehension of the
problems to which it gave rise. From early days attention was
particularly directed to the question of numbers. Between the fifth
century b. c. and the eighteenth century a. d.—between, that is to say,
the time of Plato and that of Malthus—opinions were often expressed
regarding the desirability or otherwise of a dense population. The work
of Malthus focussed opinion upon this point. In a restricted sense this
problem can be solved without an understanding of the biological origin
of the whole question, and the discussion which followed the publication
of the _Essay on Population_ has resulted in the general acceptance of a
solution by students of political economy. In a wider sense the solution
of this problem depends upon a comprehension of its biological origin,
and it was not therefore until after the middle of the last century that
all the problems connected with quantity fell into their proper setting
owing to the work of Darwin and Wallace, both of whom acknowledged their
debt to Malthus. The latter, though he did not in any way realize the
fact, was discussing a point which is most intimately connected with
evolution, and both Darwin and Wallace were influenced by their
acquaintance with the work of Malthus in arriving at their explanation
of the process of evolution. Thus from the time of Darwin and Wallace it
has been possible to view the population problem as a whole, though the
discussions of the problems connected with quantity have been pursued
independently not only before but also after the publication of the
_Origin of Species_.
Problems of quality did not arouse the same early interest. It is, of
course, well known that Plato was occupied with this aspect of the whole
problem;[1] Roman authors also commented upon the eugenic bearing of
certain practices.[2] In later days in a remarkable book Campanella
dwelt upon the importance of good breeding.[3] But the interest in
quality was not, as was the interest in quantity, widespread or long
maintained; it was not until the origin of living species by evolution
had been generally accepted and some knowledge of inheritance had been
gained, that problems of quality came to occupy anything more than the
passing attention of mankind.[4] J. S. Mill and Buckle, for instance,
both of whose opinions were formed just before the time when the
importance of heredity came to be appreciated, deny that it is in any
way relevant to the study of social problems.[5]
2. In the preface to the greatly enlarged second edition of his famous
book Malthus stated that he had found many references to the subject of
which he had not been aware when he published the first volume.[6] He
acknowledged that several authors had shown themselves to have possessed
a grasp of the ‘principle’ which it was the object of his book to
demonstrate. Among these he mentions Plato and Aristotle. In these cases
Malthus was too anxious to attribute the first enunciation of the
‘principle’ to others. It was only owing to the very peculiar
circumstances of Greek life that the problem ever arose at all. A
consideration of the ideal city state involved the question as to what
was the most desirable number of citizens. This point occupied Plato’s
attention, and in one place he deals with it in detail. There should be,
he says, 5,040 citizens in the state.[7] In the _Republic_ he explained
that the number of citizens was to be kept about the same by a strict
regulation of unions.[8] In the _Laws_, however, no such system is
advocated, and he discusses the possibility of a failure to maintain the
number.[9] He appears to think that various checks such as infanticide
and ‘inundations’ will keep numbers close to the desirable level; if too
great an increase takes place, then recourse must be had to emigration.
It does not seem that the problem was ever approached more closely in
Greek literature.
References to this subject by Roman authors are confined for the most
part to laments over the infertility of the old Roman stock. That which
drew the attention of the Romans to the subject was thus a peculiar
phase of the problem, and the views expressed by them were in
consequence usually limited to the search for a remedy for a particular
weakness in national life. As we shall point out later, it is doubtful
how far infertility was characteristic of all classes; that it was not
widespread seems incidentally to be indicated in the following curious
passage from Tertullian in which he is led to express views reminiscent
of many modern contributions to the subject. Tertullian is confuting the
Pythagorean theory of the transmigration of souls, and argues that, if
it were true, the number of men must remain unchanged. But, he says,
this is obviously not so; population continually increases. This leads
him to refer to the state of contemporary civilization. ‘We find’, he
says, ‘in the records of the Antiquities of Man[10] that the human race
has progressed with a gradual growth of population.... Surely it is
obvious enough, if one looks at the whole world, that it is becoming
better cultivated and more fully peopled than anciently. All places are
now accessible, all are well known, all open to commerce; most pleasant
farms have obliterated all traces of what were once dreary and dangerous
wastes; cultivated fields have subdued forests; flocks and herds have
expelled wild beasts; sandy deserts are sown; rocks are planted; marshes
are drained; and where once were hardly solitary cottages are now large
cities. No longer are savage islands dreaded, nor their rocky shores
feared; everywhere are houses, and inhabitants, and settled government,
and civilized life. What most frequently meets our view is our teeming
population; our numbers are burdensome to the world, which can hardly
supply us from its natural elements; our wants grow more and more keen,
and our complaints more bitter in all mouths, whilst nature fails in
affording us her usual sustenance. In very deed, pestilence, and famine,
and wars, and earthquakes have to be regarded as a remedy for nations,
as a means of pruning the luxuriance of the human race.’[11]
3. It is not until we arrive at the sixteenth century that we discover
any considerable interest in the matter. From thence onwards references
are very frequent. In a general way it is not difficult to understand
how this comes about. The movement of thought at that time turned to
problems of practical importance. The interest in questions connected
with population was above all things due to the problems created by the
rise and consolidation of the great European states. In some measure
also the voyages of discovery and the foundation of colonies drew men’s
thoughts to these questions. It is, as we shall see, in the works of the
new class of political writers and theorists, and in the descriptions of
travel, that we find most references.[12]
These references take for the most part the form of discussions as to
the desirability or otherwise of a large population. There is, indeed,
often but little discussion; the benefits of a large population seemed
so obvious. Men were mostly of the same opinion as the author of the
book of Proverbs, ‘in the multitude of the people is the king’s glory;
but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince.’[13] The
reasons are not far to seek. A large population appeared to mean both
power and riches. The advantage of a large population in supplying a
large army proved most attractive and greatly influenced the authors of
the eighteenth century.[14] It has not altogether lost its attraction
for some people at the present day, as we shall have reason to notice in
a later chapter. This simple view of the benefits of a large population
coincided with the development of the mercantile theory of trade.
Authors of this school of thought also concluded that upon the whole the
larger the population the better. Protests against this point of view
are, however, met with from time to time. Those responsible for this
opposition to the prevailing opinion were influenced in some cases more
by observation than by theory and in other cases more by theory than by
observation. As instances of the former several English writers of the
end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries may be
cited; as instances of the latter several authors chiefly belonging to
the later part of the eighteenth century. The views of the
last-mentioned authors are often influenced by a conception of the
relation between population and subsistence closely similar to that of
Malthus. But they are not alone in their anticipation of his position.
From the sixteenth century onwards we find in passages dealing with
population more or less clear statements of the Malthusian position.
These authors, however, are not always led to an unfavourable view of an
increase in population. Many of them, indeed, support the current view
as to the advantages of large numbers. Nevertheless on the whole a
consideration of the connexion between population and the food-supply is
usually associated with a fear of increase. We may now review in more
detail the trend of opinion sketched above. This will bring us to the
publication of the _Essay on Population_.[15]
4. Long before the sixteenth century men gave expression to the view
that large numbers are beneficial. ‘Quae familia plus multiplicatur in
prolem, amplius cedit ad firmamentum politiae,’ said Saint Thomas
Aquinas.[16] But it is only later that we meet with a marked insistence
on this view. ‘In my opinion’, says Bodin, ‘they erre much who doubt of
a scarcitie by the multitude of citizens and children, when as no cities
are more rich nor more famous in arts and discipline than those which
abound most with citizens.’[17] According to Botero ‘the greatness of a
citty is sayd not to be the largeness of the citty or the circuit of the
walls, but in the multitude and the number of the inhabitants and their
power’.[18] Machiavelli held very similar views, and Henry IV of France
is reported as saying that ‘the strength and riches of kings consist in
the number and opulence of their subjects’.[19] In accordance with the
views thus widely and strongly held, examples of which might be
multiplied almost to any extent, practical measures were taken to
encourage the increase of population. Of these the best known is the law
of Colbert passed in 1664. Like most of such laws it was modelled on the
laws of the later Roman Empire. Similar laws were at one time or another
in force in most European countries.
Towards the end of the seventeenth century there arose a school of
writers who might be classed as political economists, though the term
was not in use. In accordance with the mercantile theory of commerce
then predominant a large population was held to be advantageous. The
older and vaguer theory that a dense population was necessary if the
state was to be powerful was found to coincide with the newer theories
as to conditions of prosperous trade. Of these authors Petty and Graunt
are celebrated as among the pioneers of statistics. According to the
former: ‘fewness of people is real poverty; and a nation in which are
eight millions of people are more than twice as rich as the same scope
of land in which are but four.’[20] ‘Forasmuch as princes’, says Graunt,
‘are not only powerful but rich according to the number of their people
(hands being the father as lands are the mother and womb of wealth) it
is no wonder that states by encouraging marriage and hindering
licentiousness, advance their own interest, as well as preserve the laws
of God from contempt and violation.’[21] Sir Charles Davenant and Sir
Josiah Child are two of the foremost authors of this school. The former
writes as follows: ‘people are the real strength and riches of a
country; we see how impotent Spain is for want of inhabitants with their
mines of gold and silver and the best ports and soil in the world; and
we see how powerful their numbers make the United Provinces with bad
harbours and the worst climate upon earth. It is perhaps better that a
people should want country than that a country should want people. When
there are but few inhabitants and a large territory, there is nothing
but sloth and poverty; but when great numbers are confined to a narrow
compass of ground, necessity puts upon them invention, frugality, and
industry; which in a nation are always recompensed with power and
riches.’[22] The latter refers more than once to the subject. ‘Whatever
tends to the population of a country tends to the improvement of
it.’[23] ‘Most nations in the civilized parts of the world are more or
less rich or poor proportionable to the poverty or plenty of their
people and not to the sterility of their lands.’[24] To these quotations
we may add one from Sir William Temple: ‘I believe the true and original
ground of trade to be a great multitude of people crowded into a small
compass of land.’[25]
It would be possible to quote many similar remarks from authors who
wrote in the following century. Frederick the Great had very decided
opinions. In a letter to Voltaire he says: ‘Je regarde les hommes comme
une horde de cerfs dans le pare d’un grand seigneur et qui n’out pas
d’autre fonction que de peupler et remplir l’enclos.’[26] Hume speaks of
‘the general rule that the happiness of any society and its populousness
are necessary attendants’.[27] Adam Smith says ‘that the most decisive
mark of the prosperity of any country is the increase of the number of
its inhabitants’. Nevertheless that which interests us most in the
authors of this period is the growing interest in other aspects of the
subject.
5. Before referring to the more or less close anticipations of the views
of Malthus we may note that these optimistic views were not everywhere
accepted. In England particularly, towards the end of the sixteenth
century, several writers expressed a dread of over-population. According
to Holinshed there were some men ‘affirming that we had already too
great a store of people in England; and that youth, by marrying too
soon, do nothing profit the countrie, but fill it full of beggars, to
the hurt and utter undoing (they saie) of the commonwealth’.[28] Later
we find Brückner speaking as follows: ‘there are some who believe that a
people can never be too numerous and who speak of increase as if it
always contributed to happiness, and who consequently continually urge
the sovereign to encourage multiplication. The truth of the matter is,
however, often far different, depending on the country and
circumstances. In a free and enlightened nation, which has great natural
advantages, and which is protected from the invasions of less fortunate
neighbours, increasing numbers are a good.... In countries not so
circumstanced increase is worse than useless; it is, as a matter of
fact, impossible, and attempts in this direction can but result in added
suffering and an increased number of deaths.’[29] Arthur Young said the
same in more emphatic terms. ‘Of all the subjects of political economy I
know not one that has given rise to such a crowd of errors as that of
population. It seems for centuries to have been considered as the only
test of national prosperity. The politicians of those times, and the
majority of them in the present, have been of the opinion that to
enumerate the people was the only step to be taken in order to ascertain
the degree in which a country was flourishing. In my tour through the
North of England, 1769, I entered my caveat against such a doctrine, and
presumed to assert “that no nation is rich or powerful by mere numbers
of people; it is the industrious class that constitutes a nation’s
strength”; that assertion I repeated in my _Political Arithmetic_ in
1774.’[30] About the same time Rousseau remarked that ‘il y a pire
disette pour un état que celle d’hommes’.[31]
6. In the eighteenth century the problem was often discussed with
reference to the connexion between the population and the food-supply.
The contrast between the vast possibilities of increase and the
smallness of the actual growth in population also often attracted
attention. ‘Through various causes’, says Wallace, ‘there has never been
such a number of inhabitants on the earth at any one point of time as
might have been raised by the prolific virtue of mankind. The causes of
this paucity of inhabitants and the irregularity of increase are
manifold. Some may be called physical, as they depend entirely on course
of nature, and are independent of mankind. Others are moral and depend
on the affections, passions, and institutions of men.... To this last we
may refer so many destructive wars which men have waged against one
another; great poverty, corrupt institutions, either of a civil or
religious kind, intemperance, debauchery, irregular amours, idleness,
luxury, and whatever prevents marriage, weakens the generating faculties
of men, or renders them negligent or incapable of educating their
children, and cultivating the earth to advantage. ’Tis to such
destructive causes that we must ascribe the small number of men.’[32]
Sir James Steuart devotes a considerable amount of space to this
subject. ‘The generative faculty’, he says, ‘resembles a spring loaded
with a weight, which always exerts itself in proportion to the
diminution of resistance; when food has remained for some time without
augmentation or diminution, generation will carry numbers as high as
possible; if then food come to be diminished, the spring is overpowered;
the force of it becomes less than nothing. Inhabitants will diminish, at
least in proportion to the overcharge. If, upon the other hand, food be
increased, the spring, which stood at 0, will begin to exert itself in
proportion as the resistance diminishes; people will begin to be better
fed; they will multiply, and in proportion as they increase in numbers,
the food will become scarce again.’[33]
Malthus tells us that when he wrote his first edition the only authors
‘from whose writings he had deduced the principle which formed the main
argument of the essay’ were Hume, Wallace, Adam Smith, and Price.[34] In
the interval between the publication of the first and second editions of
the Essay he found that he had been anticipated more or less by many
others. Subsequently many other similar passages have been brought to
light. It is not worth while to discuss how far Malthus had been
anticipated. It is enough to note some of the opinions that had been
expressed. In the eighteenth century the fact that there is a connexion
between the population and the food-supply had become a commonplace. ‘La
mesure de la subsistance est celle de la population,’[35] said Mirabeau,
and the remark could be paralleled many times over.[36] Frequent
references to the vast power of human increase may be found much
earlier. In his _History of the World_ Raleigh had remarked that were it
not for wars, famines, pestilences, and so on, a teeming population all
the world over would have resulted long ago.[37] Machiavelli refers more
than once to the existence of checks. He attributed the barbarian
invasions in the later days of Rome to an unusually rapid increase of
the tribes beyond the Rhine and the Danube.[38] One of the most
interesting references to the subject is to be found in the work of
Botero from which we have already quoted. ‘I say, then, that the
augmentation of Cities proceedeth partly out of the virtue generative of
men, and partly out of the virtue nutritive of Citties. The virtue
generative is without doubt to this day the very same, or at least such
as it was three thousand years past. So that if there were no other
impediment or let therein, the propagation of mankind would increase
without end and the augmentation of Citties would be without terme. And
if it do not increase in infinite, I must needs say, it proceedeth out
of the defect of nutriment and sustenance sufficient for it.’[39] Later
on he continues: ‘although men were as apt to generation in the height
and pride of the Roman Empire, as in the first beginning thereof; yet,
for all that, the people increased not proportionately. For the virtue
nutritive of Citties had no power to go further.... By the selfe same
reason, mankinde growne to a certain complete number, hath growne no
further. And it is three thousand years agone and more, that the world
was replenished as full with people as it is at present.’[40]
What are perhaps more remarkable than these references to the relation
of numbers to the food-supply, so far as anticipations of Malthus are
concerned, are discussions mentioning the ratios which are found from
time to time. In the _Primitive Origination of Mankind_, Sir Matthew
Hale endeavours to show that mankind must have had a beginning and must
have an end, and finds support for this thesis in the facts regarding
human fecundity. He calculated that the numbers of mankind must increase
in a geometrical ratio unless hindered by checks. Obviously it has not
done so chiefly because, owing to absence of sufficient food, large
numbers are always being removed by various agencies which he enumerates
as plagues, famines, wars, floods, and inundations.[41] Sir William
Petty deals with the geometrical ratio at some length. He drew up an
elaborate table which, assuming four thousand years to have passed since
the flood, shows how an estimated world population of 320,000,000 could
have been arrived at.[42] The ratios, however, never played a very
prominent part in the discussion until after the publication of
Malthus’s book. They reappear now and again, as for instance in a book
by Saxe.[43]
7. Malthus published his first edition in 1798. He was born in 1766 at
the ‘Rookery’, a country house of some size near Dorking. In 1784 he
went up to Cambridge. In early days he had shown signs of ability and at
the university fulfilled this promise; he gained some prizes and was
placed as ninth wrangler in the mathematical tripos of 1788. In 1793 he
was elected fellow of his college, but only resided occasionally. In
1798 he was curate at Albury, close to his birthplace; in 1799 he
travelled through Sweden, Norway, and Russia, to collect information for
his second edition; in 1802, owing to the Peace of Amiens, he was
enabled to travel through Switzerland and France. The second edition
appeared in 1803. It was virtually a new book. The four succeeding
editions that were published in his lifetime were mainly reprints of
this edition with some new matter added. In 1804 he married, and in 1805
became Professor of History and Political Economy at Haileybury College,
which post he held until his death in 1834.[44]
It would seem that Malthus and his father used often to discuss new
books and questions of the day. His father, Daniel Malthus, was inclined
to favour the revolutionary school; Robert Malthus thought that he saw
serious objections to Godwin’s views on the subject of ‘perfectibility’,
and was so much impressed by them that he decided to put his ideas in
writing. Whereas in the first edition Malthus was chiefly concerned with
controverting Godwin and his school, by the time of the second edition
he had lost interest in this side of the matter and his attention was
almost entirely devoted to the problem of population.
Such was the origin of the book which focused the attention of men on
the population question. In the sixth chapter we shall have to review
the position which it sets out and to trace the subsequent development
of the theory. It is sufficient to say here that according to Malthus,
whereas population tends to increase in a geometrical ratio, food tends
to increase in an arithmetical ratio. As a result population is checked
by the operation of vice and misery, to which factors he added, in the
second edition, moral restraint. Statistics showed, even in the lifetime
of Malthus, that the increase of food was not limited to an increase in
an arithmetical ratio, and thus in reality the theory fell to the
ground. It was, however, only gradually realized that this was so and
that the relation between population and the food-supply is connected
with the question of the return to industry, which may at any one time
be increasing or decreasing according to the operation of many factors,
of which the increase in skill is the chief. The points which are of
interest in this historical sketch are the strong feelings which the
book aroused among the adherents of the various schools of thought, the
practical movement to which it gave shape, and finally the influence
which it had upon Darwin and Wallace.
8. From what has been said, it is clear that the ground had been well
prepared for a favourable reception. Further the ‘populousness of
ancient nations’ was a famous theme for controversy in the eighteenth
century. There had also been much discussion as to whether the
population of England was increasing or decreasing.[45] Again, in part
owing to the industrial revolution, and in part owing to the war,
questions as to poverty had attracted much attention, and to them
Malthus’s book had direct reference. Thus it is not surprising that the
success of the first edition was great and immediate.[46] Godwin
admitted that it had ‘converted friends of progress by the hundred’.[47]
Pitt dropped his Poor Law Bill in 1800 partly because of the opposition
of those who had been influenced by the Essay. The earlier supporters of
Malthus belonged, for the most part, to the Whig and Utilitarian
schools. Pitt, Paley, Copleston, James Mill, Senior, Ricardo, Macintosh,
and Whitbread all adhered to Malthus. In 1819 Brougham referred to the
‘principle of population as one of the soundest principles of political
economy’.[48] Support for Malthus was especially strong among the
Utilitarians. Referring to about the year 1825 J. S. Mill says:
‘Malthus’s principle was quite as much a banner and a point of union
among us as any opinion especially belonging to Bentham.’[49]
Opposition was chiefly to be found among the Tories, Revolutionaries,
and Radicals. Godwin published a reply to Malthus in 1801, and several
years later, finding that the ‘principle’ still gained ground, made
another attempt to refute it, which met with as little success as the
earlier attempt. As an example of the attitude of the followers of
Godwin towards Malthus, the following remarks by Shelley may be quoted.
‘Metaphysics and inquiries into moral and political science have become
little else than vain attempts to revive exploded superstitions, or
sophisms like those of Mr. Malthus, calculated to lull the oppressors of
mankind into a security of everlasting triumph.’[50] The Tory element of
the opposition was influenced by the feeling that the ordering of human
affairs could not be so innately bad as the Essay seemed to suggest.[51]
Southey and Coleridge represent this view; the former attacked the Essay
more than once with considerable violence.[52] Cobbett made himself
prominent among the critics by inventing the sobriquet ‘Parson’ Malthus.
It occurs in the following passage.
‘Why,’ said I, ‘how many children do you reckon to have had at last?’
‘I do not care how many,’ said the man, ‘God never sends mouths without
sending meat.’
‘Did you never hear,’ said I, ‘of one Parson Malthus?’
‘No, sir.’
‘If he were to hear of your works, he would be outrageous, for he wants
an Act of Parliament to prevent poor people from marrying young, and
from having such lots of children.’
‘Oh, the brute,’ exclaimed the wife, while the husband laughed, thinking
I was joking.[53]
Hazlitt, who may be classed as a radical, was one of the most violent of
the opponents. Indeed, as Mr. Bonar says, ‘Malthus was the best abused
man of his age.’[54]
The Essay early became known on the Continent. As far as Germany was
concerned, this was attributable, according to von Mohl, to a work by
Luden.[55] During the lifetime of Malthus the violence of the opposition
gradually weakened and the principle was very generally accepted. For
many years such opposition as there was was based rather on religious
grounds than upon an understanding of true weaknesses of the theory.
Nevertheless Sumner, who was afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, and
Thomas Chalmers in early days both proclaimed their adherence to the
principle.[56] In 1840 three books were published which each attacked
the principle on religious grounds. Of the authors, Sadler was a
Churchman without apparently any strong political feelings, Alison a
Tory, and Doubleday a Radical.[57] That the religious motive continued
to inspire opposition may be gathered from an essay by W. P. Greg which
appeared at a much later date.[58]
It may be noticed that strong opposition was nearly always exhibited to
the views of Malthus by socialistic authors.[59] According to Proudhon,
‘la théorie de Malthus, c’est la théorie de l’assassinat politique, de
l’assassinat par philanthropie, pour l’amour de Dieu.’[60] Karl Marx in
a well-known passage attacked Malthus in most violent and offensive
language.[61]
9. As a result of the Essay, there began within the lifetime of Malthus
the advocacy of Neomalthusianism. Malthus himself definitely disapproved
of this practical application of his ‘principle’.[62] The practical
application of which he approved was made by Miss Martineau in one of
her _Illustrations to Political Economy_, which reads so strangely at
the present day.[63] As regards Neomalthusianism it is very generally
supposed that active propaganda only began about the time of the famous
Bradlaugh-Besant trial in 1876. This, however, is a complete
mistake.[64] The first publication of importance in which these ideas
were put forward was an article by James Mill in the _Encyclopaedia
Britannica_. His language was very guarded but the drift of his remarks
unmistakable. Four years later, in 1822, Francis Place wrote a reply to
Godwin. He covered much other ground but openly and deliberately
advocated these practices. For the next ten years there followed an
active propaganda. The events which first brought the whole question
into public notice are somewhat curious. In 1823 a number of handbills
were sent to Mrs. Fildes, well known in the North for her work among the
poor; these bills contained descriptions of the methods which the new
school of writers wished to see adopted by the working classes; an
anonymous letter accompanied them asking her to help in distributing
them. Mrs. Fildes was very indignant, and the whole story was published
in the journal called the _Black Dwarf_. The bills attained a great
notoriety and became known as the ‘diabolical handbills’. Suspicion
seems to have rested upon Robert Owen; it was stated in the _Black
Dwarf_, and has often been repeated since, that Neomalthusian methods
were in use at New Lanark. It is far more probable that Francis Place
was the author both of the handbill and of the letter. Whether this is
so or not, Place was occupied for the next few years in doing all he
could to spread the new opinions, for the sake of which he was prepared
to sacrifice much popularity.[65] In 1834 the Society for Promoting
Useful Knowledge refused his help because of his opinions on the
subject. He was violently attacked by Cobbett and Richard Carlile; the
latter was afterwards converted and published in 1825 articles
advocating these practices. The articles were reprinted in 1826 as
_Every Woman’s Book_, which went through several editions. At this early
date it is clear that on the one hand these books and pamphlets were
widely read among the working classes; Carlile in the _Republican_, for
instance, asserted that they were ‘circulating by thousands in the
populous districts of the north’. On the other hand Neomalthusian ideas
were held by many eminent men of the day. The Utilitarian leaders, if
not actually concerned in the propagation of these views, made their
approval known. J. S. Mill in his youthful days got into trouble with
the police through distributing some of these pamphlets. Grote somewhat
later presented to London University a copy of the famous _Fruits of
Philosophy_, of which there will be more to be said below.
After a while the propaganda died down, and for some fifty years there
was little heard of it.[66] Some books were, however, published in the
interval which subsequent events made famous. R. D. Owen’s _Moral
Physiology_ appeared in 1830. Knowlton’s _Fruits of Philosophy_ and
Drysdale’s _Elements of Social Science_ appeared in 1833 and in 1854
respectively. It was many years, however, before they became well known.
For many years no objection was taken to the _Fruits of Philosophy_, or
any similar work; such books were allowed to circulate freely. In 1876 a
Bristol bookseller, Cook by name, was condemned to two years’
imprisonment for selling an illustrated edition of Knowlton’s work. Soon
after another bookseller was also fined. Thereupon Mr. Bradlaugh and
Mrs. Besant determined to take up the subject and fight for what they
considered to be the right of freedom of discussion in these matters.
They had an edition of the _Fruits of Philosophy_ printed, and took a
small shop where it was openly exposed for sale. A prosecution followed.
In 1877 they were tried before Sir Alexander Cockburn, the Lord Chief
Justice; the Attorney-General prosecuted. The summing-up was distinctly
in favour of the accused; the jury, however, returned a verdict of
guilty, adding a rider to the effect that they considered the defendants
to be innocent of any immoral intention. Judgement was reserved. But in
the interval Mr. Bradlaugh and Mrs. Besant continued to sell the book,
and the result was that, instead of merely being bound over, as had been
the intention of the judge, they were condemned to six months’
imprisonment and to a fine of six hundred pounds. The judgement was
subsequently quashed in a higher court.
The trial was a huge advertisement for Neomalthusianism. For some years
spasmodic efforts to punish the sale of Neomalthusian books only served
to encourage the propagandists. In 1877 the ‘Neomalthusian League’ was
founded and a vigorous propaganda was carried on. The activity of the
league in England gradually declined, but not before the movement had
spread to foreign countries. Propaganda in other countries followed a
very similar course; in 1888 there was a trial in Australia which is as
famous in that country as the Bradlaugh-Besant trial in England.
Prosecutions occurred in India and in America. In 1891 a remarkable
dispute took place in Norway, and a law was finally passed to prohibit
the sale of Neomalthusian books. As lately as 1908 a Belgian doctor was
condemned to imprisonment for spreading the knowledge of Neomalthusian
methods.[67]
10. With this notice of the history of the development of
Neomalthusianism we may leave this side of the subject. The history of
speculation regarding evolution has been so often described that there
is no need to go into the facts here.
It is well known that before Darwin and Wallace turned their attention
to the subject, the origin of organisms by evolution as opposed to
origin by separate acts of creation had often been suggested. There was
already at the beginning of the nineteenth century a considerable
accumulation of facts regarding the structure and relation of organisms
to one another and regarding the fossil remains of organisms. This
evidence was seen to point to evolution as against creation, but until
Darwin and Wallace produced their theories no one had been able to
formulate a satisfactory hypothesis as to how evolution could have come
about. It is of great interest to observe that it was after reading
Malthus that both Darwin and Wallace independently formulated their
theories. Malthus had, in fact, when taking up for consideration the
quantitative aspect of the problem, so far as man was concerned, been
dealing with that class of facts upon which, not only the quantitative,
but also the qualitative aspect of the problem is based. When Darwin and
Wallace, with the problem of evolution before them, which is essentially
the problem of quality—the problem of the manner in which one type of
organic form can be derived from another type—chanced to read Malthus,
their attention was called to the class of facts connected with the
birth-rate, the death-rate, and allied phenomena. They realized that
among species in a state of nature a somewhat similar state of things
existed to that which Malthus, with another aspect of the problem in
view, was investigating in the case of man, and from a consideration of
these facts they founded independently the hypothesis of natural
selection.
It is of interest to note what Darwin and Wallace themselves say as to
their indebtedness to Malthus. In a passage in the well-known
autobiographical sketch Darwin writes as follows: ‘in October 1838, that
is fifteen months after I had begun my systematic inquiry, I happened to
read for amusement Malthus’ ‘Population’, and being well prepared to
appreciate the struggle for existence which everywhere goes on from
long-continued observation of animals and plants it at once struck me
that under these circumstances favourable variations would tend to be
preserved, and unfavourable ones to be destroyed. The result of this
would be the formation of a new species. Here then I had at last got
hold of a theory by which to work.’[68] In two letters that have been
published—one to Haeckel[69] and one to Wallace[70]—Darwin also recorded
in very similar words his debt to Malthus, and in the _Origin of
Species_, after describing what is meant by the struggle for existence
and how it comes about, says, ‘it is the doctrine of Malthus applied
with manifold force to the animal and vegetable kingdoms.’[71] So too
Wallace, in his reply, after having been presented with the first
Darwin-Wallace medal by the Linnean Society in 1908, acknowledged his
debt to Malthus in the following words: ‘both Darwin and myself, at the
critical period when our minds were fully stored with a considerable
body of preserved information and reflection bearing upon the problem to
be solved, had our attention directed to the system of positive checks
as expounded by Malthus in his _Principle of Population_. It is an
unimportant detail that Darwin read this book two years after his return
from his voyage, while I read it before I went abroad and it was a
sudden recollection of its teachings that caused the solution to flash
upon me.’[72]
Since the publication of the _Origin of Species_ much attention has been
paid to the problem of quality as regards the human race. It was obvious
that if the human race had evolved from some lower type, it was probably
still in process of evolution, and that the direction of evolution was
by no means necessarily upwards. It was also obvious that the further
evolution of the race was to some extent at least within human control,
if and when men chose to use the means of control that lay within their
power. Great impetus was given to this side of the problem by the work
of Sir Francis Galton, who coined the word ‘eugenics’.[73] Societies for
the study of eugenics and for the advocacy of eugenic ideals have been
started in England, in many European countries, in America and
elsewhere, and at the present day the educated classes in every country
are at least aware of the existence of the problem of the quality, as
they have long been aware of the existence of the problem of the
quantity, of population.
The development of opinion on this subject has thus run a peculiar
course. Attention was drawn in early days to the existence of the
problem of numbers, but men were long satisfied with asserting on
comparatively simple grounds that a dense population was desirable or
undesirable, and they usually came to the conclusion that the more
inhabitants in a country, the better for the country. Long before the
time of Malthus, and by many different writers, attention was paid to
the connexion between numbers and the food-supply. It was Malthus,
however, who first aroused public interest in the subject. His book,
indeed, made an impression that few books have ever made. Since his time
every educated man has had the problem of numbers in mind, and current
opinion still often enough reflects the view put forward by Malthus if
not in detail—for it is difficult to say what exactly the views of
Malthus were—at least in the general and on the whole gloomy and
fatalistic manner of regarding the problem. It is owing to the fact that
those contributions which, after the time of Malthus, attracted most
attention, added little to the development of thought, and owing to the
influence of the writings of J. S. Mill, who himself never shook off the
profound impression made upon him early in life by the Essay, that the
views, or perhaps we should rather say the outlook, of Malthus so long
maintained their sway. The development of the modern view as expounded
by political economists was not set out in a form that attracted public
attention, and it was thus possible for the late Governor of South
Africa, when answering a question in the House of Commons a few years
ago, to refer to the problem as though no important contribution had
been made to the subject since the time of Malthus.
Of the development of opinion regarding the qualitative aspect of the
problem there is little to be said. Popular interest in this subject is
of comparatively recent birth. That which is interesting to observe is
that, as a result of the course which thought has taken, the population
problem is seldom seen as a whole, and that the relations one to another
of the very numerous questions arising therefrom are scarcely ever
appreciated.
II
THE BASIS OF THE POPULATION PROBLEM: (1) THE QUANTITATIVE ASPECT
1. In what follows the evolutionary position is taken for granted. It is
assumed, that is to say, that the higher forms of life have evolved from
lower forms. If we make this assumption, we must suppose that at one
time the ancestors of man were living under those conditions to which
species in a state of nature are now subject. By species in a state of
nature are meant all species of animals and plants with the exception of
man and those species which have been domesticated by him. It is the
object of this and the following chapter to show that among species in a
state of nature the population problem exists both in its quantitative
and qualitative aspects, and further that in certain particulars of
fundamental importance the position is the same for all such species.
Certain propositions may be laid down which hold good for any one of
them, and in these chapters it is proposed to show what it is that may
be affirmed with regard to all of them. It follows that, since among the
ancestors of man the population problem must at one time have taken this
form, we shall, as the result of the discussion, arrive at a basis from
which we can proceed to study the shape which the problem in its double
aspect has assumed in the case of man.
It is necessary to emphasize the fact that this argument does not take
the form of developing an analogy between the position of man and that
of species in a state of nature. What we are doing is merely to attempt
to ascertain the conditions under which the ancestors of man lived, in
order that we may follow the changes which have taken place. Further, it
may be well to point out that the argument in these chapters will follow
rather an unusual course. It may seem that certain facts of considerable
general importance are passed over and others of little obvious
importance emphasized. The justification for this course will be
apparent later when we come to deal with the position with regard to
man; for this sketch is not introduced primarily with the object of
throwing light upon the position of species in a state of nature, but in
order to prepare the way for a discussion of the shape which the problem
has assumed in the case of man.
2. At the basis of both aspects of the problem lies the fact of
reproduction. All organisms reproduce their kind. Reproduction is
clearly a necessity, because all living things are liable to meet death
by accident and, unless there was reproduction, every species would soon
be extinguished. It is worth while observing that among all higher forms
of life a more or less clearly defined limit to the duration of life has
been evolved. In other words, natural death after a certain period
ensues. It would seem that natural death has been evolved in the
following manner. All organisms are subject to the wear and tear of
daily life, to meet which there is a faculty of recuperation. Among the
lower forms this faculty is very pronounced. The whole animal can be
regenerated from a small fragment and, as a result, very serious
accidents are not fatal. Among the higher forms there goes, generally
speaking, with the advance in structure a loss of the power of
regeneration, until among the highest there is little or no power of
regeneration; for a certain average length of time the highest organisms
withstand the batterings of daily life, gradually fail to recuperate,
and finally die. Given the necessity of reproduction to provide for the
continuance of the species against accident to its members, this further
evolution is not difficult to understand. A power of recovery from all
but the most extreme forms of accident is present among the simpler
types; the retention of such a power of recovery tends to be
incompatible with increasing complexity of structure, and it has, so to
speak, been more economical to evolve organisms provided with a power of
recuperation only against normal wear and tear over the period during
which they remain capable of reproduction. The higher types therefore,
after reproducing their kind, die and thus the battle of life is always
being resumed by fresh generations.
3. That in some such fashion reproduction has to be explained seems
clear; but we are concerned here with the facts of reproduction. It will
be necessary later to go into the nature of reproduction in greater
detail; all that needs to be said here can be stated quite shortly.
There are two forms of reproduction, known respectively as the sexual
and asexual; the latter type of reproduction occurs only among plants
and the lower animals. As sexual reproduction occurs among all groups of
animals and plants, whether asexual reproduction occurs or not (except
among the bacteria where the latter type alone is known) and as it is
the only type which occurs among the higher groups, asexual reproduction
may be disregarded here. The asexual type of reproduction, it may be
remarked, introduces no new principle, and those groups among whom it is
found are not on that account to be set apart from other groups as
though the general conclusions at which we shall arrive were not
applicable to them.
To make the process of sexual reproduction clear it is necessary to say
something regarding the structure of organisms. Excluding the Protista
for the moment, all organisms exhibit a cellular structure. Upon
examination under a microscope the living tissues are found to consist
of a number of compartments or cells. Among plants the typical cell is
in the nature of a small box with thick sides; among animals the sides
or cell-walls are very thin. Within the cell-walls there are to be
distinguished two chief elements, a central body, the nucleus, and the
surrounding cytoplasm. This cytoplasm consists of ordinary granular
protoplasm and the nucleus of a special kind of protoplasm. Only
protoplasm can properly be spoken of as alive. Those elements in the
body which are not protoplasm are either in the course of being turned
into protoplasm or are the products of protoplasmic activity. Examples
of the latter in man are the hair and the nails, and in the case of
other animals, feathers, shells, and so on. As a general rule, each cell
contains a single nucleus, but there are cells without a nucleus and
cells with more than one nucleus. The name Protista, mentioned above, is
given to the lowest animals and plants which are commonly said to
consist of a single cell. They may be thus thought of; but the group
includes forms with many nuclei of which it can only be said that cell
structure has not yet been differentiated. It is therefore possible that
the term cell should not be used at all in respect of this group.
Among the Protista sexual reproduction takes very different forms.
Essentially, however, it consists in the fusion of two individuals, and
if we regard each individual as a cell, it may be said to consist in the
fusion of two cells. Among the higher forms the essential feature of
sexual reproduction is the same; it consists, that is to say, in the
fusion of two cells. It no longer consists in the fusion of two
individuals, but in the fusion of two cells, one given off by one
individual, and one by the other.
The manner in which these cells, known as gametes, are given off by the
male and the female and the manner in which they fuse require some
further explanation. What happens in plants is in all important features
similar to that which happens among animals, and we may confine our
attention to the latter. In every normal member of every species there
is a generative organ.[74] It consists of a surrounding wall within
which is a mass of developing germ-cells. In the female the fully
developed gamete, called the egg or ovum, is, relative to the male
gamete, of large size. It is typically a motionless cell containing a
varying quantity of food substance which may, as in the case of the
bird’s egg, reach a large amount. The male gamete is a much smaller
cell. With a few exceptions it consists of a small oval-shaped head, to
which is attached, by means of an intervening neck or middle-piece, a
long vibratile tail. The head is the nucleus of the cell; if there is
any cytoplasm, it is reduced to a very small amount and its presence
cannot be readily demonstrated.[75] In strong contrast to the ovum the
spermatozoon is typically motile and can swim in those fluids in which
fertilization usually takes place.
Fertilization consists in the penetration of an ovum by a spermatozoon.
The tail does not always enter the egg; as soon as the head has entered,
a change takes place in the egg which sometimes prevents the tail, and
usually other spermatozoa, from entering the egg. The head or nucleus of
the spermatozoon approaches the nucleus of the egg and fuses with it. At
this point, therefore, we have a single cell, known as the zygote,
formed by the fusion of two cells, one derived from the male and one
from the female. The zygote grows and divides and ultimately gives rise
to an adult; into this process of growth it is not necessary to go for
the moment. The zygote is to be regarded as a new member of the species
the existence of which dates from the fusion of the two nuclei. Whether
the zygote lives an independent existence from the beginning, or is
retained within the body of the mother for a longer or shorter period,
is immaterial so far as the dating of the beginning of the existence of
a new individual is concerned. Every man and woman is thus in reality
some nine months older than his or her nominal age.
4. Such are the essential features of the process of sexual reproduction
through which new members of the species arise. We have now to consider
the outward features of the process, which vary very considerably. So
various are they, that at first sight it may scarcely seem likely that
there is any fundamental generalization that can be made regarding the
process as a whole among all species in a state of nature. When we have
glanced at the facts and at their interpretation we shall be in a
position to discuss what it is that holds good for all such species.
Among all multicellular animals and plants the number of spermatozoa
produced is infinitely greater than the number of ova. A single normal
sexual emission in man is said to contain about 226,000,000 spermatozoa.
This immense production of male gametes makes it likely that a male
gamete will meet and fuse with each female gamete. Among the higher
animals there are certain instincts which further ensure that the male
cells will be brought into the proximity of the female cells. Among
other multicellular animals and plants there are no such instincts.
Generally speaking, among the latter types fertilization may be thought
of as fortuitous. In anemophilous plants, for example, such as the
Pines, the male cells or pollen-grains are specially adapted so that
they are caught and carried by the wind for long distances. Many million
times more male cells than female cells are formed in these plants, and
some of them, wafted by the wind, eventually light upon the ovule. So
too among such lowly animals as the sea-urchin the male and female cells
are extruded into the surrounding sea-water; as these animals live close
together, and as the male and female cells ripen and are extruded at the
same time, the chance that any egg will remain unfertilized is small,
the number of the active spermatozoa being so many times greater than
the number of eggs. This simple form of fertilization is characteristic
of most plants and of many animals. In plants there are certain
complications, in particular those connected with fertilization with the
help of insects, into which it is not necessary to go.
The increasing complexity of animal structure is only roughly correlated
with increasing complexity in the processes connected with
fertilization. Though the most complex form of the process is found
among the highest animals, yet some animals, which stand relatively high
in the scale, exhibit a simple method of fertilization. Of this the fish
are an example, and, further, the more highly developed or bony fish
exhibit a simpler form than some of the more lowly-organized
cartilaginous fish. In fact, the stage next above that of which the
sea-urchin was given as an example can be illustrated from the bony
fish. The process in this group consists in the approach of the male to
the female alongside of whom he swims, led by a rudimentary development
of the sexual instinct. When the female ejects her gametes into the
water, the male does the same and the vastly greater number of the male
gametes ensures that all or nearly all of the eggs are penetrated by a
spermatozoon.[76]
The next stage is that characterized by external copulation. The male
clasps the female and when the latter ejects her eggs, he extrudes his
spermatozoa at the same time. The meeting of the gametes thus still
takes place outside the body of the female. This form of fertilization
is found among the Amphibia; the male frog, for example, has specially
developed pads on his front feet with which he embraces the female.
Internal copulation, though it is to be regarded as the most complex
form of the process, is found among such low forms as flat worms,[77] of
which the common tapeworm is a member, among many higher Invertebrates
such as snails and insects, as well as among cartilaginous fish, birds,
and mammals. The essential feature of internal copulation is that the
male is provided with a special copulatory organ or penis which he
inserts into the female. The male gametes pass through the penis, which
takes the form of a tube, directly into the body of the female, and
fertilization thus takes place within the body of the female.
5. When fertilization takes place without copulation it might be thought
that a small proportion of eggs only would be fertilized, that, so long
as fertilization, for instance, depends on the wafting by the wind of a
pollen-grain over a considerable distance until it alights on one small
spot, or upon the chance meeting of a spermatozoon and an egg in the
water, there would be but a small proportion of eggs fertilized. This,
however, is not so; observation shows that in a state of nature failure
is comparatively rare, and that the majority of female gametes are
fertilized. This is in the main due to the vast number of male cells
compared with the number of eggs. Among those forms in which copulation
takes place, fertilization is clearly dependent upon the strength of the
sexual instinct, which impels the male to seek the female. That this
instinct is very powerful is well known. It may for the time overcome
all other instincts. There is a frenzy of desire among many animals.
Male frogs and toads will remain clasping the female for many days
waiting for the extrusion of the eggs. Female toads have been discovered
smothered by the male in the sexual embrace.[78] It has been noticed
that birds, which under usual circumstances are frightened by the sound
of a gun, will take no notice when in pursuit of a female.[79] All the
evidence points to the fact that, owing to the strength of the sexual
instincts, females are rarely left undiscovered by a male in the sexual
season. Jenner records that one of a pair of magpies was killed and that
on the following day the survivor appeared with another mate. One of
this pair was killed and on the next day the survivor again appeared
with another mate. This was repeated for seven days and on each occasion
the survivor always appeared with a new mate.[80] In this connexion the
great development of those forms of secondary sexual characters may be
referred to which enable the two sexes to find and recognize one
another. Such are recognition marks, call-notes of many insects, birds,
and mammals, and the strong odours given off by many animals during the
sexual period.
Generally speaking, the male is always prepared for the act of
copulation and the act takes place when the female is ready to receive
the male. This is so among mammals whether the male experiences a sexual
season known as the ‘rut’, as among stags, or whether he does not, as
among dogs; for the period of ‘rut’ lasts longer than the period during
which the female is ready to receive the male. The facts, however,
regarding the sexual season in mammals are somewhat complicated owing to
the nature of the sexual season experienced by the female. A number of
different types of mammalian sexual season have been distinguished; it
is not necessary, however, to go into these distinctions. It is
sufficient to say that each sexual season consists of one or more sexual
cycles, known as oestrous cycles. An oestrous cycle may be divided into
four periods; the first, known as the pro-oestrous, is the period of
preparation which ends in the rupture of the blood-vessels in the mucous
membrane of the uterus. When the blood passes to the exterior, it is
known as the menstrual flow. The second period or oestrous is the period
of desire. This period is always short; in the sheep it lasts about
twelve hours and often in other species does not last as long. Only
during this latter period will the female receive the male;[81]
copulation never takes place at any other period, and yet in spite of
the fact that the opportunity for copulation is narrowly restricted, so
strong is the sexual instinct in the male, that it is very rare for a
female, so far as observation goes, not to engage in copulation at each
oestrous. The period of oestrous is followed by the period of
metoestrous during which the activity of generation subsides, and the
metoestrous is followed by the anoestrous or period of rest, after which
another pro-oestrous period begins a new cycle.
The period of oestrous, during which copulation takes place, is usually
marked by the presence of ripe female gametes which are therefore at
once fertilized. Ripe ova are, however, not always present at oestrous;
in the rabbit ovulation takes place an hour and a half after copulation.
In the bat there is a very marked want of coincidence between oestrous
and ovulation; copulation takes place in the autumn, but ovulation does
not take place until the following spring. In such cases the spermatozoa
remain alive in the uterus until the female gametes are ripe, when
fertilization is achieved; thus in the bat the spermatozoa remain alive
for several months. When such cases occur, therefore, it does not mean
that the ova are not fertilized. In the monkeys, however, ovulation may
occur independently of oestrous and in such a manner that the ova then
liberated may not be fertilized.
What has so far been said all goes to show that the majority of ripe ova
are always fertilized among species in a state of nature. There must be
a certain number of failures among those species which copulate, as when
a mammalian female, as must now and again happen, does not engage in
copulation during oestrous. Among species which do not copulate,
failures are doubtless more frequent. There is probably a greater
wastage of eggs when they are adhesive and fixed to some object than
when they are pelagic, as is most often the case among marine animals;
for when eggs are adhesive the seminal fluid may drift away.
We are now approaching a point at which it is possible to establish the
first generalization regarding the process of reproduction among species
in a state of nature. It is, however, not possible to make clear what it
is intended to convey until something has been said regarding animal
behaviour. Some of the most striking differences between one class of
animal and another as regards the process of reproduction are connected
with the evolution of animal behaviour. So far we have spoken of
instinct without defining what is meant, and until something has been
said regarding the course and limit of mental evolution among animals,
the nature of the common element in all forms of reproduction among all
species in a state of nature and the manner in which it differs from
what is found among men cannot be set out. It may seem that the
following review is taking us somewhat out of our path. It so happens,
however, that in view of the questions that will come up later for
discussion, such a sketch will be necessary and it may therefore be now
undertaken so as to render further amplification unnecessary.
6. Putting aside the behaviour of plants, we find among the lower
animals a type of behaviour which, though simple in a certain sense,
cannot be adequately explained without a prolonged discussion. Some idea
can be obtained of its nature if we consider in what a reflex action
consists. When a definite and simple stimulus is followed directly by a
definite and simple reaction we have what is called a reflex action.
This term, it may be noticed, is usually restricted to cases where a
nervous system is present. When similar reactions occur among organisms
in which the nervous system has not been differentiated, it has been
suggested that the term ‘autotype’ should be used.[82]
Reactions, however, probably never follow invariably upon the repetition
of the same stimulus. Among the lowest class of animals, the Protozoa, a
free-swimming ciliate Infusorian, will, if it comes into contact with
something in the medium which is abnormal, it may be, for example, an
alkaline solution, stop and go backwards. This is an example of a reflex
action. An analysis of its subsequent movements shows that, if it again
and again meets the alkaline solution, some modification of the reaction
takes place. The animal may show increased activity until either it is
overcome by the disturbing medium or it has freed itself from it. So
again after the digestion of food, such an organism shows a different
response to the presence of food.
More definite instances of different reactions following upon the same
stimulus are provided by experiments of changing the nature of the
medium. An Infusorian will react violently against certain new elements
in the medium to which after a time it becomes habituated, when the
reaction no longer follows. Very interesting experiments have shown that
even among the simplest class of organisms there is a certain learning
from experience. ‘A Stentor (one of the ciliate Infusorians) if gently
touched upon one side will contract upon its stalk, but will soon open
out again. Touched once more, it will perhaps bend to one side, and if
continually molested in this manner, it will uproot itself in pardonable
dudgeon and swim away. That is to say it has several ways of reacting to
the stimulus and seeking equilibrium, and, if one fails, it tries
another. But now when it anchors itself again, it seems to have learnt
something, for if again touched it does not go through the stages of
contracting and of bending aside. It keeps to its more radical remedy
and moves off again.’[83] It is doubtful whether there is any further
complication of this type of behaviour among organisms which do not
attain to the kind of behaviour that we have now to describe.
7. Herbert Spencer, as is well known, defined instinct as compound
reflex action. Though this definition cannot, for various reasons, be
accepted as adequate, it does suggest the essential nature of instinct,
which consists in the response to a given but often vague stimulus of a
more or less complicated series of reactions. Instinct is more than
compound reflex action because it involves the organism as a whole, and
is accompanied by, or is the outcome of, a mental process. All mental
process is said to involve three aspects—the cognitive or the knowing of
an object, the affective or feeling in regard to an object, and the
conative or striving to or from an object—and these three aspects are to
be found in all instinctive actions. The instinctive action is initiated
by a sense-impression and is followed by results so important because
the nervous system is innately organized to respond to certain
sense-impressions. It is presumed that some kind of emotional
excitement, however faint, always follows and that it gives rise to the
striving that we see in the form of movement. Instinct has been defined
as ‘an inherited or innate psychophysical disposition which determines
its possessor to perceive and to pay attention to objects of a certain
class, to experience an emotional excitement of a particular quality
upon perceiving such an object, and to act in regard to it in a
particular manner, or, at least, to experience an impulse to such
action’.[84]
Every one is acquainted with many examples of instinctive action. ‘There
are many instances of insects that invariably lay their eggs in the only
place where the grubs, when hatched, will find the food they need and
can eat, or where the larvae will be able to attach themselves as
parasites to some host in a way that is necessary to their survival. In
such cases it is clear that the behaviour of the parent is determined by
the impression made on its senses by the appropriate objects or places:
e. g. the smell of decaying fish leads the Carrion fly to deposit its
eggs upon it; the sight or odour of some particular flower leads another
to lay its eggs among the ovules of the flower, which serve as food to
the grubs. Others go through more elaborate traits of action, as when
the Mason-wasp lays its eggs in a mud nest, fills up the space with
caterpillars, which it paralyses by means of well-directed stings, and
seals it up; so that the caterpillars remain as a supply of fresh animal
food for the young which the parent will never see and of whose needs it
can have no knowledge or idea.’[85] To take some examples from among the
Vertebrates, ‘pheasants, plovers, moor-hen, domestic chicks and
ducklings, with many others, are active soon after birth, and exhibit
powers of complex co-ordination, with little or no practice of the
necessary limb movements. They walk and balance the body so soon and so
well as to show that this mode of procedure is congenital, and has not
to be gradually acquired through the guidance of experience. Young water
birds swim with neat orderly strokes the first time they are gently
placed in the water. Even little chicks a day or two old can swim
well.’[86]
Enough has been said in the way of illustration, as numerous examples
are familiar to every one. It is possible that instinctive behaviour may
have to be attributed to so lowly a group of organisms as the flat
worms. Instinct reaches its greatest development among the insects, and
some examples have been given above of the amazingly intricate series of
actions which are performed by insects, under the guidance of instinct.
There have been two lines of mental evolution among animals, one
culminating in the insects and the other in the Vertebrates. Among the
former instincts have become very specialized; among the latter they
have remained far more generalized. Among the latter again there has
been a far higher development of intelligence than among the former,
thus further distinguishing the two lines of mental evolution. It is
probable, however, that intelligence, though certainly at times in a
very primitive form, always accompanies instinct, and to the discussion
of intelligence we must now turn.
8. We saw how as lowly an animal as an Infusorian can in a sense learn
from experience. It is only when learning from experience reaches a more
advanced stage that we speak of intelligent action. If we watch one of
the higher animals which, under the influence of desire, is striving to
satisfy this desire, we find that it behaves in the following manner. An
animal, for instance, is shut up in a box with food outside. It is led
by instinct to all kinds of sporadic activities; it will clutch and claw
and make every kind of effort to extricate itself. If some simple catch
has been contrived which opens the door and offers a way of escape, the
animal will probably sooner or later accidentally operate the catch and
escape. If the animal is replaced in the box many times, it is found to
escape on the average sooner. It learns in fact in some degree to
operate the catch and thus to gain freedom and food. The question which
arises is what degree of mental development we have to assume in order
to account for these facts.
The stage in learning from experience which follows next upon that
present among some protozoa is exemplified by the chick which at first
instinctively pecks at various objects. If it pecks at a yellow
caterpillar with an unpleasant taste it will drop it. The next time, or
after a series of such experiences, it will avoid the caterpillar. The
explanation seems to be that a modified response arises directly from
the sight of the caterpillar. The sense-impression has become charged
with feeling that first arose as the result of experience. This simple
explanation is to be preferred to that which would assume the
realization by the chick of the relation between the position when it
again finds itself with a yellow caterpillar before it and the nastiness
which it previously experienced. The process is thus one of the revival
of acquired meaning, and we have now to ask if a higher stage of mental
process is ever to be attributed to animals or whether the behaviour of
the animal in the cage is to be explained on the same lines as the
behaviour of the chick.
‘Let us suppose’, says Professor Hobhouse, ‘revival to operate in a mind
capable of perceiving three objects A B C in definite space and time
relations, C being something desirable, e. g. food. If the three objects
are present to the senses, the first two leading up to the third (e. g.
as intervening objects in space), conation will be definitely directed
to C via A and B. Let this have happened and then let A alone be given.
If the animal is hungry, i.e. if there is a conational basis to go upon,
A will, according to the law of revival, excite a conation corresponding
to the previous one, but this was a conation definitely directed to B
and C in succession as things standing in a definite relation to A. The
animal then directs its efforts to a point where, in accordance with the
first experience, B and C should be. It looks for them, or if B is some
change which brings C about, sets itself to perform B and so obtain C.
Its action is directed to something not given, and this appears to be
the germ of a conation or practical idea.’[87] It is thus possible that
in the behaviour of the animal in the box we may have to recognize the
first step towards a higher mental process. Effort may be directed to
something not given and thus there may be the first sign of the
emergence of an idea. Whether this is so or not, such an idea is
certainly not a general idea; it is merely a reference to something to
come, and that is all. This is the highest degree of mental development
that we can attribute to animals and it may be noticed that, this being
so, there can probably be no true memory among animals. Explicit ideas,
therefore, among animals, so far as they exist at all, do not give rise
to other ideas following one another in sequence. They are isolated and
serve merely to guide action.
9. The highest form of mental process attributable to animals reaches a
fuller development among men. This stage of mental development has been
called the stage of perceptual correlation. How far the apprehensions of
direct relationships in consciousness are developed among animals is
doubtful; there is no doubt that among men such relations are
apprehended. Action, therefore, is not merely connected indirectly with
the result, as in the example of the chick; action is undertaken with an
end in view. If the chick came to apprehend the relation between the
caterpillar and the unpleasant taste, it would have reached the fully
developed stage of perceptual correlation; we have seen that we have to
assume in this case a simpler state of mental process, though in certain
cases a study of animal behaviour does suggest some approach to the
higher stage. At this stage, which is fully developed only in man, the
world ceases to be presented merely as sense-impressions charged with
feeling and takes the shape of a mass of objects of perception related
together and underlying the sense-impressions and the feelings evoked by
them.
In man there is developed a still higher stage of mental process which
is his peculiar possession and chief distinguishing characteristic. This
is the stage of conceptual thought. In the perceptual stage activity is
guided solely by the presence of the objects perceived. If there is any
anticipation of the end, the action from moment to moment is still
always guided by what is actually given. In the conceptual stage action
is guided by an ideal anticipation of the end. What underlies mental
process at this stage is generalization. The situation as given is
broken up and analysed; elements common to it and to previous situations
are recognized and synthesized. These two processes of analysis and
synthesis go on side by side and concepts are formed which are outside
the world of perception. Common elements in the perceptual order are
recognized and there is thus made possible a grasp of the continuity
running through experience.
Man is thus no longer guided by what is immediately given in experience;
he can make plans and shape his actions with an ideal end in view. With
the development of conceptual thought goes the development of language,
whereby man learns from others and passes on to others what is in his
mind. Of the stage of conceptual thought there will be more to say in a
later chapter. This further development is only mentioned here in order
to contrast mental process in its highest form in man with the process
in animals.
10. We have now to consider the bearing of mental development upon the
process of reproduction. All animals are endowed with a certain power of
reproduction which we shall call fecundity. Fecundity is measured by the
number of ripe ova produced, the number of spermatozoa having no direct
bearing on fecundity. We have seen that the highest animals—those most
nearly related to man—are gifted with instinct and intelligence. The
value of intelligence lies in the fact that it enables instinct to adapt
itself to the special circumstances of the moment and thus to bring
about its end more surely. The sexual instinct is in this manner
assisted by intelligence, and among animals which copulate the power of
reproduction is thus able to realize itself to the full or almost to the
full. There may be certain failures to achieve reproduction and certain
cases of perverted instinct; to some of these cases we have already
referred. Broadly speaking, however, it is true that the highest
development in animals of instinct and intelligence works towards the
fulfilment of that degree of fecundity which is innately given. It
follows, therefore, that in this sense mental development among animals
has not in any fashion changed the position of the higher animals when
compared with that of the lower animals. Reproduction in the sea-urchin
and reproduction among the mammals—vastly as the mental processes
differ—is still similar in this respect. The power of reproduction is
realized to the full or almost to the full. All that instinct and
intelligence do is to ensure that in this more complex process of
fertilization the full power of reproduction is as nearly as possible
realized—that is to say, that nearly all ova are fertilized.
Among men, even in the lowest stage in which they have been studied, the
position is entirely different. Owing to the development of conceptual
thought men act with some ideal object in view. Customs grow up which in
their origin must be traced to some process of reasoning, however
obscure, and action deliberately undertaken, as well as custom, may
affect the realization of the power of reproduction. Thus among the
lowest of primitive races we find that men abstain from intercourse for
various motives which we must regard as due to the presence of reason.
Or again, they may practise certain forms of mutilation of the sexual
organs which may affect the power of reproduction. The origin of such a
custom may be hidden; it may be almost certain that it was not
originated with any understanding of its effect upon reproduction and
even that its effect has never been recognized; nevertheless originally
such a custom could only have arisen if reason was present. Similarly,
among the lowest races there are abundant examples of the practices of
abortion and infanticide which, though they do not affect fecundity,
have an important bearing upon the quantitative aspect of the population
problem and are again the products of reason.
Among men, therefore, owing to the development of a higher stage of
mental power, fecundity is not realized to the full, and we have to
distinguish between the power of reproduction, which we have called
fecundity, and the actual degree of reproduction, which we shall call
fertility. It may, perhaps, assist to emphasize what is meant if for a
moment we think of the reproductive process among animals as
‘mechanical’. The introduction of this term should not be taken to have
any ultimate significance—any reference whatever to the true nature of
mental process. It is only used as a convenient term to illustrate the
difference between reproduction among animals and among men. Among all
species in a state of nature reproduction may be thought of as
‘mechanical’, whereas reproduction among men is never ‘mechanical’. The
number of young produced in the case of the human species is far from
being completely correlated with the fecundity. There may be all degrees
of difference between fecundity and fertility. Among species in a state
of nature fecundity and fertility are for all practical purposes one and
the same thing because reproduction is ‘mechanical’ whatever may be the
stage which mental development has reached. Further, such differences as
exist among species in a state of nature between fecundity—the number of
ripe ova—and fertility—the number of fertilized ova—are due to failures
of the gametes to meet and may be called, just as the whole process may
be called, ‘mechanical’. Such ‘mechanical’ differences between fecundity
and fertility may also be found in man but the chief cause of the
differences in the case of man is altogether of another kind and is due,
as we have seen, directly to the development of conceptual thought.
It was said above that it was proposed to show that certain
generalizations can be made regarding the process of reproduction among
species in a state of nature. This then is the first generalization.
(Fecundity and fertility are closely correlated and, compared with the
position among men, reproduction may be thought of as ‘mechanical’ and
even the failures to realize the full power of fecundity may be thought
of as ‘mechanical’.)
11. It has been mentioned that fecundity is very large among all species
in a state of nature and we have now to ask what it is that determines
how large it shall be. As we have seen, the fecundity is roughly
measured by the number of ova produced, and this number clearly depends
upon many factors, such as the beginning and duration of the mature
period, the number of eggs produced at any one time, and the length of
the period between the epochs of egg production. Into details of the
proximate causes of the differences in fecundity it is not necessary to
go. What it is desired to know is what factor or factors in general
ultimately determine the strength of fecundity in each species. We may
first take some examples of the degree of fecundity drawn from various
groups.
The common whelk lays its eggs in capsules of which a great number are
produced. It has been calculated that a small clump of such capsules of
about two cubic inches in size contains about 200,000 eggs. Another
mollusc, Aplysia, may lay from 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 at a time. ‘An
oyster may have sixty million eggs and the average American yield is
sixteen millions.’[88] The number of eggs found attached to the edible
crab in the breeding season varies between half a million and three
millions. A single pair of flies may produce 20,000 larvae. The number
of eggs produced by parasites may very largely exceed these numbers.
Among the vertebrates the fish are the most prolific class. ‘In a Ling
61 inches long and weighing 54 pounds the ovaries contained 28,361,000
eggs; a cod of 21½ pounds 6,652,000. The least prolific of British food
fishes is the herring, in which the number of ovarian eggs varied from
21,000 to 47,000 in four specimens examined.’[89]
These vast numbers of eggs produced at any one time make theoretically
possible a prodigious rate of increase. It has been calculated that a
single cholera bacillus can give rise to sixteen hundred trillion of
bacilli in a day, forming a solid mass weighing a hundred tons. ‘Wallace
quotes Kerner to the effect that a common British weed (_Sisymbrium
sophia_) often has three-quarters of a million seeds; if all grew to
maturity for only three years the whole of the land surface of the globe
would not hold them. An annual plant with only two seeds would be
represented by 1,048,576 in the twenty-first year.... If all the progeny
of one oyster survived and multiplied, its great-great-grand-children
would number thirty-six with thirty-three noughts after it, and the heap
of the shells would be eight times the size of the world. Huxley
calculated that if the descendants of a single green-fly all survived
and multiplied they would, at the end of summer, weigh down the
population of China. The common house-fly lays eggs in batches of 120 to
150 at a time, and may lay five or six of these batches during its life
of about three weeks in very hot weather. At the end of summer, if all
developed, and if there were six generations, the progeny of a single
pair, pressed together into a solid mass, would occupy a space of
something like a quarter of a million cubic feet, allowing 200,000 flies
to a cubic foot.’[90] ‘There is no exception’, says Darwin, in a
well-known passage, ‘to the rule that every organic being naturally
increases at so high a rate, that, if not destroyed, the earth would
soon be covered by the progeny of a single pair. Even slow-breeding man
has doubled in twenty years, and at this rate in less than a thousand
years there would literally not be standing room for his progeny.
Linnaeus has calculated that if an annual plant produced only two
seeds—and there is no plant so unproductive as this—and their seedlings
next year produced two, and so on, then in twenty years there would be a
million plants. The elephant is reckoned the slowest breeder of all
known animals, and I have taken some pains to estimate its probable
minimum rate of natural increase; it will be safest to assume that it
begins breeding when thirty years old, and goes on breeding until ninety
years old, bringing forth six young in the interval, and surviving till
100 years old; if this be so, after a period of 740 to 750 years there
would be nearly ninety million elephants alive, descended from the first
pair.’[91]
12. These examples show that the power of fecundity, which is always
huge, is in many instances much greater than in others. Were it not for
the fact that normally all but a small proportion of eggs are always
fertilized, it might be suggested that in those cases in which there was
no copulation a much larger number of eggs was necessary than among the
higher forms, in order that a sufficient number should be fertilized.
This, however, can only be a partial explanation of the larger number of
eggs among those lower forms where there is no copulation.
In order to obtain an answer to the question as to what it is which
determines the fecundity of any species, it is necessary to look into
certain features of the life of animals and plants in a state of nature.
Observation and deduction bring one remarkable fact to light. The number
of adults of any species at any one season of the year, when compared
with the number in the corresponding period in other years, remains upon
the whole constant. This fact cannot be based upon statistics, for we
cannot take anything approaching to a census. Nevertheless, it is an
unavoidable deduction from the known facts. The more emphasis that is
laid upon variations in numbers from season to season, the more apparent
does it become that such differences are trivial when compared with the
possible rate of increase. But we know that all but a small proportion
of eggs are fertilized, and as we date the existence of a new member of
the species from the moment of fertilization, it is clear that the
numbers composing every new generation greatly exceed the number of
adults to which the new generation owes its existence. It follows,
therefore, that all but a small proportion of the young of each
generation perish before the adult stage is reached. The most remarkable
increases in the adults of any species ever recorded are negligible
compared with the possible increase, and observation shows that as a
general rule there is no increase at all.
Fecundity is, therefore, in some manner connected with this fact that
the great majority of fertilized eggs do not give rise to adults, and in
order to throw further light upon this connexion we must ask how it is
that the young perish.
13. To make clear how it is that the young of every species perish on so
large a scale, it is necessary to refer to the interdependence of all
living organisms. This can perhaps best be illustrated by reference to
the chief distinction between animals and plants. A difference in the
mode of nutrition is that which chiefly distinguishes animals from
plants. There are other differences but their importance is small
compared with that we may now describe. The need of food is common to
all living things and is due to the nature of the living substance
called protoplasm—the physical basis of all life. Protoplasm is of a
very complex constitution. It is for ever wasting away and if life is to
be preserved food must be supplied to compensate for the loss. The need
is as great among plants as it is among animals, but the means of
supplying it are fundamentally different.
Plants feed upon very simple substances—salts of nitric acid, salts of
ammonia, and carbonic acid. Among green plants carbonic acid is taken in
from the air through small apertures in the leaves known as stomata; the
salts of nitric acid and ammonia are absorbed from solution in the water
of the soil. Carbonic acid and water are synthesized within the cells of
the plant into starch; starch is converted into sugar and the sugar is
combined with the salts of nitric acid and ammonia to form amino-acids
which are eventually transformed into proteids. Thus the plant makes
good the unavoidable waste of its living substance by elaborating the
highly complex protoplasm from the simplest elements.
The method pursued by animals is entirely different. They feed upon
complicated substances, which may be divided into proteids, fats, and
carbo-hydrates. These substances do not take their places directly in
the living cells of the body; they first undergo a process of digestion,
after which they are assimilated. Digestion involves the breaking down
of these complex foods to a certain stage; proteids, for example, are
reduced to amino-acids, and starches to sugars. In these forms they are
soluble and are taken up by the walls of the alimentary canal and are
afterwards resynthesized into proteids and starches.
The importance of this distinction lies in the fact that the only method
of obtaining the highly complex substances necessary for animals is to
feed upon the tissues of other animals or plants. It is obvious that
every animal species cannot feed upon some other animal species; in the
end animals as a whole must depend upon plants because plants alone are
able to elaborate the substances which animals need. In a sense,
therefore, animals are parasitic upon plants; in any case the existence
of animals is bound up with the continued existence of plants. This
interdependence of living organisms runs all through the conditions
under which species in a state of nature live and takes a variety of
shapes. The dependence of one organism upon another is largely connected
with the question of the provision of appropriate surroundings which are
often only found in the proximity of certain other species. Many species
can only flourish in the neighbourhood of trees. The interdependence
between certain species is very intimate. There are many examples of
what is known as symbiosis, as when a certain species of sea anemone
lives on the back of a particular species of crab. Again, parasites,
which alternate between one host and another, are dependent upon finding
a member of a particular species at a certain time in their
life-history, as otherwise they perish. Many examples of interdependence
are within common knowledge, and, bearing this feature of organic life
in mind, we may go on to ask how it is that, through the elimination of
a great proportion of the young of every species, the number of adults
remains upon the whole constant.
14. Taking animals first, it is probable that the most common cause of
elimination lies in the fact that the young of all species are consumed
by members of other species. It is difficult to estimate even roughly
the relative importance of the various causes of elimination; ‘the
causes’, says Darwin, ‘which check the natural tendency of each species
to increase are most obscure’.[92] The particular factor mentioned,
however, certainly takes a very prominent place. The young of marine and
fresh-water animals almost all form food for other species and are
obviously exposed to attack. So too, though perhaps not to so great a
degree, are the young of terrestrial animals; whether we think of the
larvae of insects or the eggs of birds, we find that they are in most
cases liable to be consumed by enemies. Even where copulation is
internal, the developing embryo is, except among mammals, seldom long
retained within the body of the mother, and once exposed to the outside
world it almost invariably becomes an object of prey to many enemies. In
fact, wherever we look, this cause of elimination plays a very great
part, arising immediately from that aspect of the interdependence of
species which is derived from the mode among animals of making up for
the wastage of protoplasm.
Elimination again is largely due to failure to find those conditions
under which alone life can continue. These conditions may be connected
with the nature of the organic or of the inorganic surroundings. When
the young of the flat worm, known as the Liver Fluke, which infects
sheep and causes a serious disease, passes from the sheep to the
exterior, it can only maintain itself for a certain time in the
free-living form. Unless within this time it meets with a certain
species of snail into which it penetrates, it will die. Besides such
failures to find suitable organic surroundings, there may be failures to
find suitable inorganic surroundings. The larvae of such species as the
mussel, which require suitable surroundings to which to attach
themselves in order that the adult form may develop, will perish if such
surroundings are not available. There is a further class of factors
connected with the inorganic surroundings which bring about elimination.
They may be summed up under the heading of external circumstances.
Variations in temperature, moisture and so on, when they pass beyond a
certain limit, which is more or less clearly marked for each species,
are followed by death. Under this heading comes also death from
accident, as when animals perish from the violence of storms and in any
similar fashion. It is of interest to note that starvation is seldom the
primary cause of death. It may be a secondary result of abnormal
external circumstances; extreme cold, though not affecting directly the
members of one species, may be fatal to members of another species upon
which the former feed. But when circumstances are normal, so far as
observation goes, starvation is rare.
15. Among plants the same three groups of factors can be traced, though
their relative importance is not the same as among animals. Elimination
through consumption as food, for instance, by other species is not so
important. To a large extent plants can serve as food for animals and
survive. Nevertheless the young, especially in the form of seeds, are
very subject to attack by animals; seeds are one of the principal forms
of food for many animal species, and this form of elimination plays a
large part among plants. Dependence upon suitable organic and inorganic
surroundings plays much the same rôle as it does among animals. Some
species can only flourish in the shade of trees and others in the open.
Some species require one kind of soil and others another. The importance
of external circumstances again is very similar.
There is another factor of a somewhat different nature which is of great
importance. ‘With plants’, says Darwin, ‘there is a vast destruction of
seeds, but, from some observations which I have made, it appears that
the seedlings suffer most from germinating in ground already thickly
stocked with other plants.’[93] In order that a seed may germinate, it
must not only fall upon suitable soil but must find enough suitable soil
unoccupied. Otherwise it will not germinate or will not develop into an
adult. This is different from anything which happens among animals, and
is clearly an approach to starvation. It is, however, better thought of
as the result of the inability of any given area to support more than a
given amount of life. The endowment of any area may be such as to render
it incapable of supporting life at all, or it may be such as to render
it capable of supporting any degree of life up to and beyond that for
which there is space. In the sea the amount of nitrogen is the limiting
factor, and the deficiency of nitrogen is such that the question of
space does not arise.[94] In many parts of the world’s surface, however,
the endowment is such that more plants could be supported than there is
space for.
In this connexion it may be noted that the limitation of the surface of
the earth is not a cause of elimination in the true sense. This is best
seen if we imagine the surface to be extended. If to a continent already
inhabited there is added an unoccupied area, there will, if the new area
is generally of the same nature as that alone formerly existing, be a
spreading of organic life over the new area. It will only be at the
fringe of the occupied area that there will be any difference in the
amount of elimination of plant life. Unless the occupied area is of very
small extent, there will be no difference except within this narrow
fringe. In the fringe there will be a lessening of elimination, other
things being equal, because there will not be the same number of seeds
which fail to grow into plants owing to the previous occupation of
suitable soil, as in the more central parts of the area. When the new
area has been entirely occupied, the same conditions as existed in the
smaller area will exist throughout the larger area. Further, if the
surface available for occupation were indefinite in extent, there would,
except at the fringe, which would in this case be permanent, be no
difference as regards the amount of elimination. All that has been said
applies equally well if, instead of imagining these additions to take
place after evolution had reached its present stage, we imagine
evolution to have taken place from the beginning on an area of
indefinite extent.
16. We have, therefore, some idea of the manner in which the young of
animals and plants perish. Let us consider any animal species; we find
that the young are faced with a large number of dangers. The new members
of the species may be consumed by some enemy before they have developed
beyond the stage of the fertilized egg or at any stage in their
development. They may in general not meet with favourable organic and
inorganic surroundings, or at some particular stage they may not meet
with the environment necessary. At any time they may perish from
unfavourable external circumstances. The position of young plants is
similar, and in addition they may fail to find sufficient space in which
to live.
The dangers which any species encounters remain both in kind and in
degree fairly constant over a considerable period of time, and, unless
in each generation a number of young survives at least equal to the
number of adults in the generation to which it owes its birth, the
species will decline. It follows that the power of reproduction must be
such as to ensure that at least this number of young will survive. The
power of reproduction in any species is therefore connected with the sum
of all the dangers which the young of the species encounter. But it is
not true that the greater the fecundity the better for the species.
Reproduction over and above this degree would place the young in a less
favourable position. Competition bringing no corresponding advantages
would be increased, and starvation or injurious semi-starvation would
result. Any considerable increase in the strength of fecundity beyond
that which is essential could not therefore be beneficial.[95]
The facts regarding the conditions of life and the dangers to which the
young of different species are exposed coincide with the view that the
strength of reproduction is in the main determined by the sum of these
dangers. The greater strength of fecundity among those species which
shed their eggs into the water cannot be attributed, as we have seen, to
any failure of fertilization on a large scale; it may be attributed,
however, to the numerous dangers which the young of such species must
encounter. The chance that any single fertilized egg will grow into an
adult is far less in these cases than when the eggs are retained in the
body of the mother and when the young are guarded by the parent, and,
unless fecundity was on a large scale, a sufficient number would not
survive. Among plants reproduction must always be on a large scale
because it is necessary to ensure that a sufficient number of seeds will
fall, not only on suitable ground, but on suitable ground that is not so
occupied as to prevent growth to the adult stage, in addition to the
necessity of providing such numbers as will ensure a sufficient number
passing through all the other dangers. Eggs and young abandoned by the
parents may be variously exposed to danger. The development of instincts
common among insects which lead to the hiding of eggs in places where
danger of destruction at the hand of enemies is decreased, and to the
provision of food for the young when they develop from the eggs, is
accompanied by a decrease in fecundity. Further developments of the
parental instinct are accompanied by decreases in fecundity as the
degree of danger lessens. Parental care for the young is not uncommon
among the invertebrates. There are a number of cases in which the young
are retained in brood-pouches, as for instance by the common water-flea.
The fresh-water leech, Clepsine, broods over its young. Among the
vertebrates the fish for the most part take no care of their young. Some
fish, however, such as Gasterosteus, the Stickleback, make nests. No
great advance is found among the Amphibia or among the reptiles. One
reptilian group, however, the Chelonia, shows a remarkable advance; they
live in pairs and guard their young with care. If marriage be defined as
‘a more or less durable connexion between male and female lasting beyond
the mere act of propagation till after the birth of the offspring’,[96]
then the beginning of marriage is discernable in this group. This more
or less durable connexion between male and female is a well-known
characteristic of birds, as is also care for the young. ‘Most birds when
they pair do so for good and all until one or the other dies.’[97] The
connexion is not so durable, and the parental instinct is not so highly
developed, among mammals as among birds. The retention of the young
within the body of the mammalian mother, however, greatly decreases the
dangers to which the young are exposed. It is also worthy of note that
those species both of birds and mammals which prey upon others are on
the whole less fecund than other species, a fact which is to be
connected with the lower degree of danger to which their offspring are
exposed.
The lower degree of danger to which the young are exposed, the less the
fecundity; and the less the fecundity, provided that it reaches the
strength necessary to preserve the species, the better on the whole for
the species. In this manner we reach the second generalization regarding
the quantitative aspect of the population problem among species in a
state of nature, which may be stated by saying that the strength of
fecundity in any species is determined by the sum of all the dangers to
which the young of that species are exposed. This must be qualified, in
so far as fecundity and fertility are not the same, by adding to the
dangers to which the young are exposed the danger that a certain
proportion of eggs will not be fertilized. It follows that among men,
since fecundity and fertility are not the same for quite other than
‘mechanical’ reasons, fecundity is not directly related to the dangers
to which the young are exposed. It is clear that, when men, as is now
the case on a large scale, both abstain from intercourse and interfere
with the natural result of intercourse, and at the same time increase in
number, the strength of fecundity is considerably greater than that
which would enable a sufficient number of young to escape the
unavoidable dangers. But the ancestors of man must once have been
subject to the same conditions as those to which species in a state of
nature are now subject, and it will be into the causes and results of
this progressive divergence from the former conditions that we shall
look in the first part of this book.
III
THE BASIS OF THE POPULATION PROBLEM: (2) THE QUALITATIVE ASPECT
1. We have now to consider the qualitative aspect of the population
problem. There are two questions to which an answer is required. First
we ask: What is the nature of the changes which occur? In other words,
if we may speak of history among animals and plants, we want to know
what kind of changes underlie the facts which go to make up that
history. The second question is: How have these changes come about?
There is no doubt about the answer to the first question, and it can be
given very shortly. Though there is a certain consensus of agreement
regarding the answer to the second question, there are considerable
differences, of opinion over points which are not unimportant, and in
order to deal adequately with these points a long discussion would be
required for which there is no space. All that can be done here is to
set out the most important facts; they will provide a satisfactory
answer to the first question and enable some indication to be given of
the lines which the answer to the second must follow.
However slight the treatment of the problem, it must begin with a
reference to the physical basis of inheritance. Some description has
been given of the process of fertilization. It was said that only the
head and middle-piece of the spermatozoon penetrate the egg, and that no
cytoplasm or ordinary granular protoplasm can be demonstrated in these
parts of the spermatozoon. The head is the nucleus of the cell, while
the middle-piece contains the centrosome, a body which is attached to
the nucleus and plays an important part when the nucleus divides. From
these facts a very important conclusion follows. It is known that both
parents contribute equally to the offspring; therefore as the male
parent contributes only a nucleus and its appanage the centrosome, the
basis of the inherited qualities must be sought in the nucleus.
Attention is thus directed to the nucleus, which can sometimes be seen
in the living cell. Its detailed structure can, however, only be made
out in specimens which have been preserved and stained. The nucleus is
then seen to consist of a thin wall within which is contained a
colourless sap. In the sap are a number of beads of a darkly staining
substance known as chromatin suspended on delicate threads of a
substance known as linin. The division of a cell is always preceded by
the division of the nucleus and, when the nucleus divides, the chromatin
undergoes certain remarkable changes. The beads of chromatin become
aggregated together into rods—the number of rods which appear being
invariably constant in the same species, though varying from species to
species. These rods are known as chromosomes. Beyond saying that the
rods divide into two and that each daughter nucleus, and therefore each
daughter cell, is provided with that number of chromosomes which is
typical for the species, it is not necessary to follow the details of
the process of division any farther. Stated in the briefest possible
form, this is what happens during ordinary cell-division, such as that
which takes place when a fertilized egg is growing from a single cell
into a multicellular adult.
There is one remarkable exception to this type of nuclear division. In
the last division but one of those series of divisions which lead to the
formation of both male and female gametes, half, and not the full number
of chromosomes, is transmitted to each daughter nucleus. If therefore
the typical number of chromosomes in the nucleus of one species is eight
and in another four, the number of chromosomes in the gametes will be
four and two respectively. In the former species the nucleus of the egg
will have four chromosomes, and that of the spermatozoon also four, and
the full number typical of the species will only be restored when the
nucleus of the spermatozoon fuses with the nucleus of the egg in
fertilization.
The invariable reappearance of the same number of chromosomes in
ordinary cell-division, their reduction to half that number in the last
division but one which precedes the formation of the gametes, the
complicated mechanism which is employed and other evidence all lead to
the conclusion that the location of the basis of the hereditary
qualities can be further narrowed and sought in the chromatin—in one
element, that is to say, of the nucleus.[98]
2. The nucleus must not be thought of as isolated from the rest of the
cell; there is a constant and active interchange between the nucleus and
the cytoplasm. It has actually been demonstrated that at times particles
stream out from the nucleus into the cytoplasm. The nucleus is the
centre of activity; without the nucleus the cell cannot live. This being
so, how are we to view the process of development from the fertilized
egg to the adult? The process can be studied in detail. The egg divides
into two cells, then into four, eight, sixteen, thirty-two cells, and so
on. The gradual differentiation of the organs can be watched and their
lineage to certain cells in earlier stages traced. At every stage the
developing organism comes under the influence of certain stimuli
provided by the surrounding conditions. Very many elements in the
environment act as stimuli; among them are light, temperature,
gravitation, food, and so on. Provided that the environment is normal,
provided, that is to say, that the variations in the stimuli do not
exceed certain limits, an adult member of the species will be formed.
What is implied in the term ‘normal environment’ will be more fully
discussed in Chapter XIV, where the results of subjection to an abnormal
environment will also be studied. That a large number of stimuli varying
within only narrow limits are necessary, will there also be shown to
have been proved.
The process of development, therefore, takes the shape of the growth of
a particular organic form through the play of certain stimuli upon the
germinal constitution. The germinal constitution has, as we have seen,
apparently to be identified with the constitution of the chromosomes of
the fertilized egg, of which half are derived from the father and half
from the mother. It is known that the characters, which the organism
exhibits, in some manner have a basis in the germinal constitution. The
number of these separate characters is very large. What view then are we
to take of the nature of the germinal constitution? In the first place
every character as seen in the organism is the result of the play of
certain stimuli upon something in the germinal constitution. This
something can only be thought of as predispositions to the development
of certain characters under certain stimuli and to the development of
characters differing in degree or in kind from the former characters
under other stimuli. It is altogether misleading to speak of anything
but predispositions as present in the germinal constitution, though, of
course, for the sake of brevity other phraseology may be employed once
this point is understood. When, therefore, we speak of the inheritance
of any character, we mean that there is a predisposition in the germinal
constitutions both of the parent and of the offspring to develop this
character under certain stimuli, which stimuli must play both upon the
parent and upon the offspring if the character is to be manifested in
both of them.
If we have to regard the germinal constitution as somehow containing
very many separate predispositions or, as they are often called,
factors, is it in the second place possible to say in what these factors
consist? No definite answer to this question can as yet be given.
Certain hypotheses have been put forward. Weismann, for instance,
suggested that the factors were to be sought in groups of molecules of
chromatin. It is not necessary, however, to postulate definite and
separate particles as the physical basis of the predispositions. The
protoplasmic molecule is a very complex structure consisting of a very
large number of atoms. Similar atoms may be differently grouped within a
molecule, and different predispositions may well be functions of
different groupings.
3. In order that we may answer the first of the two problems set out at
the beginning of the chapter we must consider in rather more detail in
what the development of an organism consists.[99] Every character is, as
we have seen, the result of the influence of the environment upon what
is innately given. If two individuals were endowed with precisely
similar germinal constitutions, and if precisely similar stimuli played
upon each of them, then the adult forms would be similar in respect of
all their characters. But if the stimuli are not similar, if, for
instance, more food is provided in one case than in another, then,
though the germinal constitutions are similar, one adult may be larger
than the other. Again, let us suppose that the germinal constitutions
differ, that, for instance, there is in one case a predisposition to the
development of greater size than in the other, then, even if the stimuli
are similar, the adult forms will differ. The larger members of each of
these pairs may thus resemble one another very closely in outward
characters; but this close resemblance will not be due to similar
germinal constitutions. It follows that by mere outward inspection no
conclusion can be reached as to the germinal constitution. There are,
therefore, two classes of influences at work, and alterations in either
class of influence will bring about alterations in the resulting
organism; similar characters may be the product of one kind of
predisposition and one kind of stimulus, or of a different
predisposition and a different stimulus. It also follows that we cannot
speak of certain characters as inherited and of others as acquired. Let
us suppose that some departure from the normal structure occurs. It may
be due to a change in the environment, that is to say, to a new stimulus
acting upon an unchanged germinal constitution, or it may be due to a
change in the germinal constitution when no change in the environment
takes place. It should not be said that in the former case the new
departure is acquired and in the latter case that it is inherited. What
has happened is that in the former case a new stimulus acting upon the
old factors has brought forth a new character, and in the latter case
that the old stimulus has brought forth a new character because it has
acted upon a different factor.
Though the popular distinction between characters which are acquired and
characters which are inherited is misleading, there are, nevertheless,
two kinds of variation. A new departure may be due to a change in the
germinal constitution. In this case the new character will reappear in
future generations, provided that the changed germinal constitution
remains and provided that the complex of stimuli which composed the
environment does not change. Such a variation may be called a
‘mutation’. A new departure may also be due to a new stimulus acting
upon an unchanged germinal constitution. In this case the new character
will only reappear in future generations provided that the new stimulus
remains. Such a variation may be called a ‘modification’. Mutations,
therefore, are transmitted in the germinal constitution, while
modifications are not so transmitted.
4. Already we have reached the answer to the first problem. Permanent
change in organic form is due to germinal change. But before we go on
and ask how germinal changes, that have arisen, become established, we
must consider further the difficult problem of the manner in which
germinal changes arise. A reference first to what are known as ‘pure
line’ investigations and afterwards to Mendelian phenomena will
illustrate what is known as to the nature of existing germinal
differences; for until we have some such information, we cannot
profitably ask how existing germinal differences arise. The best known
‘pure line’ experiments are those carried out by Johannsen with beans.
The flowers of beans fertilize themselves; the offspring, therefore,
have approximately the same germinal constitution. The offspring
constitute a ‘pure line’, for by a ‘pure line’ is meant a group of
children which are the offspring of a single parent. The character
selected for investigation was weight and it was found that, if beans
were collected from a bean-field and weighed, every gradation occurred
between a minimum of about 20 centigrams and a maximum of about 90
centigrams. When the beans were separated into three classes—heavy,
medium, and light—sown and plants raised from them, the average weight
of the beans produced by the plants derived from the heavier seed was
greater, though not proportionately greater, than the mean weight of all
the beans, and that the average weight produced by the plants derived
from the lighter seed was less, though not proportionately less, than
the mean weight of all the beans. There was, in fact, a certain
regression on the part of the heavy and light classes to the mean
weight. A similar tendency to regression to the mean can be observed
when other characters are similarly studied. The average stature, for
example, of the offspring of tall parents is slightly nearer the mean
stature of the race than the average stature of the parents.
This tendency to regression to the mean has long been known, but it was
not until Johannsen proceeded farther and investigated inheritance
within a ‘pure line’ that it was understood. In the experiment
described, no attention was paid to the ‘pure line’. When Johannsen
separated the beans produced by the self-fertilization of a single
plant, divided them into heavier, medium, and lighter classes, sowed
them and weighed their progeny, he discovered a very interesting fact.
The average weight of the progeny of a heavy bean and of a light bean
belonging to the same ‘pure line’ was the same. The conclusion to be
drawn from this result is that the differences in weight between the
offspring of a single self-fertilized plant are due to differences in
the stimuli which play upon them. Obviously the stimuli do differ; the
weight is affected by differences in light, shade, number, and position
of the beans in a pod and so on. But since the offspring of a single
plant have approximately the same germinal constitution, the average
weight of the offspring of light beans, which are light because of
subjection to less favourable stimuli than the average, will not be on
that account lighter than the mean weight of the strain, and similarly
_mutatis mutandis_ with regard to the offspring of the heavy beans.
It follows, therefore, with regard to this particular character that
there are a number of different strains in the population. The beans
arising from any one strain are not of the same weight because they have
been subjected to different stimuli. If each strain was pure and if
differences in environmental stimuli could be removed, then beans
gathered from a bean-field would not exhibit a simple gradation in
weight: there would be a number of steps and as many steps as there were
strains. In actual fact, the modifications produce the gradation which
is observed. The fact that the nature of the germinal constitution
cannot, as stated above, be determined by a mere inspection of the
characters is exemplified by this experiment. If we take a bean
weighing, say, 55 centigrams, it may belong to a strain which varies,
say, between 20 and 65 centigrams, or to a strain which varies between
40 and 90 centigrams. It is only when this bean is sown, and the weight
of the offspring calculated, that the strain to which it belongs can be
ascertained. The experiment further shows why regression towards the
mean is observed, when, instead of limiting investigation to a ‘pure
line’, beans differing in a certain respect from the average, by, for
instance, greater weight, are selected and sown. Such beans will belong
to several different strains; they will, however, include more which
have been favourably than unfavourably influenced by the surroundings.
The average of the weight of all their offspring will therefore be less
than the average weight of the parents. At this point we touch upon the
problem of selection, but before we go on to deal with this question, it
is necessary to say something more about variation and the origin of
variations.
5. Self-fertilization is very exceptional, and what happens in the case
of the beans, though illuminating, is not typical. As a general rule in
reproduction, two parents contribute to the germinal constitution of the
offspring. Strains, therefore, do not remain pure, as in the case of the
bean, because they are continually crossed; we require to know what
happens when crossing takes place. This study, first successfully
undertaken by Mendel, has been greatly extended in late years. We may
first illustrate in the simplest form what it was that Mendel discovered
and then go on to inquire what deductions bearing upon the question we
have to answer are to be drawn from it.
A large number of experiments of the following kind has been made. Two
strains in any species are chosen; these strains exhibit opposed
characters. Such characters may be tallness and dwarfness, colour of the
flower, shape of the comb in fowls, condition of the seed, whether
smooth or wrinkled, and so on. We may call one character A and the other
_a_. The two strains are crossed, and in the first generation the
offspring are all alike and exhibit a character, A′. This character may
be the same as either A or _a_, a blend between them or something wholly
new. Whatever form it may take, it is produced by the interaction of A
and _a_. The members of this first generation are then interbred, and of
the second generation one quarter exhibit the character A, one quarter
the character _a_, and the remaining half the character A′. If the
quarter exhibiting the character A are interbred, all the offspring
exhibit the character A, and the same holds good regarding the quarter
exhibiting the character _a_; but if the half exhibiting A′ are
interbred, the offspring will split up in the same proportion as in the
previous generation, one quarter exhibiting A, one quarter _a_, and
one-half A′. This result holds good for any number of generations so
long as interbreeding is continued.
Into the very numerous complications which occur it is not necessary to
go. They are all interpreted by extensions of the simple explanation
which is applied in the elementary case given above. It is supposed that
all characters which behave on crossing as above are represented in the
germinal constitution by factors which behave as separate units; such
characters are called ‘unit-characters’, and such factors
‘unit-factors’. It is further supposed that each gamete bears one
unit-factor only in respect of each unit-character. If the strain is
pure, as in the case of the two strains exhibiting characters A and _a_,
then all the gametes will bear the unit-factors for A and _a_
respectively, and the fertilized eggs resulting from the crosses between
them will therefore contain both unit-factors. The hybrids, which, as we
have seen, exhibit the character A′, will produce gametes, half of which
bear the unit-factor for A and half the unit-factor for _a_. When the
hybrids interbreed, on the average of chances one quarter of the
fertilized eggs will have two factors for A, one quarter two factors for
_a_, and one-half both a factor for A′ and a factor for _a_. In this
manner the splitting up of the second generation is explained.
What is important in this explanation is the conception of unit-factors.
The extension of the explanation to cover the more complicated cases
does not involve any modification of principle. It follows that the
germinal constitution contains a very large number of unit-factors; what
therefore is innately given in the germinal constitution is a collection
of such unit-factors. Each unit-character based upon a unit-factor can
theoretically be separately distinguished and isolated. The
complications to which references have been made are in part due to the
difficulty of distinguishing unit-characters. What is apparently a
simple character may not be a unit-character, but a combination of
unit-characters. This apparently simple character cannot appear unless
all the unit-factors, upon which these unit-characters are based, are
present in the germinal constitution.
It may next be asked whether all unit-factors behave in this manner when
crossed. To this no definite answer can yet be given. The successful
analysis of apparently contradictory cases and the continual discovery
of characters which do behave in this fashion seem to point to an
affirmative answer. The suggestion is that, when this mode of behaviour
cannot be demonstrated, it is because the unit-characters have not yet
been distinguished and isolated.
This brief reference to ‘pure line’ investigations and to the Mendelian
analysis of crossing leads therefore to the following conclusions. When,
as in the case of the self-fertilizing bean, the strains are kept pure,
existing germinal differences in respect of any character are found to
be of the nature of steps which are usually small—though in outward
manifestation the differences are smoothed over by the influence of
environmental stimuli. This is the nature of the germinal differences,
and they remain what they are—apart from the origin of new factors or of
the loss of old factors, and apart from the effects of a differential
death-rate. When, as is usually the case, biparental reproduction takes
place, the position is more complicated: strains are being continually
crossed, and, as the result of the chance mixture of factors in the
germinal constitution of the children, the offspring of the same parents
differ in their germinal constitution one from the other. Therefore, in
any species in which biparental reproduction takes place, new
combinations are constantly arising; but, though in this manner the
germinal constitution may in a sense change, the change is due simply to
a shuffling of factors. What we require now to ask is what is known as
regards the manner in which new factors arise and are added to the
germinal constitution, and the manner in which old factors drop out and
are lost from the germinal constitution; for it is only owing to such
additions and to such losses that true germinal change occurs, and that
shuffling is rendered possible.
6. The interpretation of the results of the crossing of different
strains has shown what kind of changes underlie the appearance of
certain mutations. It has been shown that many of the varieties of
domesticated species have originated by the apparent loss of one or more
unit-factors.[100] Thus the numerous varieties of domestic rabbits and
of sweet-peas are all descended from a single wild species of rabbit and
of pea, and differ from the wild stock not by an addition to, but by an
apparent subtraction from, the total number of factors in the germinal
composition of the wild stock. The reasoning which has led to this
conclusion need not be followed here; one proof is that when certain
varieties are crossed, characters of the original stock reappear, due to
the fact that, one variety having apparently lost one factor and the
other another, crossing results in the re-combination of the factors
necessary to the manifestation of the original character.
This is a strange conclusion, but it seems nevertheless to be true that
in this manner many domestic varieties have arisen. If this was the only
manner in which mutations could come about, then we should be driven to
imagine that the most elementary form of life contained within it
innumerable factors, and that evolution has merely consisted in the
apparent dropping out of factors. This conclusion has indeed been
tentatively suggested. But until it has been definitely shown that this
is the only manner in which mutations originate, it must be supposed
that changes in and additions to the complex of factors can and do
occur. And we may note that certain distinguishing characters of
domestic varieties of fowls and of pigeons appear to have arisen by the
addition of factors; thus the ‘single comb’ of fowls is the original
character of the wild stock which has been modified by the apparent
addition of other factors and not by the dropping out of one or more
existing factors. It is again not necessary to go into the reasons which
have led to this conclusion. The conclusion is a deduction from the
analysis of crosses between different breeds of fowls.
7. For the most part we are quite ignorant as to the causes which have
led to the apparent losses and apparent additions of factors, though a
few observations seem to indicate certain circumstances under which the
dropping out of factors may take place. In this connexion some reference
must be made to the problem as to the inheritance of acquired
characters, though it follows from what has been said above regarding
terminology, that we should more correctly speak of this problem as the
question whether modifications in any one direction tend to be followed
by mutations in the same direction. As the result of prolonged
discussion and controversy it is now generally held that nothing of the
kind takes place. It is almost universally agreed, for instance, that
such modifications as are induced among men at the present day do not
lead to mutations in the same direction. Therefore we may for the
purposes of this book, so far as man is concerned, take it that acquired
characters are not inherited. But looking at the problem as a whole it
cannot be regarded as settled. There is, for example, some evidence of
the parallel induction of modifications and of mutations; but the
question may be raised whether such cases if substantiated fall under
the heading of the inheritance of acquired characters. Again, some
biologists regarding the problems of evolution generally find difficulty
in arriving at an explanation unless under certain circumstances
adaptive variations are followed by mutations.
We are thus left with the fact that mutations arise, and may be either
large or small. Outwardly, variations in characters are usually
continuous, because the environmental stimuli vary continuously, smooth
over and obscure the differences due to mutation, as in the case of the
beans mentioned above. But, discounting the influence of the
environment, the mutations themselves may form a series separated by
steps that are so small as to be scarcely measurable or which may be
very large. The weight of the beans is an example of the former kind of
mutation; the so-called ‘meristic’ variations, when another member is
added to a series, the addition, for instance, of a vertebra to the
vertebral column, is an example of the latter kind.
Whenever a mutation occurs, we have to think of it as founded upon some
change in the germinal constitution. Such changes are of the nature of
modifications of factors—and may be positive (leading to the apparent
addition of factors), negative (leading to the apparent loss of
factors), or qualitative. But of the nature of these changes we know
little, and of their causes less. What is important, however, is that
these changes do occur. Further, they occur in all directions. The
direction is, of course, in a sense determined by the starting-point—by
what is already given in the germinal constitution—but, given the
starting-point, mutations apparently occur in all directions. It is a
matter of importance to know whether mutations ever tend to occur more
in one direction than in another. Nothing definite has been ascertained
as to this particular problem, though, as we shall note later, certain
facts with regard to the evolution of animals suggest that there have
been tendencies to change along certain lines. It may also be asked
whether the continued selection of a character in any way affects the
direction of the variation of the germinal constitution. To this again
there is as yet no definite answer. On the whole it is not probable that
selection has any such effect.
8. So far, therefore, as we have at present gone, we have found that
permanent change is of the nature of germinal change. We have also
discussed the nature of germinal differences as they exist between
different individuals, and we have discussed the nature and causes of
germinal change. With regard to variation there is much which is
doubtful and obscure, but bearing in mind the essential features of what
is certainly known, we may turn to consider what passes in the organic
world. Upon this subject there is much less uncertainty. We have seen
how huge is fecundity. Of the young in any generation, only about that
number survives which equals the number of adults in the generation from
which they are derived. For normally in the organic world the total
number of adults of any species at corresponding periods in succeeding
years remains much the same. The instances of a marked increase in the
number of any species are rare, and are usually traceable to the
intervention of man, as the result of which certain of the dangers which
normally confront the young have been removed. It follows, therefore,
that normally of the many thousands of fertilized eggs of a fish, for
example, all but two perish. Even when the most rapid increase ever
observed is taking place, the great majority of young perish. From a
consideration of the circumstances it is evident that upon the whole
those individuals which present certain characters will have a better
chance of surviving than others which do not present these characters.
This point demands further consideration, because upon it turns the
whole question of natural selection. What is involved in this theory is
that the death-rate is selective, that those individuals which are best
adapted to the surroundings which confront the species do, on the whole,
have a better chance of survival. It is adaptation which determines
fitness, but the concept of adaptation does not of necessity include any
idea of progress. Given any complex of surroundings such as that which
confronts any species, there may be a more or less close fitting of the
organisms to this complex. The closeness of this fitting may have been
obtained by a simplification of structure, a complication of structure,
or it may be that for long ages the closeness of the fitting has been
attained by the elimination of departures from the mean of the species
in any direction and the preservation of the average type.
In this connexion it has often been pointed out that the death-rate in
certain cases is not selective, and does not therefore involve the
survival of the more fit and the elimination of the less fit. When the
whale opens its mouth and engulfs vast numbers of small organisms upon
which it feeds, there is apparently no escaping of certain types of
these organisms accompanied by a greater elimination of other types. But
these cases are not on the whole common, and further there is nothing in
such cases which counteracts selection; it merely means that sometimes
selection is not operative. A consideration of the mode of operation of
the factors of elimination, the general nature of which has been
indicated, leads without any doubt to the conclusion that in the vast
majority of cases, when any organism meets its death, either that
organism does not possess some character which other organisms possess
and which have enabled them to survive, or it possesses some character
which other organisms do not possess, and which at some crucial moment
has told against it. This subject could be considered at great length,
but it must suffice to say here that the more experienced naturalists
are, and the greater the knowledge they have of the conditions of
organic life, the more it is borne in upon them that the death-rate is
upon the whole selective, and that the best adapted types have a better
chance of survival than other types.
From the nature of the case it must be difficult to obtain statistical
evidence of natural selection. There are, however, certain cases known
which are of great interest. Bumpus, for instance, after a storm in
America collected 136 sparrows, all of which had been injured. Of these
72 recovered, while the remainder died. He weighed and measured all the
specimens and compared the figures for the survivors with the figures
for those which had perished. It was found that the average type of the
latter was larger and heavier than the average type of the former. It
was also observed that there was a less wide range of variability among
the survivors than among the dead, showing that the favoured type
approximated more closely than the others to the average type of the
species. This favouring of the average type has been shown to occur by
other observations, and it may be supposed that normally it is the
average type of any species which is best fitted to the particular niche
in nature occupied by the species, and that therefore adaptation will be
measured by the nearness of approach to this type. When, on the other
hand, circumstances are changing, some deviation from the average type
will be favoured.
9. This leads us to ask in more detail what it is that happens in the
process of selection. Selection has been likened in its action to a
sieve separating the fit from the unfit. But fitness is measured by the
characters exhibited, and these characters may be either of the nature
of mutations or of modifications. What is exhibited is selected quite
apart from the underlying nature of the character; but it is only when
variations of the nature of mutations are selected that there results
any change in the composition of the germinal constitution of the
species. So far as selection is merely that of modifications within a
strain, there will be no change in the average germinal constitution of
the progeny. It is only in so far as selection is a selection of strains
that there will be any change. If the strains among the beans referred
to above can be isolated, then the strain with the predisposition
towards the greatest weight can be isolated, the other strains
eliminated, and the average weight brought up to that found in this
strain. If the strains cannot be isolated, then an approximation only to
this result can be made by the continued selection of strains of the
greatest weight, and this is what occurs in nature.
This leads to the most important conclusion of all. Selection can only
act upon what is given. We may put aside the possible but quite unproved
influence of selection upon the direction of mutation. Apart from this,
selection can have no other effect than to eliminate certain strains and
to favour others. Supposing that under changing circumstances a certain
character is favoured, all that can happen through selection is that the
strain exhibiting this character will be favoured and all other strains
gradually eliminated. Further than this change cannot proceed until
mutations have occurred in the direction of further increase in this
character. As has been said, selection is no more than a sieve; as a
rule it is occupied in separating out the extreme types and favouring
the mean, but at times under certain circumstances it will favour some
type that deviates from the mean, but it can do no more than favour what
types are at any given moment in existence.[101]
10. We set out to answer two questions regarding quality. We asked in
what change among species in a state of nature consisted. The answer to
this is clear; it consists in changes in the germinal constitution. If
we can speak of history in connexion with species in a state of nature,
then their history is based solely upon germinal change. We also asked
how change came about. It is less easy to answer in a few words. Obscure
as are many of the details connected with the process, there is a
sufficient measure of agreement regarding the main facts to enable an
answer shortly to be formulated. The answer rests upon two series of
facts. The observed characters of organisms are based upon certain
predispositions in the germinal constitution. These predispositions or
factors under the stimuli of the environment give rise to the various
characters. These factors are derived from both parents through the
fusion of the gametes, and the complex of factors in the offspring is
the result of a chance mixture of factors. There may further at times be
a dropping out, an addition to, and perhaps a modification of the
factors. Secondly, the death-rate is selective. Although the result of
selection is confused by the effect of modifications which smooth over
the differences due to differences in the germinal constitution, the
effect is that individuals with certain factors are favoured and others
with different factors are eliminated. Therefore the average nature of
the factors may be changed should any type, other than that
approximating to the normal type, be favoured.
It is possible in this manner to understand how change has come about.
There are many difficulties, but they are all capable of fairly
satisfactory explanation. None at least is insuperable. There is one
problem which is perhaps somewhat difficult to solve unless a particular
supposition is introduced. This problem is connected with the evolution
of organs along certain lines, as, for instance, the evolution of horns
and teeth in the vertebrates. This class of evidence has chiefly
impressed itself upon palaeontologists, and one of the most
distinguished of them has stated that from this class of evidence he
concludes that ‘there are fundamental predispositions to vary in certain
directions’.[102] This is the supposition which it may be necessary to
introduce, but which does not in any way conflict with what has been
said.
IV
THE POPULATION PROBLEM AMONG MEN
1. It has been shown in the last two chapters in what the population
problem among species in a state of nature consists. With regard to the
quantitative aspect in particular it has been shown that among such
species mental evolution, greatly as the stage reached differs between
the lowest and the highest forms, has not attained a point at which the
essential features of the position have in consequence been affected.
Enough has been said to show that in the case of the most primitive
races of man now living mental evolution has reached a point in
consequence of which the quantitative problem has assumed a totally
different aspect.
With regard to the qualitative problem the question also arises as to
how far mental evolution in man has affected the position. In one very
important respect mental evolution has wholly altered the position of
man as regards this aspect of the problem, as it has regarding the
quantitative aspect. How this has come about may be considered after it
has been observed that mental evolution has also been the cause of other
changes which, while they do not alter the fundamental position of man
as regards the qualitative aspect, yet are of great importance.
As we have seen among species in a state of nature change is founded
upon germinal change. So, too, among men there is germinal change, and
so far as history (using the term in the widest sense to include what is
often rather meaninglessly called ‘pre-history’) is connected with
germinal change, so far it is of essentially the same nature as change
among other species. But both the direction and intensity of germinal
change among men have been greatly influenced by mental evolution.
Certain causes of elimination have been removed wholly or in part,
others have been introduced. The facts are familiar; there is no need to
labour the point. It is also worth noting that, should it be found that
mutation frequently arises owing to alterations in the environment
during the formation of the germ-cells, such a discovery might have
considerable bearing upon the position in man. Owing to human activity
under the guidance of reason, the environment has been profoundly
changed in many directions, and without question in consequence of such
changes the germ-cells of human beings are subject during their
development to far more varied stimuli than are those of other species.
This, however, is only a possibility. Nothing is known with certainty
upon the subject. It may be that the great variety of foods, the
absorption of alcohol and nicotine, the various occupations and customs,
and many other factors, all ultimately traceable to reason, may, some of
them in some way, tend to bring about mutation in man.
It is by making possible the development of tradition that the evolution
of reason has fundamentally changed the nature of the qualitative
problem among men. Into the nature and origin of tradition it will be
necessary to go in another chapter. Here all that is required is an
indication of its main features in order that its connexion with the
problem of change may be understood. In the stage of conceptual thought
reached by man, the formation of free ideas is the outstanding feature.
With the development of conceptual thought went the development of
language. By language ideas can be passed from one man to another and
also from one generation to another. There are other ways in which the
results of reasoning can be handed on, but they need not be considered
at present. What is important is that they can be and are handed on. Let
us consider for a moment the question of skill. Some improvement may be
made in the methods of hunting or of fishing. It may, of course, be
lost, but it may be, and perhaps usually is, transmitted to other men by
the inventor and afterwards to succeeding generations. Tradition is, in
fact, cumulative. Even among the most primitive races now existing there
is a huge mass of tradition. Succeeding generations do not necessarily
start at the beginning again. They start with the experience of the race
behind them, so far as it has been preserved.
Among the higher animals there is a certain handing on of what has been
learnt by experience; to this extent there is tradition also among them.
We shall return to this point later. So relatively unimportant, however,
is tradition among other animals, that we may for the moment regard
tradition as something which is found among men only. It is clear that
tradition has played some part in any case in producing the changes
which we call history. We have only to think of the rise of Japan to the
position of a great power in the last half of the nineteenth century.
The rise of Japan was an outstanding fact in the history of that period
and it was clearly in the main, if not wholly, a traditional and not a
germinal change. It took the form of a rapid absorption of European
tradition. The evolution of reason has thus introduced into the problem
of the causes of human history a factor which is not present in the case
of other species; it has also modified the course of selection, but
this, as we have seen, has not made a fundamental difference between the
position of man and that of species in a state of nature.
The problem before us is therefore as follows. Owing to the fact of
reproduction the population problem in both its aspects exists for all
species in a state of nature and further presents fundamentally the same
features for all such species. The ancestors of man were at one time
subject to the same conditions from which they have, step by step, moved
away owing to the development of the faculty of reason. We have to trace
the causes and results of this moving away—of the progressive
modifications of the conditions existing among species in a state of
nature.
Though the problem has two aspects, they are closely interwoven. Changes
which affect numbers also influence the quality of population. The
discussion has hitherto taken the form of an introduction to the problem
as a whole, and the two next chapters, the subject-matter of which will
be indicated in what follows, will also be devoted to certain problems
which equally bear upon both aspects of the question. From the seventh
chapter onwards the two aspects are treated independently; we deal first
with the quantitative and then with the qualitative aspect. Nevertheless
we shall, when dealing with the quantitative problem, present evidence
which we shall consider again later when treating of the qualitative
problem. The book thus falls into three parts; the first six chapters
are introductory to the problem as a whole, the next six chapters are
concerned with problems of quantity (though many of the facts brought
forward will be found also to bear later upon quality), and the
following nine chapters with problems of quality. The last chapter sums
up our conclusions as to the whole problem.
2. We may next ask what data are required in order that we may look into
the changes away from the conditions under which the pre-human ancestor
lived towards the conditions which now exist. In order that we may
consider the quantitative aspect of the problem, it is evident that we
require some knowledge regarding fecundity and as full details as
possible regarding the factors which bear upon fertility and
elimination. It is only when we are provided with such information that
we can hope to be able to determine how it is that numbers are regulated
among men.
In addition to such information, it will be desirable to have
information regarding various social customs and the general conditions
of life. As regards the inquiry into the qualitative part of the
problem, it is clear that facts regarding fertility and elimination are
again of value inasmuch as they throw light upon the nature and
intensity of selection. For the second part of the problem it is also
necessary to have in mind the main facts regarding the changes which are
summed up as history into the causes of which we have to inquire; and in
addition it will be necessary, in order that we may attempt some
estimate of the relative importance of change in the germinal
constitution on the one hand and of the other factor or factors of the
nature indicated above on the other hand, to make some inquiry into the
conditions which determine the nature of these latter factors. This will
involve a reference to certain elementary facts of psychology together
with some discussion of the origin, formation, preservation, and so on,
of tradition.
If we first ask how far the data desired are available, we may
afterwards go on to discuss how the facts are best presented. Our
information is obviously very incomplete as regards the history of
social habits and customs. Historical records do not take us farther
back than at the most six thousand years, and the information available
with respect to social customs, except for the latter part of the
period, is very inadequate. If we take a broad view of history, written
records have reference only to relatively modern times. There are two
other sources of evidence upon which we have to rely and they are as
follows.
Some indication of the bare outline of the course which history has
taken can be gathered from a study of the fossil and cultural remains of
man. The fossil remains are in the form of skeletons or portions of
skeletons and the cultural remains in the shape of tools, weapons, and
other traces of his mode of life that man has left behind him. It is
interesting to observe that an attempt can be made to date these
remains. They occur in certain strata, and estimates can be made of the
length of time which has elapsed since these strata were deposited.
Though a very large measure of doubt must surround any such estimates,
nevertheless there is a certain measure of agreement concerning the
facts which is of great interest. It is, therefore, possible to draw up
a table showing these strata, together with what we should perhaps call
guesses at the dates at which they began to be laid down. It can also be
shown in the table what fossil and cultural remains are found in the
respective strata.
The information, however, which we thus gain is very meagre. A study of
fossil remains can only provide us with an outline of the facts
connected with the evolution of the skeleton. More can be gathered from
a study of the cultural remains, and certain deductions of considerable
interest can be made especially in connexion with our present purpose so
far as the evolution of skill is concerned. But, of course, we can in
this manner gather nothing as to the nature of the social customs and
institutions belonging to the races which practised these skilled
methods. The question we have to face is whether this very bare outline
of the facts of history can in any manner be filled in.
3. There is a further source of evidence which we have to consider.
There has come under the observation of civilized man a large number of
races in a low stage of culture. The evolution of culture or of control
over the surroundings took place more quickly among certain races than
among others. Some races got left out of the main stream of evolution,
and finally in relatively recent years the more advanced races arrived
at a stage where they were in a position completely to dominate the
latter. The more primitive races were unable to offer any serious
resistance to the civilized races. It was, therefore, possible to regard
these primitive races dispassionately and scientifically; this study has
led to the collection of a vast amount of information regarding these
primitive races. These data are for many reasons often of a very
unsatisfactory nature; of this the chief cause is that, before an
accurate study was begun, contact with civilized races had often had a
considerable influence upon the former mode of life of the primitive
races. What we require and what is difficult to obtain is information as
to the conditions under which these races lived before they came into
contact with Europeans. With regard to the unsatisfactory nature of the
evidence there will be more to say later.
It is of primary importance to observe that these races are not to be
regarded as actual representatives of certain stages through which
civilized races have passed. We know that in the evolution of control
over nature civilized races have passed through certain stages of
culture; the first stage was marked by the use of unpolished stone
implements and the obtaining of food by hunting and fishing only; the
second stage was marked by the use of polished stone implements and the
obtaining of food by agriculture and the domestication of animals.[103]
These two broad divisions—the Palaeolithic and the Neolithic—may be
subdivided. But no primitive race can be regarded as representing any
definite stage in exact detail, whether in the first or in the second of
the two broad divisions through which civilized races have passed. While
the culture of the ancestors of civilized man was evolving from that of
the Palaeolithic stage to that of the present day, the culture of
certain other races did not progress as far even as the Neolithic stage.
But the culture of these races did not remain unmodified; it followed in
each case a line of evolution of its own. These races are therefore to
be regarded as specialized representatives of the earlier stages of
culture through which the civilized races passed. Nevertheless,
specialized though their culture may be, the general conditions of their
existence are certainly similar to the general conditions which must
have characterized the corresponding stage in the evolution of the
culture of civilized races. That is to say, the broad features which
characterize the conditions found among hunting and fishing races must
also have characterized the conditions under which our Palaeolithic
ancestors lived.
There is here obviously suggested a method whereby the framework of
history arrived at by the evidence of fossil and cultural remains may be
filled in. The broad conclusions drawn from a study of hunting and
fishing races may be applied to Palaeolithic races. But this method must
be used with great caution; it has undoubtedly been pressed too far. It
is possible to divide hunting and fishing races into groups and to
compare these groups with stages in the evolution of Palaeolithic
culture. How far it is in any way valid to attribute in this fashion
particular social institutions which characterize lower, middle, and
upper hunting races to lower, middle, and upper Palaeolithic races
respectively is very doubtful. It is not proposed here to attempt to
carry the method as far as this. For one thing, so far as the subject
has been worked out, there is no clear correlation between different
factors affecting fertility and elimination on the one hand and stages
in culture among hunting races on the other hand. Thus, as it happens,
any attempt to carry this method into more detail is not productive of
results, and therefore it is not worth while to inquire whether results
would be valid or not. All that it is proposed to do here is to examine
the evidence regarding the prevalence of certain customs, habits, and so
on, among hunting races, and to apply the broad conclusions founded on
this evidence to the ancestors of civilized races who supported
themselves by hunting. In this manner only is it at all possible to fill
in the framework of history provided by the remains of culture and by
fossils, and thus to arrive at any conclusions regarding the course of
the movement away from the conditions found in the pre-human ancestor to
those found among civilized races.
4. With regard to the question as to the way in which this evidence may
be most conveniently set out, it is proposed to proceed in the following
manner. Before we come to the evidence regarding fertility and
elimination, something has to be said regarding fecundity in man, and
that will be the subject of the fifth chapter. In the following chapter
the evidence regarding fossil and cultural remains will be very briefly
discussed, just so far as, in the first place, provides the necessary
historical facts to form a basis for the discussion of the qualitative
problem and as, in the second place, provides the framework into which
we can fit the conclusions which we shall draw from a study of primitive
races. In the seventh chapter the evidence drawn from a study of hunting
races will be reviewed in so far as it throws light upon fertility and
elimination. In the eighth chapter the evidence bearing upon these
problems, so far as the agricultural races are concerned, will be
similarly set out. In the ninth chapter the evidence will be discussed
in its bearing upon the quantitative problem among these races—all
reference to the qualitative problem being left for later chapters. In
the tenth chapter the evidence for the historical races will be
similarly reviewed, and in the eleventh chapter similarly discussed. The
twelfth chapter will be devoted to a discussion of certain problems
connected with the quantitative problem at the present day. The twelfth
chapter therefore will complete the treatment of the first or
quantitative aspect of the problem, and in the remaining chapters will
be discussed the second or qualitative problem. Already there will have
been presented a large part of the evidence necessary for the discussion
of the second problem—namely, the evidence connected with the outline of
the facts of history and that connected with fertility and elimination.
What other evidence is necessary can be given as and when required.
V
HUMAN FECUNDITY
1. As a preliminary to the separate inquiries into the two aspects of
the problem, it is necessary briefly to consider the question of human
fecundity.
We may ask, in the first place, whether, taking a broad view of human
history, there is any reason to believe that human fecundity has changed
since the epoch of the pre-human ancestor, and, if so, whether it has
increased or diminished. Secondly, there are a number of habits and
customs which have been practised in different degrees at different
times, such as prolonged lactation, polygamy, and so on, and we may also
ask what bearing, if any, such habits and customs have upon fecundity.
There is much connected with the subject which is difficult and obscure.
It is, in particular, often difficult to ascertain whether any
differences in fecundity, as may be found to exist, are of the nature of
racial or of environmental differences. Into such points, however, we
need not go. We are concerned only with the question as to whether there
are differences in fecundity, and we may confine our attention to a
notice of any broad differences which do exist and to the question
whether certain habits and customs widely practised at one time or
another and supposed to bear upon fecundity do or do not have the
influence attributed to them. We may begin with the first question set
out above. In order to obtain an answer to this question we have to rely
upon evidence derived from various sources, partly from primitive races,
which we assume in general to exhibit conditions prevalent among
prehistoric races, and partly from evidence derived from a study of the
mammalian species which have been subject to changes comparable with
those to which man has in the course of his history been subject.
2. From what has been said regarding the nature of reproduction in
Chapter II, it follows that it is the female rather than the male that
we have to consider. The male gametes vastly outnumber the female, and,
generally speaking, the male is always ready for intercourse. When
studying the possibility of increasing the fecundity of domestic
species, attention can, as pointed out by Marshall in the case of
sheep,[104] be limited to the female. Taking a broad view of the matter,
it is clear that there has been no change in fecundity due to any change
in male reproductive power.
There are, nevertheless, two points concerning the male which we may
notice before we pass to the consideration of the female. First, with
regard to the problem as to changes in fecundity during the course of
history, we shall bring forward evidence to show that good conditions
favour an increase in the reproductive power of the mammalian female.
There is reason to think that good conditions have a similar effect on
males. Thus among some mammalian species in a state of nature there is a
special ‘rutting season’ for the male, and it is not infrequently found
that in captivity the males of such species will rut all the year
round.[105] We shall also bring forward evidence to show that with
improvements in conditions, sexual excitement is more easily aroused and
that there has been an increase in the development of the generative
organs, and we may note here that these observations apply to the male
as well as to the female. As, however, any increase in male reproductive
capacity can have had no general influence upon fecundity, we may, so
far as the question of any general increase or decrease in fecundity is
concerned, neglect the male and confine our attention to the female.
Secondly, with respect to the influence of certain factors at particular
times, it is in nearly all cases the female and not the male which is
affected. But it may be observed that sterile marriages are in part due
to male sterility. Mayer estimates that this is so in a third of such
marriages.[106] Kelly gives the result of an investigation into 110
cases, of which 59 per cent. are attributed to the male.[107] Male
sterility is due either to inborn or acquired conditions. So far as
sterility due to the former is concerned, there do not appear to be any
grounds for thinking that it has to any important extent varied from one
epoch to another. So far, however, as sterility due to disease is
concerned, there have been in all probability certain changes.
Gonorrhoea is perhaps the most important of those diseases which bring
about sterility. Of the 59 cases mentioned above 12 per cent. were due
to gonorrhoea. Other diseases may cause sterility, such as tubercle and
epididymitis. Relatively to the historical period as usually defined,
gonorrhoea is an old disease; but we shall find reason for thinking that
the great majority of diseases have evolved since the time of the
pre-human ancestor, and to the extent to which this is true it must be
allowed that male sterility due to disease is more or less recent. With
these remarks we may leave the question of male sterility, as it is
relatively of little importance.
3. It is therefore to factors which influence the female generative
process that we must look for the causes of such increase or decrease of
fecundity as are of importance. Certain factors may be put aside on the
grounds that there is no reason to think that they have been of more
importance at one time than at another. Such are malformations of any
kind that prevent the meeting of the male and female gametes.[108] With
regard to the factors of importance it is by their influence upon
different aspects of the female generative process that they are best
classified. There are three main aspects of this process, variations in
any of which will influence fecundity. These are the length of the
mature period, the interval between births, and the number at a birth.
Some reference to the nature of the female sexual cycle in mammals has
been made. The beginning of maturity is usually measured by observing
the beginning of menstruation. It is, perhaps, worthy of mention that
the beginning of menstruation does not always coincide with the
beginning of ovulation. Thus the estimation of the duration of the
mature period made by watching for the beginning and end of menstruation
is not always exact; the difference is not of consequence here, but the
fact that a difference is possible emphasizes that what is essential in
the whole process is ovulation. The true mature period is the period
during which ovulation occurs. The interval between births is also
dependent upon ovulation and so is number at a birth.[109] In fact what
we are asking is in the main what factors influence ovulation.
4. The information regarding the duration of the mature period is not
satisfactory. Though there is a large amount of information about the
beginning of menstruation, there is little information about the age at
which it ends. There are at least three factors which influence the age
at which menstruation begins—climate, race, and general nature of the
surrounding conditions.
Generally speaking, the hotter the climate the earlier menstruation
begins. Englemann gives the following figures:[110]
_Zone._ _Average Age for Menstruation._
Tropics 12·9 years
Temperate 15·5 „
Cold 16·5 „
and Krieger gives the following figures:[111]
_Place._ _Average Age for Menstruation._
Christiania 16 years 9 months 25 days
Berlin 15 „ 7 „ 25 „
London 15 „ 1 „ 14 „
Lyons 14 „ 5 „ 29 „
Marseilles 13 „ 11 „ 11 „
Calcutta 12 „ 6 „ 0 „
Sierra Leone 10 „ 0 „ 0 „
It further appears that there is a tendency for menstruation to end
earlier in hot climates; so much so that upon the whole the mature
period is shorter in hot than in cold climates.
There is, however, no very close or definite connexion between climate
and menstruation. In the United States it has not been found possible to
detect any influence of climate upon menstruation, though this country
stretches from 29° to 45° of latitude, and has a temperature the annual
average of which varies from 40° F. to 70° F. But if the conditions
concerning the different racial elements in the population of the
country are examined, it is found that in whatever part of the country
they may be the average age for each racial element remains constant,
and usually varies slightly from the average age for the whole
population.[112] There are other indications that the age at which
menstruation begins are connected with differences in race. Krieger
quotes the following from Joachim for girls in Hungary:[113]
_Race._ _Average Age of Menstruation._
Slavonic 16 to 17 years
Magyar 15 „ 16 „
Jewish 14 „ 15 „
Styrian 13 „ 14 „
Other figures show that Jewesses menstruate earlier than the average age
for menstruation in the country in which they live.[114]
What is of chief interest to us is that good conditions also influence
the age at which menstruation begins. The better the conditions, the
earlier does it begin. Further, it is also known that the mature period
tends to be prolonged where conditions are good. It is known, for
example, that the mature period comes to an end earlier among the
labouring than among the richer classes.[115] Therefore good conditions
tend to be connected not only with an earlier beginning but also with a
longer duration of the mature period. Thus Mayer found the average age
at which menstruation began among 3,000 women of the upper classes to be
14·69 years, and among 3,000 poor women to be 16·0 years.[116] Several
observers have recorded the average age for the beginning of
menstruation among the different classes in the population. The
following table is given by Krieger:[117]
_Brienne de _Tilt._ _Krieger._ _Ravn._
Boisment._
_Yrs._ _Mths._ _Yrs._ _Mths._ _Yrs._ _Mths._ _Yrs._ _Mths._
Upper Class 13 8 13 5½ 14 1⅙ 14 3
Middle Class 14 5 14 3½ 15 4–2/6 15 5½
Lower Class 14 1 16 8⅙ 16 5¼
5. With regard to the question as to the interval between births some
interesting indirect evidence is obtained from what we can learn
regarding the former condition of the sexual cycle in man. A sketch was
given in the second chapter of the main features of the mammalian sexual
cycle. These cycles may follow one another without any prolonged
interval, or there may be a lengthy period of rest. In monkeys and also
in man the interval is short; but the former cannot breed at every heat
period; special sexual seasons are experienced at definite times of the
year when breeding takes place. It is probable that ovulation is limited
to this special season, and that, although copulation may take place at
other seasons of the year, conception can only follow copulation at this
special season.[118] In civilized man, so far as is known, ovulation is
never confined to any particular season of the year; conception can,
therefore, follow copulation at any period. But we do find evidence of
the former existence in man of a special sexual season, and this is of
particular interest because it suggests that at one time there was in
man, as there usually is in monkeys, one season only during which
conception could follow copulation.
This evidence has been reviewed by Westermarck, by Ploss and Bartels,
and by Havelock Ellis.[119] Some examples of this evidence may be cited
in order to show upon what facts this suggestion is founded. According
to Mr. Johnston, the Indians of California “have their rutting season as
regularly as have the deer, the elk, the antelope, or any other
animals”. And Mr. Powers confirms the correctness of this statement, at
least with regard to some of these Indians, saying that spring ‘is a
literal St. Valentine’s day with them, as with the natural birds and
beasts of the forest’. As regards the Goddanes in Luzon, Mr. Foreman
tells us that ‘it is the custom of young men about to marry to vie with
each other in presenting to the sires of their future brides all the
scalps that they are able to take from their enemies, as proof of their
manliness and courage. This practice prevails at a season of the year
when the tree—popularly called by the Spaniards “the fire tree”—is in
bloom.’ Speaking of the Watch-an-dies in the western part of Australia,
Mr. Oldfield remarks, ‘Like the beasts of the field, the savage has but
one time for copulation in the year. About the middle of the spring the
Watch-an-dies begin to think of holding their grand semi-religious
festival of Caa-ro, preparatory to the performance of the important duty
of procreation. A similar feast was, according to Mr. Bonwick,
celebrated by the Tasmanians at the same time of the year.’[120] Similar
evidence is forthcoming as regards many other primitive races. It is
interesting to note that among civilized races there are traces of
customs which point to the former existence of a season of sexual
licence. Such were the mediaeval Feast of Fools, and the classical
festivals of Brumalia and Rosalia.[121] ‘Feasts, similar to the erotic
feasts which were indulged in by the ancients ... were still practised
to some extent in Russia and in some parts of India at a much later
date, while such customs as “gwneyd Bragod” and possibly our own “bean
feasts” may not improbably be the modern representatives of these
ancient customs in our own country.’[122]
This evidence all points to a former condition when conceptions could
only take place at one season of the year. We must suppose that it has
gradually become possible for copulation to be followed by conception at
any period, and that therefore fecundity has increased.[123] Some light
is thrown upon the causes that underlie these changes by a reference to
certain facts regarding other species. Before we turn to this question
reference may be made to the phenomenon of ‘mittelschmerz’—or
intermenstrual pain. It is not uncommon and is sometimes accompanied by
a discharge. The interpretation of this phenomenon is doubtful. One
explanation, however, has some interest for us. It is suggested that it
may represent the first steps in the establishment of a different
variety of sexual cycle in which the dioestrous periods occur
fortnightly instead of monthly. If this interpretation is correct, it
would mean that the sexual cycle is evolving in the direction of still
greater fecundity.[124]
6. It has frequently been observed that when members of a wild species
are brought into captivity there is a change in the sexual season. This
change may be in the direction of an increase or of a decrease in the
generative power. If the bringing into captivity involves such an
alteration of conditions as to disorganize the generative process, then
a decrease in fecundity may result. It frequently happens, for instance,
that carnivores are infertile in captivity, and this may be due among
other things to the absence of fresh meat.[125] Generally speaking,
however, if the alterations do not produce disorganization, an increase
in fecundity results, and as there is no reason to suppose that the
change in human circumstances was ever of such a nature as to produce
disorganization, we must suppose, on the analogy of what happens among
other mammalian species, that, if the betterment of the conditions has
had any effect, it has been in the direction of an increase in
fecundity.
A few examples of what is meant may be given. The wild dog of South
America, the wolf, and the fox breed only once a year under natural
conditions; in captivity they experience two annual heats like the
dog.[126] The otter in the wild state breeds but once a year; in
captivity oestrous may occur at regular monthly intervals all the year
round.[127] Bears are monoestrous in the wild state; in the Zoological
Gardens oestrous may be experienced for two or three months.[128] With
regard to the Ungulata we have numerous facts of the same nature. The
red deer offers the best example; under natural conditions there are two
dioestrous cycles lasting three weeks; in captivity the sexual season
extends over the whole year.[129] The facts are somewhat similar in
respect to cattle and horses. Examples might also be taken from other
mammalian classes. The wild rabbit breeds from February to May; in
captivity the sexual season lasts nearly the whole year. Further it may
be noticed that among lower groups good conditions are, as is well
known, markedly favourable to increased fecundity.
Before we go on to look into the causes of this increase in fecundity,
it may be noticed that the number of young produced at a birth among
domestic species is on an average greater than that produced by the wild
ancestor. This evidence, it will be observed, refers to the third factor
which bears upon the increase in fecundity. The wild rabbit is said to
produce at the most six young at a time; the tame rabbit has four to
eleven, and a case is known in which eighteen were born, all of which
survived.[130] The wild sow bears from four to eight, and sometimes
twelve, young. The domestic sow is considered to be of no value unless
she produces at least eight at a birth. Equally remarkable examples are
to be found outside the Mammals. ‘The hen of Gallus bankiva lays from
six to ten eggs; the tame one in the course of a year from eighty to one
hundred.’
7. It is clear that one common feature in the conditions surrounding
domesticated species and civilized man, as compared with species in a
state of nature, is the increase in the richness and regularity of the
food-supply, and the general betterment of the environment. In fact,
just as this increase in the richness of the surroundings may increase
the length of the mature period, so it may increase the number at a
birth and also decrease the interval between births. That this is the
result of an improved environment in the case of the sheep has been
shown by Marshall. He found, for instance, that in ‘Scotch Blackfoot,
Cheviot, and other Scottish sheep the normal percentage of ova
discharged at any single oestrous is not appreciably in excess of the
usual percentage of births at the lambing season’.[131] This, it may be
noted, is an example of what was said in the second chapter regarding,
in the first place, the measurement of fecundity by the number of ripe
ova produced, and, in the second place, regarding the fertilization on
the average of all, or nearly all, ripe ova. Marshall also found that
‘there was every reason for supposing that the processes of growth and
maturation can be very largely influenced both by insufficiency of
food-supply on the one hand and by artificial stimulation on the
other’.[132] What apparently happens is that insufficiency of food
retards the development of the ova and may cause the degeneration of
some of them. Therefore if the food-supply is good, there will be more
ripe ova at the sexual season, fewer sterile females, and a greater
number of twin births. ‘There is overwhelming evidence,’ says Heape,
‘that flocks in good condition at tupping time have a higher subsequent
development of fertility than flocks in poor condition at tupping
time.’[133] By ‘good’ condition is meant not a ‘fat’ but a strong,
healthy, and vigorous animal.
It may be asked whether there is any evidence as to the increase in
numbers at a birth in the human female. Among civilized races about one
birth in eighty to ninety is on the average a twin birth. Our knowledge
of primitive races is not sufficiently precise to enable any estimate to
be made regarding the frequency of twin births among them. There are,
however, very numerous references in the accounts of these races to the
superstitions attaching to twin births. The nature of these
superstitions, and in general the mystery felt to surround twin births,
very strongly suggests that the phenomenon is rare. It can only be said
that it is probable that twin births are rarer among primitive races
than among civilized races.
So far, therefore, as we have gone, the evidence points to the
conclusion that two of the three factors which determine fecundity have
varied in the direction of increasing fecundity, and that possibly the
third factor may have varied in the same direction. It has also been
noted that similar changes have been observed to take place in animals
which have been subject to better conditions. The fact that human
conditions have certainly been bettered suggests that the same cause may
have been at work in the case of man. There is, however, no doubt that
changes in the case of man are not wholly explicable in this way. In
part the differences are racial differences, and to the degree in which
the differences are racial they cannot be attributed to the direct
effect of the surroundings.
8. Additional support to the view that fecundity has increased with
civilization is given by certain other types of evidence. In the first
place it appears to be a fact that the reproductive organs of the more
primitive races of mankind are smaller and in all respects less well
developed than those of civilized races.[134] It is not meant that the
organs differ qualitatively in any way; they are merely smaller
relatively to the other organs than among civilized races. It is
doubtful how we should interpret these facts; but it does not seem
unreasonable to assume a connexion between a lesser development of the
reproductive organs and a lower degree of fecundity.
Secondly, we have a considerable body of evidence with respect to the
strength of sexual desire among these races.[135] Many observers have
recorded their opinion that the members of these more primitive races do
not experience sexual excitement to the same degree as do the members of
the more civilized races. There are other observations which record the
difficulty experienced in obtaining sexual erethism. It seems reasonable
to associate these observations with a lower degree of fecundity than
that found among civilized races.
In this connexion the fact that lack of sexual excitement renders
fertilization less likely is relevant. As fertilization has been
achieved with the female in a condition of narcosis,[136] it is clear
that sexual excitement is not necessary. Nevertheless, if the question
of sexual excitement has any bearing at all upon the degree of fecundity
as between higher and lower races, it must be in the direction of
rendering the lower races less fertile.
It was observed in the second chapter that the willingness of the female
to receive the male at any time in the sexual cycle is a peculiarity of
man. It may be observed in passing that evidence has lately been brought
forward suggesting that the indifference of the female to the point in
the sexual cycle at which intercourse takes place has been exaggerated,
or rather that the existence of periods of desire has been somewhat
overlooked.[137] However this may be, what concerns us here is the
peculiar fact that the male is received by the female at any time in the
sexual cycle. It is possible that copulation at one time in the sexual
cycle is more likely to result in conception than at other times, though
the facts are obscure. But whether this is so or not is scarcely
relevant to our purpose, because there is no reason to think that there
have been any variations in the practice of copulation between one time
and another or between one race and another, as could have sensibly
affected fecundity even if the limitation of copulation to one period of
the sexual cycle is of marked importance.
9. Lastly, we have to refer to what we may call the statistical
evidence. The interpretation of the evidence as to number of children
among primitive races is so difficult a matter that it cannot in itself
be held to throw much light upon the question of fecundity. The trend of
the evidence, however, certainly supports the conclusion that fecundity
is less among primitive races than among civilized races. There are a
vast number of observations recorded by travellers regarding the number
of children among these races. For the most part these observations have
reference only to the number of children seen alive, and therefore are
not even a measure of the fertility—far less a measure of the fecundity.
Practically all such observations emphasize the small size of the
families. When dealing with hunting and agricultural races in another
connexion we shall have reason to refer in some detail to this evidence.
Here we may give a few typical examples of this evidence, remembering
that it is evidence for the most part of the number of children seen and
not of the number of children born, though, in selecting the following
examples for quotation, an effort has been made to pick out those in
which the authors have attempted to discount the effects of infanticide
and other factors of elimination.
Of the Australians Curr remarks: ‘I am of opinion that the Australian
females bear on an average six children, or did before the advent of the
whites and whilst living in their natural state.’[138] Spencer and
Gillen state that sterility is common among the Australians[139] and
that the number of children rarely exceeds four or five and is generally
two or three.[140] Of the Eskimos we read: ‘the women are not prolific.
Although all the adults are or have been married, many of them are
childless, and few have more than two children. One woman was known to
have had at least four. Dr. Simpson heard of a “rare case” where one
woman had borne seven children.’[141] ‘On the average the pure breed
Greenlanders are not prolific. Two, three, or four children to each
marriage is the general rule, though there are instances of families of
six or eight or even more.’[142] Of the American Indians there is a
large amount of evidence. Dr. Holder, who combined medical knowledge
with exceptional opportunities for observation, says: ‘With Indians
large families are the exception. The Crow tribe, of less than 2,500
people, is divided into 630 families, which gives less than four to each
family, and this includes parents and often grandparents and relatives
by affinity or adoption, leaving the average offspring, to each
child-bearing woman decidedly lower than in white communities.’[143]
Speaking of the Indians of Vancouver Island, Sproat says: ‘As a rule
they have few children.’[144] Bancroft reports of the Nootka tribe:
‘Women rarely have more than two or three children.’[145] Of the
Chinooks: ‘Barrenness is common, the birth of twins rare, and families
do not usually exceed two children.’[146] Catlin says: ‘It is a very
rare occurrence for an Indian woman to be “blessed” with more than four
or five children during her life; generally they are contented with two
or three.’[147]
It is merely suggested here that evidence of this kind, which will be
much amplified in the following chapters, may have to be interpreted as
pointing to a lower degree of fecundity among these lower races than
among the civilized races. The trend of the evidence is at least
suggestive when it is remembered that according to the estimate made by
Matthews Duncan a normal woman among civilized races living in wedlock
throughout the mature period under favourable circumstances should bear
from ten to twelve children.[148]
If the view suggested is correct, we should expect to find in such
countries as India and China a higher fecundity than among primitive
races, but a lower fecundity than among European races. There is some
indication that this is so. At first sight it might seem that the
well-known fertility of these races indicated a higher fecundity than in
Europe. When, however, in the case of India, not the crude fertility,
but the fertility corrected for the number of married women of
reproductive age is calculated, it is found to be lower than in Europe.
The figures per 1,000 are 160 in India and 196 in England.[149] It has,
of course, to be remembered that there are in both countries certain
factors bearing upon fertility—early marriage in India and restraint
from intercourse and contraceptive methods in England. But it can hardly
be supposed that the former is more effective than the latter in
decreasing fecundity, and it is probable that we have here an indication
of lower fecundity in India.
10. All the evidence, therefore, points to the same conclusion. If there
has been any general change in the strength of human fecundity in the
course of human history, using that phrase in the widest sense, it has
been in the direction of an increase. It is not necessary for our
present purpose to attempt to be more precise. This view is, as we shall
show below, that of the best authorities. It may be noticed that
different opinions are frequently expressed by authors who are not
professional biologists.[150] Such opinions are in most cases so vaguely
worded that it is seldom clear what precisely is meant. In many cases it
is fairly evident that it is intended to imply that there is some
connexion between growth of civilization and decrease in fecundity. So
far as this is what is meant, there is no evidence for this view. (There
is no indication whatever that increasing intellectual activity is
accompanied by decreasing fecundity. On the other hand, inasmuch as
intellectual activity is connected with an amelioration in the
conditions, to that degree there is a connexion between it and an
increase in fecundity.) Such views clearly owe their origin to the
attention paid to the decline in the birth-rate. It is not always
realized that a declining birth-rate may be due to a decline in
fertility alone, wholly unconnected with a decline in fecundity.
That fecundity has increased was the opinion of Darwin. ‘There is reason
to suspect’, he says, ‘that the reproductive power is actually less in
barbarous than in civilized races.... It is highly probable that
savages, who often suffer much hardship and do not obtain so much
nutritious food as civilized men, would be actually less prolific.’[151]
According to Heape, ‘it would seem highly probable that the reproductive
power of man has increased with civilization, precisely as it may be
increased in the lower animals by domestication; that the effect of a
regular supply of good food, together with all the other stimulating
factors available and exercised in modern civilized communities, has
resulted in such great activity of the generative organs, and so great
an increase in the supply of the reproductive elements, that conception
in the healthy human female may be said to be possible almost at any
time during the reproductive period.’[152]
It is interesting to note that no differences in fecundity can be
observed as between modern civilized races.[153] The conclusion we have
reached is merely that there has been, broadly speaking, an increase in
fecundity, and that in large measure this is explicable as a result of
the betterment of conditions, and there is nothing to lead us to expect
that there would on this account be any difference between modern
European races.
11. We may now pass to a brief consideration of certain habits, customs,
and other factors which, operative from time to time, have, or are
widely supposed to have, an influence upon fecundity, and in some cases
upon fertility; for though fertility is not, properly speaking,
considered in this chapter, it is convenient to deal with certain
matters here.
To polygamy has often been attributed a decrease in the number of
children born to a woman. Whether it is supposed that the practice of
polygamy in some way decreases fecundity or has an influence upon
fertility is not clear. In any case there is no evidence that it has any
influence either upon fecundity or upon fertility. There is no reason to
think that polygamy is attended by any structural or physiological
changes such as would influence fecundity, and the statistical evidence
does not show any difference in the average number of children born,
whether monogamy or polygamy is practised. Theal investigated this
question as far as marriages among Bantu women are concerned. He
collected a number of returns and sums up the returns as follows.
‘Altogether these returns embraced 393, the wives or widows of
monogamists, mostly professing Christians, and 591 women, the wives or
widows of polygamists. In a few instances it was noted that the women
might not have passed the age of child-bearing. The 393 women, wives of
monogamists, had borne 2,223 children, that is on an average 5·65
children to a woman. The 591 women, wives of polygamists, had borne
3,298 children, that is on an average 5·58 children to each woman. Thus
monogamy made hardly any appreciable difference in the birth-rate.’[154]
The question of the influence of lactation on fecundity is of
considerable importance, but unfortunately no very definite conclusions
can be drawn from the facts known. There is a considerable amount of
evidence to the effect that the continuance of lactation to some extent
inhibits heat in animals and menstruation in women. Though the effect of
continued lactation is doubtless in this direction, it cannot be said to
be of any very definite strength. It is stated that mares giving suck
are liable to miss a season.[155] ‘There can be no doubt that in the
case of sows early weaning is conducive to a more frequent recurrence of
oestrous and an increased number of litters.’[156] ‘The return of
menstruation during lactation in women has been dealt with recently by
Heil and Dingwall Fordyce. Heil, who has studied the conditions of 200
nursing mothers, expresses the belief that the recurrence of
menstruation and not the condition of amenorrhoea is the normal state
during lactation, but that menstruation is not so frequent in the later
lactations as in the earlier ones. Fordyce has reached similar
conclusions, finding that menstruation occurred during lactation in 40
per cent. of the cases in which suckling was performed, while in 92 per
cent. of the cases its return was within nine months of parturition, and
that menstruation during lactation was commoner with the earlier than
with the later lactations, showing that age is an important
factor.’[157]
There is another question of importance. It may be asked what influence
age at marriage has upon fecundity. As far as the age of the husband is
concerned, there is scarcely any influence at all. For any given age of
wife the fecundity remains nearly the same, whatever the age of the
husband. The age of the wife, however, is of importance, apart from the
fact that delay in marriage reduces the use made of the limited period
of maturity. For a woman is not equally fecund throughout the mature
period. The earlier years are the most fecund years, and therefore
postponement of marriage reduces the fecundity, other things being
equal, by more than the fraction of the mature period which is passed in
celibacy. According to Dunlop’s observations on marriage in Scotland
‘the effect of one year’s delay of marriage is to reduce the average
family by fully one-third of a child, or that three years’ delay may be
expected to result in the family being one child less. This result may
be fairly correct in general, but it cannot be strictly applied, for the
crude observations show that the effect of one year’s delay is not
constant through the fertile period of the woman’s life, but is greater
for the younger and less for the later years. Thus a year’s delay when
the woman is aged from 20 to 25 averages 0·45 of a child, 0·37 when she
is aged from 25 to 30, 0·32 when she is aged from 30 to 35, 0·29 when
she is aged from 35 to 40, and 0·19 when she is aged from 40 to
45.’[158] It requires, it may be noticed, a delay of about forty years
on the part of the husband to decrease the number of children by one
child.[159]
A further problem is the influence of sexual intercourse before puberty
upon fecundity. Exactly what influence early intercourse has upon the
generative organs and their functions is not clear. It is known,
however, that early intercourse is injurious to the general health, and
it is not difficult to understand in a general way how, if this is so,
the reproductive functions would be adversely affected. In the Punjab
Census Report ‘it has been shown that the states which practise early
marriage on an extensive scale have generally a smaller proportion of
females at the age period 12 to 15. Inquiries into a large number of
cases show that, when the marriage of young people is consummated at an
early age, a fairly large number of wives dies of phthisis or some other
disease of the respiratory organs or from some ovarian complication
within ten years of the consummation of marriage.’[160] It is also known
that when of two races both living a similar kind of life under similar
conditions, one practises early marriage and the other does not, as for
example the Hindus and Mohammedans in India, fertility is higher among
the latter than among the former.[161]
Finally, it may be noted that the development of fat may lead to
sterility. It is a fact well known to breeders that excessive fatness is
accompanied by sterility. Animals that have been fattened for
agricultural shows are often barren. There is no doubt that the
development of fat may have the same effect in women. It is not quite
clear why the development of fat should be inimical to fecundity;
formerly it was supposed that the sperm was prevented from reaching the
ovum owing to the presence of a mechanical obstruction. Although this
may at times be the cause, it seems that the presence of an excessive
amount of fat has a deleterious influence upon the metabolism of the
organism and that the maturation of the ova must be in some way
affected. Marshall found signs of abnormal ovarian metabolism in
interstitial tissue of the ovaries of fat cows and heifers.[162]
Sterility, it may be remarked, is not to be regarded as an ultimate
consequence of ‘good’ conditions which have been made too ‘good’. ‘Good’
conditions do not merely consist in abundant food, but also in
sufficient exercise and so on. The development of fat in such a degree
as to cause sterility is due to an excessive amount of food—an abundant
food-supply being one only of the factors going to make up ‘good’
conditions—to the exclusion of other factors.
12. In conclusion, some calculations may be conveniently added to
illustrate the strength of human fecundity, which, as we shall see, is
constantly under-estimated. Let us consider a population of a million
born in the same year, half of whom are males and half females. Let us
suppose that they all marry, each couple before the age of twenty
producing two children, half of whom are girls and half boys. For the
sake of simplicity we may imagine that at the end of each twenty-year
period the parents die simultaneously with the birth of their offspring.
Then, if the children marry and produce offspring as did their parents,
we shall have a standard population of 1,000,000, which will neither
increase nor decrease so long as these conditions are fulfilled. If,
however, the average number of children is 2½ per couple, then in 100
years the population will be 3,050,000; if three, 7,954,000; if four,
32,000,000; if five, 97,650,000.
VI
HUMAN HISTORY
1. As a further preliminary to the separate inquiries into the two parts
of the problem, we have to sketch the main outlines of history in its
broadest aspect. The facts will in themselves form an important element
in the subject-matter when we come in the second part of the book to
discuss the qualitative problem. They also form, as explained in the
third chapter, a framework into which such knowledge as we have of
primitive races may be fitted with all the necessary qualifications and
safeguards. The procedure will be in the first place to glance at the
main subdivisions of the sedimentary deposits, and to ask how far they
can be dated. In this fashion alone can we arrive at any chronological
basis with regard to human evolution. We have then to refer to the
evolution of the Primate branch of the mammals to which man belongs, and
afterwards to the evolution of the bodily form of man. As the fossils
upon which the evidence is based are connected with certain geological
strata, some vague indication of their date, or at least of their
relative appearance in time, can be arrived at, in any case with regard
to the later forms. We can then refer to the evidence of the cultural
remains of man and correlate this evidence with that derived from the
fossil remains. In this fashion some indication can be obtained of the
evolution of culture and of the physical form of man anterior to the
last three or four thousand years. For the last period written records
are available, and supplement the evidence derived from cultural
remains. Finally we have to discuss the manner in which we can use the
evidence derived from primitive races to fill in the gaps in our
knowledge.
2. The deposition of the sedimentary strata is usually divided into four
main periods, each of which is subdivided into smaller eras. The
following table shows the divisions most commonly adopted.
{ Recent
{ Quaternary { Pleistocene
{
Cainozoic { { Pliocene
{ { Miocene
{ Tertiary { Oligocene
{ Eocene
{ Cretaceous
Secondary { Jurassic
{ Triassic
{ Permian
{ Carboniferous
Primary { Devonian
{ Silurian
{ Cambrian
Archaeozoic Precambrian
It is with the Cainozoic period that we are alone concerned, and chiefly
with the Pleistocene and Recent subdivisions of that period. Before we
consider the Quaternary epoch, one or two facts with regard to the
dating of the other periods may be mentioned. However long it is
supposed that the deposition of the sedimentary deposits has occupied,
it is usually held that the Archaeozoic period occupied at least half of
the whole length of time. This supposition is rendered necessary by the
fact that already in the Cambrian era organisms of a high degree of
complexity are found; thus in this era Crustaceans, Brachiopods, and
Worms are common; Echinoderms, Coelenterates, and Sponges are also
known. In the Silurian most of the classes of the animal kingdom are
represented, the exceptions being amphibians, reptiles, birds, and
mammals. The presence of fish shows that by this time vertebrates had
already been evolved. Amphibians first appear in the Carboniferous and
reptiles in the Permian. Birds first occur in the Upper Jurassic and
mammals towards the close of the Triassic. The estimates as to the time
occupied by the deposition of all these strata taken together vary very
greatly—the average being about 100,000,000 years, though it should be
mentioned that as long a period as 1,000,000,000 years has been
proposed.[163] With regard to the length of time which it is supposed
that the later subdivisions of the Cainozoic period have covered, it may
be noticed that Penck estimates the length of the Pliocene and Miocene
periods at about two and three million years respectively.
It is the dating of the subdivisions of the Pleistocene epoch that is of
interest here. This era is also known as the glacial epoch. During this
period large areas both in the northern and southern hemispheres were
covered by the formation of glaciers or by the advance of
previously-existing glaciers. It is now almost universally admitted that
in Europe at least there were four separate advances of the ice. After
reaching on each occasion a point of maximum extension, the ice
retreated, and there were thus three inter-glacial or genial epochs,
while the period since the fourth glaciation is known as the Recent
period. The limit of the extension of the ice varied in each glaciation,
and was at its maximum in the second glaciation. These separate
glaciations and intervening genial periods serve to subdivide the
Pleistocene era, and when fossil and cultural remains are discovered an
attempt is made to ascertain in which of these subdivisions they occur.
Nothing more than guesses can be made as to the length of the glacial
period as a whole and of the subdivisions, and these guesses differ very
widely. Osborn gives the following list of estimates:[164]
1863. C. Lyell 800,000 years
1874. J. D. Dana 720,000 „
1893. C. D. Walcott 400,000 „
1893. W. Upham 100,000 „
1894. A. Heim 100,000 „
1900. W. J. Sollas 400,000 „
1909. A. Penck 520,000–800,000 years
1914. J. Geikie 620,000 (minimum) years
Osborn adopts the more conservative estimate of Penck for the duration
of the whole period, and gives a subdivision of the period, which is as
follows:[165]
│ _Period._ _Relative Duration._ _Grand Totals._
───────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────────
│Recent 25,000 25,000
───────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────────
Pleistocene│Fourth Glacial 25,000 50,000
„ │Third Genial 100,000 150,000
„ │Third Glacial 25,000 175,000
„ │Second Genial 200,000 375,000
„ │Second Glacial 25,000 400,000
„ │First Genial 75,000 475,000
„ │First Glacial 25,000 500,000
3. With man are associated among mammals more or less closely five
groups of animals—the Anthropoid apes, the Platyrrhini or Old World
monkeys, the Catarrhini or New World monkeys, the Lemurs, and the
Tarsii. It is clear that all these groups diverged from a common stem;
the first divergence, however, must have occurred not later than the
Eocene. To ascertain the interrelationship of these groups and the order
of their divergence we have to rely chiefly upon the evidence provided
by fossils. This evidence is very incomplete and, so far as the
definitely pre-human ancestor is concerned, is lacking entirely until we
come to a form known as Pithecanthropus, found in Java in a deposit
attributed either to the late Pliocene or early Pleistocene. With regard
to the evolution of the Primate stock it is usual to assume that the
Lemurs[166] and the Tarsii branched off from the main stem very early,
and that the Catarrhini followed by the Platyrrhini branched off in the
Eocene. It is usual, therefore, to assume that in Oligocene times there
was existing a Primate stock ancestral both to the anthropoid apes and
to man. It is possible that Propliopithecus from the Fayum is a
representative of this common stock from which the gibbons branched off
in the Miocene in one direction, and the orang, chimpanzee, gorilla, and
man in another. Man, it is imagined, branched off from this latter stock
in the early Miocene and the orang shortly afterwards, the separation of
the chimpanzee and gorilla occurring somewhat later. Various ancestral
gibbons (Pliopithecus and Pliohylobates) and ancestral anthropoids
(Dryopithecus, Neopithecus, and Palaeopithecus) are known from the
Miocene and Pliocene, but nothing has come to light as yet of the
distinctively pre-human stock in these times.
Apart from the question as to how the distinctively human stock is
related to the rest of the primate stock, there is much to be said for
the view that the pre-human ancestor of Miocene times was a small
arboreal primate which probably lived in a restricted area. But of the
mode of life we have of course no direct knowledge. It is possible,
however, that the mode of life of the anthropoid apes may give some
indication of the conditions under which the pre-human ancestor lived.
That they are all confined to warm climates in the Old World is
suggestive when it is remembered that Pithecanthropus was found in Java.
They are all more or less arboreal. The orang seldom comes to the
ground; the chimpanzee, though more arboreal than the gorilla, is less
so than the orang, while the gorilla is the least arboreal of all. The
first two species construct nests in the trees, and the same is asserted
of the gorilla, though this appears to be doubtful. They all adopt in
varying degrees a semi-erect attitude from time to time. They exhibit a
certain development of the social instinct; the gorilla is seen in
bands, the gibbons congregate in the evening in groups. It seems certain
that marriage in the sense in which Westermarck employs the term exists
among them; it is asserted that they are all polygamous, though the
chimpanzee may be monogamous. In any case they are not promiscuous in
their sexual relations.
If a guess is to be made at all as to the mode of life of the pre-human
ancestor, it is most reasonable to assume that it was something after
the same kind. But whereas the apes are powerful specialized animals,
the pre-human ancestor must have been a weaker and more generalized
primate, having specialized only in the increase of the brain. It was
this character which undoubtedly enabled him to maintain himself, and
which compensated for the relative absence of other means of defence.
The apes, on the other hand, are well able to look after themselves.
‘The orang, as Selenka informs us, is more than a match for the
dangerous carnivora with which he has to contend, and the gorilla is
monarch of the woods.’[167]
When we survey the Tertiary period as a whole we see that there was a
rapid and varied evolution of the mammalian stock in Eocene and
Oligocene times which culminated in the Miocene. All classes of mammals
were in process of rapid evolution. After this epoch of evolution,
specialization, and adaptation, the way was opened to the taking of the
lead by a species which exceeded others rather in intelligence than in
bodily superiority. The pre-human ancestor, we must suppose, had
somewhat fallen behind in this contest to achieve adaptation by means of
specialization, and could not then have taken a prominent place among
mammalian species. Nevertheless, somehow he managed to maintain himself,
and ultimately, as we shall point out later on, the retention of a
generalized bodily form became of a very distinct advantage in that it
enabled the best use to be made of his growing intellect.
4. The fossil remains of man from the Pleistocene are few and
incomplete. It is a matter of great interest to observe in what
subdivision of the Pleistocene these fossils occur, in which glacial or
genial epoch, that is to say, they are found, as in this manner some
indication can be gained, if not of their absolute, then of their
relative, distance from the present epoch in time. As already mentioned,
abundant evidence of human cultural remains are also found in the
Pleistocene, and these remains likewise can be associated with the
subdivisions of the period. Various names have been given to these
cultural periods, and we shall glance later at the evidence upon which
these periods are based. But it will be of assistance now to give a
table showing how the cultural periods are connected with the
subdivisions of the epoch, as it will thus be apparent how the fossil
remains stand in relation not only to the glacial and genial periods,
but also to the cultural periods.[168]
With regard to this table, except in respect to epochs of the later
post-glacial period, the dates are only intended to give an idea of
relative distance in time.[169] Some approximation to accuracy can be
obtained for the Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron ages. In the case of the
latter two epochs, different dates have been given for the beginning of
the period in the Orient and in Europe. The remaining dates refer to
Europe only. As many cultures, so far as can be deduced from the
evidence, came from the Orient, the beginnings of such culture periods
in the Orient are doubtless to be dated some considerable time before
they first appeared in Europe. The names of the cultural periods, it may
be remarked, are taken from the places where either specimens of the
culture were first found, or where they are seen at their best. Thus
Chellean is derived from Chelles—a palaeolithic station close to
Paris—Acheulean from St. Acheul in the valley of the Somme, Mousterian
from Le Moustier on the right bank of the Vézère, and so on.
_Period._ _Date._ _Culture._ _Racial Type._
───────────────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────
Post-Glacial 1,000 B.C. Iron │Europe
„ 1,800 „ „ │Orient
───────────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────
„ 2,000 „ Bronze │Europe
„ 4,000 „ „ │Orient
───────────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────
„ 5,000 „ Neolithic │Copper
„ 7,000 „ „ │Swiss Lake Modern racial
│ types.
„ 10,000 „ „ │Early
───────────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────
„ 12,000 „ Upper │Azilian
Palaeolithic│
„ 16,000 „ „ │Magdalenian Brünn and other
│ races.
„ 20,000 „ „ │Solutrian
„ 25,000 „ „ │Aurignacian Cro-Magnon and
│ Grimaldi.
───────────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────
Fourth 50,000 „ Middle │Mousterian H.
Glacial Palaeolithic│ neanderthalensis.
───────────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────
Third Genial 150,000 „ Lower │Acheulean
Palaeolithic│
„ │Chellean
Third Glacial 175,000 „ „ │Pre-Chellean Eoanthropus.
───────────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────
Second Genial 375,000 „ │ H. heidelbergensis.
Second 400,000 „ │
Glacial │
First Genial 475,000 „ │
First Glacial 500,000 „ │
Beginning of 525,000 „ │ Pithecanthropus.
Pleistocene │
5. Turning to the fossil remains of man we have first to deal with
Pithecanthropus. In September 1891 Dr. Eugene Dubois of Amsterdam
discovered at Trinil in Java certain fossil remains; he continued to
excavate for some two years, and succeeded in finding other remains, all
of which he attributed to the same individual. To this individual he
gave the name of Pithecanthropus erectus.[170] Dubois considered that
the strata in which Pithecanthropus was found belonged to the Pliocene.
Very great interest naturally attaches to this question; Dubois’s view
has been challenged: subsequent visitors to Trinil have very carefully
considered the matter, and the weight of scientific opinion now favours
the attribution of the strata to the early Pleistocene.[171]
The scantiness of the remains renders a reconstruction of the individual
a difficult and doubtful matter. Nevertheless, after some twenty years
of discussion there is a very general agreement that Pithecanthropus was
in many respects intermediate in type between modern man and the
hypothetical pre-human ancestor. The bones of the cranium are fused, the
brow ridges massive, and there is a marked narrowing behind the
orbit—all ape-like features. Further the cranium is flattened somewhat
as among the apes, but not to so great a degree; the altitudinal index
is 34·2; of the average European it is 52; of Neanderthal man 40·4. The
cranial capacity is about 855 c.c., or 250 c.c. greater than the largest
known skull of any of the Simiidae, whereas the average cranial capacity
of the Australian, the lowest living race, is about 1190 c.c. The femur
has only a slight curvature, and is decidedly human, indicating that its
possessor was some 1650–1700 mm. in height, and probably walked upright.
The teeth are simian rather than human, the roots diverge and the crowns
are large; they exhibit, nevertheless, certain human features.
If we attempt to reconstruct Pithecanthropus, we must picture a creature
half ape, half man, which was probably terrestrial and erect. His body
weight must have been about 70 kilograms. If this fact is correct, it
provides a very useful method of estimating the relation of
Pithecanthropus to the apes on one hand and to man on the other. We know
roughly what proportion brain weight bears to body weight. If
Pithecanthropus had been human—given the brain weight deduced from the
cranial capacity—the body weight should be 19 kilograms. If
Pithecanthropus had been simian, the body weight should be 230
kilograms. We have in fact reason to think that it was about 70
kilograms, which emphasizes the intermediate position of Dubois’s famous
discovery.
It is further probable that Pithecanthropus had free use of the arms,
the legs having become specialized for progression. It is quite possible
that he may have employed tools of wood or of stone, though there is no
evidence to this effect. It is further possible that some rudimentary
form of speech may have been employed. The motor centre for speech is
found in a particular area of the brain known as Broca’s area. This area
can be identified in the brain cast of Pithecanthropus, and it is stated
to be twice as great as in the apes, but only half as large as in man.
‘The undeveloped forehead of Pithecanthropus and the diminutive frontal
area of the brain indicate that the Trinil race had a limited faculty of
profiting by experience and accumulated tradition, for in this
prefrontal area of the brain are located the powers of attention and of
control of the activities of all other parts of the brain. In the brain
of the ape the sensory areas of touch, taste, and vision predominate,
and these are well developed in Pithecanthropus. The central area of the
brain, which is the storehouse of the memory of action and the feelings
associated with them, is also well developed, but the prefrontal area,
which is the seat of the faculty of profiting by experience or of
recalling the consequences of previous responses to experience, is
developed to a very limited degree.’[172]
Pithecanthropus is thus a form of the highest interest in the history of
man. Provisionally, it may be put at the dawn of the Pleistocene.
Uncertainty also surrounds the position of the next human remains to be
mentioned, which consist of a lower jaw from the Mauer Sands near
Heidelberg.[173] It is generally agreed that these sands were deposited
in a genial epoch, and opinion now inclines to associate them with the
second genial epoch. The jaw itself is very simian, scarcely showing any
approach to human characters. The teeth, however, are remarkably human,
and it is said that in some respects the teeth of existing primitive
races approach the simian condition more nearly than do the teeth of the
Heidelberg race. The relation of this form to Pithecanthropus and to
those which follow may be left for consideration until we have completed
our sketch of human fossil types.
There remains a third early form to be mentioned—Eoanthropus dawsoni
from Piltdown near Lewis.[174] The gravel in which Eoanthropus was found
was certainly deposited in a warm period. It probably dates from either
the second or the third genial epoch, but great uncertainty attaches to
the correlation of these gravels with the phases of the glacial period.
Some implements found near the bones have been referred to the
pre-Chellean culture period, which would indicate the third genial
epoch. The mammalian fauna seems also to favour the reference of these
strata to the same period.
The remains of Eoanthropus consist of the greater part of the brain case
and part of the right mandible with the first and second molars _in
situ_. The canine tooth was found later. The skull has been
reconstructed from several fragments. There has been much controversy as
to the correct method of performing this reconstruction. The first
estimate of the cranial capacity put it at about 1,100 c.c. Woodward has
later revised his estimate, and arrived at a figure approaching 1,300
c.c. Keith has suggested a higher figure. The bones of the skull are
very thick, brow ridges are almost absent, and the forehead is very
steep. The jaw, on the other hand, is even more ape-like than the jaw of
Heidelberg man; it slopes away with scarcely any vestige of a chin, the
pre-molar series of teeth is parallel, and the molars do not decrease in
size backwards. It is owing to the simian features of the jaw that the
authors felt justified in creating a new species for these remains.
Although the absence of brow ridges and the presence of a steep forehead
are characters which mark the higher human types, they are also found
among all young apes. It is thus possible that Eoanthropus may represent
in the general form of the skull the missing Miocene and Pliocene
ancestor more nearly than Pithecanthropus. The brain, though very
primitive, was decidedly human; there was a moderate development of
those areas connected with speech.
6. It is a matter of doubt to what subdivisions of the Pleistocene the
types hitherto mentioned should be assigned and with what cultures, if
any, they should be connected. At this point we come to a region of less
uncertainty. Associated with Mousterian implements and with the deposits
of the fourth glacial period we find a distinct type of man whom we may
call Mousterian or Neanderthal; for it was in the Neanderthal near
Düsseldorf that the first specimen of this race was discovered in
1856.[175] Since that date several other examples of this type have been
found. Some of the specimens have been preserved almost complete, and
Professor Boule has been able to make a detailed study of the skeleton
from La Chapelle-aux-Saints.[176] In the course of his memoir he
institutes a comparison between this and other examples of Neanderthal
man, and shows that they all agree in the possession of certain features
of importance. Neanderthal man was small but massive; the facial portion
of the head was much developed in comparison with the cranial; the head
was low and narrow, the forehead receding, the occiput protruding, the
orbits large, and the brow ridges heavy. The lower jaw was strong, the
chin rudimentary, and the hinder molar teeth primitive. The vertebral
column indicates a less upright posture than that of modern man. With
regard to one feature—the cranial capacity—there is great variability.
The cranial capacity of the Gibraltar skull is only 1,296 c.c., whilst
that of the Chapelle-aux-Saints specimen is 1,620 c.c. According to
Boule, however, this variation is no greater than that found among
modern European skulls. He makes out the average capacity of Neanderthal
man as 1,400 c.c.; this estimate is far lower than that usually given;
it is often said that the average capacity approaches 1,600 c.c.
The Neanderthal race forms a very distinct type. It is found only in the
Middle Palaeolithic period.[177] Of its origin there will be something
to be said later; it appears that it died out before the Upper
Palaeolithic age began, for, as we shall see, apparently none of the
types which occurs later descended from this race.
7. The Upper Palaeolithic culture is associated with the end of the
fourth glacial epoch. In place of the remains of Neanderthal man we find
the remains of several types, none of which shows any affinity to
Neanderthal man. On the contrary they all approximate more or less
closely to modern man. At one bound we seem, when looking at the fossil
remains from this epoch in Europe, to have passed into the modern period
so far as human bodily form is concerned. As we shall see later, it is
probable that the various types entered Europe from the East, and
probably originated somewhere in Western Asia. The most important of
these types is known as Cro-Magnon man. It is found throughout the Late
Palaeolithic period. The first specimen was found at Cro-Magnon in the
valley of the Vézère. Other specimens have been found in the Grotte de
Grimaldi and assigned to the beginning of the Aurignacian, the first
subdivision of the Upper Palaeolithic, and others again at Obercassel,
and assigned to the Magdalenian, or last subdivision of the Upper
Palaeolithic. In modern France in the region of Périgueux there is
existing at the present day a type which in so many features resembles
Cro-Magnon man that it may be a survival from Upper Palaeolithic times.
The general features of the chief types of the Upper Palaeolithic may be
very briefly indicated. The skull of Cro-Magnon man was narrow, the face
low and broad; the brow ridges project slightly; the orbits are low and
rectangular; the nose is long and narrow and the root broad. Cro-Magnon
man was tall, approaching an average of 6 ft. in height; the cranial
capacity was large, being somewhere about 1,600 c.c.[178]
In the Grotte de Grimaldi were also found two skeletons of what has been
called the Grimaldi race. No other skeletons of this type have been
found in Europe. There are two points to notice about this type; first
it is not relatively speaking a low type; the cranial capacity was, for
instance, 1,580 c.c.; secondly, it shows undoubted resemblance to the
Negroid type. The skull is narrow, the face large and low, and
prognathism is marked. The orbits are large and of low vertical height,
the nose broad and flat.
The third type is that found at Brünn and again at Brux in connexion
with Solutrian culture (middle of Upper Palaeolithic). The skull is very
long and generally of a lower type than the Cro-Magnon skull. In certain
respects there is a slight resemblance to the Neanderthal type. Finally
from deposits at the close of the late Palaeolithic period at Offnet two
further types are known. One of them is a long-headed race not unlike
the Mediterranean type of European at the present day. The other is a
broad-headed race, which is not unlike the Alpine type of modern
European.
In a general sketch further details need not be added. There is no
essential difference between the physical type existing in Neolithic
times and that of modern man. Leaving the discussion of the
interrelationship and origin of these types until after we have spoken
of the evolution of culture, what we have found so far is that in the
beginning of the Pleistocene and in the early Palaeolithic there are
three primitive types of man known, and that in the Middle Palaeolithic
there is a peculiar type with many primitive features, whereas in the
Upper Palaeolithic we are in the presence of types which for the most
part differ but little from modern races, and even show affinity to
certain modern races in particular cases.[179]
8. We have now to give some account of the evolution of culture as shown
by the implements and other remains left by primitive man. The story of
the first identification of stone implements by Boucher de Perthes is
well known. Gradually a succession of periods has been recognized, and
the names given to them have already been introduced in the preceding
pages. Of the two main periods—Palaeolithic and Neolithic—the first is
distinguished by the facts that stone implements were not polished,
agriculture was not practised, pottery was not made,[180] and animals
were not domesticated. Within the Palaeolithic period several successive
types of culture can be distinguished, but before we deal with them
something must be said regarding the so-called Eolithic period.
There are found in many places stones supposed to exhibit a very
primitive form of human workmanship. To them the name of eoliths has
been given. They have been described from the
Oligocene, Miocene, and Pliocene. Many archaeologists believe that they
are the remains of a primitive form of culture which preceded the
Palaeolithic form of culture. The matter is still under debate.
We may note that eoliths exhibit very little variation. The same types
appear from the Oligocene onwards, and if there was an eolithic culture
it must have lasted some millions of years and been accompanied by
little or no progress in the fashioning of implements. An exception must
be made in the case of the so-called ‘rostro-carinate’ implements
described by Mr. Reid Moir, and attributed to the late Pliocene.[181]
These stones are of a distinctive type, and apparently do not occur in
the Oligocene and the Miocene.[182] There are several considerations
which make it difficult to accept eoliths as genuine remains of an early
culture; some of these considerations do not apply to the
rostro-carinate type, and some apply with less force, (_a_) Breuil has
pointed out that as good eoliths occur in the Eocene as in the later
strata.[183] Apart from this, the occurrence of eoliths in the
Oligocene, taken together with the immense length of the period during
which no progress in skill was made, is almost incompatible with what we
must suppose to have been the course of human evolution. The various
classes of mammals were in rapid evolution at this time, and it is
difficult to understand how, before this period of mammalian expansion,
man alone could have evolved to something akin to the type of the early
Pleistocene, and then for so long a period have failed to progress.[184]
If indeed Propliopithecus, or any similar form in the Oligocene, is a
type from or near the line of human ascent, then we cannot allow
Oligocene eoliths to be genuine artefacts, and there is no reason why,
if we reject Oligocene eoliths, we should consider Miocene or Pliocene
eoliths to be genuine. (_b_) Numerous observations have been made
showing that stones similar to eoliths are formed under natural
conditions of pressure, wave action, and so on. It is of particular
interest to note that even the rostro-carinate type can be thus
formed.[185] (_c_) Upon the whole eoliths are only found where other
stones of the same composition are found, whereas palaeoliths may be
found anywhere—the deduction, of course, being that eoliths, inasmuch as
they are formed under natural agencies, remain associated with other
stones of the same composition whereas palaeoliths were widely
distributed by those who used them. The question of eoliths is very far
from being settled. Lest it be thought that the difficulties in the way
of accepting eoliths as genuine have been exaggerated owing to some
bias, it may be mentioned that the chief deduction we shall draw from
human history as a whole would be considerably strengthened if eoliths
could be regarded as genuine artefacts. If we cannot accept eoliths as
without question genuine, it does not mean that before the Palaeolithic
period man did not make and use stone implements. Undoubtedly he did so.
But it may be from the nature of the case that it is impossible to
recognize these instruments.[186]
9. In a warm period of the Pleistocene, now almost universally
identified with the third genial epoch, occur the first implements of
undoubted human workmanship. Within this early Palaeolithic epoch three
phases of culture are distinguished, the pre-Chellean, Chellean, and
Acheulean. It is worth while observing that M. Rutot, who is a foremost
supporter of the eolithic theory, remarks, on arriving in a general
review of the evidence at this pre-Chellean period, that there can be
observed the ‘apparition subite d’objets nouveaux’.[187] It is precisely
these ‘objets nouveaux’ which many authorities consider as the first
genuine artefacts, and not as mere improvements of a more primitive type
of implement.
The typical instrument of the Chellean period was the hand axe—a stone
shaped to fit the hand, and used for striking blows.[188] Knives and
scrapers were also common. In the Acheulean or latest period of the
Palaeolithic there is seen a general improvement in workmanship. The
hand axe is lighter and more carefully worked. There is a great variety
of small implements, often showing a considerable degree of care and
skill. For the first time there is in the Acheulean era evidence that
man employed fire. It does not appear that bone was yet used for making
implements. It can be shown that early Palaeolithic implements represent
a steady and continual advance in skill with the improvement of old
types and the development of new types.
During the late Acheulean period it was becoming colder, and the
succeeding stage, or Middle Palaeolithic era, falls almost wholly
within the fourth glacial period. Man began to make his home in caves,
and we are well acquainted with the physical type under the name of
Neanderthal man, described above. There are again traces of fire. Some
kind of ceremonial burial was employed. A skeleton found at La
Chapelle-aux-Saints showed that the body had been carefully disposed
for burial; implements had been placed close to the body, one fine
implement lying within reach of the left hand. There is a marked
difference as regards the stone implements between this and the
preceding period. A different method of shaping implements was
employed. There is some inclination to regard the Mousterian stone
industry as of a lower grade than the stage previously attained. With
regard to this stage in general we may note that it is the first in
which we have a detailed knowledge of the physical type and in which
we have some indication of the stage of psychical development as shown
by the employment of ceremonial burial.
This stage is sharply divided from that which follows it. So far as is
known, Neanderthal man disappears at the end of the Middle Palaeolithic,
and Mousterian industry is replaced by the Aurignacian, a wholly new
type of culture, presumably introduced by some new racial element. As we
have seen, there are several racial types in the Upper Palaeolithic, and
the Cro-Magnon type, which occurs from the beginning of this period, may
have brought the new culture into Europe. The art of stone implement
making reached a height during the Aurignacian never previously
approached; knives and scrapers were especially finely shaped. In the
Solutrian, or middle period of the Upper Palaeolithic, stone implement
making reached the highest point to which it attained in the
Palaeolithic period. The workmanship exhibited in the well-known willow
and laurel leaf lance-heads is very fine. Bone tools are first found in
the Upper Palaeolithic. It is clear from the disposition of the
skeletons that burials were again employed, and indicate, if not a
belief in a future life in our meaning of the phrase, at least the
presence of a body of tradition regarding the state of the deceased. It
is not certain whether man at this stage possessed the bow and arrow.
Nothing can, of course, be known with certainty regarding the degree to
which perishable substances were manufactured; it can only be said that
in all probability skins and furs were used as clothing, that basketwork
was understood, and nets constructed. The most remarkable remains which
have been preserved from this period are the drawings and paintings on
the walls of caverns. They are found throughout the Upper Palaeolithic
period, and indicate a high degree of skill and taste.[189]
That the Solutrian Age shows an improvement upon the Aurignacian from
the point of view of stone implement making has been indicated. It also
shows a similar improvement as regards bone implements; bone needles
with perforated eyes, for instance, occur for the first time. There is a
distinct improvement in the drawings and paintings. In the next or
Magdalenian period of the Upper Palaeolithic there is a loss of skill so
far as stone implements are concerned; there is no general decadence,
however, as the making of implements from bone, horn, and ivory shows a
considerable advance. Further, drawing and painting reached their
highest development. The remains from this era are very abundant and
well known, and exhibit a vast number of types of implements giving a
general impression of a considerable degree of material wealth
relatively to the fact that agriculture was not practised.
At the very end of the Upper Palaeolithic the Magdalenian culture is
succeeded by a rather obscure stage known as the Azilian-Tardenoisian.
There is again a sudden and very distinct break in the evolution of
culture. In nearly all respects there is a failure to reach the previous
level of skill. Both flint and bone implements are of inferior
workmanship. The artistic spirit vanishes. Little is known about this
culture; possibly man at this period was not so unskilled, as at first
sight seems to have been the case, for he had apparently domesticated
the dog.[190]
10. Neolithic culture is marked by the practice of agriculture, the
domestication of animals,[191] the polishing of stone implements, and
the making of pottery.[192] Though it is strongly contrasted with the
preceding culture, there is considerable evidence of a transition
period. This evidence, however, is generally interpreted as indicating
the infiltration of the new culture from the East, and not the evolution
of the new culture in Europe. Even at this relatively recent period in
history the chronology is vague. The Swiss Lake Dwellings (Robehausian
period) represent the typical fully developed European Neolithic
culture, and are dated about 8000 to 7000 B.C. Farther East there is
evidence of a far greater antiquity. Montelius on the basis of De
Morgan’s observations at Susa calculated that the Neolithic Age began
there about 20,000 years ago.[193] Sir Arthur Evans estimates that at
least 14,000 years have elapsed since the beginning of the Neolithic
period at Cnossus.[194] All that can be said is that the Neolithic
culture was flourishing in the eighth millennium B. C. in many parts of
Europe, having been brought from farther East, where it had originated
at a considerably earlier date. It has proved very difficult to
subdivide the Neolithic epoch into successive periods. In the
Palaeolithic period superimposed deposits containing relics of various
cultures are not infrequently found, thus enabling the succession of
culture periods to be made out. In the Neolithic period evidence of this
kind is for the most part lacking. It is not proposed to enter upon the
subject here beyond saying that three stages are recognized by French
archaeologists, the Campignienne, the Chasséo-Robenhaussienne, and the
Carnacéenne. The first of these stages is markedly more primitive than
the succeeding stages. The second is that of the Swiss Lake Dwellings,
and the third that of Megalithic monuments—Dolmens, Menhirs, Cromlechs,
Allées Couvertes, stone circles, and so on.[195]
What has been said regarding culture periods in general—namely, that
they are not definite periods in time in the history of mankind as a
whole, but epochs through which different races have passed at different
times—is well illustrated in the case of the Neolithic. The Neolithic
culture had existed some thousands of years in Western Asia before it
penetrated into Europe, and was practised in some parts of Europe, in
Britain, for instance, up to about 2000 B. C. or later, for thousands of
years after metals had been taken into use elsewhere. In general the
Neolithic period has to be regarded as a period of great advance in
material wealth. Relatively to Palaeolithic men, Neolithic men were
rich, and often lived in villages of some size. Several animals were
domesticated, several varieties of cereals cultivated, linen was
manufactured, and the vine as well as a large number of fruit-trees
known. It appears that many at least of the well-known trading routes
used in the Bronze Age were open in the Neolithic Age. Some of these
routes brought the Baltic into communication with the Mediterranean, one
began at Venice, passed over the Brenner, and reached the Danube by
means of the Inn; thence it traversed the Bohemian forest to the Moldau,
and thus reached the Elbe, which was followed to its mouth. Another
began at Trieste, and passing through Laibach and Grätz reached the
Danube by means of the Leitha; thence it followed the March, traversed
Moravia, passed through Silesia along the Oder, while the Vistula was
reached by striking across Posen, the principal terminus being
Danzig.[196]
11. Obscurity surrounds the location and date of the first use of
metal.[197] Gold was probably the first metal known to man; it is found
in the pure state in many countries, and would attract attention owing
to its lustre. It was not, however, of economic importance until much
later. In all probability man learnt the art of metal working from the
accidental reduction of ore that formed one of the ring of stones round
the camp fire. Copper may have been first used where it appears at the
surface in a pure state, having been beaten into implements, as was done
by the Indians near Lake Superior; the use of this metal is, however,
until heat is employed, to be regarded merely as a variation of the art
of stone implement making, and does not form the first step in the art
of metal working for which knowledge of reduction by heat is required.
It is frequently said that an age of copper preceded the age of bronze,
and in many places copper implements were used before bronze implements.
Probably the occurrence of a Copper Age in any one place was dependent
upon the nature of the ore found there. Copper is frequently associated
with tin and other metals in a state of nature. We may suppose that the
first metal workers were simply trying to get metal—being aware that
metal could be obtained by heating certain kinds of stone—and that in
some places they got copper and in other places bronze. Later they
learnt to add a definite percentage of tin or some other metal, and thus
to produce an alloy of definite composition. Thus a true Bronze Age
followed either a Copper Age or an accidental Bronze Age. It is somewhat
curious that iron was not taken sooner into use, for less heat is
required than in the case of copper for reduction—700° C. to 800° C. as
against 1,100° C.
Whether there was more than one place of origin of the use of any metal
in the Old World is not known. Copper was independently taken into use
in the New World, and the use of copper may have originated
independently in North and South America.[198] Bronze was known in Peru.
Heat was certainly employed for hammering and annealing copper, and
casting may have been employed. Iron was sometimes used in North America
to make ornaments. With regard to the Old World a claim is made for many
countries as the original home of metal working. Reisner found copper
daggers, spear heads, harpoons, pins, needles, and bracelets in the
graves of the middle pre-Dynastic period of Egypt; by the time of the
first dynasty the Egyptians were ‘in possession of a full equipment of
copper weapons’.[199] In the early pre-Dynastic period metallic pigments
containing copper were in use, and it is possible that the reduction of
copper may have been first suggested by some accidental fusion of these
substances. It is further claimed that there is evidence of the local
evolution of copper implements since the earliest forms imitate stone
implements, and the later forms are merely improvements of pre-existing
types.[200] Reisner concludes that there is no reason to assume that the
invention came from beyond the frontiers of Egypt.[201] The Sumerians,
on the other hand, when we first meet them at a very early date, must
have been using copper for some considerable time. All that can be said
with certainty is that the use of metals originated in the Orient,
probably before 4000 B. C.—possibly some two or three thousand years
earlier. Copper, it may be noticed, occurs in Armenia, in the upper
basin of the Tigris and in Sinai amongst other places. The use of bronze
gradually spread over Europe. It is found in Crete about 3000 B. C., in
Southern Thessaly about 2500 B. C., and seems to have reached England
about 2000 B. C. or somewhat later. Generally speaking, we can connect
the taking into use of metals with the rise of the first civilizations.
These civilizations reached their greatest development before the
introduction of iron. The whole Minoan civilization, the Mycenean
survival of Minoan civilization on the mainland,[202] the most glorious
period of Egyptian history up to and including the greater part of the
Second Empire, the Sumerian kingdom, the earlier periods of Babylonia
and Assyria, all fall within the Bronze Age.
Though it is clear that a great advance took place in the Bronze Age, it
is not evident how far this advance is attributable to the taking of
metals into use and how far to other discoveries which were made about
the same time. The first use of the wheel and of the plough, for
instance, dates from this period, and very considerable importance
without question is attributable to the plough. Still greater importance
is in all probability to be attributed to writing, which again was first
used about this time. At a far earlier period various methods of marking
sticks had doubtless been employed as aids to memory, as they are still
employed by the Australians, and some progress may have been made
towards such a system as that of the use of knotted cords in Peru. But
the invention of writing properly speaking came much later. By the time
of the fourth dynasty Egyptian writing had reached its final form, and
the Sumerians, when we first meet them, were using cuneiform writing.
This invention of such great import, whether it arose independently or
not in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China, was evidently roughly coincident
with the first use of metals.
Estimates as to the date of the first use of iron in the Mesopotamian
region vary considerably; 1500 B. C. to 1300 B. C. is the date most
usually given. In Egypt the earliest known iron weapon dates from 1200
B. C. By 900 B. C. the use of iron had spread over most of Europe. It
reached Scandinavia about 500 B. C. It was introduced into Greece by the
Thresprotian invasion, which put an end to the Mycenean period, and
inaugurated the Homeric Age. It is possible that the Etruscans brought
the knowledge of iron to Italy where they arrived during the eleventh
century B. C. Upon the whole, opinion inclines to the view that the use
of iron originated in Western Asia. Claims have also been made for
Europe (neighbourhood of Hallstatt) as the place of origin,[203] for
Egypt, and for Africa south of Egypt.[204] With regard to Egyptian
claims it may be noticed that iron does not become common until after
1200 B. C. But four examples of iron have been found in Egypt from
periods before this date—some of them belonging to very early times. The
finding of these pieces of iron presents a rather difficult problem, of
which the solution seems to be that iron was very occasionally used, and
probably only for ornamental purposes, long before 1200 B. C. in Egypt;
it was not, however, brought into general use at this early date.
It is not necessary to carry this sketch of cultural evolution any
farther. The Bronze Age marks a turning-point in history. The outline at
least of the subsequent course of events is sufficiently familiar. One
point may be noticed. We have found reason to place the centre of
progress somewhere in the Orient. After metal has been taken into use
the centre of progress begins to shift westwards. Once metals had been
introduced into Crete, for instance, Minoan civilization was in any case
largely an autochthonous growth. Speaking of Crete, Hall says: ‘We have
nothing to show any intrusion of any other culture system which in any
way suddenly modifies or alters the course of this development, which is
that of the civilization of a single people raising itself on its own
lines from Neolithic barbarism. Its first development from the static
condition in which it had existed for many centuries in the Neolithic
stage was sudden, and the dynamic influence which was given by the
acquisition of metal speedily carried it to the great height of
cultivation which we have seen.’[205] Hitherto—before, that is to say,
the taking into use of metal—the centre of progress has been looked for
in Central Asia.[206] There had been progress in Europe within the
culture periods, but the great steps in progress were made in the East.
12. Let us now review what has so far been said in this chapter. Such
indications as the evidence provides point to the origin of man in the
eastern portion of the Old World, and probably in a warm climate. The
principal facts in favour of this view are the distribution of the
anthropoids, the occurrence of Pithecanthropus in Java, and the failure
to find any evidence of the antiquity of man in the New World.[207]
Unless Pithecanthropus is to be attributed to the Pliocene, we have no
knowledge of man before the Pleistocene. It would seem that the
pre-human ancestor of the Miocene and Pliocene was probably rather an
obscure member of the primate stock retaining generalized features.
Somehow without specialization he managed to survive—possibly in some
very limited area. When the rapid evolution of bodily form among the
mammals had slowed down, the only specialization in which the pre-human
ancestor had indulged began to stand him in good stead. That it carried
him as far as it did—to the dominion over all living things—was made
possible by the fact that his bodily form was not specialized, but was
capable of being turned into an instrument of the mind. The evidence
seems to indicate the late Pliocene or early Pleistocene as the era when
man began to develop along this path.
Just as the East was probably the place of man’s origin, so it remained
the seat of both bodily and cultural evolution. There is no sign of the
evolution of human physical form in Europe, nor is there any evidence of
the evolution of the main stages of culture in Europe until after the
taking of metals into use, though there is evidence both of progress and
of decay within the culture periods. The evidence points to the
conclusion that successive waves of immigrants brought with them new
cultures from the East. Some may have entered Europe from Africa, as
perhaps did the Cro-Magnons, bringing the Aurignacian culture. These
waves of migration are not, however, to be regarded as comparable to
migrations within the historical period—the Islamic migrations of the
Arabs, for instance. These earlier movements were rather of the nature
of slow driftings of peoples. They may have been connected with climatic
changes and have occupied long periods of time. Quite possibly when we
appear to see the extinction of one culture and the sudden replacement
of it by another, what in fact happened was that, owing to climatic
changes, those who practised the earlier culture had shifted elsewhere
before the newcomers occupied the area in question.
With regard to the bodily evolution of man the first detailed knowledge
we have is of the Neanderthal race. We know that Neanderthal man lived
in the fourth glacial period. Before this epoch we know nothing of human
bodily evolution except from three imperfect specimens which we cannot
assign definitely to any period in the Pleistocene beyond placing them
before the Middle Palaeolithic. No definite conclusions can be drawn as
to the relation of these three forms one to another, or to the forms
which follow.
Pithecanthropus may or may not be on the direct line leading to all the
higher races. There is some probability that Heidelberg man is a
forerunner of Neanderthal man, whereas Eoanthropus would seem to be
related on the one hand to the hypothetical Pliocene ancestor, and on
the other hand to the Late and not to the Middle Palaeolithic races. It
is quite possible that, as Europe was not the scene of human evolution,
Piltdown and Heidelberg men represent varieties which have died out, and
not stages from the main line of human evolution. This is certainly the
case with the Neanderthal race. In the Upper Palaeolithic we find races
of as high a physical type as those of the present day, but we have no
certain knowledge of their direct ancestors.
By far the most remarkable feature of the whole process has been the
speeding up of the rate of progress of the evolution of culture. This
speeding up would be very much emphasized if we could accept eoliths as
genuine, as indicating, that is to say, the existence of an eolithic
culture before the Palaeolithic culture extending over an immense period
of time. As it is, the acceleration of the rate of progress is striking
enough. The whole Palaeolithic period probably lasted at least 100,000
years. Regarding this period as a whole, we can observe a noteworthy
speeding up of progress in the last part of the period. A few thousand
years only separate the early from the late divisions of the Upper
Palaeolithic and the progress exhibited is very considerable, whereas
but relatively little progress is visible during the huge length of time
which the Lower Palaeolithic must have occupied. The whole progress
made, however, up to the opening of the Bronze Age is insignificant
compared with that made since. Nevertheless, progress has not been
uniform within the historical era. There have been periods of stagnation
and even of decadence. Little progress in command over nature was made
between the time of the later Egyptian civilization and the later Middle
Ages as compared with the progress made in the last hundred years.
Progress in skill gathered speed in the thirteenth century, and the
speeding up became very marked in the eighteenth century. There has been
a similar lack of uniformity in the evolution of culture where culture
is judged by standards other than command over nature.
13. How far can we employ our knowledge of primitive races to fill in
this framework? Some reference has been made in the fourth chapter to
the position which these races occupy. It was pointed out that they
represent ‘relicts’ of stages of culture through which the civilized
races have passed, due allowance being made for the fact that they have
developed to some degree on specialized lines of their own since their
separation from the main stream of progress. In some few cases, as in
the example of the Seri Indians, there may have been decadence.
Broadly speaking, these races fall into two groups. There are the
hunting and fishing races, and there are those which practise a
primitive form of agriculture. The former, it is to be presumed, ceased
to be in any important manner influenced by, if they were not wholly cut
off from, the main current of cultural evolution before the end of the
Palaeolithic Age. The latter may have remained more or less in contact
with the main stream of evolution until late Neolithic times, or they
may have lost touch earlier and have acquired independently the art of
agriculture, as was presumably the case with those American Indians who
practise agriculture. The chief hunting and fishing races are the
Tasmanians, Australians, Bushmen, Eskimos, and certain of the American
Indians. Professor Sollas has drawn up a comparison between the culture
of some of these races and that of certain epochs in the Palaeolithic
era. He has shown that Tasmanian and Australian culture may be compared
with early and late phases respectively of the Middle Palaeolithic. A
very striking similarity indeed can be shown between the Aurignacian
culture and that of the Bushmen on the one hand and between the
Magdalenian culture and that of the Eskimo on the other. When we
consider the osteological evidence, however, we do not find any striking
similarity between Neanderthal man and Australians and Tasmanians. The
existence of the negroid skeleton of Grimaldi is suggestive, but the
likeness between it and the Bushmen type is not close. The skull found
at Chancelade, however, and generally considered as an aberrant type of
Cro-Magnon man does show a very curious resemblance to the Eskimo skull.
Thus though we cannot think of the Tasmanians and Australians as actual
relicts of the Neanderthal racial type, which we know in Europe, we may
think of Australian culture in its broad general features as
representative of the Middle Palaeolithic.[208]
As has been already indicated in the fourth chapter, it is not proposed
to attempt to carry the method so far as to attribute to peoples of
different Palaeolithic cultures peculiarities of certain primitive
hunting and fishing races. All that it is proposed to do is to look into
the general conditions which obtain among hunting and fishing races with
the object of throwing light upon the conditions in the Palaeolithic era
as a whole. Similarly it is proposed to throw light upon the Neolithic
period by an inquiry into the conditions obtaining among primitive
agricultural races. This method is clearly legitimate. It may
nevertheless be said at once that as a matter of fact, so far as the
most important conclusions are concerned, we shall find no reasons for
thinking that hunting and fishing races differ from agricultural races.
The legitimacy of the method is therefore not strictly relevant. It
follows from this that the splitting up of the data and the
consideration separately of hunting and of agricultural races is in
reality only a matter of convenience.
14. Before we embark upon this attempt to throw light upon such general
characteristics of prehistoric races as are relevant to our particular
purpose, there is another point to be considered. One supposition
regarding the mode of life of man in early days is that he lived in
groups of polygamous families. As monogamy occurs among some of the
lowest of existing primitive races, he may have been monogamous. In any
case it seems that early man was not promiscuous in his sexual
relations. Whatever his primitive mode of life may have been, man
gradually rose to the recognition of common bonds and to the observation
in common of certain rules and restrictions. Primitive social
organization in fact gradually came into being, and this step, slowly
and painfully achieved as it no doubt was, represents one of the most
important steps ever achieved by man. Then for the first time he began
to reap the benefits of co-operation. Clearly we must imagine a
primitive form of social organization to have existed in the late
Palaeolithic; the attainment to so relatively high a degree of skill and
achievement is not otherwise comprehensible. The achievements of late
Palaeolithic man indicate the presence of a considerable body of
tradition, and the presence of tradition in any considerable amount
indicates social organization. It is difficult to come to any conclusion
with regard to early and Middle Palaeolithic times. The mode of life of
Neanderthal man is perhaps apt to be considered as more primitive than
was in fact the case, owing to the somewhat brutal form attributed to
his bodily features. It has to be remembered that he practised
ceremonial burial, and was acquainted with the use of fire—very
significant facts which render it on the whole probable that social
organization of a kind existed. Possibly we may have to suppose that
social organization existed among lower Palaeolithic men. They too
employed fire, and it may well be that their mode of life was not very
different from that of the Tasmanians.
Among all primitive races we find a form of social organization, and
unless it has been achieved more than once they are all ‘relicts’ of the
periods succeeding that in which men wandered in family groups. In the
first place, therefore, primitive races are only comparable with
prehistoric races which have achieved this great step forward. They
throw little or no light upon the conditions anterior to the taking of
this step. Further, when we look into the life of these races, we find
that the form of social organization is rigid. Men are bound hand and
foot by custom.[209] It has been suggested that the peculiarly rigid
nature of the social organization among these races—the fact that they
are soaked in tradition—is due to their having been left out of the main
stream of progress. It has been suggested in fact that, while other
races have gone forward, they have more or less stagnated, and that—this
is what is important—the relative stagnation has been the cause of the
rigidness of the organization. It follows that, to the extent to which
this is so, primitive races are not properly comparable with prehistoric
races. But it may be doubted if the facts are altogether as sometimes
alleged. Doubtless the earliest social organization was far less rigid
than it afterwards became, and we must beware of attributing to those
early races, which first became socially organized, the features
characteristic of primitive races, at least in many aspects. But we must
date back the origin of social organization in all probability nearer
100,000 than 50,000 years ago. In other words, later Palaeolithic races
must have had some thousands of years of social organization behind
them. Is then the peculiar rigidity of the organization of primitive
races altogether to be regarded as an acquirement attained during the
15,000, 20,000, 30,000 years, or whatever the period may have been,
since they have been out of the main stream of progress? It can scarcely
be so. A hardening of the system may have taken place, but not to such
an extent as to render it impossible to make comparisons between
primitive races and prehistoric races, and, what concerns us, to render
unacceptable the attribution to prehistoric races of those general
conditions of life found among primitive races, which will form the
subject-matter of the next two chapters.
VII
HUNTING AND FISHING RACES
1. We now pass to a consideration of the quantitative problem. In this
chapter we deal with hunting and fishing races. We require information
first regarding those factors which hinder the realization to the full
of the power of fecundity, and secondly regarding those factors which
cause elimination. Not until we have this information can we hope to
determine how numbers are regulated among these races. This inquiry is
not intended to be exhaustive; our aim is merely to gain an idea of the
nature of the more important factors which are in operation. When we
come to the interpretation of the evidence, there will be more to say
both as to the incompleteness of the evidence as here presented and as
to the inherent difficulties of ascertaining what the position was
before European influence had made itself felt.
2. We may first consider sexual intercourse before maturity. It is
perhaps more difficult to determine the prevalence of this custom than
that of any other practice which we shall have to examine in the course
of this chapter. The difficulty is due to the nature of the facts under
discussion; first it is clearly not easy to ascertain them and
comparatively few authors have the intimate knowledge necessary to
enable definite statements to be made; secondly such veiled and guarded
language is often used that the true state of the case remains
uncertain. We shall see that marriage, or at any rate cohabitation, very
soon after puberty is the universal rule among these races. Statements
therefore concerning ‘very early’ marriage must, in the absence of more
exact information, be taken to mean no more than that marriage follows
at once after puberty. Of the Tasmanians there is no certain
information. Statements exist to the effect that marriages are sometimes
consummated in Australia before puberty;[210] these statements are
seldom specific or on good authority. The more trustworthy accounts
state definitely that, no matter at what age betrothal occurs, the
husband does not claim his wife until she is mature.[211] The existence
of early betrothal as a widespread habit has no doubt betrayed some
authors into an error.[212] We know little of the customs of the Bushmen
in this as in most other respects. Statements have been made, however,
to the effect that marriage took place at so early an age that the girls
could not have been mature.[213]
Passing to the Eskimos it would appear that pre-puberty intercourse is
not uncommon. Of the Eskimos of Greenland we read as follows: ‘Often
indeed he marries before there is any chance of the union being
productive.’[214] Murdoch says of the Port Barrow Eskimos that
‘promiscuous sexual intercourse between married or unmarried people, or
even among children, appears to be looked upon merely as a matter for
amusement’;[215] similarly Turner says of the Eskimos of the Ungava
district that ‘many of the females are taken before that period’ (i.e.
before maturity).[216] There are some indications that similar habits
occur among the Indian tribes of the far north and of the Pacific Coast.
Ross reports of the Eastern Tinneh that ‘they marry sometimes, but not
often at ten, and have their menses at thirteen’.[217] Bearing in mind
the average age at which menstruation begins among American Indians, the
following statement by Gibbs, referring to the tribes of Western
Washington and North-western Oregon, points to the same conclusion.
‘Cohabitation of unmarried females among their own people brings no
disgrace if unaccompanied by child-birth. ... This commences at a very
early age, perhaps ten or twelve years.’[218] There does not seem to be
any definite statement with regard to the Californians; nevertheless the
common accounts of marriage at twelve or thereabouts, coupled with
statements as to freedom before marriage, are suggestive. Speaking
generally of the Californians, Powers says that ‘marriage frequently
takes place at the age of twelve or fourteen’,[219] and that ‘there is
scarcely an attribute known as virtue or chastity in either sex before
marriage’.[220] Another observer speaks of very early marriage among the
Comanches in such a manner as to suggest that it may be consummated
before puberty.[221] Lastly, there is some information for certain other
races which belong to this group. We are told that among the Fuegians
sexual relations begin at about ten to twelve years of age,[222] whereas
menstruation begins at about fourteen or fifteen years of age.[223] Of
the Veddahs we read that ‘marriage takes place at an early age; it was
said that marriage sometimes takes place before puberty, and as we have
heard of this at Herrebedda, Barrdaraduwa, and Omuni, we see no reason
to doubt the truth of the statement’.[224]
3. There is ample evidence to the effect that the period of lactation is
always prolonged among these races. Speaking of the Tasmanians, Ling
Roth mentions two years[225] and Bonwick three to four[226] as the
length of this period. Of the central Australians Eyre says that
‘infants are not often weaned until between two and three years
old’.[227] Of the Western Australians Grey says that ‘the native women
suckle their children until they are past the age of two or three
years’.[228] For the Southern Australians, Eylmann mentions four
years,[229] for the Narrinyeri, Taplin two years,[230] for the
aborigines of Encounter Bay, Meyer ‘a considerable time, sometimes to
the age of five or six years’,[231] for the aborigines of Victoria, Curr
three years,[232] and for the natives of King George’s Sound, Brown four
to five years.[233]
From America the evidence is similar. Among the Port Barrow Eskimos the
children are nursed until about three or four years of age.[234] Nansen
states that ‘Greenland mothers are very slow to wean their children.
They often give suck until the child is three or four, and I have even
heard of cases in which children of ten or over continue to take the
breast.’[235] Crantz, speaking of the same country, corroborates this
evidence,[236] and Bessels mentions a case from Smith Sound in which a
child was suckled up to seven years of age.[237] Heriot, speaking
generally of the Indian tribes of the North, mentions ‘the length of
time employed by the women in nursing their children, whom they nourish
for three or four years’,[238] and Long gives four, five, and even six
years.[239] For the Ingaliks Dall mentions three years,[240] for the
Eastern Tinneh Ross three or four,[241] for the Thlinkeet Krause four
years,[242] and Lord for the Indians of Puget Sound two or three
years.[243] Speaking of the Ahts of Vancouver Island, Sproat says he has
seen ‘a boy of four following his mother for her milk’,[244] and of the
tribes of California Schoolcraft that ‘children are sometimes not weaned
until five years of age’.[245] Similarly the Nootkas suckle their
children until they are three or four years old,[246] and Chinooks their
children ‘until three, four, or five years old’.[247] The facts are
similar for the inland Salish and Shushwap[248] as well as for the
tribes of Oregon and Washington[249] and the Chepewayans.[250] So also
in South America the Puelches[251] and the Abipones[252] suckle their
children for three years, and the same is reported of the Fuegians[253]
and of the Andaman Islanders who ‘never wean their babies so long as
they are able to suckle them’.[254] Among the Ghiliaks suckling is
continued up to the age of three years.[255]
4. Initiation ceremonies at the period of maturity are of common
occurrence among primitive races. These ceremonies are sometimes
accompanied by mutilation of the genital organs; but there is apparently
no reason to believe that this mutilation has any effect upon fecundity,
except possibly among the Australians.[256] It is unnecessary to
describe the exact nature of the operations performed upon Australian
boys and girls. The operations are severe and it seems very possible at
first sight that they might affect the reproductive power. The opinion
of authorities is divided on this point. Spencer and Gillen think that
the operations may have an injurious effect;[257] others, such as
Roth[258] and Mathews,[259] hold the contrary view. Upon the whole,
opinion inclines to the latter side.
Less doubt exists with regard to the assertion sometimes made that these
ceremonies are practised with the intention of producing sterility, or
in any case relative sterility.[260] For this there is no good evidence
and the best authorities definitely assert that it is not so.[261]
Another assertion has been made for which there is even less foundation;
it is said, for instance, that ‘in some tribes we find it a custom that
every man submits to this operation after the birth of his second or
third child’.[262] It would appear that as a matter of fact the
operation is performed at puberty and at no other time.
5. The three further factors to be considered which may have a bearing
upon fecundity are all connected with marriage. It has been shown by
Westermarck that marriage exists as an institution among all races,
however primitive.[263] What we have to ask is whether there is any
postponement of marriage, whether, that is to say, there is any
temporary or permanent celibacy and, so far as fecundity is concerned,
the age of women at marriage alone is relevant. The evidence points to
the fact that marriage of women takes place almost universally among
these races if not before, then at or very soon after, puberty. This is
Westermarck’s conclusion, after a wide survey of the races belonging
both to this and the next group. It will be sufficient to give some
examples of the evidence and then to note a few cases in which some
postponement is reported.
Summing up the evidence with regard to the Australians, Malinowski says
that in general it is true that there are no unmarried girls under
sixteen and no widows under forty-five, though there is some evidence
with regard to the existence of unmarried females;[264] thus Smyth,
speaking of the inhabitants of Victoria, records that girls were married
between the ages of ten and twelve,[265] and similar evidence is given
by Taplin of the inhabitants of South Australia.[266] In Australia there
is no evidence worth mentioning of either temporary or permanent
celibacy. Apart from the instances to be given below the evidence with
regard to other races in this group is very similar to that given before
of the Australians. Thus the average age for a girl to marry in
Vancouver Island was sixteen.[267] among the Californians generally
between twelve and fourteen,[268] and among the Stseelis and Skaulits
tribes fifteen.[269] Veddah girls married between eleven and
twelve.[270]
There is no doubt that, generally speaking, postponement of marriage is
rare, though occasionally some slight delay is reported, as in the
instances given in what follows. It should be mentioned, however, that
from time to time there is quite a considerable delay upon the part of
the man amongst these races; to this point we shall return later. As
regards women, Crantz states that sometimes Eskimo girls do not marry
until they are twenty.[271] Hill Tout, speaking of the Salish and the
Tinneh, says ‘with the exception of the Carrier tribes early marriages
were everywhere the custom’.[272] The same author mentions that among
the Thompson tribes girls did not marry until seventeen or
eighteen,[273] and this is confirmed by Teit.[274] The latter author
gives somewhat similar evidence for the Shushwap,[275] and also says
that among the Lillooet Indians girls are isolated for two years after
puberty, and only marry when from sixteen to twenty years old.[276] As
regards South America we are told by Musters that among the Tehuelches
the girls ‘often remain several years spinsters’,[277] and by
Dobrizhoffer that among the Abipones girls do not marry before their
twentieth year.[278]
There is one other matter to which reference may be made here. There is
often very considerable disparity in age between husband and wife at
marriage among primitive races. It is frequently the practice for the
girls on reaching the age of puberty to be taken in marriage by the
older men, while the young men marry women twice their age.[279] Since,
however, as pointed out in Chapter IV the age of the husband has little
or no effect upon fertility, this practice is of no importance from our
present point of view. The important fact which results from the
evidence is that almost universally among these races the women are
married at or soon after puberty and remain married throughout the
mature period.
6. Among almost every uncivilized race there are numerous occasions upon
which sexual intercourse is tabooed. Common instances are those of taboo
during the preparations for a hunting party or a military expedition. It
is not worth while to enumerate these occasions, because with one
exception it does not seem that they can, even when considered together,
have any marked effect upon fertility.[280] The exception referred to is
the prohibition upon intercourse that follows the birth of a child. This
taboo is of very great importance among certain races that we shall
consider in the eighth chapter. As regards hunting and fishing races
there is no record of its existence in Tasmania, Australia, among the
Bushmen, the Eskimos, or any other people of importance with the
exception of the American Indians. The evidence in this case is scanty;
there are certain difficulties and the matter is better left for
discussion in the next chapter when we come to deal with the
agricultural races of this part of the world. It is enough to say here
that certain early observers, speaking generally of the American
Indians, refer to this custom, and that two early observers speaking
specifically of two hunting tribes—one in North and one in South
America—record this custom. Cabeça de Vaca says that the Yguazas abstain
from intercourse for two years after child-birth,[281] and Dobrizhoffer
records of the Abipones that ‘the mothers suckle their children for
three years, during which time they have no conjugal intercourse with
their husbands’.[282]
7. At this point we may refer to the remarkable fullness and unanimity
of the evidence with regard to the number of children observed among
these races. The evidence is to the effect that the number of children
is always small.[283] Bonwick says that ‘families were never large with
the Tasmanians’,[284] and that ‘the native woman as a rule had very few
children, and fewer still were ... permitted to live’;[285] he
attributes this to the fact that women did not begin to bear children
until after several years of marriage,[286] and that women ceased to
bear at or soon after the age of thirty-five.[287] Abundant evidence is
forthcoming from Australia. ‘Large families of children are unusual
among the aborigines,’ says Dawson, ‘however many may be born, rarely
more than four are allowed to grow up.’[288] Lumholtz remarks that there
are seldom more than three or four children.[289] Mathew referring to
two Queensland tribes records that ‘the number of children in a family
was small on the average. Six would be rare. I know of no aboriginal
family with more than five who survived infancy.’[290] Grey obtained
some statistics in Western Australia with reference to the average
number of children born by women who had passed child-bearing age.
‘Forty-one females, of whose families I have obtained (from themselves
and others) lists upon the accuracy of which I can rely, had 188
children, or about 4·6 children each.’[291] Among the native tribes of
Central Australia the number of children in a family rarely exceeds four
or five, and is generally two or three;[292] at the same time sterility
is common; the greatest fertility is noticed among the stout and the
strong, whereas the thin and weak have scarcely any children.[293] Eyre
quotes some observations of Moorehouse, also made in Central Australia,
and says that ‘his investigations have led to the conclusion that each
woman has on an average five children born (nine being the greatest
number known)’;[294] Eyre adds that he agrees with this estimate.
Schürmann records that ‘the number of children reared by each family is
variable, but in general very limited, rarely exceeding four’. He adds
the interesting information that in spite of early marriage he has not
observed that they have children at an earlier age than is common among
the Europeans, and says that it is rare for a mother to have children
‘in rapid succession’.[295] Wilhelmi’s evidence is similar; with
reference to the aborigines of the Port Lincoln district he states that
‘the number of children in a family varies considerably; but, on the
whole, it is limited—seldom exceeding four’; he also adds that it seldom
happens that ‘children are born in a family quick after one
another’.[296]
Stow remarks that ‘the Bushmen seldom had large families’;[297] Theal,
on the other hand, says that ‘the earliest Dutch colonists observed that
they were remarkably prolific’[298]—one of the very few statements which
attribute a high fertility to any of these races. Passing now to the New
World we find a similar abundance of evidence pointing to the same
conclusion. ‘The Greenlanders are not very prolific. A woman has
commonly three or four children, but at most six; they generally bear
but one child in two or three years.’[299] Writing more than a hundred
years later than Crantz, Nansen gives very similar testimony, which has
already been quoted,[300] as has that of Murdoch for the Port Barrow
Eskimos.[301] The latter adds that ‘they do not commonly bear children
before the age of twenty’.[302] According to Bessels the number in an
Eskimo family near Smith Sound is on the average two; this low figure is
due to infanticide, he goes on to say.[303] In the Ungava district ‘the
number of children born varies greatly, for, although these Eskimo are
not a prolific race, a couple may occasionally claim parentage of as
many as ten children. Two or three is the usual number.’[304] Armstrong
notes of the Eskimos generally ‘that they are not a prolific race from
all that I could learn’.[305] Of the Aleutes Ritter says that the
average number in a family is two or three.[306]
Writing of the neighbourhood of Hudson Bay, Hearne says: ‘Providence is
very kind in causing these people to be less prolific than the
inhabitants of civilized nations; it is very uncommon to see one woman
have more than five or six children; and these are always born at such a
distance from one another, that the younger is generally two or three
years old before another is born into the world.’[307] Among the Eastern
Tinneh to be confined once every three years is ‘a high average’.[308]
The author responsible for this statement goes on to say that ‘the women
are capable of bearing children from fourteen to forty-five—a long
period of their lives—but in it very few infants are produced. Families
on an average contain three children ... and ten is the greatest number
I have seen.’ In Alaska ‘the females of the coast tribes are not
fruitful, and to see four children of one mother is quite a rare
occurrence, one or two being the common number of children to a
family’.[309] The evidence of Sproat for the Ahts and of Bancroft for
the Nootkas and the Chinooks has already been quoted.[310] Among the
Omahas ‘the usual number of children may be stated at from four to six
in a family’.[311] Of the Sound Indians Bancroft states that ‘the women
are not prolific, three or four being ordinarily the limit of their
offspring’.[312] The woman of the interior of the Pacific Coast ‘is not
prolific’,[313] and the number in a Chepewayan family is on the average
four.[314] In California ‘barrenness was not infrequent, twins very
uncommon, and the general average of families did not exceed two
children’.[315] Of the same people Baegert states that ‘it is certain
that many of their women are barren and that a great number of them bear
not more than one child’.[316] Of the Comanches we read: ‘they are not a
prolific race; indeed it is but seldom that a woman has more than three
or four children.’[317] Among the Puelches of South America ‘children
are not nearly so numerous as might be imagined’; this is due in part,
however, according to the author, to infanticide.[318] According to
Bridges, in Tierra del Fuego ‘few women have more than six children
owing to the great length of time between the several births’.[319] Of
the same people, Hyades and Deniker record their opinion that four is
the average number of children to a married woman.[320] They add that in
spite of early marriage very few young couples of eighteen to twenty
years of age had any children, although sterility was rare.[321]
Of the other races which belong to this group the evidence points to a
similar conclusion.[322] Man thinks that three or four is an average
number of children in an Andamanese family, and six is the largest
number he met with.[323] Portman mentions three as an average.[324] The
Sarasins are of opinion that Veddah women are fairly prolific and that
the small families recorded are due to infant mortality.[325] Of the
Tuski tribes Dall says ‘they are not prolific’,[326] and according to
Deniker ‘the Ghiliak women do not have many children; it is rare to find
more than two or three to a family’.[327]
8. We now come to the consideration of the factors of elimination. The
first practice, the extent of which we have to investigate, is that of
abortion. The methods employed need not be specified in each case; the
use of violent physical means is perhaps the most common; among other
methods the drinking of various decoctions is frequently referred to.
Doubt is sometimes expressed as to the efficacy of some of these
means—especially that of the last named. It may be that in some cases it
is of the nature of a magical ceremony without any practical result; as
a general rule, however, there is no doubt that the methods used are
effective.
Among the Tasmanians ‘abortion was frequently practised’.[328]
Statements are sometimes made which seem to imply that abortion was not
uncommon among the Australians.[329] A survey of the literature does not
support this view; the practice is indeed mentioned occasionally, but it
is clearly negligible in comparison with the universal presence of
infanticide. Curr says that it is occasionally employed.[330] In
Collins’s account of the aborigines in the neighbourhood of Port Jackson
there is a reference to ‘the horrid and cruel custom of endeavouring to
cause a miscarriage’.[331] Palmer records the practice as occurring
among the Mythuggadi tribe,[332] and Roth says it is common among
certain districts of North-west and Central Queensland.[333] Abortion
has been noticed among the Eskimos, but never as a common practice.[334]
It is among the Indian tribes of the North and the Pacific Coast that we
find the most numerous references to this custom.[335] Speaking of the
tribes near Hudson Bay, Ellis mentions ‘a very strange maxim of policy
which prevails much amongst them, which is that of suffering rather than
of obliging their women to procure frequent abortions by the use of a
certain herb common in that country’.[336] Similar facts are recorded of
the Knisteneaux.[337] Abortion is not ‘uncommon among the Haidahs’.[338]
The Nootkas ‘frequently prevent the increase of their families by
abortion’.[339] Lord says that the ‘causing of abortion’ is ‘not
uncommon’ among the natives of Puget Sound,[340] while we find this
practice spoken of as ‘common’ in Vancouver Island.[341] Teit mentions
abortion as being ‘rarely practised’ among the Thompson Indians,[342]
and as ‘rare’ among the Shushwap.[343] Gibbs speaks of abortion as being
‘almost universal’ among the tribes of Western Washington and
North-western Oregon.[344] According to Bancroft abortion is of
‘frequent occurrence’ among the Chinooks, and ‘not uncommon’ among the
inland tribes.[345] Powers also records the practice among the Kabinapek
of California,[346] and Castelnau among the Guaycurus[347] and Rengger
among the Payaguas.[348] Cooper, who has reviewed the evidence so far as
the Fuegians are concerned, states that ‘deliberate abortion is
common’.[349]
9. There is one common form of infanticide—the killing of deformed
children—which can have no importance so far as numbers are concerned.
But this practice may be noted here because of its bearing upon quality.
We may also note in particular when the killing is said to be of female
children.[350]
Bonwick states that infanticide was fairly prevalent in Tasmania.[351]
Ling Roth, who summarizes the evidence of several authors, finds it
somewhat conflicting; but it would seem that infanticide undoubtedly
occurred though it is not known with any certainty whether it was
practised on a large scale or not.[352] In Australia infanticide is
practised on a very large scale. Parker states that it was very frequent
and that deformed children were always killed.[353] Lumholtz’s testimony
is similar,[354] while, according to Dawson, no matter how many children
are born, ‘rarely more than four are allowed to grow up’—the deformed
children apparently always being destroyed.[355] According to an
estimate made by Curr of conditions in Victoria ‘nearly one-half [of the
children born to any one married woman] fell victims to
infanticide’[356], and more girls than boys perished.[357] According to
Wilhelmi, if, as rarely happens, births follow one another quickly among
the aborigines of the Port Lincoln district, ‘the youngest is generally
destroyed’;[358] Beveridge says that the practice prevails in Victoria
and Riverina ‘to a very considerable extent’.[359] This last statement
is supported by that of Mathews to the effect that ‘infanticide is
common’ in New South Wales and Victoria.[360] Among the inhabitants of
the River Darling region ‘it seems to have been the custom to kill many
of the children directly after birth’,[361] and in Southern Australia
infanticide was very prevalent.[362] According to Howitt infanticide was
practised ‘to some extent’ among the Mining Tribe,[363] in the
Tongeranka tribe it was ‘common’;[364] in the Mukjarawaint tribe ‘the
grandparents had to decide whether a child was to be kept alive or
not’;[365] in all the tribes of the Wotjo nation and also the Tatuthi
and other tribes of the Murray River frontage, when a child was weak and
sickly they used to kill its infant brother and sister and feed it with
the flesh to make it strong;[366] in the Wadthaurung tribe the practice
was evidently not uncommon;[367] in the Narrinyeri tribe infanticide
appears to have been very prevalent, so that ‘more than one-half of the
children fell victims to this atrocious custom’,[368] whilst deformed
children seem always to have been killed both in this case[369] and
among the aborigines of Encounter Bay.[370] Infanticide was common among
the tribes of Port Lincoln—girls being less often spared than
boys[371]—among the Dieyerie tribe, where deformed children were never
spared,[372] among two Queensland tribes,[373] in the neighbourhood of
Port Darwin,[374] in Central Australia,[375] and among the Northern
tribes of Central Australia.[376] In Western Australia deformed children
were always killed.[377]
Our information with regard to the Bushmen suggests that infanticide was
prevalent, though not confined to new born children. ‘The Bushmen will
kill their children without remorse on various occasions; as when they
are ill-shaped, when they are in want of food, when the father of a
child has forsaken its mother, or when obliged to flee from the fathers
of others.’[378] Infanticide is more common than abortion among the
Eskimos.[379] Nelson says that in the neighbourhood of Behring Straits
even girls of four to six years of age are at times killed.[380] Among
the Central Eskimos ‘it is practised to some extent’, though apparently
only girls and the children of widows and widowers are destroyed.[381]
Murdoch never heard of infanticide in the Port Barrow region,[382] but
says that it is reported to be ‘frequently practised among the Eskimo of
Smith Sound without regard of sex’ and that female infanticide occurs
among the people of King William Land.[383] It is also recorded of the
inhabitants of Smith Sound by Bessels that, after two children have been
born, any others that may come are more often than not killed.[384] In
Greenland ‘the heathen Eskimo killed deformed children, and those that
seem too sickly to live, as well as those that lose their mothers at
birth, when no one else can be found to take charge of them’.[385]
Killing of deformed children is also reported by Smith,[386] and that of
children who have lost their parents by Rink.[387] Among the Aleuts
infanticide is said to be rare,[388] but among the Malemutes
infanticide, especially of girls, was not infrequent.[389]
Infanticide is frequently practised among the Kutchins[390] and the
killing of deformed children by the inhabitants of the Copper River
District is especially mentioned in the account of Jacobsen’s
journey.[391] Among the Chinooks Lord says it is ‘not uncommon’[392] and
Bancroft that it is of ‘frequent occurrence’.[393] The Thompson Indians
seldom kill their children, and a woman who did so was reprimanded.[394]
With the Haidahs, on the other hand, infanticide is reported to be ‘not
uncommon’,[395] and among the tribes between the Frazer and Columbia
Rivers it was formerly common.[396] The same impression is gained from
accounts of the Chepewayans.[397] The Koniagas ‘prize boy babies, but
frequently kill the girls’.[398] Powers, referring generally to the
Californians, speaks of ‘the prevalence of the crime of
infanticide’;[399] in particular he records that it was common among the
Gallinomero, who never spared deformed children,[400] that among the
Kabinapek[401] and the Nishinan[402] children who had lost their mother
were killed, and that deformed children were destroyed by the
Woruk.[403] Among the Yguazes infanticide was fairly frequent.[404] The
Abipones of South America ‘do not bring up more than two children to a
family, the others being killed to save trouble;’[405] According to
another observer ‘they seldom rear but one child of each sex, murdering
the rest as fast as they come into the world, till the eldest are strong
enough to walk alone’.[406] This practice, on the other hand, is said to
be ‘extremely rare’ among the Botocudos.[407] It occurs among the
Guaycurus.[408] Among the Puelches infanticide is common and deformed
children are always killed.[409] In spite of what has sometimes been
said, infanticide ‘only occurs occasionally’ among the Fuegians.[410] In
the literature with regard to the Veddahs reviewed by the Sarasins,
there is only one author who mentions infanticide.[411]
10. Wars[412] were apparently common between the Tasmanian tribes, but
we have no trustworthy information as to their character.[413] Of
conditions in Australia we have abundant evidence; the literature has
been recently studied by Wheeler.[414] He distinguishes between
regulated and unregulated warfare, of which the latter is rare.[415] By
regulated warfare is meant not only that the use of heralds, messengers,
and preliminary negotiations is recognized, but also that the fighting
itself is regulated in such a manner as to restrict bloodshed. Most
commonly, if it comes to fighting, the two opposing sides meet and throw
boomerangs until one or two men are knocked down. Then, before further
damage is done, fighting stops and peace is re-established—not a single
life perhaps having been lost.[416] Unregulated warfare is a more
serious matter; a war party may attack and destroy a local group of some
other tribe without observing any of the formalities described
above.[417] In the latter case women are sometimes slain, although this
never happens in regulated warfare.[418] On the whole the loss of life
owing to warfare in Australia must be very small.
The Bushmen gained the reputation of being vigorous fighters during the
wars with the colonists and managed to inspire terror throughout a large
part of Africa. We have, however, but little information as to their
habits before they were so rudely disturbed and, it must be said, so
barbarously treated. ‘They never appear’, says Stow, ‘to have had great
wars against each other; sudden quarrels among rival huntsmen, ending in
lively skirmishes, which owing to their nimbleness and presence of mind,
caused little damage to life or limb, appear to have been the extent of
their individual and tribal differences.’[419] Of the Eskimos about the
Behring Strait Nelson says that ‘an almost continuous inter-tribal
warfare’ formerly existed;[420] such a state of things is clearly
uncommon; in Greenland, for instance, we are told that war is rare,[421]
whereas among the Central Eskimos real wars have never happened.[422]
Nevertheless a good deal of fighting seems often to occur between the
Eskimos and the Tinneh, whom they hate and fear. ‘Along the line of
contact with the Tinneh tribes of the Interior a bitter feud was always
in existence,’ says Nelson,[423] who is confirmed by Bancroft,[424]
Hall,[425] and Ellis.[426] Of the Malemutes we are told that ‘the
occupants of the several islands are almost constantly at war’.[427]
It is among the American Indians both in the North and South that we
find war to be more frequent and sanguinary than elsewhere. Certain
tribes are more peaceful than others, but in the lives of only a few did
war play an unimportant part. In addition to the evidence of actual
fighting we have, what is suggestive in this connexion, many accounts of
the large part which martial training played in the upbringing of these
races. ‘The whole force of public opinion in our Indian communities’,
says Schoolcraft, ‘is concentrated upon this point, its early Lodge
teachings, its dances, its religious rites, the harangues of prominent
actors made at public assemblies, all, in fact, that serves to awaken
and fire ambition in the mind of the savage, is clustered about the idea
of future distinction in war.’[428] ‘They are’, says an
eighteenth-century traveller, ‘early possessed with the notion that war
ought to be the chief business of their lives.’[429] And war does play a
very large part in their lives. ‘All Indian tribes are frequently at war
with one another,’ says Harmon.[430] The Thlinkeet are often at war[431]
and the same applies to all the tribes of the Pacific Coast, including
the Haidahs,[432] the Ahts,[433] and the Kwakiutl.[434] Among some of
these tribes, however, as, for example, the Chinooks,[435] frequent as
fighting may be, it is not very sanguinary. The Northern tribes of the
interior we have seen to be at war with the Eskimos from time to time,
and we are told that among themselves it is practically continuous.[436]
The Inland tribes are perhaps somewhat less warlike,[437] though the
accounts of the Shushwap,[438] Lillooets,[439] and Thompson Indians[440]
give the impression of tribes among whom fighting—and fighting of a
severe kind—is by no means infrequent. The Crees and the Blackfeet, for
instance, waged ‘unceasing war’;[441] the warlike instinct of the
Chepewayans is well known.[442] The tribes of Western Washington and
Northern Oregon engaged in constant warfare, though the actual
encounters did not result in any great loss of life.[443] In Central
California ‘battles, though frequent, were not attended with much loss
of life’.[444] In Southern California we hear of ‘frequent and deadly
wars’[445] from one author and of ‘continual wars’ from another,[446]
the last laying stress upon warfare as an important factor in the
population question. The Seri Indians of Tiburon Island engage in
practically continuous warfare,[447] and the Comanches ‘highly honour
bravery on the battlefield’. From early youth they are taught the art of
war.[448] ‘In consequence of continual hostilities’ the Ygauzas ‘cannot
travel the country nor make many exchanges’.[449] Among the Puelches war
is both common and sanguinary,[450] and the same is the case with regard
to the Guaycurus[451] and the Charruas.[452] The Fuegians are ‘almost
always at war with adjoining tribes; they seldom meet, but a hostile
encounter is the result’.[453]
11. Passing to the consideration of feuds it is found that they
originate largely from motives of blood revenge. The expression blood
revenge suggests retribution for a murder actually committed, but among
primitive races the origin of blood revenge is far more often the
natural death of some member of the tribe. Owing to the almost universal
belief among these races that death is never natural in our sense of the
word, the loss of a relation or fellow-tribesman is attributed to
magical influence, and the guilt fastened upon some individual by a
process of magical divination. It appears that women are judged to be
equally capable with men of causing death, and that therefore
elimination from this cause falls equally upon both sexes.
‘No such thing as natural death is recognized by the [Australian]
natives; a man who dies has of necessity been killed by another man or
perhaps even by a woman.’[454] ‘If an Abipon die from being pierced by
many wounds, or from having his bones broken, or his strength exhausted
from extreme old age, his countrymen all deny that wounds or weakness
occasioned his death, and anxiously try to discover by which of the
jugglers and for what reason he was killed.’[455] I Among different
races the holding of this belief has different results. With regard to
Australia, Messrs. Spencer and Gillen in the passage quoted above
continue as follows: ‘sooner or later that man or woman will be
attacked. In the normal condition of the tribe every death meant the
killing of another individual’—the guilty person being indicated by a
medicine man.[456] The avenging party is at times merely directed by the
medicine man to proceed in a certain direction and after a march, it may
be of a considerable distance, discovers another local group which it
entirely wipes out.[457] At other times an individual near by is
indicated and at once dispatched. It is obvious that if such results
commonly followed upon the death of every tribesman the population would
rapidly diminish, and, as a matter of fact, serious as the consequences
of this belief are, there are many indications that blood revenge is not
carried out with the extreme rigour that the above passage would seem to
indicate. Probably most deaths go unavenged,[458] yet in spite of this
blood revenge must be accounted as a factor of importance in
Australia,[459] especially as it affects women as well as men.[460]
Among the races belonging to the second group we shall meet with a
somewhat similar state of affairs. But, widespread as this belief is, it
does not appear to provoke bloodshed among the other races belonging to
this group on any large scale. We hear of feuds among the Eskimos and
the punishment of witchcraft by death. Murder is also reported as
occurring among the Eskimos. ‘It is not a rare occurrence that a man who
is offended by another man takes revenge by killing the offender,’ and a
feud then follows which may last for generations.[461] Blood feuds
originating in actual murder are also recorded of various Indian
tribes;[462] but it does not appear that bloodshed, owing to belief in
witchcraft, occurs on any significant scale either in North or South
America. Of the Haidahs we are told that ‘death is ascribed to the
ill-will and malign influence of an enemy and one suspected of causing
the death of a prominent individual must be ready to die’.[463] Niblack,
speaking of the Coast tribes from Southern Alaska to British Columbia
and thus including the Haidahs, says: ‘all severe diseases or illnesses
are ascribed to the evil influence of enemies, and in the case of the
death of an important personage, a victim is usually found who has
presumably charmed away the life of the deceased.’[464] The implication
is, of course, that a victim is only sought on rare occasions, as on the
death of a prominent man.
12. The custom of killing the old and the sick is of sufficient
importance to deserve mention. Among these races it is not uncommon and
is connected with the nomadic nature of their existence.[465] The
Tasmanians would seem to have been in the habit of abandoning the sick
and infirm.[466] There is some evidence of this habit in Australia,[467]
but on the whole sick and aged are well looked after in that
country.[468] ‘The Bushmen frequently forsake their aged relations when
removing from place to place for the sake of hunting. In this case they
leave the old person with a piece of meat and an ostrich egg-shell full
of water; as soon as this little stock is exhausted, the poor deserted
creature must perish by hunger or become the prey of wild beasts.’[469]
The aged are not treated well by the Eskimos. In the Ungava district
they are put to death,[470] and among the Central Eskimos a man may kill
his aged parents.[471] ‘On the East coast (of Greenland) it sometimes
happens that old people, who seem likely to die are drowned, or else
drown themselves.’[472] For the most part the Indians treat their sick
and aged well; but there are some instances to the contrary. The Queka
Indians abandon the sick and aged.[473] The Ahts,[474] the tribes of
Washington,[475] and the Chepewayans[476] did the same. The Central
Californians killed the old people,[477] and, according to MacGee the
Seri ‘often abandoned the sick and aged who cannot keep up with them in
their constant wanderings to and fro’.[478] In some of the accounts of
the Fuegians similar habits are attributed to them; there is, however,
some reason to doubt their accuracy.[479] These practices certainly
occur among the Zaporos.[480]
13. We have now to mention certain other modes of elimination. That form
of elimination, which we saw to be of great importance among animals in
a state of nature whereby the young perish on a large scale because they
are consumed by other species, is of little importance among men who
have reached the stage of the lowest races known to us.[481]
The subject of elimination from disease can be approached from different
aspects. We can ask what evidence there is regarding the prevalence of
disease among primitive races when they first came under the observation
of Europeans. This evidence is of somewhat doubtful value. It is also of
assistance to ask how far these races were immune from diseases
prevalent in Europe; for it is in general to be inferred that marked
liability to disease is a sign that no immunity has been evolved against
disease because it was previously absent. We can further consider the
question of the evolution of disease in general and ask to what
conclusions it points. The latter aspect of the matter can be taken
first.
The organisms which cause disease do not belong all to one class. Some,
such as the bacteria, are plants, others are animals. Further, those
species which cause disease are closely related to other quite innocuous
species. Non-virulent diphtheroid bacteria are, for instance, found in
the throat. What has happened has been that certain species, belonging
to different groups in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, have taken to
a parasitic mode of life. It is not very difficult to imagine how this
could occur. It is to be presumed that organisms now parasitic were once
free-living and saprophytic. There is a bacillus which lives on grass;
it is closely related to the tubercle bacillus but is harmless. Such an
organism might be frequently swallowed; if liable to destruction,
resistance might be evolved.[482] Its presence might be innocuous, or it
might not be so and a new disease might be the consequence. The invasion
of a host by a parasite appears usually to be followed by a struggle—on
the part of the host to get rid of the parasite, and on the part of the
parasite to maintain itself within the host—in the course of which
struggle the parasite may develop activities noxious to the host. To
this struggle there are different possible solutions. But, when we find
the struggle in progress, it is a fair assumption that the association
of host and parasite is recent. The very fact of disease, therefore,
suggests that it is of relatively recent origin.
There are two further facts which are relevant in this connexion.
Diseases are very rare among species in a state of nature. Such diseases
as we know of among animals and plants occur for the most part among
domesticated species. Again, there are certain conditions which favour
the evolution of disease; these conditions are found among domesticated
species and also among civilized man. There are many ways in which
disease can be transmitted—by insects, by liquid particles in the air,
by drinking water, by water used for bathing, by water introduced within
the tissues, and so on. Transmission by all these means, with the
partial exception of transmission by insects, is obviously very greatly
favoured by the aggregation of the members of the host species. In fact
only when such aggregation occurs can we understand how disease on a
large scale could be evolved. The aggregation of men, such as occurred
within the third period, into villages and towns, gave rise to
conditions under which bacteria could flourish in close proximity to
man; under these conditions there was far more opportunity for bacteria
and other micro-organisms to become parasitic than before. The
suggestion, therefore, is that most diseases evolved in that relatively
recent period when, owing to the increase in skill, men came to live in
close proximity under settled conditions.
This suggestion is supported by two other lines of evidence. It would
appear that Australia and America were upon their discovery free from
most of the diseases known in Europe. With regard to the former Davidson
says: ‘Australia presents us with a spectacle of a continent, from the
pathology of which entire classes of diseases, prevalent in other
divisions of the globe, were, until comparatively recent times,
completely absent. Thus the whole class of eruptive fevers—small-pox,
scarlet fever, and measles—so fatal elsewhere, were unknown. Epidemic
cholera, relapsing fever, yellow fever, whooping cough, and diphtheria
were equally absent, as also was syphilis.... Leprosy was absent from
the southern continent.’[483] The facts with regard to America are very
similar. It has been asserted that the only lethal disease of importance
present in America before the visit of Columbus was malaria, and it is
worthy of note that malaria is an insect-born disease. The question
whether tuberculosis was known in America before the discovery has been
studied by Hrdlicka, who concludes that, though it cannot be affirmed
that it did not exist, it is highly improbable that it did.[484] Again,
the marked liability on the part of primitive races to common European
diseases points strongly to the fact that no immunity had been evolved
against these diseases because they were formerly unknown. Since contact
with Europeans has been established, these races have been swept by
epidemics, such as the epidemic of measles which carried off a large
proportion of the population of Fiji in 1875.
It is not to be concluded that most diseases are recent in the ordinary
sense of the word, but only when a broad view is taken of human history.
It is known, for instance, that tuberculosis, plague, leprosy, and
bilharzia existed in ancient Egypt. Where and when diseases originated
we cannot say, but the fact that certain widely-spread diseases can be
traced to a previously limited and localized incidence—cholera, for
instance, to the Ganges Valley—suggests that such diseases originated in
those places in relatively recent times and spread thence. But in spite
of such indications the place of origin of most diseases is obscure;
syphilis was often said to have been introduced from America; the
evidence, however, that it was apparently present in Germany in 1495 is
against this view.[485] It is further of great interest to note that
certain diseases may have evolved in very recent days. Diphtheria may
date from the beginning of the last century and trench fever may be a
new disease.
Little as we may know regarding the facts concerning any one disease,
the general conclusion is not doubtful. It was not until the third
period, and, therefore, only among the races of the third group, that
disease became a factor of the first importance in elimination. Some
diseases may have reached the African races through Egypt; and to the
extent to which this has occurred they are not typical representatives
of the time preceding the last of the three periods.[486]
14. In further support of this conclusion some passages may be quoted
regarding the races in this group when they had been little influenced
by contact with Europeans. Such passages are perhaps not of great weight
as evidence of the former absence of disease; they are, however, worth
notice because they also bear upon another subject that will come up for
discussion in the ninth chapter. According to Bonwick ‘there are strong
reasons to believe that, before connexion with the whites, the
aborigines [Tasmanians] were a healthy as well as a happy people’.[487]
Of the Australians Curr says that ‘as a rule the health of the blacks in
their wild state was excellent’.[488] Longevity may be considered as
evidence of good health, and of the presence of aged people in Australia
many observers speak. ‘From numerous instances it would appear that the
former generations were fairly long aged. Almost every small community
would have in it two or three men or women over seventy years of age,
and here and there some centenarians would be met with.’[489] So, too,
Burchell records having noticed many old people among the Bushmen.[490]
Writing of the Eskimos in a medical journal Smith calls them ‘uncommonly
healthy’.[491] This is the opinion that one gains from other
accounts,[492] some of which specially mention longevity as a
characteristic.[493] ‘The North Americans are in general robust and of a
healthful temperament, calculated to live to an advanced age.’[494]
Another author says that the Indians east of the Rocky Mountains are ‘in
general subject to few diseases’.[495] Krause quotes the opinion of a
doctor who lived among the Thlinkeets in the year 1836 to the effect
that they were a strong, healthy people.[496] Of the Shushwap we are
told that they were formerly healthy and lived to a great age.[497] Hill
Tout sums up the situation with regard to the Salish as follows: ‘the
great age, to which both men and women formerly lived, shows the vigour
of the race and the general wholesomeness of their lives and
condition.’[498] ‘The Nootkas are generally a long-lived race, and from
the beginning to the failing of manhood undergo little change in
appearance. Jowitt states that during his captivity of three years at
Nootka Sound, only five natural deaths occurred, and the people suffered
scarcely any disease except the cholic.’[499] Powers, referring to the
Californians as a whole, calls them ‘a healthy, long-lived race’,[500]
and Baegert speaks of them as ‘strong, hardy, and much healthier than
the many thousands who live in daily abundance’[501] [in civilized
countries]. Among the Abipones ‘the diseases which in Europe fill houses
with sick persons and graves with the dead bodies are unknown here....
You scarce hear once in three years of any of them dying of a fever,
pleurisy, or consumption.’[502] Hardt mentions the good health of the
Botocudos[503] and King and Fitzroy consider the Patagonians to be very
healthy.[504]
15. There remains one other matter to be mentioned. There is abundant
evidence that the rate of child mortality is very high amongst all these
races. The causes of death are various; disease is seldom mentioned, and
death is most often due to exposure as the result of improper treatment
or of certain customs, or to want of suitable food. In Tasmania it was
difficult to rear children largely owing to the fact that suitable food
was not available.[505] Turner says of the Eskimos of the Ungava
District that ‘many die in early childhood’,[506] and this would seem to
be generally true of this race. The reason usually given is the absence
of proper food;[507] and it is not difficult to understand that the
peculiar Eskimo diet should be unsuitable for children. Child mortality
is heavy among the Indians, ‘only a small proportion coming to
maturity’.[508] The reason given in this case is generally the absence
not only of knowledge with regard to the simplest requirements of
children, but of any reasonable care of them.[509] To this we may add—as
the evidence will show—the practice of extraordinary customs which seem
designed to eliminate all but those with the strongest constitutions.
‘With all the affection of the mother, the women are almost completely
ignorant of ordinary sanitary rules as to feeding, exposure, &c., with
the result that infant mortality is something terrible in almost every
tribe.’[510] Heriot speaks of ‘incredible fatigues, whose excess
occasions the death of many long before the age of maturity’.[511]
According to Domenech: ‘many Indians die in infancy; their mothers, to
inure them to suffering and to strengthen their constitution, do not
take all the necessary care of them.... Till the age of ten or twelve
years they are kept quite naked, having only in winter a garment which
we would hardly call such in the warmest summer.’[512] Throughout
America it is a common custom to bathe even new-born children in cold
water at all seasons of the year, and to this Krause attributes the high
child mortality that he records among the Thlinkeet.[513] ‘Many children
[of the Eastern Tinneh] die at an early age,’ according to one
author,[514] whilst from another we hear that ‘the infant is not allowed
food until four days after birth, in order to accustom it to fasting in
the next world’.[515] Nootka mothers ‘roll their children in the snow to
make them hardy’,[516] and the Thompson Indians take small care of their
children, allowing them to run about without any protection.[517] Of the
Californians the Jesuit missionary Baegert, who dwelt long among them
when they were almost uninfluenced by European culture, says: ‘that many
infants die among them is not surprising: on the contrary, it would be a
great wonder if a great number remained alive. For when the poor child
first sees the light of day, there is no other cradle provided for it
but the hard soil, or the still harder shell of a turtle, in which the
mother places it, without much covering, and drags it about wherever she
goes. And in order to be unencumbered and enabled to use her limbs with
greater freedom while running in the fields, she will leave it sometimes
in charge of some old woman, and thus deprive the poor creature for ten
hours or more of its natural nourishment. As soon as the child is a few
months old the mother places it, perfectly naked, astraddle on her
shoulders, its legs hanging down on both sides in front, and it has
consequently to learn how to ride before it can stand on its feet. In
this guise the mother roams about all day, exposing her helpless charge
to the hot rays of the sun and the chilly winds that sweep over the
inhospitable country.’[518] Conditions seem to be much the same in South
America. Dobrizhoffer tells us that the Abipones plunge their new-born
babies into a cold stream,[519] and Guinnard says that very few diseases
occur among the children of the Puelches, though child mortality is
high.[520] ‘Few [Fuegian] women save all their children; most die in
early infancy.’[521] So, too, among the Andamanese child mortality is
said to be excessive[522] and is ascribed to injudicious management on
the part of the parents.[523] According to the Sarasins it is the high
death-rate that is the cause of the small size of the Veddah families
which they observed.[524] New-born Ghiliak children are bathed ‘often
when it is 40° below zero. The children who can survive such an
experience are necessarily very strong.’[525] ‘According to Schrenck,
the Ghiliak woman never dares “to give birth to a child at home; she
must, in spite of severity of season or of stormy weather, go out of the
hut for the purpose. In late autumn or in winter they build a special
hut for the woman, but a very uncomfortable one, so that the mother and
the child suffer the cold and feel the wind”.’[526]
This concludes our survey of the races of the first group. Before we
consider what conclusions are to be drawn from these facts, we have to
deal in the same fashion with the races of the second group. This will
form the subject-matter of the next chapter.
VIII
PRIMITIVE AGRICULTURAL RACES
1. It is necessary first to explain what races will be considered. The
lower limit has already been made clear. As regards the upper limit,
some description has been given of the stage of Neolithic culture, and
the races to be considered here are those which may be in general
compared with the Neolithic races. The comparison can only be rough; as
we saw, the subsequent evolution of culture was rapid; metals came into
use, and, generally speaking, about the time of the first taking of
metals into use arose the first great empires. At this point we clearly
enter upon a new epoch and the upper limit in time is defined by the
rise of Eur-Asiatic civilization. We wish to study here the conditions
anterior to this step in the evolution of culture. It so happens that
this Eur-Asiatic culture has influenced in varying degrees many of the
races of Africa, Oceania, and Asia. The upper limit among the races to
be considered here is best defined by the degree to which they have been
influenced by this culture. America stands apart as there has clearly
been no influence of this culture upon the races in that continent. But
it should be remembered that in some places in America a degree of
culture was reached which was probably higher than that to which any
Neolithic race attained.[527] Nevertheless all the races of America not
already dealt with may be considered here. Many African races are
acquainted with the use of iron; it has been suggested that the
knowledge of the use of this metal originated in Africa; this, however,
is doubtful and the existence of this practice is probably to be
regarded as due to the spread of an element of Eur-Asiatic culture. The
use of the plough is also an example of the spread of an element of this
culture;[528] roughly speaking the use of the plough does not spread
towards the west, south of the latitude of Lake Chad; towards the east
it extends farther south, and on this account the Gallas, Somalis, and
Abyssinians can scarcely be considered as representative of the second
group of races.[529] The peculiarity of the Oceanic region is that many
of the races now found there undoubtedly migrated from some point on or
close to the Asiatic coast after Eur-Asiatic culture had reached a high
degree of development. Nevertheless they are for the most part ignorant
of the use of metal and of the plough.[530] The Dyaks are metal users
and the plough is known in parts of Borneo. We shall not on this
account, however, exclude the Dyaks from consideration here. The true
Malays on the other hand will be excluded; they are Mohammedans and,
originally located in Sumatra, spread in the twelfth century over a
large part of this area. On the fringe of Asia are a number of races
which, though in a broad survey are of no great importance, may be
noticed here. Such are the Ostiaks, Yakuts, Chuckchees, Samoyeds, and so
on.[531] What races are dealt with here may be made more clear by a
reference to those which will be considered in Chapters X and XI. In
those chapters we shall consider the ancient empires, the classical
races, mediaeval and modern Europe and its derivatives as well as the
chief races of Asia, whether pastoral such as the Arabs or existing by a
higher form of agriculture than that practised by the races to be
noticed here. In this manner we shall obtain a broad view of the
conditions both before and after the rise of Eur-Asiatic civilization.
It is obvious that we have before us a very large mass of material—too
large, in fact, to be dealt with without further subdivision. It might
seem that the only reasonable course is to distinguish between various
grades of agricultural progress, and to consider in turn those races
which fall into each grade. Such distinctions have been made by
Professor Hobhouse and his collaborators, who recognize three grades of
agriculture and two grades of pastoral nomadism. As has already been
indicated, we do not find any correlation between economic stages and
the factors bearing upon fertility and elimination. What we do find is a
certain correlation between these factors and large geographical areas,
and in what follows the races of the second group will be considered
according to the geographical areas in which they are situated, and not
according to the stage of economic progress which they have reached. The
areas selected are as follows. There is, in the first place, America;
secondly, there is Africa, and thirdly Oceania. The first two areas are,
on the whole, fairly homogeneous; though the third area is not so
homogeneous, the level of agricultural skill is fairly uniform—nearly
all these races falling into Hobhouse’s second grade. Lastly, there are
the Asiatic peoples among whom Eur-Asiatic culture has not penetrated;
many of them are inhabitants of the northern fringe of the continent. It
will be noticed that the pastoral races chiefly fall within the last
group. The so-called pastoral races of America—the Navahos, for
instance—have only acquired domestic animals since coming into contact
with Europeans. The pastoral races of Africa are with difficulty
distinguished from their neighbours, who also raise cattle but practise
some agriculture at the same time. It will thus be observed that this
mode of classification is, as a matter of fact, roughly in
correspondence with the mode of classification based upon the stage of
economic progress reached.
_America_
2. We have now to examine in turn the races of these four regions. The
procedure will be that followed when dealing with hunting and fishing
races. As before we begin with examples of intercourse before maturity.
This may take the form of marriage before puberty or of less regular
connexions. As Mr. Hartland says, ‘it would appear that sexual
intercourse before puberty is either recognized by a formal marriage or
tolerated as the gratification of a natural instinct among a great
variety of peoples in all quarters of the globe’.[532] It will be
sufficient here to note a few instances of this practice. Of the tribes
of Guatemala, Bancroft says that ‘marriages take place at an early age,
often before puberty’,[533] and the same would seem to be the case among
the Navahos.[534] Accounts of the great laxity of manners and of early
intercourse are given of some North American tribes—as, for instance, of
the Hurons and the Illinois by Charlevoix.[535] The same is also
commonly reported of the Brazilian tribes in such a manner as to leave
little doubt that intercourse before puberty is common among them.[536]
3. Generally speaking, throughout America lactation lasted two years or
more.[537] The suckling period indeed sometimes extended over several
years; thus among the Sioux it might be continued until the child was
five years old;[538] of the Lengua Indians of the Paraguayan Chaco,
Hawtrey says that ‘it is customary to suckle children till five or six
years of age’;[539] Bancroft reports that a child might be suckled until
eight years old among the Chichmics.[540] Two years would appear to be
about the minimum; in Mexico[541] and Guiana[542] it was three years or
more. D’Orbigny gives three years,[543] and Forbes one or more, often
two, for the Aymara Indians.[544] In Mexico suckling was said to last
three or four years.[545]
4. With regard to postponement of marriage the facts are very similar to
those in respect to the races of the first group. As an almost universal
rule girls are married soon after puberty, if not before. There is no
postponement of marriage of a nature to affect fertility in any
noticeable manner. There is at times a certain postponement of marriage
among the male part of the population, and occasionally some evidence of
lifelong celibacy. This, however, has no bearing upon fertility; it is
of interest in another connexion, and we shall on that account return to
it later.
5. As noticed in the last chapter there are among nearly all primitive
races a number of occasions upon which sexual intercourse is prohibited.
Alone among these prohibitions, that against intercourse for some time
after the birth of a child is of importance as a factor bearing upon
fertility. We shall find that in Africa this prohibition becomes of very
great importance. The evidence as to the existence of this prohibition
in America is somewhat puzzling. In the last chapter two instances were
given in which intercourse during lactation was prohibited in two
hunting races. Both these instances are reported by authors who made
their observations many years ago when the customs of the American
Indians had been less modified by contact with white men than is the
case with most of the observations upon which we have to rely. We also
find that two other observers, who wrote more than a hundred years ago,
record the existence of this custom. It is not clear to what tribes
these remarks refer—whether to hunting peoples or to agricultural
peoples, or to both. Weld says: ‘They suckle the few children they have
for several years, during which time, at least among many of the tribes,
they avoid all connexion with their husbands.’[546] Heriot speaks of
‘the length of time employed by the women in rearing their children,
whom they nourish for three or four years, during which period they
cohabit not with their husbands’.[547] In addition to this evidence we
have the following records of the existence of this practice for various
agricultural races. Two eighteenth-century writers—Le Beau, speaking of
the Iroquois,[548] and Charlevoix of the Illinois[549]—state that
intercourse was prohibited during lactation. Speaking of the Crow tribe,
Holder mentions that abstention from intercourse during lactation was
observed.[550] In Mexico, according to Bancroft, the suckling period
lasted for three years or longer, and during this time there was often
no intercourse.[551] D’Orbigny says of the Moxos and Chiquitos that the
mother ‘invariably suckles her children for three years or more, during
which time she has no relations whatever with her husband’.[552] There
do not seem to be any denials of the existence of this practice except
in the following instance; in most individual cases there is no mention
of the practice. The exception referred to is in the case of the
Fuegians. Hyades and Deniker, referring to the statement of D’Orbigny
mentioned above, remark that sexual relations are resumed within two
months of the birth of a child among the Fuegians.[553] It is not
possible to arrive at any conclusion as to what the condition of affairs
was before the habits of the Indians had been much modified by contact
with white men. The fact, however, that the habit is definitely recorded
by various authors, who for the most part made their observations at a
time when the habits of these races were far less modified than when the
more detailed accounts were written from which these races are best
known, strongly suggests that this custom was formerly widespread.
There is no evidence of the use of any effective methods to prevent
fertilization. We are told that among the Shawnees ‘the girls drink the
juice of a certain herb which prevents conception, and often renders
them barren throughout life’.[554] But in those cases which have been
carefully investigated it would seem that such methods are not in fact
effective. Hrdlicka, for instance, referring to a number of tribes,
among whom are the Apaches, Navahos, Pueblos, Pimas, Nahua, Aztec, and
Uti, says that ‘there is a very general belief among the Indians visited
that sterility may be artificially induced’.[555] On investigation,
however, it was found that the substances used were quite ineffective.
6. Among agricultural, as among hunting and fishing races, we find
numerous references to the small average number of children in a family.
Speaking generally of the Indians of the North, Weld states that the
number of children is small,[556] and Le Beau that the number of
children born is less than in Europe.[557] Charlevoix comments on the
small size of the family among the Iroquois and attributes it to early
intercourse, abstention from intercourse during lactation, and to
prolonged lactation.[558] Catlin, whose experience was chiefly obtained
among the Mandans, has given the estimate quoted in the fourth
chapter,[559] and Holder’s estimate for the Crow tribe has also been
cited.[560] Of the Sioux we are told that ‘sterility among women is by
no means uncommon’,[561] and of the south-west Texas tribes ‘they are
not prolific—a woman seldom having more than three children’.[562] In
South America the facts are similar. Nordenskiöld visited the tribes
between Peru and Bolivia. ‘The families are not large,’ he says, ‘they
live in monogamy, and one sees in each family one to three children; in
the largest family that I saw (and that was among the Atsahuaca Indians)
there were four children.’[563] Of the Aymara Indians of the same
district we are told that ‘there seem to be but few large families—very
seldom more than four children, and often less than that number’.[564]
Spix and Martins, travelling in Brazil, ‘seldom saw more than four
children in a family’.[565] Azara was much impressed by the small number
of children that he observed in South America. He investigated the
matter among the Guaranis with particular care, and found that the
average number in a family was four.[566] Taking into account various
factors he came to the conclusion that the number of children born was
less than among the Spaniards.[567] Rengger, who also visited the
Guaranis, is of the same general opinion though he estimates the average
number in a family to be smaller than does Azara;[568] to the Guanas he
allows only two or at the most three children.[569] According to von
Martius the marriages of the Macusis ‘are not rich in children’.[570]
D’Orbigny carefully investigated the average number of children in a
family among the Moxos and Chiquitos; he found it to be roughly about
two in the case of the former and three in that of the latter. He
attributed the small number to early intercourse and also to abstention
from intercourse at certain periods.[571] Two is the average number of
children in a family of the tribes of the Upper Hualaga, and marriages
are often sterile.[572]
7. We have now to examine the extent of the practices of abortion and
infanticide; with regard to the former, we may repeat what was said
above—namely, that there is every reason to suppose the methods used are
usually effective. Among the Sioux, Keating says that ‘married females
frequently obtain miscarriages with the knowledge and consent of their
husband’;[573] this fact is confirmed by Schoolcraft.[574] It was very
common in the Crow tribe.[575] In a report upon the tribes of the
South-western United States and Northern Mexico, Hrdlicka states that
‘artificial abortion is practised by all the tribes visited’.[576] The
tribes visited include, among others, the Apaches, Navahos, Pueblos,
Pimas, Nahua, Otommi, and Aztec. The Pima Indians practised abortion if
conception took place before the previous child had been weaned; the
suckling period among these people lasted until the child was six or
seven years old.[577] The habit is recorded of the Menomini tribe and of
the Zunis, though it is rare among the latter.[578] Among the Cheyennes
‘it has long been the custom that a woman should not have a second child
until her first is ten years old’.[579] Abortion is not mentioned in
this case, but in view of the widespread prevalence of this custom,
abortion is presumably the means used to bring about this result. In
Mexico[580] and throughout South America abortion was commonly employed.
‘The use of the means of abortion is common and explains the small
number of children’, says Karl von den Steinen of the Bakairi.[581] It
is especially frequent in Brazil and among the Indians of the
Chaco.[582]
8. Compared with the prevalence of abortion, infanticide was not very
common among the agricultural tribes of the northern half of the
Continent. It was occasionally practised among the Sioux, and more girls
were killed than boys.[583] Of the Creeks it is said that ‘to destroy a
new-born infant is not uncommon’.[584] It was common among the
Pimas.[585] Infanticide is usually confined to the killing of deformed
children, and in this form it is recorded of the Apaches, Mohaves,
Navahos, Zuni, and the Tepecano.[586] Infanticide is more common in
South America. It is found in Brazil among the Guanas[587] and the
Mbayas.[588] The former are said to kill more girls than boys. It is
also practised to a considerable extent in the Chaco. ‘Infanticide is
quite common among the Lenguas, an interval of seven or eight years
being always observable between children of the same family.’[589] Grubb
states that the first child is always killed if a girl.[590] The killing
of deformed children is reported from many parts, including Dutch
Guiana[591] and Peru.[592]
9. War plays no less a part in the lives of the agricultural than of the
hunting tribes in America. It was perhaps more murderous among the
famous tribes of the Atlantic coast and the great plains than anywhere
else except possibly Brazil. ‘As all nations of the Indians in their
natural condition’, says Catlin, ‘are unceasingly at war with the tribes
that are about them, for the adjustment of ancient and never ending
feuds, as well as from a love of glory, to which in Indian life the
battlefield is almost the only road, their warriors are killed off to
that extent, that in many instances two and sometimes three women to a
man are found in a tribe.’[593] Another author, himself a member of the
tribe, describes the manner in which the young Ojebway Indian is brought
up to regard war as his chief object in life. ‘When they are young a
spirit of war is instilled into their bosom; and in order to excite them
to courage and ambition, the parents and the old wise men recount to
them the wonderful exploits of the braves in former days, such as a
single warrior stealing up secretly to a village, killing a number of
the enemy, taking off their scalps, and making his escape before the
remainder were apprised of the slaughter.’[594] So again, ‘among the
earliest songs to which a Dacotah child listens are those of war. As
soon as he begins to totter about, he carries as a plaything a miniature
bow and arrow. The first thing he is taught as great and truly noble is
taking a scalp, and he wants to perform an act which is so manly. At the
age of sixteen he is often on the warpath.’[595]
The neighbouring tribes maintained feuds that must have been the cause
of a regular and by no means inconsiderable amount of elimination. The
Crows were at war with the Blackfeet,[596] the Sioux with the
Ojebway,[597] the Minnetanes with the Shoshones.[598] The Sioux are said
to have killed women.[599] Farther south the Yuchi and other members of
the Creek Confederacy were very warlike.[600] The Pueblo Indians were
more peaceful, though they were subject to vigorous and frequent attacks
from the Apache and other neighbours.[601] The wars undertaken by the
empires of Mexico and Peru were of rather a different nature. Both
states pursued a regular policy of aggression towards the less advanced
peoples who surrounded them. These wars partook more of the nature of
raids upon the weaker nations for the purpose of robbery than of great
sporting contests, as were on the whole the wars of the northern tribes.
Throughout South America warfare seems to have been a regular feature of
inter-tribal relation. It was usually very sanguinary. According to
Wallace the Mandrucos fight with their neighbours every year.[602] Much
the same is reported by Church of the Araras, Mogos, Masas, and other
tribes of the Amazon basin,[603] and also by White of the north-western
regions of the southern half of the Continent.[604] The peoples of the
Chaco were formerly at continual war with the Guaranis.[605]
10. There are frequent references to blood feuds in the accounts of
these races. Blood feuds are only to be with difficulty distinguished
from warfare; feuds between man and man and between family and family
merge into those feuds between tribes that are called warfare. It will
be sufficient here to note that a considerable amount of elimination
must among certain tribes arise from that peculiar form of blood feud
which is connected with the belief that natural death is caused by some
enemy. In Guiana ‘a person dies and it is supposed that an enemy has
secured the agency of an evil spirit to compass his death. Some
sorcerer, employed by the friends of the deceased for that purpose,
pretends by his incantations to discover the guilty individual or
family, or at any rate to indicate the quarter where they dwell. A near
relative of the deceased is then charged with the work of vengeance....
If the supposed offender cannot be slain, some innocent member of his
family—man, woman, or little child—must suffer instead.’[606] The Uaupes
of the upper waters of the Rio Negro ‘scarcely seem to think that death
can occur naturally, always imputing it either to direct poisoning or to
the charms of some enemy, and on this supposition will proceed to
revenge it. This they generally do by poison.’[607] It is difficult to
ascertain how far these beliefs are acted upon; it seems nevertheless
clear that among certain tribes a considerable amount of elimination
must be attributed to this source.
11. It is not necessary to repeat here what was said in the former
chapter with regard to disease. Our conclusion was that in all
probability most diseases did not evolve until at or about the beginning
of the third period. We therefore regard this source of elimination as
of relatively small importance among the races of this group whether in
America or elsewhere. We may note a few examples of the evidence to the
effect that these races were formerly on the whole remarkably healthy
and long-lived. Catlin says that the Mandans were ‘undoubtedly a longer
lived and healthier race’ than most civilized peoples.[608] According to
Le Beau the Iroquois were ‘practically never ill’; in spite of a climate
that he himself found trying, ‘they were’ he says, ‘nearly all strong
and robust’, and had few diseases.[609] ‘On the whole, the Yuchi, men,
women, and children, are a remarkably healthy set of people.’[610] The
Shawnees are ‘very healthy and are exempt from many diseases’.[611] Spix
and Martius, with their extensive knowledge of the Indians of Brazil,
say in general that ‘the Indians are seldom sick and generally live to
an advanced age’.[612]
12. There is among the agricultural races of America as among the
hunting races, and, as we shall see, among all primitive races, a very
high rate of child mortality. As before we find the chief causes to be
lack of knowledge, lack of care, lack of suitable food and surroundings,
and certain peculiar customs.[613] It is not necessary to review the
evidence in detail. Of the Sioux we are told that ‘many die in infancy
caused by exposure’.[614] Another observer uses the same phrase, and
adds that ‘their mothers, to inure them to suffering and to strengthen
their constitution, do not take all the necessary care of them’.[615]
Lumholtz attributes child mortality in part to the eating of unsuitable
food.[616] Not only in North America but also in Brazil are new-born
children regularly dipped in cold water.[617]
_Africa_
13. Pre-puberty intercourse is common throughout Africa both in the form
of recognized early marriage and of irregular but tolerated early sexual
relations. Among the Cross River natives ‘until she reach the age of
puberty, a girl is permitted by her parents and by her betrothed to go
about freely and have as many lovers as she pleases’.[618] A
considerable proportion of marriages among the Ibo-speaking people of
Nigeria take place before puberty.[619] In the Congo districts the habit
is specially common.[620] Sexual relations commence early among the
Bushongo; after reaching the age of puberty ‘a girl is not supposed to
have further sexual relations before marriage’.[621] It is also recorded
by van Overbergh of the Mangbetu,[622] by Delhaise of the Warego,[623]
by de Rochebrune of the Onolove.[624] Speaking of the Bangala, Weeks
says that ‘above the age of five years it would be impossible to find a
girl who was a virgin’.[625] ‘The sexual morality of the Bahuana is
conspicuous by its absence; the unmarried indulge as they please from a
very early age, and the girls before puberty.’[626] Torday and Joyce,
who are responsible for this statement, speak very similarly of the
Bambala,[627] and du Chaillu of the Mpongwe.[628] The Masai and the
Nandi in East Africa have a regularized system of intercourse before
puberty.[629] It also occurs among the tribes inhabiting the Baringo
district[630] and among the Swaheli.[631] Children of the Wapagoro, in
what was German East Africa, are brought together by their parents when
about seven years of age, and are separated for a period when
menstruation begins—that is to say, about three years later.[632]
Pre-puberty marriage was formerly very prevalent among the Makonde[633]
and the Wanjamuesi[634] of the same district. ‘As regards the little
girls over nearly the whole of British Central Africa, chastity before
puberty is an unknown condition. Before a girl is become a woman it is a
matter of absolute indifference what she does, and scarcely any girl
remains a virgin after about five years of age.’[635] Similar testimony
is given by Stannus[636] and by Maugham[637] for the same district.
14. The suckling period would appear to last nearer three than two years
on the average. A few examples may be given. Ewe-speaking people, two or
three years;[638] Yoruba-speaking people, three years;[639] the Tenda,
two and a half to three years;[640] in Liberia, three or four
years;[641] the Kagero, two to three and sometimes five years;[642] the
Hausa, two years;[643] the Bushongo, two years;[644] in the Congo Basin,
at least two years on the average;[645] the Mangbetu, a year and a half
or longer;[646] in West Africa, on the average two to three years;[647]
the Mayombe, two years or longer;[648] in Uganda, at least two
years;[649] the Nandi, two years;[650] the Kuku, three years;[651] the
Wamakonde, Wakaua, and Wamuera, three years;[652] the Baganda, three
years;[653] the Wadschagga, two years[654] the Wanjamuesi, two to three
years;[655] the Wazaramo, two to three years;[656] the Baronga, three
years;[657] in the Madi district of Central Africa, three years;[658] in
South Africa, two years, according to Lichtenstein,[659] frequently
until three years, according to Kidd.[660]
15. There is little or no evidence of any postponement of marriage among
girls. The facts with regard to men will be given later. According to
Denham and Clapperton, girls in Bornu ‘rarely marry until they are
fourteen or fifteen; often not so young’.[661] Among the Bangala, girls
marry at the age of sixteen to eighteen.[662] ‘In the primitive Bantu
tribe every girl gets married, some, however, sooner than others.’[663]
The average age at marriage among girls south of Lake Nyassa is
fifteen.[664] ‘For the whole of the Bantu tribes south of the Limpopo
the average [age at marriage for girls] would probably be between
fifteen and sixteen.’[665]
16. Throughout the negroid and Bantu races of Africa sexual intercourse
is almost invariably prohibited for some time after child-birth. As a
rule the prohibition holds good so long as suckling lasts, and this we
have seen to mean more nearly three than two years. In some cases the
period is shorter, and there are instances where it only endures for a
few months. There are also very rare examples of the exact
opposite—namely, of a prohibition against breaking off intercourse. As
the evidence given below shows, to this custom we must attribute very
great importance.
A Ewe-speaking woman ‘may not admit the male ... while suckling’.[666]
Among the Yoruba-speaking people ‘during the period of lactation the
wife must not cohabit with her husband’.[667] Intercourse during the
suckling period is prohibited by the Kagero,[668] the Hausa,[669] and in
Benin.[670] In the Warri district of the Niger Protectorate it is
‘customary for a woman to avoid cohabitation with her husband for nearly
three years after pregnancy’.[671] Mungo Park, who travelled through
this district, observed that ‘three years’ nursing is not uncommon, and
during this period the husband devotes his whole attention to his other
wives’.[672] Other authors record similar facts for other West African
races. The Moioa abstain for four years,[673] the Gallinas until the
child can talk and walk,[674] the Hobbés during lactation;[675] Nassau,
speaking generally of the Cameroon district, mentions three years,[676]
and Reade, speaking of Ashanti, mentions the period of lactation.[677]
With regard to the Congo district, Cureau,[678] Johnston,[679] and
Ward[680] mention prohibition during the suckling period. Among the
Bangala ‘during the suckling period the husband has no sexual relations
with his wife, or the child will become thin and weak and probably
die’.[681] Another account of the same people mentions two years as the
length of the period.[682] Prohibition during lactation is also recorded
of the Mayombe,[683] the Ababua,[684] and the Bayaka.[685] Intercourse
is only resumed among the Mandja[686] and the Warega[687] when the child
can walk. The Adio of the Upper Congo region form a curious exception;
soon after birth intercourse again takes place; if it did not, the child
would die, since the father would thereby show no affection for the
mother.[688] The Kuku only interrupt intercourse for three or four
months,[689] although suckling lasts three years,[690] and among the
Nandi prohibition only extends over a period of three months,[691] while
lactation lasts two years.[692] Similarly ‘among the Awa-Wanga many
believe that within five or six days of the birth of a child the parents
must cohabit or the child will die’.[693]
The last-mentioned cases are rare exceptions; the customs that we saw to
be normal in the west of Africa are also normal elsewhere in Africa. In
Uganda ‘a woman must live apart from her husband for two years, at which
time the children are weaned’.[694] A Baganda woman ‘lived apart from
her husband for three years while nursing her child’.[695] When a woman
in the region of the Rovuma river ‘bears a child she lives completely
apart from her husband till the child is able to speak, as otherwise it
is believed that harm, if not death, would come to the infant’.[696] A
year is mentioned as the length of the prohibited period among the
Swaheli,[697] and the duration of lactation as the period among the
tribes of the Baringo district[698] and among the Wanjamuesi.[699] On
the other hand the prohibited period is short among some of the tribes
of what was German East Africa; it is two months in Konde-land,[700]
three months among the Wapagoro,[701] and ‘a few months’ among the
Wagogo.[702] In British Central Africa the wife does not resume sexual
intercourse with her husband for two years, unless she is the only wife,
when six months to one year is allowed to elapse.[703] In the Miri
district the period is six months, although suckling lasts for two
years,[704] and the same is recorded of the Atonga.[705] Speaking of
Baronga, Junod says that there is no cohabitation until the child is
weaned, and mentions that this is so among all the Bantu races of South
Africa,[706] Kidd confirms Junod’s statement, and says that most Kaffir
women live in strict seclusion from their husbands while they are
suckling their children, which frequently lasts for three years.[707] In
Loango the suckling period is the prohibited period.[708]
17. Among the races hitherto surveyed there is no evidence of the
existence of any practice that renders sexual intercourse fruitless.
There are numerous instances of magical practices that are supposed to
have this result, but we have no reason to think that any of them are
effective. In Africa we again meet with similar magical practices, and
we must similarly account them to be without effect. In this area,
however, we also meet with for the first time practices of quite a
different nature. Many races in different parts of the Continent are
acquainted with means of preventing fertilization. It is not necessary
to describe how this end is achieved.[709] Any one who is interested in
the subject can turn to Junod’s account. The methods employed in other
parts of Africa are apparently similar to those there described.
Knowledge of these methods extends throughout South Africa,[710] the
Congo,[711] what was formerly German East Africa,[712] and probably
elsewhere. Generally speaking this practice is employed under two
different circumstances; measures may be taken to prevent conception by
those who are not married and who do not wish to be married for some
time; they may also be used by married people under certain
circumstances, as for example by parents in the Thonga tribe who may
have intercourse when the child begins to crawl, but who must avoid
conception until the child is weaned.[713] Again, young married couples
in the neighbourhood of Port Herald live in a special house so long as
they are unable to build a house for themselves, and during this time no
children must be conceived.[714]
18. Almost without exception the average number of children is
everywhere recorded as small. Mungo Park, referring apparently to the
Mandingoes, says that ‘few women have more than five or six
children’.[715] In Northern Nigeria, four to five is given as the
maximum number.[716] Talbot collected some statistics for the Ekoi
people; the average number born to sixty-one married women was 4·3.[717]
‘The marriages’, says Burton of the Egbas, ‘are not very prolific’.[718]
Assinien women very exceptionally have more than six children, according
to Mondière:[719] in Liberia families are said to be small.[720] Among
the Bangala ‘it is rare for a woman to have more than two or three
children’;[721] another observer, speaking of the same people, remarks
that ‘there was much sterility’.[722] Cureau, speaking generally of the
tribes of the Congo Basin, says that families are small.[723] Kuku women
bear three children on the average.[724] The number of children is given
as three to five for the Baholoholo,[725] three to four for the
Bambala,[726] and the same for the Warega;[727] among the Mangbetu
families are not large,[728] while ‘on an average a Bayaka woman bears
three children; families of more than four are rare’.[729] Turning to
the races of the eastern side of the Continent we find that the average
Swaheli family is given as consisting of two children.[730] Figures have
been collected concerning forty-nine families of the Akikuyu, from which
it appears that the average number of children is between three and
five.[731] The Bakene women ‘are, as a rule, strong and healthy and have
children, though few of them ever have so many as six, three being the
average number for each wife’.[732] Two or three—at the most
five—children are born to the Wanjamuesi mother.[733] Among the tribes
south of Lake Nyassa ‘the average number of children in a family is
three to five’.[734] The Makalaka ‘race is not prolific, and the
women ... seldom bear more than an average of three children.’[735]
Lastly, the Hottentots have ‘seldom more than two or three children’,
and ‘many of the women are barren’,[736] while similarly in Madagascar
the natives ‘do not, as a rule, have large families, and a considerable
portion is childless’.[737]
19. Abortion is practised by many races in various parts of Africa.
Among the Tenda people married women rarely practise abortion, unmarried
women more frequently;[738] Tremearne mentions it in speaking of some of
the Nigerian tribes.[739] It appears to be on the whole more common in
the Congo district than elsewhere in Africa. ‘The practice of provoking
abortion is a very common one throughout Congoland (though ignored, for
example, by the Bayaka), but most of all in the North and Centre.’[740]
With regard to particular races in this district, we find abortion
mentioned as common among the Bangala,[741] Bahuana,[742] Warega,[743]
Ababua,[744] and Onolove[745]; it exists but is less common among the
Mangbetu,[746] and the Bushongo.[747] In what was German South-west
Africa abortion is very frequently employed.[748] It would appear to be
less frequently practised in the eastern half of the Continent. It is
known among the Akamba[749] and the Swaheli.[750] In what was formerly
the German Nyassa district[751] and in British Central Africa it is said
to be not uncommon[752]; the same is said of the Zambezi Valley.[753]
Abortion is ‘almost universally practised by all classes of female in
Kaffir society’.[754] It is mentioned in connexion with Madagascar.[755]
20. Almost every tribe throughout Africa kills children under certain
circumstances which they believe to be unpropitious. Examples of such
circumstances are peculiarities in the process of birth, the birth of
twins, or the cutting of the upper teeth before the lower. Motherless
children are also sometimes killed. The cumulative effect of these
habits cannot be considerable, and we may disregard them. It is an
almost invariable rule that infanticide—in the sense in which we use the
term when speaking of the Australians—is unknown in Africa. The only
exceptions are to be found among the Hottentots and in Madagascar—in
both cases the races practising infanticide not being of Negroid or
Bantu stock. The former are said to have killed their female children
fairly frequently;[756] in Madagascar infanticide was very common.[757]
Among the various unpropitious circumstances mentioned above, there is
one which is widely recognized in Africa, and which is of interest to
us. Children who are abnormal or deformed are nearly always killed.
Among other instances this practice is recorded of the Hausa,[758]
Kagero,[759] the Congo tribes generally—the Fangs being especially
mentioned in this respect[760]—the Mandja,[761] the Basonge,[762] the
Ababua,[763] the Bushongo,[764] the Wanika,[765] the Wakamba,[766] in
the Lenda district,[767] in the Lind Hinterland,[768] in British Central
Africa,[769] in Portuguese East Africa,[770] among the Kaffirs[771] and
the Hottentots.[772]
21. The nature and frequency of warfare varies very greatly in different
parts of the Continent. Although among some few tribes and in some
districts war is as murderous as in America, it is on the whole far less
effective as an agent of elimination than in that country. The position
is somewhat complicated by the fact that the more northern Negroid races
have long been in contact with Hamitic and Semitic tribes; the latter
have made war on the former and greatly influenced the history of the
Negroid races. Movements have been set on foot and passed like waves
over the whole Continent.
War is not a very serious matter among the Gallinas of Sierra Leone[773]
or the Ewe-speaking people of Togoland.[774] It was very different in
Dahomey[775] and Benin;[776] the Amazons of the former region have often
been described.[777] Tremearne gives an account of the head hunters of
Nigeria, whose habits must have been the cause of a great deal of
elimination.[778] Throughout the whole of this region, especially in
Ashanti[779] and Benin, human sacrifice is practised on a large scale,
and results in a considerable loss of life.[780] Passing farther south
towards the Congo region, we find that warfare is a moderately important
factor of elimination.[781] Weeks describes family, town, and district
fights—the last two developing out of the former; considerable loss of
life and material damage appears to follow.[782] Du Chaillu describes
what he calls ‘blood feuds’ in the Shekiani tribe; ‘frequently a dozen
villages are involved, ... the killing and robbing goes on for months
and even for years’.[783] Again, ‘when war has rarely broken out in the
country [of the Bakalai] there is no rest or safety. No man or woman in
any village can take a step in any direction, day or night, without fear
of death.... At last whole districts are depopulated; those who are not
killed desert their villages.’[784] Burrows, describing the tribes of
the Upper Welle district, says that they all live ‘in a perpetual state
of internecine warfare’.[785] War and human sacrifice have a perceptible
effect upon the numbers of the Banyala;[786] fighting is frequent among
the Bambala, but is not very sanguinary.[787] Of the Bahuana we hear
that ‘wars are frequent, and in some cases last for years’,[788] of the
Bayaka that, though ‘frequent’, wars ‘do not seem to have any
appreciable effect upon the population’.[789] The Baganda are a warlike
people, and fighting occurs yearly with the neighbouring tribes. Though
a regular cause of the loss of life, such wars are not so serious as the
intermittent civil wars ‘which also broke out from time to time in
Uganda between rival princes who laid claim to the throne. These latter
wars were by far the most disastrous that could happen to the country;
and during the few weeks they lasted, untold damage was done and a great
loss of life took place.’[790] In this district the presence of the
Masai tribe was a continuous source of murderous war.[791] Among the
Akanda ‘no warriors but those who had killed a Masai were supposed to be
able to marry’;[792] between the Akikuyu and the Masai perpetual war was
waged.[793] Of the tribes of the Baringo district it is said that they
are all good fighters, and that war is a sanguinary affair.[794] The
pastoral Bahima are, on the other hand, a peaceable people.[795] ‘It is
doubtful whether (in Central Africa) great loss of life occurs in any of
the wars among the natives.’[796] In South Africa the military qualities
of the Zulus are well known; all through this region in former days
warfare was regularly waged, and was a constant source of
elimination.[797] Of the Hottentots we hear that the tribes ‘were
constantly at war with each other’;[798] from another account it would
seem that the fighting was neither very prolonged nor sanguinary.[799]
22. Belief in witchcraft as the cause of death is common throughout
Africa; furthermore as a result of this belief the supposed offender is
often slain. There seems to be no doubt that among many tribes this
factor of elimination is of some importance. Speaking of Kalabar,
Hutchinson says: ‘They cannot believe, or at least they will not try to
understand, how natural causes create diseases, but attribute them and
subsequent death to “ifod” or witchcraft. Hence a plan is adopted to
find out the perpetrator by fixing on a number of persons, and
compelling them as the alternative of the Egbo law of decapitation, to
take a quantity of a poisonous nut, which is supposed to be innocuous if
the accused be innocent, and to be fatal if guilty.’[800] Even among the
relatively advanced Baganda, ‘death from natural causes rarely presented
itself to the native mind as a feasible explanation for the end of life;
illness was much more likely to be the result of malice finding vent in
magical art’.[801] Torday mentions the Bayaka as an exception to the
general rule in that they accept illness as a cause of death, though
‘trials for witchcraft are not unknown’.[802] Though the belief is
widespread that the cause of death is to be sought in magic, the amount
of elimination varies considerably from place to place. Formerly in
British Central Africa ‘it was so general that deaths due to it were in
the larger villages matters of daily occurrence’.[803] Among the South
African tribes ‘the number of persons who perished on charges of dealing
with witchcraft was very great’.[804] In West Africa it was undoubtedly
common.[805] For the Congo district, Burrows[806] and Du Chaillu,[807]
for Central Africa, Werner[808] and Macdonald,[809] for South Africa,
Junod,[810] and for Madagascar, Parker,[811] bring similar evidence.
Speaking of the Congo region, Weeks says that three forms of death are
recognized; (1) by act of God; (2) by another’s witchcraft; (3) by one’s
own witchcraft. Thus to die by the swamping of a canoe is a case of the
first, to die by being swamped and eaten by a crocodile is an example of
the second, because ‘no crocodile will upset a canoe unless told to do
so by a witch’. Deaths from the second cause and executions following
upon them appear to be frequent.[812]
23. With respect to disease the African races are in a somewhat
different position when compared with the other races of this group.
Owing to the fact that they have never been wholly cut off from
Eur-Asiatic civilization, some diseases have penetrated among them which
are not found, for instance, among the American agricultural races who
were cut off from the rest of mankind long before the origin of the
third period. It is a very difficult matter to decide what diseases are
African in origin and what diseases have found their way into Africa
from the north. It is possible that sleeping sickness and black-water
fever are African in origin. It is certain, however, that most of the
diseases which cause a large amount of elimination among the African
races at the present time have been imported from Asia. Among the latter
are dengue fever, small-pox, bubonic plague, cholera, Asiatic relapsing
fever, dysentery, typhus, and syphilis.[813] Nevertheless in spite of
the fact that disease is of more importance in Africa than in America,
there is a considerable amount of evidence to the effect that upon the
whole before the advent of the white man the African races were healthy
and long-lived. Thus Theal says that the Bantu races of South Africa
were formerly ‘subject to few diseases’,[814] and Roscoe, that the
Baganda ‘were happy and healthy before the introduction of European
civilization’.[815] In earlier days the Basuto were remarkable for their
healthiness;[816] they lived to a great age. We are also told that the
Hottentots suffered from few diseases.[817]
24. We find many records of a high death-rate among children.
Undoubtedly this is largely due nowadays to diseases that have been
introduced into Africa within the last few hundred years. The evidence
seems to show, however, that, when we discount this factor, child
mortality is still high, and is due to ignorance and want of care on the
part of the mother. Both Harris[818] and Talbot,[819] speaking of West
Africa, remark upon the high rate of infant mortality, and connect it
with want of care. ‘As soon as an infant is able to walk, it is
permitted to run about with great freedom,’ says Mungo Park.[820]
According to Du Chaillu, ‘they know nothing scarcely of the care of
children, and lose a great proportion through mistake in treatment in
infancy’.[821] In the Congo region, ‘that a great portion of the
children die—once they are born—is evident from the Baptist Mission
records, extending over more than twenty years. This is chiefly due to
unsuitable, indigestable, or insufficient food. Grenfell has some notes
on the preposterous attempts to feed infants a few weeks old with manioc
paste.’[822] Among the Mangbetu many children die, ‘as they are left to
look after themselves at about two or three years of age’.[823]
Weeks[824] and van Overbergh[825] also record high infant mortality for
other tribes of this region. It is interesting to observe that Delhaise,
speaking of the Warega—an isolated and primitive people—says that
disease is rare among the children, though the death-rate is high.[826]
According to Gutmann, many children die in infancy among the Wadschagga,
owing to the very unsuitable methods of feeding. A mother takes food
from her mouth and presses it into that of her child.[827] Similarly a
high infant death-rate and want of care is recorded of the Zulus,[828]
Basutos,[829] and Kaffir[830] races generally.
_Oceania_
25. Intercourse before the age of puberty is not very common among the
races of Oceania. In New Zealand, however, it was frequent. ‘It often
happened that a girl would have intercourse with a youth before she
arrived at puberty. At times marriage took place and was consummated at
this early age.’[831] This state of things is confirmed by several other
authors.[832] Dumas says it formerly occurred in Hawaii,[833] and from
an account given by Kubary it seems to have been practised in the Pelew
Islands.[834] Although Brainne does not actually say so, his account
seems clearly to indicate that intercourse occurs before puberty in New
Caledonia,[835] and the same may be deduced from Codrington’s account of
Banks’s Island[836] and from Danks’s description of the marriage customs
of the New Britain group.[837] Krieger mentions pre-puberty intercourse
in British New Guinea,[838] while Murray says that among the Baru and
other tribes girls are married when between seven and ten years old,
adding that marriage is consummated immediately.[839] According to
Seligman among the Sinaugolo ‘connection often takes place before
menstruation is established’.[840] The same is reported as occurring
among the Javanese[841] and very occasionally among the Topebatos of
Celebes.[842]
26. The average length of the suckling period would seem to be at least
two years and is probably longer. A few facts may be given. In Samoa it
lasts two years,[843] in the Solomon Islands two years or more,[844] in
New Caledonia more than three years,[845] in Fiji two or three
years,[846] in the Bismarck Archipelago often up to three years,[847] in
what was German New Guinea about three years,[848] in Sarawak three to
five years,[849] among the Bontoc Igorot slightly less than two
years,[850] and among the Ainu four or five years.[851]
27. Of postponement of marriage among girls there is again practically
no evidence. In the Society Islands girls were married when between
twelve and sixteen years of age.[852] In the Western Islands of the
Torres Straits girls marry a few years younger than the men, of whom the
age of marriage is given as between twenty and twenty-five.[853] Very
occasionally, as in the above cases, there would seem to be some
insignificant postponement of marriage. In general, however, it is clear
that practically all women are married from the beginning of and
throughout the mature period.
28. The important taboo upon sexual intercourse for a period after
child-birth is common. The Maori cease to cohabit ‘after child-birth
till the child is weaned’.[854] ‘Throughout the Western Islands (of the
Torres Straits) cohabitation ceases early in pregnancy and is not
resumed for some time, the baby sleeping between the husband and wife.
This restriction is in force in Maburag until the child spontaneously
endeavours to move about. As a matter of fact another child is seldom
born until the previous one is some three or four years old.’[855] In
Savage Island ‘the child was usually suckled about twelve months, during
which period there was strict sexual abstention between the
parents’.[856] According to Kubary the prohibited period lasted ten
months in the Pelew Islands,[857] and according to Krämer, six months in
Samoa.[858] A married woman among the Sinaugola ‘is supposed to forego
cohabitation during the period of suckling’.[859] In the neighbourhood
of Finschafen in New Guinea, intercourse is not resumed until the child
can walk and speak.[860] With regard to the Solomon Islands, Ribbe
speaks of a ‘long period’ of prohibition;[861] with reference to New
Caledonia, Glaumont speaks of several months[862] and another observer
of a considerable time in this connexion.[863] ‘After the birth of a
child (in the Bismarck Archipelago) the husband was not supposed to
cohabit with his wife until the child could walk.’[864] ‘During the
whole of this time [two or three years], unless he had more than one
wife, a Fijian was obliged to lead a life of celibacy.’[865] The same
author says that ‘in Tonga and the Gilbert Islands the separation is
rigidly enforced’.[866] Another account places the length of the period
of separation in Fiji at three or ‘even four years’.[867]
29. Here, as elsewhere, we find numerous references to practices
intended to render conception impossible. A good example is found in
Seligman’s account of the Sinaugolo. ‘There is generally a woman in the
village or one of the surrounding villages who is supposed to be gifted
with a power inherited from her mother of causing women to become
“hageabani”, literally incapable of having more children. Suppose that a
woman considers that she has had enough children, she will by stealth
seize an opportunity of consulting such a woman and will pay for
services. The woman gifted with the power sits down behind and as close
as possible to her patient, over whose abdomen she makes passes while
muttering incomprehensible charms. At the same time herbs or roots are
burnt, the smoke of which the patient inhales.’[868] Such practices are
obviously purely magical, and are quite ineffective. There are many
definite statements with regard to particular races that no effective
practices are known. In a few cases it is asserted that conception can
be and is prevented. Krieger, for instance, says that in what was German
New Guinea methods of preventing conception are known.[869] Pfeil gives
a circumstantial account of a method said to be employed in New
Ireland.[870] It seems clear, nevertheless, that the prevention of
conception can be of but little importance in this region.
30. There is the same remarkable unanimity of evidence with regard to
the small average size of families in Oceania as elsewhere. In New
Zealand ‘families are usually small in number’.[871] According to
Dieffenbach, ‘families are not large; there are rarely more than two or
three children’,[872] while Brown says ‘they have very few children.
Large families are never seen among them; perhaps two would be a high
average compared with the number of marriages.’[873] There are rarely
more than three children in a family in the Western Islands of the
Torres Straits;[874] in the Eastern Islands the number varies from two
to six, leaving childless marriages out of account.[875] In the Sandwich
Islands the average is said to be three.[876] ‘There were few instances
of large families’ in Samoa; ‘four or five would be the average.’[877]
Three is said to be the average among the Aru Islanders,[878] while in
the Pelew Islands marriages are reported to be often childless.[879] ‘I
have never known’, says Melville of the Marquesas, ‘of more than two
youngsters living together in the same home, and but seldom even that
number.’[880] Tautain, who collected some figures for these islands,
found the birth-rate to be very low.[881] In the Kingsmill Islands ‘a
woman seldom has more than two children, and never more than
three’.[882] Dr. Seligman is under the impression that ‘childless
marriages are not very uncommon’ among the Koitu and Motu of New
Guinea;[883] and Stone says of the latter that ‘as a rule their progeny
is not numerous’.[884] Krieger remarks upon the small families in New
Guinea, attributing the fact to abortion and infanticide.[885] In the
Bismarck Archipelago ‘families as a rule are not very large.... A large
number of the women have no children.’[886] Three is the average number
in New Ireland; a family of four or five is considered large.[887] In
New Caledonia there are seldom more than three in a family.[888] Fijian
women are not prolific.[889] Ling Roth, surveying the literature of
Sarawak, notes that the small size of the families has often been
remarked upon, and quotes the statements of Houghton and Whitehead.[890]
According to the former, ‘in general there are more than two children in
a family; on an average three or four, very seldom only one child’. ‘The
families of the natives’, says Whitehead, ‘are very small; in one or two
instances I have known them to contain eight or more by one mother, but
many women have only three or four, most one or two children; and it is
by no means uncommon to find them childless.’ Brooke estimated ‘four or
five births to every married woman’.[891] Wallace was impressed by the
same fact, and took some pains to investigate the matter. ‘From
inquiries at almost every Dyak tribe I visited, I ascertained that the
women had rarely more than three or four children, and an old chief
assured me that he had never known a woman have more than seven.’[892]
So, too, according to Bock, ‘a Dyak family seldom consists of more than
three or four children’.[893] Hagen estimates four children born per
fertile married woman as the average among the Orang Kubu of
Sumatra;[894] while Marsden, writing in the eighteenth century, was
struck by the small average fertility; ‘women are by nature unprolific’
in Sumatra, was his opinion.[895] Two or three is the average in
Nias;[896] ‘the average number of persons in one family in Java, where
it is perhaps as large, if not larger than elsewhere, is estimated at
only four or four and a half’.[897] Kreutz has compiled some figures for
Celebes. He makes two and a half children to be the average per married
woman among the Tolage and four among the Topebatos.[898] The Ainus ‘are
not at all prolific’;[899] while according to another author, ‘not many
children are born, usually three or four’.[900]
31. Abortion and infanticide are common, and there are many places where
both practices are employed. Abortion is often spoken of among the
Maoris; it would appear to be fairly common.[901] In the Murray Islands
of the Torres Straits ‘abortion was very common’;[902] and in the
Western Islands it is very frequent according to Haddon,[903] and
similar facts are recorded of the Eastern Islands.[904] Abortion was
known in Hawaii;[905] in the Kingsmill or Gilbert Islands it was
extremely prevalent,[906] and also in Samoa.[907] It was practised at
times in Rotuma[908] and in Savage Island.[909] Abortion seems to be
fairly common in Fiji.[910] It is said to be ‘fairly frequent’ in the
New Hebrides;[911] according to Jamieson, ‘a certain proportion of women
die in endeavouring to procure abortion’.[912] There is very similar
evidence from New Caledonia[913] and the Solomon Islands; it was
probably more prevalent in the latter than in the former, especially
among the south-eastern islands of the group.[914] In the Bismarck
Archipelago it is reported to be frequently practised,[915] and so also
in the Aru Islands[916] and the island of Flores.[917] Similar evidence
comes from all parts of New Guinea.[918] It is specially mentioned for
the Gulf of Geelink,[919] among the Baru tribe,[920] near Dorej,[921]
among the Mafulu people,[922] among the Koitu and the Motu,[923] and the
Southern Massim.[924] It is also practised in Nias,[925] Central
Celebes,[926] among the Bontoc Igorot,[927] and in the Mitchell
group.[928]
32. Infanticide was very prevalent in New Zealand—far more so than
abortion. ‘Infanticide is frequent among the New Zealanders’;[929]
according to another observer ‘it was formerly very common’;[930] or
again, ‘it was formerly very prevalent’.[931] We hear of the ‘wholesale
destruction of human life through infanticide’.[932] There is evidence
that girls were more often killed than boys.[933] Infanticide occurred
in the Western Islands of the Torres Straits;[934] among the Eastern
Islanders ‘after a certain number had been born, all succeeding children
were destroyed’.[935] In the Gilbert Islands it is very prevalent;[936]
in Samoa and Tonga,[937] on the other hand, it is either absent[938] or
very rare.[939] It appears to have been fairly common in Savage
Island,[940] in Tikopia (Barwell Islands),[941] and in Nissau.[942]
‘Infanticide was committed on a large scale’ in Rarotonga[943] and in
Funafuti,[944] but it probably reached its greatest extent in Tahiti.
The famous secret society known as the Areoi is said to have enjoined
the killing of all children upon its members. In any case it was very
prevalent in the island, and not confined to the Areoi.[945] ‘The first
missionaries have published it as their opinion that not less than
two-thirds of the children were murdered by their own parents.’[946]
Infanticide was not known in the Caroline Islands[947] (with the
exception of Pelew). It was apparently as common in the Sandwich Islands
as in Tahiti.[948] It was also practised in Fiji, but girls were
destroyed in preference to boys.[949] Glaumond states that it is ‘very
common’ in New Caledonia,[950] and this is confirmed by Bernard[951] and
Moncelin.[952] The last named mentions that girls are killed in
preference to boys. It is moderately common in the New Hebrides, and
again more girls are killed than boys;[953] according to Meinecke it is
not so frequent in Tala as in Fate.[954] Infanticide is ‘very common’ in
Banks’s Island,[955] in Radack,[956] in Vaitapu,[957] and in the
Marquesas.[958] It would not seem to be very prevalent in the Solomon
Islands, except in Ugi, where both Elton[959] and Guppy[960] report it
to be common. Otherwise, in the rest of the group it seems to be
rare,[961] and is absent in San Christoval.[962] It was formerly common
in the Bismarck Archipelago.[963] There is evidence of the existence of
the habit in various parts of New Guinea; according to Seligman it is
‘common’ among the Southern Massim;[964] among the Northern Massim it is
practised if there is a large family of girls.[965] The same is said of
the Mafulu people.[966] Otherwise it would seem, generally speaking,
that infanticide is somewhat rare in New Guinea. Murray suspects its
existence among the Baru tribe,[967] and Erdweg among the inhabitants of
Tumleo.[968] Newton says that he only knows one district in British New
Guinea where it is frequently practised.[969] So, too, among the Dyaks
it is decidedly uncommon.[970] Lastly, it may be noticed that there
exists ‘in some parts of the Solomons and New Hebrides a most remarkable
state of things, all the children are killed, chiefly by infanticide, it
would appear, and substitutes purchased’.[971]
33. Warfare occurs everywhere in Oceania;[972] apparently there is not a
single case in which it is definitely recorded to be absent. In some
islands it is as murderous as anywhere in America, though on the whole
it cannot be regarded as anything like such an important cause of
elimination as in that Continent. The Maories were especially skilled in
the art of war which ‘carries off a large number of their strongest men,
and has often proved so destructive to a tribe, that it has been broken
up entirely and has disappeared’.[973] In the Murray Islands there is
frequent fighting and raiding of the neighbouring islands and
coasts;[974] and the same is true of all the islands of the Torres
Straits, though it is commoner in the western than in the eastern
islands.[975] ‘A life for a life’ is, we are told, the principle
underlying warfare among these people;[976] in the Sandwich Islands
elimination from this cause must have been very considerable; we hear,
for example, of ‘the sanguinary character of their frequent wars’.[977]
It is much the same in Tahiti; ‘their wars were merciless and
destructive’;[978] ‘occasions of hostility were also at times remarkably
trivial, though not so their consequences.’[979] War seems to be equally
frequent in Samoa, though possibly less murderous.[980] Brown believes
that ‘the wars of the Samoans tended for a long time to check the
natural increase of the population’.[981] ‘There was never any
difficulty in finding a reason, if a fight was desired (in Rotuma), as
any pretext could be seized.’[982] Such fights were sometimes followed
by very considerable slaughter.[983] ‘War, either offensive or
defensive, was their continual delight [in Rarotonga]. A state of peace
was rarely known to continue long between the tribes.... These quarrels
invariably led to fighting, in which the warriors of each tribe engaged
with the utmost desperation and cruelty.’[984] War was the favourite
occupation of the Kingsmill Islanders,[985] and in the Pelew Islands it
was their ‘daily concern’.[986] Warfare is said to have been especially
developed in the Marshall Islands.[987] According to Williams, ‘Fiji is
rarely free from war and its attendant evils’;[988] ‘natural deaths are
reduced to a small number among the heathen Fijians, by the prevalence
of war and various systems of murder which custom demands.’[989] On the
other hand, it is interesting to note that Thomson thinks that the
destructive nature of warfare in Fiji is exaggerated as elsewhere in
Oceania. He gives the following account of his own experiences in
another island as an example of what he found warfare really to mean.
‘As we travelled along the coast we found that every village had its
frontier; a stream mouth, or a sapling stuck upright in the sand, beyond
which none would venture. The natives did their best to dissuade us from
crossing these boundaries by representing their neighbours as thirsting
for the blood of strangers. But on the other side of the frontier we
found a meek folk, lost in wonder that we had come through the last
stage of our journey unscathed, so cruel and ferocious were its
inhabitants. Every man lived in active terror of his neighbours, and
went armed to his plantation, but this did not prevent him from being a
most skilful and industrious husbandman, or from living to a good old
age. The fear being mutual, there was scarcely any war; an occasional
attack upon a woman or upon an unarmed man served to keep the hereditary
feud alive.’[990] It may very well be that the murderous nature of
warfare has often been exaggerated, and that as a matter of fact the
true state of affairs often approximates more closely to the picture
given by this author.
In the New Hebrides fighting is said to be fairly frequent;[991] in New
Caledonia it is certainly common, though perhaps not very serious.[992]
So too in the Solomon Islands there is ‘unceasing war’.[993] According
to Romilly, ‘in a battle the victorious party, if they can surprise
their enemies sufficiently to admit of a wholesale massacre, kill not
only the men, but also all the women and children’.[994] A very similar
general impression is gained from descriptions of New Guinea. ‘The
Western section of the Koita, especially the Arauwa and the Rokurokuna,
were formerly involved in almost continual warfare with Kabadi; apart
from this long continual struggle the Koita appear to have carried on
little inter-tribal fighting.... A considerable number of people fell in
these encounters.’[995] Other accounts of New Guinea give the impression
that, however frequent the fighting, the losses were not large.[996]
Among the Dyaks, on the other hand, warfare is not only frequent but
also sanguinary;[997] women and children are killed at times.[998]
Fighting occurs between the Ainu clans, and is the cause of much loss of
life.[999]
34. It is not necessary to discuss the prevalence of feuds in general,
as they are not to be distinguished from warfare. But in addition to the
special case of murder following upon natural death, one form of
homicide deserves mention as it is of considerable importance in this
region, though not uncommon elsewhere—especially in Nigeria. Head
hunting is popularly connected with Borneo, but it is also practised in
New Guinea and the neighbouring islands. The taking of a head is counted
a proof of manliness; in Kiwai Island, Fly River, it enables a young man
to secure a wife more easily.[1000] Thomson saw thirteen skulls over the
door of a house in an inland village in Normanby Island.[1001] Woodford
found whole villages devastated owing to the prevalence of this
habit.[1002] Speaking of the New Hebrides, Hickson says that ‘in the
olden times a fresh human head was an indispensable preliminary to any
marriage negotiations’.[1003] Among the Sea Dyaks (Ibans) it is
certainly a form of sport; the other inhabitants of Borneo are said only
to practise it as a part of warfare.[1004] It is not true to say that in
Borneo the taking of a head is indispensable for a youth who wishes to
marry,[1005] though considerable prestige clearly attaches to it.[1006]
Without doubt the practice is responsible for a large number of
deaths,[1007] and the head of a woman or child is equally valuable as
that of a man.[1008] The habit is also very prevalent among the Bontoc
Igorot. ‘For unknown generations these people have been fierce head
hunters. Nine-tenths of the men in the pueblos of Bontoc and Samoki wear
on the breast the indelible tatoo emblem which proclaims them takers of
human heads.’[1009] Women and children over five years of age are
killed.[1010]
The failure to recognize natural death as such is as prevalent in this
region as in the others which we have surveyed. Speaking of New Guinea,
Romilly says ‘in the native opinion there is no such thing as a “natural
death”. If a man escapes a violent death and dies of fever or pneumonia,
it is said that he has been bewitched and that a devil has killed
him.’[1011] So, too, von der Sande in his description of Humboldt Bay
records that ‘the opinion is generally held that death is always caused
by the evil desire of other persons’;[1012] in consequence numerous
murders follow.
35. With regard to the prevalence of disease it is sufficient to say
that disease was certainly less common than in Africa. It is probably
true that disease was of as little importance as a factor of elimination
as in America.[1013]
The evidence with regard to infant mortality shows that it is again
considerable, and due to ignorance and want of care. Speaking of New
Guinea, Newton says that ‘the rate of infant mortality is high, but it
is often due, so we suspect, to the absolute belief that a child must
have some taro to eat—where taro is the staple food—if it is to
thrive.... Infants not twenty-four hours old have had taro given
them.’[1014] Kreutz found that many more children died in the second
than in the first year; this he attributed to the fact that, whereas
while in the first year they are well looked after, in the second year,
when they begin to crawl about, they often die from want of
attention.[1015] Turner states that not less than two-thirds of the
children in Samoa died in childhood from carelessness and
mismanagement,[1016] and of the Bontoc Igorot we are told that children
are brought up without any sign of knowledge as to how they should be
treated from the point of view of health.[1017]
_Asia_
36. It is not worth while to deal at length with the remaining peoples
who are to be classed with this group. For the most part they are
herders of reindeer; the more western races have long been in contact
with Eur-Asiatic civilization; even the Chuckee were discovered in the
first half of the seventeenth century,[1018] while the Yukaghis were
converted to Christianity two hundred years ago.[1019] It is interesting
to note, however, that generally speaking the conditions among them are
similar to what we have found elsewhere.
Suckling lasts three years among the Koryak[1020] and the
Tunguses,[1021] while Yakut mothers sometimes suckle their children
until the latter are five years of age.[1022] There is no evidence of
postponement of marriage; the early age at which it takes place has been
remarked on for most of these races.[1023] As regards the number of
children, Krasheninicoff says of the inhabitants of Kamtchatka that ‘in
general these people are not fruitful’.[1024] Sograff comments on the
small number of Samoyed children.[1025] Jochelson found an average of
over five to married women above forty years old.[1026] Abortion and
infanticide are common in Kamtchatka;[1027] Stellers comments especially
on the prevalence of abortion which is very frequently employed.[1028]
The Samoyeds destroyed deformed children.[1029] There are the usual
comments on the general good health of these people. Both Ostyaks and
Samoyeds ‘enjoy the best of health and attain a very old age’.[1030]
Infant mortality is large.[1031]
IX
THE REGULATION OF NUMBERS AMONG PRIMITIVE RACES
1. We have now to ask what light these facts throw upon the quantitative
aspect of the problem. Remembering that among all the races concerning
which facts have been given there exists that form of primitive social
organization the nature of which has been referred to, we may first
examine briefly the theory of population as it applies to society in
which there is co-operation; for the existence of this primitive form of
social organization implies co-operation. We may then go on to apply
what we learn from this review of the theory of population to the facts,
so far as they concern the races of the first and second groups. We may
next ask how far we can apply what we learn from primitive races to
prehistoric races up to the opening of the third period, and finally we
may inquire how it is to be supposed that the transition took place from
the conditions under which the pre-human ancestor, lived to those under
which the earliest societies, of which we can indirectly gain any
knowledge, must be supposed to have lived.
Malthus was the first writer to set out a theory in detail and to
support it with evidence.[1032] Of the origin of his book some account
has been given in the first chapter. In this book Malthus, according to
his own account, attempted to show three things—that population was
limited by the means of subsistence, that it almost always increases
when the means of subsistence increase, and that there are three checks
upon increase—vice, misery, and moral restraint. By ‘vice’ and ‘misery’
he meant disease, war, poverty, and so on. By ‘moral restraint’ he meant
restraint from sexual intercourse. This last check was not mentioned in
the first edition of the Essay; it was introduced for the first time in
the second edition.
It is important to observe the nature of the argument put forth by
Malthus. (The whole theory is one of the comparative rapidity of the
increase of population and of the increase of food.) Population, he
said, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio, food only in an
arithmetical ratio. Therefore there must always be checks at work
limiting population. He made a survey of the social conditions in
different countries, and pointed to the evidence of the existence of
various forms of vice and misery; where moral restraint was practised,
there was less vice and misery; where no moral restraint was practised,
vice and misery reached their greatest prevalence. Furthermore the
checks taken together must always be effective; it was, according to
Malthus, merely a question of what kind of checks should be in
operation. It was desirable in his view to increase ‘moral restraint’ in
order to decrease ‘vice’ and ‘misery’. It also follows that, if the
checks were always effective, there could be no such thing as
over-population. The conception of over-population, properly speaking,
did not enter into the theory at all. It belongs to the later theory,
which is based upon the productiveness of industry—an idea which finds
no place in his book.
In the later editions Malthus made certain reservations about the
impossibility of subsistence increasing faster than in an arithmetical
ratio. Facts incompatible with the theory regarding the increase of
population in America had come to light, and he admitted the possibility
of the increase of subsistence in a geometrical ratio in new countries
under certain conditions. He maintained, however, that in general
subsistence could not increase faster than in an arithmetical ratio, and
that his theory was therefore in essential features still correct. The
ratios were at the basis of his theory, and sum up the whole essence of
the argument. It has frequently been said, however, that Malthus did not
attach much importance to the ratios. Professor Nicholson, for example,
says that he used them ‘not strictly—but as the basis for a
simile’.[1033] But Professor Cannan has shown that there is no
foundation whatever for this view, and quotes a passage from Malthus
exhibiting the importance which the latter attributed to this part of
his theory.[1034]
That subsistence can only increase in an arithmetical ratio, or in other
words that the periodical additions to the average annual produce cannot
be increased, has long ago been disproved by statistics. Such figures as
caused Malthus to make his reservations about new countries have been
forthcoming for old countries also. In his own lifetime the census
showed the falsity of the arithmetical ratio for so ‘old’ a country as
England. It is not necessary to go into the facts, which are well known
and beyond dispute. It is only the result of the proof of the fallacy
contained in the arithmetical ratio part of the theory that concerns us.
The result was that the whole argument collapsed, founded as it was on
the comparative rapidity of the increase of population and of food. As
Professor Cannan says: ‘The _Essay on the Principle of Population_ falls
to the ground as an argument, and remains only a chaos of facts
collected to illustrate the effect of laws which do not exist. Beyond
the arithmetical ratio theory, there is nothing whatever in the _Essay_
to show why subsistence for man should not increase as fast as an
“unchecked population”. “With every mouth God sends a pair of hands,” so
why should not the larger population be able to maintain itself as well
as the former?’[1035]
2. The answer to this question was in process of being discovered during
the lifetime of Malthus. In the early years of the century attention was
drawn to the high price of corn, to the position of agriculture, and
especially to the fact that less rich land was being brought under
cultivation. From the discussion which ensued, and to which Malthus
contributed, there arose the idea of decreasing returns to agriculture.
It has been pointed out that it must always have been recognized in
practice that it did not ‘pay’ to employ more than a certain amount of
labour on a given area of land. In these years, however, for the first
time the principle which underlay this fact was made clear. West and
Ricardo were chiefly responsible for bringing the matter to light. The
development of the theory need not occupy us. It may be formulated
shortly here. ‘Whether we consider an acre of land or a whole country,
after a certain point is reached, the return to a given amount of labour
and capital will diminish. It will do so, however, only under the
supposition that the arts of agriculture, using the phrase in the
broadest sense, remain stationary.’[1036] The law is not limited to
agriculture. It is applicable to all industry. Whenever some agent in
production, upon which an industry is absolutely dependent, is strictly
limited, after a time equal increments of capital and labour will not
produce equal returns. In other words the returns to the same doses of
capital and labour will diminish. This, however, will only occur when,
as stated above, the supply of some agent in production is restricted;
otherwise when an industry enlarges there will, as a rule, be an
increasing return. The more labour, apart from diminishing returns, the
better.
When speaking of agriculture it was said that diminishing returns only
supervene when there are no improvements in the arts of agriculture.
This is true in general of all other industries. Any increase in the
arts of production will in general admit of more labour and capital
being profitably employed; if there are no further improvements, there
will after a time come a point when diminishing returns will again
supervene. The following out of the working of these laws in detail
would call for a long and intricate discussion. Since the problem of
quantity is only touched upon in its broadest outlines, such a
discussion is not necessary here. The broad fact which emerges, and
which alone is relevant here, is that, since the laws in general are
applicable to all industry, there will be, taking into account on the
one hand the known arts of production and on the other hand the habits
and so on of any people at any one time in any given area, a certain
density of population which will be the most desirable from the point of
view of return per head of population. There will, in fact, under any
given circumstances always be an optimum number; if the population fails
to reach that number or if it exceeds it, the return per head will not
be so large as it would be if it attained that number. This conception
is of such importance that its formulation in other words by a modern
economist may be quoted. ‘At any given time, or, which comes to the same
thing, knowledge and circumstances remaining the same, there is what may
be called a point of maximum return, when the amount of labour is such
that both an increase and a decrease in it would diminish proportionate
returns.... If we suppose all the difficulties about the measurements of
the returns to all industries taken together to be somehow overcome, we
can see that at any given time, or knowledge and circumstances remaining
the same, just as there is a point of maximum return in each industry,
so there must be in all industries taken together. If the population is
not large enough to bring all returns up to this point, returns will be
less than they might be, and the remedy is increase of population; if,
on the other hand, population is so great that the point has been
passed, returns are again less than they might be, and the remedy is
decrease of population.’[1037]
This idea of an optimum number is one which can be developed in great
detail. It is only necessary here to notice that when, as in the higher
economic stages, the arts of production on the one hand are improving
and the habits and so on of any people are on the other hand constantly
altering, the most desirable density is in consequence frequently
changing. In the lower stages, when progress in skill is slow and social
conditions more or less stationary, the optimum number may remain about
the same over long periods of time. Further, with regard to progress in
skill, inasmuch as the productivity of labour is enhanced by every
improvement in the arts of production, the result of such progress will
be that the return per head will, as a rule, increase. Such progress
will thus, as a rule, allow of a larger population which will have a
larger income per head.
This idea of an optimum density of population is wholly different to
that put forward by Malthus. To him the problem was one of the relative
increase of population and of food; with us it is one of the density of
population and of the productiveness of industry. To Malthus the
position was much the same in all ages; in his view population, except
under unusual circumstances, had in any country at any given time always
increased up to the limit of subsistence, and was in process of being
checked—chiefly by vice and misery. In the modern view increase in skill
has brought to an increasingly dense population a larger income per
head. The chief cause of the largest possible income not on all
occasions being reached is that at times the density of population
increases beyond the optimum number for the given conditions, though at
other times the failure of population to reach the desirable level may
produce the same result.
Though the problem of diminishing returns was being discussed as the
successive editions of the _Essay_ appeared, the idea was not applied by
Malthus to the population question. This was undertaken by later
writers. The development of the modern theory need not detain us; it is
of interest, however, to observe that J. S. Mill, whose influence over
contemporary thought was so great, never shook off the deep impression
made upon him early in life by the Malthusian theory. He exhibited a
remarkable dread of over-population, and in his _Principles of Political
Economy_ seems to have regarded diminishing returns as so often arising
that only rarely could an increase in population be advantageous. He
appears in fact to have thought that after a certain stage all further
increase in population was harmful, and to have looked upon ‘the degree
of industry which is required for the maximum productiveness of industry
as something fixed once and for all’.[1038] Mill’s view, therefore,
though founded upon the productiveness of industry, differs from the
modern view to which it has given place. It has since been clearly
established that there is no maximum density desirable from the point of
view of productiveness; so long as skill increases, other things being
equal, so long will the desirable density increase. The influence of
Mill’s writings has had the effect of keeping alive in England longer
than elsewhere the pessimistic view of the problem which the teaching of
Malthus had originally given rise to.[1039] So strong were Mill’s
opinions that he regarded the limitation of the family by virtuous
restraint as one of the most desirable of social reforms. He was led in
the following passage to express views that are strongly in contrast
with those of the many who now deplore the decline of the birth-rate
among the upper social classes of to-day. ‘Little improvement’, he said,
‘can be expected in morality until the producing of large families is
regarded with the same feelings as drunkenness or any other physical
excess. But while the aristocracy and clergy are foremost to give the
example of this kind of incontinence, what can be expected of the
poor?’[1040]
3. This conception of an optimum number holds good wherever there is
social co-operation between groups of men living within definite areas.
As we have seen a primitive form of social organization exists among all
these races. This implies in itself a certain degree of co-operation. It
remains to show that these races are all, without exception, divided
into groups which are strictly limited to definite areas—contrary to the
still common notion that they wander where they please—and we may
further note that the inhabitants of these areas co-operate to a greater
or less degree in the search for food, and that there is a social
obligation upon each man to do his share. We may review the evidence,
beginning with the first point, which is of such importance that it may
be treated at some length.
It is both misleading and dangerous to apply terms carrying modern legal
conceptions to these races; unfortunately, any terms that may be used
are to some extent biased. We have, however, somehow to describe the
results of investigation into the customs of these races, and it has
been found that among all these races, without exception, groups of men
are recognized as, if not owning, then as enjoying the usufruct of
certain very clearly defined areas. According to Ling Roth it is not
clear whether the Tasmanian tribes had any definite hunting grounds or
not.[1041] Bonwick confidently asserts that it was so,[1042] and Wheeler
thinks that the conditions in Tasmania were probably the same as in
Australia.[1043] From Australia we have abundant evidence; the facts
recorded from different parts of the continent vary considerably, and we
must either believe that customs differed from place to place, which is
not at all unlikely, or that many observers are mistaken, which,
considering the positive nature of their assertions, is not very
probable. Wheeler has reviewed the evidence and sums up his conclusions
as follows: ‘Our information shows the existence in some, at any rate,
of the areas of Australia of what must be held to be private ownership
in land, but it does not follow that the whole of the tribal territory
was so allotted. The unit would generally be the individual family, but
there are a few indications that the ownership might even be vested in
single persons within the family, other than the head. The clearest
mentions of individual or of family ownership seem to come from the
south-eastern area, where the physiographic conditions are most varied,
and where, in consequence, fishing rights become important. But it seems
likewise that the rights of families or of individuals, as also those of
local groups, were, in general, subject to tribal over-rights, though we
have no clear information on this point.’[1044]
There is no doubt, in the first place, that the tribes were everywhere
restricted to clearly defined territories.[1045] Doubt only arises with
regard to the smaller groups. The usual mode of living is in small
groups of one to three families, which usually form a portion of a local
group, but which may exceptionally be actual local groups. Only in the
more fertile districts is the number of families living in contact
greater.[1046] These local groups, into which the tribes are divided,
seem generally to have their clearly defined areas within the tribal
territory. Thus Brown, speaking of the Kariera tribe of Western
Australia, says that ‘the country of a local group, with all its
products, animal, vegetable, and mineral, belongs to the members of the
group in common. Any member of the group has the right to hunt over the
country of his group at all times. He may not, however, hunt over the
country of any other local group without the permission of its
owners.’[1047]
In some parts no further subdivision of the land was recognized.
‘I could not find’, says Brown of Western Australia, ‘any evidence
of the individual ownership of any part of the soil or of any of
its products. The whole of the territory of the group and
everything in it seem to belong equally to all the members of the
group.’[1048] In other parts we hear of family ownership;
Stanbridge says of Victoria that the tribal land ‘has been from
time immemorable parcelled out among its families and transmitted
by direct descent to the present generation’.[1049] Further, some
accounts speak of individual ownership. The natives of King
George’s Sound ‘who live together have the exclusive right of
fishing and hunting upon the neighbouring grounds, which are, in
fact, divided into individual properties, the quantity of land
owned by each individual being very considerable’.[1050] Eyre
speaks of the parcelling out of territory among the individual
members of the tribe. ‘Every male has some portion of land, of
which he can always point out the exact boundaries. These
properties are subdivided by a father among his sons during his
own lifetime, and descend in almost hereditary succession.’[1051]
As further examples of the ideas held by the Australians on the
subject of property, it may be noticed that Smyth describes
individual property in trees which passes by inheritance,[1052]
while Lumholtz says that ‘if a native finds a hive of honey in a
tree, but has not an immediate opportunity of chopping it out, he
can safely leave it till some other day; the discoverer owns it,
and nobody else will touch it, if he has either given an account
of it or marked the tree, as is the custom in some parts of
Western Queensland’.[1053]
Wherever we turn we find similar evidence of the recognition of distinct
areas over which groups have more or less exclusive rights.[1054] Every
tribe certainly has its own clearly defined territory; it seems further
very probable that in most places the tribal territory is divided among
local groups, if indeed the subdivision does not go farther. The Bushmen
were formerly divided into tribes occupying ‘well defined tracts of
country, which they looked upon as their own ancestral hunting
ground’.[1055] Their respect for property is shown by the fact that,
when a man found a bees’ nest, he put his mark upon it, and
thenceforward it became ‘the sacred property of the finder’.[1056]
Klutschak describes distinct territories for the Eskimo tribes, who
confine their seasonal migrations to these definite areas.[1057]
Subdivision of land does not seem to go farther than subdivision among
the villages; the inhabitants of a village had the right to refuse to
allow any strangers to settle permanently in the neighbourhood. ‘If a
new family wished to settle at an inhabited place, the newcomers had to
await the consent of the people already settled there, which was given
by certain signs of civility or welcome, the strangers having meanwhile
put their boat ashore, but not yet begun bringing up their goods. If
these signs were not given they pushed the boat off again and went on to
look for another place.’[1058] It is so well known that the American
Indians recognized clearly defined tribal boundaries that we need not
attempt to illustrate the fact by means of references.[1059] It is
perhaps not so well known that there are also many indications of family
and even of individual property in land. In the first place we often
hear of the right of the inhabitants of a village to clearly defined
tracts. ‘Each tribe had its village sites and contiguous hunting and
fishing grounds; as long as the people lived on these sites and
regularly went to their hunting grounds, they could claim them against
all intruders.’[1060] Of the Carrier Tribes, Harmon says that ‘the
people of every village have a certain extent of country, which they
consider their own, and in which they may hunt and fish; but they may
not transcend these bounds, without purchasing the privilege from those
who claim the land’.[1061] Of the Western Tinneh, Hill Tout records that
the heads of the clan own the hunting grounds, ‘the limits of which were
always very clearly defined’.[1062] Among the more nomadic Eastern
Tinneh we hear that bands used the same hunting grounds; these areas,
however, were not regarded as belonging exclusively to them.[1063] Among
the Salish of the Interior, ‘all hunting, fishing, root and berry
grounds were common property and shared in by all alike’; whereas among
those of the coast the food grounds were the property of the septs and
local groups.[1064] From other accounts it appears that family and
individual ownership were recognized in some places. This applies
especially with regard to the fishing stations of the Pacific Coast
tribes, where ‘varying lengths of shore were held as private fishing
rights by heads of families, and these rights were passed from father to
son and were always respected’.[1065] Swanton gives an especially
interesting account of the practices of the Haidahs of Queen Charlotte
Islands. ‘Each Haidah family had its own creek or creeks, or portion of
a creek, where its smoke houses stood. Some of the smaller creeks are
said to have no owners; and, on the other hand, some families are said
to have had no land. In the latter cases they were obliged to wait until
another family was through before picking berries, and had to pay for
the privilege. Any family might pick berries on the land belonging to
another after the owners had finished picking, if it obtained the
consent of the latter and paid a certain price.’[1066] Referring to the
Sitkin Indians, Elliot says that ‘the coastline, and especially the
margins of streams and rivers, are duly divided up among the different
families. These tracts are regarded as strictly private property.’[1067]
Krause further gives an account of what can only be called individual
private property in land among the Thlinkeets.[1068] The remarkable
system in vogue among the Veddahs deserves notice. ‘The whole Veddah
country was divided into small hunting regions, of which each family
possessed one. The arrangements were most elaborate; the size of the
tracts varied in accordance with the goodness of the land, and each
included a portion of hill country to which each family thus had access
during the rainy season without trespassing upon the ground of other
families.’[1069] Cooper has very fully reviewed the evidence for the
Fuegians. It has been stated that communism existed among them. This is
not correct. ‘While all Fuegians are nomads,’ he says, ‘yet a Yaghan,
for instance, is chary of poaching on Alacalufan or Onan territory. Even
within recognized tribal territory the existence of more or less
definitely marked off family hunting grounds is explicitly attested for
the Onas by Professor Furlong and Dr. Dabbene and implicitly by Dr.
Gallardo.’[1070]
4. Passing now to the races of the second group it is everywhere found
that tribal territories are recognized, and it has been shown that,
compared with hunting and fishing races, there is an increase in the
number of cases in which land is held by smaller groups, if not by
individuals, and a corresponding decrease in the number of cases in
which communal ownership is recognized.[1071] The details of the
variation in land tenure are not relevant, and a few descriptions of the
conditions among different tribes will serve as examples of the manner
in which groups of men among these races drew their means of subsistence
from clearly defined areas. ‘Among the Navahos a section of territory
was parcelled out and held as clan land and, as descent in the tribe was
traced through the mother, was spoken of by members of the clan as “my
mother’s land”. Upon such tracts the woman worked raising maize, &c.,
and the product was recognized as their property.’[1072] Of the North
American Indians generally we are told that ‘occupancy gradually
established a claim or right to possess the tract from which a tribe or
individual derived food. This occupancy was the only land tenure
recognized by the Indian; he never of himself reached the conception of
the land as merchantable.... As long as a person planted a certain tract
the claim was not disputed, but if its cultivation were neglected, any
one who chose might take it. Among the Zuni, according to Cushing, if a
man, either before or after marriage, takes up a field of unappropriated
land, it belongs strictly to him, but is spoken of as the property of
his clan, or on his death it may be cultivated by any member of that
clan, though preferably by near relatives, but not by his wife or
children, who must be of another clan.’[1073] So, too, among the Omahas
maize was cultivated in patches of one-half to three acres in size;
property in these patches was recognized so long as cultivation was
continued. Afterwards any one could take them.[1074] In Mexico there was
an elaborate system of land tenure.[1075] Conditions in South America
were very similar to those in North America. Spix and Martius speaking
of Brazil say: ‘The savages consider the lands they have put under
cultivation to be in some measure the property of their tribe.... One or
several families unite to clear a part of the virgin forest and plant
maize, manioc, cotton, or bananas.... The same ground is cultivated
every year, because it would be too difficult every year to clear new
portions of the forest.... A field cultivated for several years is
considered to belong to a family, and the neighbours recognize these
rights.’[1076]
The rights over land are very similar in Africa. Bartle Frere says that
‘it is clear, from the accounts of early Dutch and other travellers in
South Africa, that every Hottentot tribe had its territory, into which
strangers might not intrude for pasture or hunting, without the leave of
the whole tribe; each kraal had its pasture lands distinct, over which
the people of that section of the tribe moved their mat huts, as the
need of their herds, for grass or water, rendered advisable. As each
kraal had more or less of a family constitution, it is difficult to say
how far the pasture lands were held in common, or as the property of the
individual occupant.’[1077] Of the Ewe-speaking people, Ellis says that
among most tribes there is no private property in land but that the
family in occupation of any tract cannot be disturbed.[1078] Of the
Yoruba-speaking people the same author says that land, belonging to the
community collectively, is vested in the chief, who distributes among
households and families as required. No man can be depossessed of land
once allotted to him, and the usufruct descends to his children, but the
land cannot be sold.[1079] ‘It is doubtful’, says Talbot, ‘whether any
part of the Ekoi country remains at present unowned.’[1080] According to
Scott Elliot the rights of property in land of the different families in
Sierra Leone are carefully maintained, especially in times of
famine.[1081] In Northern Nigeria a ‘man is free to mark out a farm on
any unoccupied land’, and has a claim to it as long as he cultivates
it.[1082] Among the Bangala of the Upper Congo ‘the boundaries of a town
are well defined, and the lands belonging to a town are well known to
all other towns in the neighbourhood. If an animal is killed on ground
owned by a town other than that to which the huntsman belongs, he has to
send a portion—generally the head—to the chief of the town which claims
the ground.’[1083] Further, ‘every woman had her farm, which was her
exclusive property, and not even a fellow wife had any rights over
it’.[1084] The hunting grounds of the Bushongo are well defined; the
usufruct of the soil belongs to individuals, and trees are private
property.[1085] Among the Mangbetu ‘every tribe has an accurate
knowledge of the boundary of the territory over which it can hunt, move
about, and establish its villages’.[1086] Hobley states that among the
Akamba there is individual property in land which passes on the death of
the father to the sons.[1087] The limits of the properties are very well
defined and well known among the Ababua; cultivation renders the title
good.[1088] The Baganda ‘lived in their gardens or plantations. These
gardens were often joined one to the other, and a number of people lived
in a community, often forming four or five miles of continuous garden
with families living each on their own plot.’[1089] Even the fallow land
among the Akikuyu was ‘all in private ownership’, and could not be
brought into cultivation without the owner’s consent.[1090] In British
Central Africa a man making a garden is ‘perfectly free to choose so
long as the ground is not in cultivation, or has not been bespoken by
some one else; and, once marked, no one can interfere with it’.[1091] Of
the same region we are told that ‘these negroes have clear ideas of
property. The waste land is usually considered to belong to the chief,
but plantations and enclosures belong personally to the individual who
originally made them.... Natives have clear ideas of large or small
estates, or of their kingdom; and in the case of the former they are
marked by the planting of certain trees of thick growth, while of course
streams and mountains are recognized as boundaries and natural limits of
territories.’[1092] Of the Thonga tribe in Portuguese East Africa we
hear that ‘each man has his own field which he tills’.[1093] Speaking of
the Bantu races south of the Zambezi, Theal says that ‘the chief
apportioned to each head of a family sufficient ground for a garden
according to his needs, and it remained in that individual’s possession
as long as it was cultivated’.[1094] So Conder says of Bechuanaland,
‘the land belongs to the chief. He divides it among his head men and
they in turn among their people. There is no division of grazing land.
The mealie fields are practically the property of the cultivator so long
as they are tilled. I found each patch to belong to an individual, and
to be divided generally by untilled land from the next patch.’[1095]
Among the Ovaherero the whole land is common property, but the rights of
tribes and also of individuals to particular spots are recognized so
long as they are occupied. Whoever first appropriates a spring and the
surrounding pastures can maintain his right.[1096]
The conditions in Oceania are in their main elements, which alone are
relevant, similar to those in America and Africa. In the Pelew Islands
every family had its plot of land, which was considered as private
property so long as it was occupied and cultivated.[1097] In New Zealand
‘land was held primarily by tribal rights; and within this tribal right
each free warrior of the tribe had particular rights over some
portion’.[1098] In Sarawak ‘each tribe had its limits, which have been
handed down from father to son for ages, so that every old man of a
tribe knows the exact extent of its district’.[1099] In British New
Guinea we hear of ‘properly regulated and well-defined property rights,
certainly not bounded by surveyed lines commonly used to indicate
European land claims, but marked and known by natural features such as
surface conditions afford’.[1100] It may also be noticed that rights
over certain areas are recognized by the peoples of Northern Asia, such
as the Tunguses and the Yakuts.[1101]
5. Passing to the second and third points we find that within these
areas there is evidence even among the most primitive hunters of
co-operation in the search for food and of strict rules for the division
of the available food. Coupled with this we find that there is a social
obligation which is strongly enforced for every man to do his share.
Thus, where hunting and fishing can only be carried out by joint
parties, strict rules exist for the division of the catch among those
who have taken part and among their dependents. This may be illustrated
by a few examples. Howitt gives many details of the rules in force in
Australia with regard to the division of food. These rules not only
differ from place to place but also for the various forms of game. Thus
among the Kurnai ‘a wombat is cooked, then cut open and skinned. The
skin is cut into strips and divided with parts of the animal thus. The
head to the person who killed the animal. His father the right rib;
mother the left ribs and backbone, which, with some of the skin, she
gives to her parents. Her husband’s parents receive some of the skin.
The elder brother gets the right shoulder, the younger the left. The
elder sister gets the right hind leg, the younger the left hind leg, and
the rump and the liver are sent to the young men in the camp.’[1102] ‘If
a man only killed enough game or procured enough food for himself, his
wife and his children, then he need not divide with others; but if he
found that his father had no food, he would give them what he had and go
out and look for more.’[1103] ‘All the males in the Chepara tribe are
expected to provide food, if not sick. If a man is lazy and stays in
camp, he is jeered at and insulted by the others.’[1104]
The principal features of the Australian customs as described above are
to be found among all hunting and fishing races, though such elaborate
rules as are usual in Australia are somewhat uncommon elsewhere. The
Bushmen may have had their rules for the division of game; all we are
told is to the effect that they shared food. ‘When one feasted they all
partook; and when one hungered they all equally suffered.’[1105] We have
evidence both of the sharing of food and of the dividing up of game
among the Eskimos. Details of the latter are given by Nansen;[1106] with
regard to the former we have frequent references to the division of food
within the villages among all who need it.[1107] Of the Eskimos we are
also told that ‘it might be considered a law that every man, as far as
he was able to do it, should practise the trade of a hunter on the sea,
until he was either disabled by old age or had a son to succeed him.
This duty neglected, he brought upon himself the reprehension not only
of the other members of his own family, but also of the wider
community.’[1108] Rules for the division of food were almost universal
among the Indians; when a hunter of the Hare tribe kills an animal, he
is only allowed the tongue and ribs; the rest is distributed according
to a system.[1109] So, too, among the Lillooet a regular partition of
the game took place, of which one of the features was ‘that the persons
who had the game had no preference over others’.[1110] Such phrases as
‘studied equity in the distribution of necessaries’,[1111] which is
applied to the Seri Indians, indicate the existence of similar
rules.[1112]
Conditions are similar among the races of the second group. In Fiji
‘public opinion took care that no man in the community shirked his
work’.[1113] In New Ireland, ‘should a man neglect his family, a mode of
punishment very similar to one practised by schoolboys among civilized
races is adopted. A double row of men, women, and children—the whole
population of the village—armed with stiff birches is formed; and at a
signal from the chief the delinquent is obliged to run a certain number
of times through the lines and receive a general castigation from the
rods of the villagers’.[1114] Of the Pawumwa Haseman says ‘all work
together.... If any one refuses to assist in planting, the chief forces
him to work. I saw one Indian with a long scar on the side of his head
and neck, the result of punishment for laziness.’[1115]
6. It is thus clear that within any group in any primitive race, the
members of which co-operate together to obtain their food from a
definite area to which they are confined, the principle of the optimum
number holds good. There is, that is to say, taking into account the
abundance of game, the fertility of the land, the skilled methods in
use, and all other factors, a density of population which, if attained,
will enable the greatest possible average income per head to be earned;
if the density is greater or if it is less than this desirable density,
the average income will be less than it might have been. Obviously it
must be a very great advantage for any group to approximate to this
desirable density. There are three possibilities open to any group. The
desirable number may be approached, it may be exceeded up to the point
where men can only just exist, or it may not be reached. Extreme
departures from the optimum number must be very disadvantageous; if
numbers increase until they are limited by starvation only, then no
benefit arises from the use of any skilled methods that may be known.
Under such circumstances all inventions in the methods of hunting,
fishing, and cultivating the ground profit nothing. Social conditions
must also inevitably be unstable where starvation alone limits numbers.
This being so, how are numbers regulated? We may observe to begin with
that there is a number of factors at work among all these races which
incidentally limit increase. This they may do either by decreasing
fertility or by increasing elimination. To the former class belong
pre-puberty intercourse and prolonged lactation, to the latter war and
lack of care of children. Two characteristics of these factors are
noteworthy. The effect they have upon the limitation of increase is
incidental; it is the chance accompaniment of the practice of certain
customs or of certain habits. In the second place the working of any
single factor, so far as it reduces fertility or increases elimination,
is fairly regular; in any primitive race at any given time such habits
as prolonged lactation and early intercourse, when they occur, cause a
certain definite reduction of fertility; and such customs as those of
war and those connected with the upbringing of children cause a certain
definite amount of elimination. The nature of the factors present and
the degree of their incidence varies considerably from race to race, but
it follows from what has been said above that in any primitive race over
a considerable length of time the amount by which fertility is decreased
and the amount of elimination which is caused remain fairly constant.
There is another class of factors the primary and not the incidental
function of which it is either to reduce fertility or to cause
elimination. These factors are prolonged abstention from intercourse,
abortion, and infanticide. The view put forward here is that normally in
every primitive race one or more of these customs are in use, and that
the degree to which they are practised is such that there is an approach
to the optimum number. With regard to this view we may first deal with
the question as to the prevalence of these customs. We may then refer to
the evidence as to the nature and origin of these practices. We shall
then be in a position to ask how it may be supposed that they are so
practised as to bring about that amount of restriction of increase which
will result in an approach to the optimum number being made.
7. The evidence regarding the practice of these customs—prolonged
abstention from intercourse, abortion, and infanticide—has already been
given in the last two chapters. This evidence is also summed up in the
Appendix to which the reader is invited to turn. No attempt has been
made to conduct an exhaustive inquiry; but it is claimed that there is
ample evidence of the widespread prevalence of one or more of these
practices. There is no indication of the correlation of any one practice
with any one economic stage. As far as the evidence goes, any practice
may be in use in any economic stage. To the meaning of this we shall
refer later. It is further claimed that, when the influence of contact
with Europeans is taken into account, the evidence of the existence of
these customs is still more impressive; for the observations upon which
we have to rely have for the greater part been made after these races
had been in contact with Europeans, and such contact is followed by a
diminution of these practices.
One of the first changes brought about by this contact is connected with
the introduction of diseases previously unknown. These diseases are
often peculiarly fatal, causing a very high death-rate, and it is clear
that, unless the practices of abstention from intercourse, abortion, and
infanticide were largely abandoned, the race would perish. There is no
difficulty in understanding how these practices would actually be
abandoned soon after the introduction of disease. The proximate causes
of these practices are largely, as we shall see, the difficulty of
transporting many young children and the undesirability of having more
than one child during the period of lactation. If disease began to carry
off many children, the immediate causes for these practices would
largely or entirely disappear and so would the customs themselves.[1116]
Apart from the introduction of disease, the effect of contact is in
other ways to reduce the extent of these practices. Contact has often
resulted in warfare between aboriginal races and European settlers—as in
Tasmania, Australia, and America, or as between the Bushmen and the
Boers. The largely increased death-rate would, as in the case of
disease, be followed by a diminution of the extent of these practices.
Further, under other conditions, as for instance in Polynesia, the
efforts of missionaries have long been directed to putting a stop to
these customs.[1117] We may also note that there is often a bias on the
part of observers to under-estimate the extent of the employment of
infanticide and abortion. Many observers are attracted by the races who
come under their notice and seem to think that these practices are
incompatible with the kindly nature or pleasant disposition of the
people they describe—that in fact the attribution to them of such
customs as a normal feature of existence is a kind of libel—and if they
report them at all, they persuade themselves into thinking that they are
infrequent and abnormal. We have only to remember the objection taken to
the interpretation of the finds in neolithic graves in England as
evidences of infanticide—an objection based on the dislike of believing
that our ancestors could have been guilty of such a habit. Or, again, we
may remember that Tacitus, when desirous of holding up the Germanic
tribes as an example to the Romans of his day, declared that they never
committed infanticide—the implication being again that infanticide is to
be regarded as a degenerate and unworthy custom.[1118]
Nevertheless, in spite of all such tendencies working for the rapid
disappearance of these customs, and in spite of the bias against
believing in their existence, there is, as the Appendix shows, ample
evidence that one or more of these practices are recorded for almost
every people.
8. We may now consider the evidence regarding the origin and nature of
these practices. We shall find that abortion and infanticide arise owing
to the difficulty of providing for more than one child at a time. We
shall also find that these customs are practised as normal features of
social life and in such a manner as to keep the number of children at a
fairly constant average figure. There is frequently a belief that a
particular number of children is the right number of children. Further,
it will be seen that the number of children to be preserved is a matter
for consideration in which the wishes of not only the parents but also
of the relations and of the community in general have to be taken into
account, and that the practices are enforced by social pressure.
A large amount of evidence has been given to the effect that the number
of children is always small—the number, that is to say, after these
practices have taken effect. This is in itself evidence, it may be
noticed, that these practices do result in reducing the number of
children to a small constant average. Some additional evidence may now
be noted.
According to Curr infanticide in Australia ‘resulted principally from
the difficulty, if not the impossibility, of transporting several
children of tender age from place to place on their frequent
marches’,[1119] and later he observes that ‘infanticide was common among
the Bangerang.... They themselves gave as their reason for it the
impossibility of the woman carrying more than one infant in their
constant wanderings.’[1120] ‘Every child which was born before the one
which preceded it could walk was destroyed, because the mother was
regarded as incapable of carrying two,’[1121] says another observer of
the Narrinyeri tribe. Considerable information is given by Howitt for
various Australian tribes. ‘Infanticide is practised by the Mining to
some extent, the mode of killing being by starvation. After a few days
of short commons the child becomes peevish and troublesome, and in
consequence more neglected, being placed by itself away from the camp
and fires, and it is said to be afflicted with Mupurn (magic). When
death ends its sufferings Mupurn is the cause. The reason they give for
this practice is that if their numbers increase too rapidly there would
not be enough food for everybody. Yet they are very fond of their
offspring, and very indulgent to those they keep, rarely striking them,
and a mother would give all the food she had to her children, going
hungry herself.’[1122] ‘In the Tongaranka tribe the practice of
infanticide was common, because a baby was frequently too much trouble
to look after, and it was often the mother who killed it. But it was not
done until the family consisted of three or four; but after that too
much work in hunting had to be done to keep the family in food.... In
the Mukjarawaint tribe the children belonged to the grandparents, though
the parents had care of them. If, for instance, a boy was born and then
a girl, the father’s parents might take them, or the mother’s parents,
and so also with another couple of children. If, then, another child was
born and one of the grandparents took it, it would be kept. If not, it
was killed, there being too many children. The grandparents had to
decide whether a child was to be kept alive or not. If not, then either
the grandfather or father killed it, by striking it against the mother’s
knee, and then knocking it on the head.... According to Buckley, if a
family increased too rapidly in the Wadthawing tribe, as, for instance,
when a woman had a child within twelve months of the previous one, there
was a consultation in the tribe as to whether it should live or not....
Infanticide in the Kurnai tribe arose through the difficulty of carrying
a baby when there were other children, especially when the next youngest
was not able to walk.’[1123] Of the aborigines of the River Darling we
are told that ‘it seems to have been the custom to kill many of the
children directly after birth, to save trouble and privation in time of
drought, when long distances must be travelled in the search for food
and water’,[1124] and the same proximate cause of infanticide is
mentioned by Beveridge.[1125] Of the women in the Port Lincoln district
it is said that they put forward as the cause of infanticide the fact
that they ‘cannot suckle and carry two children together’;[1126] similar
reasons are said to be given by the women of Central Australia.[1127]
Speaking of the natives of Port Darwin Foelsche says that the reason for
infanticide is that ‘too many children encumber the parents in
travelling about for food’.[1128] It is also worthy of note in connexion
with Howitt’s statement about there being at times a dread of
over-population that, according to Spencer and Gillen, this is not the
case at any rate in Central Australia;[1129] according to Curr, however,
‘in many tribes there is a great fear of a want of food arising from
over-population’.[1130] Among the tribes of Port Lincoln ‘the number of
children reared by each family is ... very limited, rarely exceeding
four’, and ‘if a mother has children in rapid succession ... the young
infant is killed’.[1131] In the Dieyerie tribe about 30 per cent. of the
children are destroyed at birth.[1132] In the neighbourhood of Port
Darwin children are killed ‘where a woman has more than three or
four’.[1133] In Central Australia ‘each mother only rears, upon an
average, two children’.[1134] Among the Northern tribes of Central
Australia the number of children is kept down by infanticide to two or
three.[1135]
Similar evidence is forthcoming for other races of this group. Thus of
the Puelches Guinnard says that ‘among these almost primitive creatures,
children are not nearly so numerous as might be imagined, for the
existence of the new born infant is submitted to the judgment of the
father and mother, who decide on its life or death’.[1136] Charlevoix
says of the Abipones that ‘they seldom rear but one of each sex,
murdering the rest as fast as they come into the world, till the eldest
are strong enough to walk alone. They think to justify this cruelty by
saying that, as they are almost constantly travelling from one place to
another, it is impossible for them to take care of more infants than two
at a time; one to be carried by the father, the other by the
mother.’[1137]
Turning to races of the second group in Funafuti every mother was
allowed to keep alternate children, but the second, fourth, and so on
had to be destroyed.[1138] ‘A Tikopian family is usually limited to four
children, any excess of this number being killed by burying them alive
in the house or just outside it; occasionally five or six may be kept
alive but never more. If the first four children are girls one or more
of these may be killed in the hope that the succeeding children may be
boys, in which case the lives of the boys would be spared.’[1139] In New
Guinea, in the later years of marriage, abortion is used in order to
lessen the number of children, since a large family would mean too much
work for the parents.[1140] In the Kingsmill Islands ‘a woman seldom has
more than two children, and never more than three; when she discovers
herself to be enceinte for the third or fourth time, the foetus is
discharged by a midwife’.[1141] In the Sandwich Islands, ‘however
numerous the children among the lower orders, parents seldom rear more
than two or three, and many spare only one; all the others are
destroyed, sometimes shortly after birth, generally during the first
year of their age’.[1142] ‘They consider three children a burden,’ says
the same author in another passage, ‘and are unwilling to cultivate a
little more ground, or undertake the small additional labour necessary
to the support of their offspring during the helpless period of infancy
and childhood.’[1143] ‘No married pair (among the Gilbert Islanders) are
allowed by their law to have nor bear more than four children, that is
only four children get the chance of life. The woman has the right to
rear or to endeavour to rear one child. It rests with the husband to
decide how many children shall live, and this depends on how much land
there is to divide.’[1144] In Fiji ‘infanticide is more prevalent among
the poor classes than the rich’.[1145] Speaking of the Murray Islands
Hunt says that ‘after a certain number had been born, all succeeding
children were destroyed, lest the food-supply should become
deficient’.[1146] Codrington says of the Melanesians that ‘abortion and
infanticide were very common. If a woman did not want the trouble of
bringing up a child, desired to appear young, was afraid the husband
might think the birth before its time, or wished to spite her husband,
she would find some one to procure abortion.... Infanticide was more
prevalent in some islands than others.... The old women of the village
generally determined whether a new-born child should live; if not
promising in appearance or likely to be troublesome, it was made away
with.’[1147] Among the Mafulu of British New Guinea a woman must not
give birth to a child unless she can give a pig to a village feast, and
consequently children are often destroyed either by abortion or
infanticide, both of which are common.[1148] Of the Western Islands in
the Torres Straits we hear that ‘few women rear more than three
children, and besides most of those born before marriage are doomed to
be killed immediately after birth, unless the father—which is seldom the
case—is desirous of saving the child.... Even of other infants some,
especially females, are made away with in a similar manner when the
mother is disinclined to support it.’[1149] Of the Eastern Islands it is
said that ‘after a certain number had been born, all succeeding children
were destroyed, lest the food-supply should become insufficient’.[1150]
Rengger, who remarks upon the small number of children among the
Guaranis, traces it to the regular practice of abortion after a certain
number had been born.[1151] ‘Infanticide is quite common among the
Lenguas, an interval of seven or eight years being always observable
between children of the same family. Not only are babies, which are born
in the interval, immediately killed, but abortion is also
practised.’[1152] Among the Creek Indians ‘to destroy a new-born infant
is not uncommon in families that are grown so numerous as to be
supported with difficulty’.[1153] Of the Cheyennes it is said that ‘it
has been the custom that a woman should not have a second child until
her first is ten years old. When that age is reached, the man is likely
to go with his wife and child to some large dance or public gathering,
and there ... to announce publicly that now this child is going to have
a little brother or sister.’[1154] There is sometimes evidence, for
instance among the Sioux[1155] and the Brazilian tribes,[1156] that
abortion is committed after consultation with the husband. Among the
Pima Indians ‘sometimes a mother nursed a child until it was six or
seven years old, and if she became pregnant in the meantime she induced
abortion’.[1157] In Fiji there was no cohabitation until the child was
two years old. ‘This separation ... was in bygone times invariably
enforced’ and abortion was practised when there had been enough
children.[1158] Speaking also of Fiji Seeman says that ‘relatives of a
woman take it as a public insult if a child should be born before the
customary three or four years have elapsed, and they consider themselves
in duty bound to avenge it in an equally public manner’.[1159] Similarly
Gutmann says of the Wadschagga that it is considered most disgraceful if
a woman, who is still suckling a two years child, again becomes a
mother, and that in consequence abortion is frequent.[1160] In German
New Guinea, according to Krieger, only three children are as a rule
brought up owing to a fear of scarcity of food.[1161] In Radeck ‘every
mother is allowed to bring up only three children; every fourth and
succeeding one she is obliged to bury alive herself’.[1162] Infanticide
was ordered by law in Vaitapu and not more than two children were
allowed in a family.[1163] Of the Roro-speaking tribes of New Guinea we
are told that ‘formerly it was not customary for a woman to have
children until her garden was bearing well’.[1164] In the New Hebrides
‘infanticide was sadly prevalent. As the burden of plantation and other
work devolved on the woman, she thought she could not attend to more
than two or three children, and that the rest must be buried as soon as
born.’[1165] In the New Britain group ‘after marriage children are not
borne by the woman for a period of from two to four years. I am informed
that this is the result of a popular dislike to speedily becoming a
mother on the part of the women, who use various means to procure
abortion and use them successfully.... A considerable period elapses
between the birth of one child and the birth of another. The general
term is about three years. One child is always well out of hand before
another appears.’[1166] We may also note that, according to Rivers,
infanticide is frequent among the Todas and is practised not when food
runs short but as a regular custom.[1167]
It will be remembered that, when setting out in the last two chapters
the evidence for the extent of abortion and of infanticide, these
practices were in many cases stated to be committed when there was a
certain number of children thus corroborating the evidence given to this
effect above.
9. We are now in a position to discuss the manner in which numbers are
regulated among these races, leaving until later the discussion as to
how the position among these races was derived from that among species
in a state of nature. Everywhere groups of men are, as we have seen,
confined to definite areas. Among the few things which the men composing
these groups do know with accuracy are the limits within which their
food must be obtained. Further they co-operate in the search for food.
It follows, therefore, that within any such area there is—taking all the
relevant facts into account—an optimum number. The advantages to any
group of approaching this number are immense; a wide departure from this
number can only be socially disastrous. We found that within any group
there is a number of factors—some of which reduce fertility and others
of which increase elimination—and that the average amount of restriction
of increase resulting from the action of these factors was fairly
constant. We also found that there were certain other factors—prolonged
abstention from intercourse, abortion, and infanticide—which are
everywhere present and considerably restrict increase. If, as we shall
see later, there is reason to think that some approach to the optimum is
everywhere attained, it is clear that the former factors cannot of
themselves alone sufficiently restrict increase. It is therefore to the
latter factors, the primary function of which it is to restrict
increase, that we must look when we seek for the mechanism by which
numbers are brought near the desirable level.
It is clear how these factors originate. Among more or less nomadic
peoples abortion and infanticide are practised because of the difficulty
of transporting and of suckling more than one child at a time.
Abstention from intercourse arises as a taboo. The problem we have to
face is how these practices could come to be of the necessary intensity.
Now men and groups of men are naturally selected on account of the
customs they practise just as they are selected on account of their
mental and physical characters. Those groups practising the most
advantageous customs will have an advantage in the constant struggle
between adjacent groups over those that practise less advantageous
customs. Few customs can be more advantageous than those which limit the
number of a group to the desirable number, and there is no difficulty in
understanding how—once any of these three customs had originated—it
would by a process of natural selection come to be so practised that it
would produce an approximation to the desirable number. There would grow
up an idea that it was the right thing to bring up a certain limited
number of children, and the limitation of the family would be enforced
by convention.
Though, however, adjustment is understandable as the result of a natural
selection of customs, the evidence shows that there is even among the
most primitive races at times at least some deliberation as to whether a
child shall be allowed to live. In the more advanced races there is
increasing evidence of deliberation. It cannot be supposed that in
deliberation of this kind there is any grasp of the true position
regarding the importance of the optimum number, but it may be supposed
that under these circumstances the actual position at the moment as to
whether there are too many or too few in the group does weigh when
taking the decision. To all members of such a group, confined as they
are within the knowledge of them all to a limited area, the
disadvantages of too many mouths must be obvious. Therefore even among
the more primitive races there may be some semi-conscious adjustment of
numbers by means of one of these methods. However this may be, it is
clear that, even if there is no semi-conscious deliberation among the
lower groups, there is to some extent an automatic adjustment to the
needs of the moment. Suppose disease or severe weather, for instance, to
produce a higher rate of infant mortality, then abortion and
infanticide, inasmuch as they are practised because of the difficulty of
transporting more than one child, will be less practised.
10. Leaving aside for the moment the evidence that an approximation to
the desirable number is in this manner attained, we may note that in
order that the system should be effective, something more is necessary.
The conception of an optimum number involves the idea of a standard of
living. The attainment of the optimum number indicates that the highest
standard, which is possible taking all the circumstances into account,
has been reached. In order that the standard of living may be
maintained, it is not merely enough that numbers should be restricted;
the younger generation must become proficient in the skilled methods
which make this standard possible of attainment, and in particular it is
important that the young men should not marry unless they are both
energetic and skilful—unless, that is to say, they are both willing to
keep up and are capable of keeping up the standard of living previously
attained. There is abundant evidence to the effect that pressure is
exerted upon the younger generation. It is commonly recognized that
among primitive races the girls marry at or soon after puberty. It is
not so often recognized that the young men not infrequently do not marry
until some years later. The inefficient and the physically incapable
sometimes do not marry at all. In such facts we may see evidence of the
pressure exerted by social conditions and conventions. We find also that
not only are young men carefully instructed in the skilled methods, but
that the parents of the bride anxiously inquire as to the bridegroom’s
energy and capability of supporting a family. The conditions regarding
marriage have been much studied, and in marriage by service and marriage
by purchase we can observe the pressure which forces a young man to show
himself proficient in the skilled methods which are in use among his
people. Obligations on the would-be bridegroom to work and save up the
purchase money or to serve his future parents-in-law make it necessary
for the young man to learn skilled methods and to exhibit energy and
competence before marriage, whereby it is in any case rendered unlikely
that new families will be set up which will adopt a lower standard of
living than that of the previous generation. At the evidence for these
facts we may now glance.
In Australia betrothals generally take place in infancy and marriage
follows later; these betrothals are usually arranged as exchanges, but
the system shows some features of marriage by purchase.[1168]
Considerable postponement of marriage is often observed, especially
among the less skilled members of the community; thirty is mentioned as
a not uncommon age for marriage.[1169] Among the Eskimos there is a very
strong feeling that a boy must show himself proficient in the difficult
arts of hunting and fishing as practised by them. A young man seldom
marries until he is over twenty, though often betrothed when an
infant.[1170] Before that age he cannot learn all the methods of hunting
game, managing a kayak, and so on. Marriage is considered impossible
because he would not be in a position to maintain his family, and it is
the necessity of showing that he is in this position before marriage is
allowed which is remarked upon by all observers of Eskimo life.[1171]
The usual form of marriage in America is by purchase.[1172] As a rule,
the amount to be paid is relatively large, and the boy must either spend
some time in getting it together or else obtain it from his father. At
other times marriage is by service. Thus among the Kenai the bridegroom
performs a year’s service,[1173] and among the Haidahs boys were often
betrothed at an early age and went to live with the girl’s family and
worked for them until marriage.[1174] A Seri bridegroom leaves his own
family and enters that of the bride for a year; ‘he must display and
exercise skill in turtle fishing, strength in the chase, subtlety in
warfare and all other physical qualities of competent manhood’.[1175]
Among the Jakun a husband ‘is expected to provide a hut, cooking pots
and other necessary articles such as will suffice to enable
house-keeping to be started with reasonable comfort’.[1176] Among the
Fuegians ‘as soon as a youth is able to maintain a wife by his exertions
in fishing and bird catching, he obtains the consent of her relations,
and does some piece of work, such as helping to make a canoe, or
preparing sealskins’.[1177]
In this connexion it may be noticed that we often hear of the scorn
poured upon the weak and unsuccessful; it appears to be the case that
such men sometimes never marry.[1178] Among the Kutchins ‘poor men,
whose abilities as hunters are small, and who have been unable to
accumulate herds, remain bachelors’.[1179] One of the most difficult
things an Eskimo has to learn is how to catch seals. ‘The poor wretch’
that cannot do so ‘is despised to the last degree, and is obliged to
subsist on women’s diet, such as scolpings, which he can fish for on the
ice, mussels, periwinkles, dried herrings, &c.’[1180] With regard to
postponement of marriage, from twenty-three to twenty-five is the usual
age of marriage for men among the Thompson Indians,[1181] from
twenty-one to twenty-five for men among the Lillooets,[1182] and
twenty-five among the Abipones.[1183]
With regard to the races of the second group, among the Topebatos men
marry when about eighteen. They have both to present gifts to, and to do
work for, their future parents-in-law.[1184] The bridegroom also works
for his future parents-in-law among the Bontoc Igorot.[1185] In Fiji
‘young men of the lower orders married rather late in life for a
primitive people, rarely, it appears, before the age of
twenty-five’.[1186] Later the same author says that ‘marriages were
often delayed for years when the bridegroom’s family were too poor to
acquire property commensurate with their pride’.[1187] In the Maldive
Islands ‘although a man is allowed four wives at a time, it is only on
condition of his being able to support them’.[1188] In the Caroline
Islands ‘a suitor serves for his wife in the house of his father-in-law
elect as Jacob did with Laban and frequently has his pains for
nothing’.[1189] Marriage by purchase is common in New Guinea and often
results in a postponement of marriage while the purchase money is being
collected.[1190] Speaking of the New Britain Group, Danks says ‘some I
have met who have never married, but the cause lay in their inability to
raise the shell money with which to purchase a wife’.[1191] In Sumatra
marriage by purchase is said to constitute a certain hindrance to
marriage, in spite of which, however, there are few celibates.[1192]
Among the Negritos of Zambala the amount of the purchase money is large
and ‘there is no doubt that the gifts made represent almost all the
wealth of which a young man and family can boast’.[1193] In the Western
Islands of the Torres Straits men marry when between twenty and
twenty-five years old,[1194] marriage being by purchase.[1195] In
certain cases where head hunting is practised prowess in this art must
be shown before marriage.[1196] In certain parts of Borneo ‘it is a rule
among all the tribes that no youth can regularly wear a mandan, or be
married or associate with the opposite sex, till he has been on one or
more head hunting expeditions’.[1197]
Marriage by purchase is often found in Africa. The necessity of
collecting the purchase money frequently involves some postponement of
marriage. Formerly among the Thonga a man generally married when about
twenty-five years old,[1198] but there was some variation in the age
owing to the varying difficulty experienced in getting together the
necessary cattle.[1199] Sooner or later nearly all the men among this
tribe get married;[1200] and this is true of all Bantu peoples. ‘The
kind of individual called a bachelor does not abound among the Bantu.
The wretched, the invalids, the weak-minded only, are deprived of the
legal marriage which for the black man is and remains the one object in
life.’[1201] Sometimes in South Africa ‘a young man too poor to acquire
a wife by the transfer of cattle would make an arrangement with the
father of the girl to live with her and serve him’.[1202] Among the
Baronga young men do not marry for several years after puberty.[1203]
Werner’s description of marriage among the Zulus is of particular
interest. ‘The price paid by the Zulus (under the name of Lobola) and
others cannot properly be called purchase, being rather in the nature of
a settlement or guarantee that the suitor is able to support a wife; it
is held by her family in trust for her and her children.’[1204] The same
author, speaking generally of British Central Africa, says that ‘young
men may have to wait for some years, owing to lack of means or other
reasons. In the country under the Angoni chiefs they are called on ...
to “serve their time”, herding the chief’s cattle, and later, perhaps,
going to war.’[1205] The men of the Akikuyu are described as ‘not
marrying very young’.[1206] Roscoe enumerates the various articles
required to make up a bride’s price among the Baganda, and adds that
‘they were difficult to obtain and represented a large sum to a poor
person, so that it took him a long time to collect them; a man
frequently spent twelve months begging among his relatives and friends
the amount asked; for though as a rule he had secured some of the things
before he went to ask for the lady, there would still be a balance to
find’.[1207] Among the Wapagoro regular sexual intercourse is practised
by children. At puberty they are separated and the boy must then begin
to collect the purchase money, and not until he has finished may
intercourse be resumed.[1208] Plas notes postponement of marriage among
the Kuku owing to the amount of the purchase money.[1209] An interesting
account of the Akamba is given by Dundas. ‘During his lifetime a man so
divides his stock that he allots a portion to each of his wives. On his
death the portion of each wife goes to her son or sons.... If the cattle
left are not numerous enough to buy a wife for each son they are left
with the eldest son until the increase suffices for the purchase of a
wife for him. When the increase is again large enough it is given to the
second son to buy a wife, and so on until each has a wife.’[1210]
According to Johnston, ‘the Masai warrior is not allowed by the elders
of his tribe to marry until he has reached about thirty years of age and
has accumulated a fair amount of property or else so distinguished
himself by his bravery as to merit an early retirement’.[1211] Among the
Bangala, if a man is accepted by a girl he has to pay the ‘bespoke’
money, after which ‘the girl is reserved for him until such time as he
can pay the whole or larger part of the marriage money’, and, while he
is collecting this money, he will build a house if he does not already
own one.[1212] Further, ‘a man can marry as many women as he can afford
to pay marriage money for, but to each he must give a house’,[1213] and
as a result of the high marriage price, if his family cannot help him, a
man ‘cannot save enough to procure a wife until he is thirty or even
older’.[1214] Cureau states that in the Congo basin a bride’s relatives
are much interested in estimating a suitor’s capabilities of supporting
a family and of, in general, doing well.[1215] Among the Ekoi people,
‘by a native custom if a man wishes to marry an Ekoi maiden he must
serve her people for some considerable time, usually from two to three
years. His work mostly consists in helping to clear bush for next
season’s farms, but other services may be required of him. During this
time he is expected to make presents to the relations of his future
wife.’[1216]
Very similar institutions are found in America. Among the Nandowensis,
‘when one of their young men has fixed upon a young woman he approves
of, he discovers his passion to her parents, who give him an invitation
to come and live with them in their tent. He assiduously accepts the
offer, and by so doing engages to reside in it for a whole year, in the
character of a married servant. During this time he hunts, and brings
all the game he kills to the family, by which means the father has an
opportunity of seeing whether he is able to provide for the support of
his daughter and the children that might be the consequence of their
union.’[1217] Among the Ojebway Indians marriage is also by service and
the future father-in-law is described as being anxious that the suitor
should be a good hunter.[1218] Of the Natchez it is said to be ‘rare for
young men to marry before they be five-and-twenty. Till they arrive at
that age they are looked upon as too weak, without understanding and
experience.’[1219] According to Dorsey, men of the Omaha tribe did not
marry formerly until between twenty-five and thirty.[1220] Among the
Attakapas, ‘if a savage desires to marry a girl whose father is still
living, he approaches the latter; the latter then inquires if he is a
brave warrior, a good hunter’, if he can make weapons, and so on.[1221]
In Mexico men married about twenty.[1222] In British Guiana marriage is
by service, and the bridegroom must show that he is capable of taking a
man’s part; within a certain time he must clear a piece of land of a
given area.[1223] Another author gives further details: ‘Before he is
allowed to choose at all he must prove that he is a man and can do a
man’s work.’ There are various tests. Among others ‘he clears a space in
the forest to be planted with cassaba, and brings in as much game and
fish as possible, to show that he is able to support himself and
others’.[1224] In Peru a man had to be twenty-four years old before he
could marry.[1225] Von Martius states that the system of marriage by
purchase in Brazil is to be regarded as a symbol that the bridegroom can
support a family.[1226] Men among the Guanas marry when over
twenty.[1227]
11. The evidence so far adduced shows that the mechanism whereby numbers
may be kept near to the desirable level is everywhere present. When
inquiring into the nature of the mechanism, we found certain indications
that it was effective. The regularity with which certain customs are
practised, the small average number of children, and other facts afford
strong but not conclusive evidence that an approach is normally made to
the optimum number. We may now ask what further evidence there is as to
the position in this respect.
Conclusive evidence is not available. It is only when we are able, as
among some of the races in the third group, accurately to measure the
average income over a period of years during which numbers are changing
that we can arrive at a definite result. With regard to other races we
have to adopt methods which, though less precise, nevertheless afford
important evidence. We may inquire into the general conditions of life
and ask whether there are indications of the approach to the highest
standard of living within reach, or whether living is more usually
reduced to the bare level of subsistence. We may ask whether famine and
starvation frequently occur, what the average physical condition of the
people is, whether old age is often reached, whether, in short, the
conditions are such as we should expect to find them when the optimum
number was approached, or as we should expect to find them when the
numbers reached the maximum which could just be kept alive.
The conception of savage life which formerly prevailed was that
primitive races were always in a condition of semi-starvation.[1228] In
this connexion it has to be remembered that the conception of the
optimum number has regard to all the conditions, and that among these
races, taking the degree of skill, social customs, and so on into
account, there would be, even if the optimum number was attained, times
of scarcity, if not of famine. The existence of times of scarcity,
therefore, is no evidence that, so far as numbers are concerned, these
races have not attained the best conditions possible for them. It is
undoubtedly the fact that they are physiologically adapted to withstand
periods of scarcity in a manner that civilized men are not adapted, and
it is interesting to observe that, according to the results of certain
experiments, occasional periods of semi-starvation are far less harmful
than is continual under-feeding.[1229]
Descriptions of the Australians suggest the picture of anything but an
emaciated people in a condition of semi-starvation. In one place Spencer
and Gillen speak of them as well nourished;[1230] in another place they
describe a typical Arunta as ‘by no means poor in physique; in fact he
might often serve a sculptor for a model, and, when walking behind a
native, you are continually struck with his proportions and beautiful
carriage’.[1231] These authors go on to say, however, that ‘there are
times when he is hard pressed and during a long continuance of drought
his life is not a happy one’.[1232] So, too, Schürmann says of the
tribes of Port Lincoln: ‘the male sex exhibits a great deal of unstudied
natural grace in their deportment, their walk is perfectly erect and
free, motions of the body easy and gestures natural under all
circumstances.’[1233] Further, we are told that ‘their food, if of
indifferent quality, was at least wholesome and readily procurable, six
hours a day abundantly sufficing for that purpose, so that hunger was
little known’,[1234] and that ‘in most of the districts with an
indigenous population game is so abundant compared to the number of
inhabitants, as to enable every one to procure for himself and his
family as many pounds of meat a day as his heart desired’.[1235] Perhaps
this is too optimistic a view; there are certainly many references to
lean times when food is difficult to procure. ‘In few parts of
Australia’, says Thomas, ‘can the native count on anything like regular
supplies of food’,[1236] and we hear of those powers of enduring hunger
and thirst so common among these races and so incomprehensible to
Europeans.[1237]
Burchell is enthusiastic about the Bushmen; ‘as we rode onwards, I could
not cease admiring the beautiful symmetrical form of our Bushman guide,
who walked and sometimes ran before us, with a gait the most easy and
free that I ever beheld. All the limbs, unshackled by clothing, moved
with a grace never perhaps seen in Europe. The contemplation of his
well-proportioned, although small and delicate figure, his upright manly
port, his firm and bold step, and the consciousness of liberty which
beamed in his countenance afforded us indescribable pleasure.’[1238]
Nevertheless the Bushmen had ‘periods of fasting’[1239] and were ‘often
destitute of food for several successive days during seasons when both
roots and game were scarce’.[1240] They were also ‘capable of remaining
a long time without food, and could then devour immense quantities of
meat without any ill effect’.[1241]
In most countries a lean season occurs periodically once or more every
year. Such lean seasons are more exacting in some regions than others.
The Australians manage to subsist for the most part without storing up
food;[1242] in other countries the storing of food becomes a
necessity.[1243] We often find that where food has to be stored up the
stock runs low towards the end of the lean season. The Eskimos have to
depend for many months upon the food they have preserved, and if for any
reason, as for instance the late formation of the floe, their
calculations are upset, they may be placed in a very trying
situation.[1244] Of them we hear stories, as of other races, regarding
their powers of withstanding hunger; ‘a man who has eaten nothing for
three days, at least nothing but sea grass, can manage his little kayak
or canoe in the most furious waves’.[1245]
Of the Kutchins of the Peel River we are told that they are ‘an athletic
and fine-looking race, considerably above the average stature, most of
them being upwards of six feet in height and remarkably well
proportioned’.[1246] ‘The Indians north of the Columbia are, for the
most part, good-looking, robust men, some of them having fine,
symmetrical forms. They have been represented as diminutive; with
crooked legs and uncouth features. This is not correct; but, as a
general rule, the direct reverse is the truth.’[1247] The Montagnais are
described as ‘tall, strong, erect, well-proportioned and agile’;[1248]
on the other hand, we hear that they are liable to shortages of food,
are able to go without food for three days together at a time, and are
guilty of great excesses of eating and drinking when food is
plentiful.[1249] Hardisty says that the Loucheux can always obtain food
except under very unfavourable circumstances.[1250] ‘It sometimes
happens that the Ahts are in straits for want of food, when the fish do
not appear until late in the spring,’[1251] but ‘they can bear the want
of food a long time without becoming exhausted’.[1252] The account of
the Californians given by the acute Jesuit missionary Baegert is of
particular interest. ‘Notwithstanding the barrenness of the country, a
Californian hardly ever dies of hunger, except perhaps now and then an
individual that falls sick in the wilderness and a great distance from
the mission, for those who are in good health trouble themselves very
little about such patients, even if these should happen to be their
husbands, wives or other relations, and a little child that has lost its
mother or both parents is also occasionally in danger of starving to
death.... The food of the Californians is certainly of a mean quality,
yet it keeps them in a healthy condition, and they become strong and
grow old in spite of their poor diet.’[1253] ‘Californians can endure
hunger easier and much longer than other people; whereas they will eat
enormously if a chance is given.’[1254] Three days without food appeals
differently to an observer in a mission station on the one hand and to a
prisoner among the Indians on the other. ‘So protracted was the hunger
we experienced,’ says Cabeça de Vaca, ‘that many times I was three days
without eating anything. The natives also endured as much, and it
appeared to me a thing impossible that life could be so prolonged.’ The
same author goes on to say, however, that ‘they are a merry people
considering the hunger that they suffer; notwithstanding they never
cease to dance nor to observe their festivities and ceremonies. To them
the happiest part of the year is the season of eating prickly pears; for
then they have hunger no longer, and pass all the time in dancing and
they eat day and night.... It occurred to us many times while we were
among this people, and there was no food, to be three or four days
without eating, when they, to revive our spirits, would say to us not to
be sad, that soon there would be pears and we should enjoy plenty, and
drink of the juice, and that our bellies would be very big, and we
should be content and joyful, having no hunger.’[1255]
It is submitted that the conditions indicated by the type of evidence of
which examples have been given above are not compatible with the state
of existence on the bare means of subsistence.[1256] With this evidence
there should be considered the facts given in the sixth chapter
regarding the good health and advanced age to which these races
generally attain.
Turning to races of the second group, in the Eastern Islands of the
Torres Straits ‘nutritious food is generally very scarce at the end of
the dry season’.[1257] The Dyaks usually experience a season when it is
difficult to procure food.[1258] We are told that famine was unknown in
Fiji,[1259] but that from November to February there was sometimes a
scarcity when the last yam crop had been consumed and the next crop had
not ripened.[1260] So too among the Baganda ‘no one ever went hungry
while the old customs were observed’,[1261] but there are at times lean
seasons. ‘When food is abundant they have their three meals daily; when
it is scarce they content themselves with two, and hope for the rain and
a plentiful supply of fruit.’[1262] Cureau, describing the races of the
Congo Basin, gives a general description of the conditions which
corresponds very closely with that just quoted for the Baganda.[1263] In
British Central Africa “the time of hunger” comes after the rains, when
the last year’s corn is eaten, and the new is not yet ripe—about
March’.[1264] Of the Kagero of Northern Nigeria we are told that the
‘people are naturally more healthy and better conditioned in December,
say, than in August’, because towards the end of the year there is
plenty of food from the harvest whereas later in the wet season there is
usually a scarcity.[1265] So of the Mandja of the Northern Congo we are
told that ‘generally by the month of October, the Mandja family has
consumed its reserves of food; thereupon follows want for two
months’.[1266] In North America Catlin describes times of scarcity among
the Mandans[1267] and im Thurm describes similar conditions in
Guiana.[1268]
Of the fine development of physical form there is abundant evidence. The
inhabitants of Timor Laut are ‘handsome-featured fellows, tall, erect,
and with splendidly formed bodies’.[1269] One of the earlier travellers,
Kotzebue, was very much struck with the physical features of the
inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands[1270] and of Radeck.[1271] So, too,
in Africa the Akikuyu are ‘exceedingly strong, muscular, healthy and
well set up’.[1272] ‘The Damaras, generally speaking, are an exceedingly
fine race of men. Indeed it is by no means unusual to meet with
individuals six feet and some inches in height, and symmetrically well
proportioned withal. Their features are, besides, good and regular; and
many might serve as perfect models of the human figure.’[1273] As in the
case of the races of the first group, we are told that formerly these
people lived to a great age. ‘Under natural conditions the Bantu were a
longer lived people than the Europeans.’[1274] Catlin was greatly
impressed with the physical fitness of the North American Indians. He
never saw ‘a more hardy and healthy race of men’, while the women were
‘exceedingly healthy and robust’.[1275] According to Heriot, ‘the North
Americans are in general robust, and of a healthful temperament,
calculated to live to an advanced age’.[1276] Du Pratz speaks highly of
the physical characteristics of the Natchez and much similar evidence
could be quoted.[1277] Azara, for instance, says that the Payaguas lived
to an advanced age[1278] and also mentions especially the fine physical
features of the Mbayas[1279] and of the Charruas.[1280] Of the Mandrucos
Wallace says that ‘their figures are generally superb; and I have never
felt so much pleasure in gazing at the finest statue, as at the living
illustrations of the beauty of the human form. The development of the
chest is such as I believe never exists in the best formed Europeans,
exhibiting a splendid series of convex undulations, without a hollow in
any part of it.’[1281] Humboldt remarks of the Chaymas that both men and
women ‘are very muscular, but fleshy and plump’.[1282] So, too, Spix and
Martius, speaking of Brazilian tribes, say that ‘the Indians are seldom
sick and generally live to an advanced age’.[1283]
Lastly it may be observed as evidence of some weight that, as between
different races, the higher the skill and the greater the natural
richness of the surroundings, the higher, so far as we can judge, is the
return per head. Though the return cannot be measured, all that we know
of the conditions of life point to this conclusion, whether we contrast
the agricultural races in general with the hunting and fishing races, or
whether we contrast such hunting and fishing races as those of the
north-west coast of America with the Fuegians.
12. The conclusions derived from a study of the first two groups are
therefore to the effect that an approximation to the desirable number is
normally attained by the practice of one or more of the three customs
mentioned. As a result, the small average size of the family is arrived
at—the size being just about that which allows for the average mortality
from various causes later in life, so that in the next generation there
will be as nearly as possible the same number of adults as in the former
generation. It may be that, as an occasional coincidence, just that
amount of reduction of fertility and just that amount of elimination
necessary to bring about approximation are effected by means of those
factors which were described as having incidentally these results. But
such a coincidence must be very rare and the evidence shows that the
practice of one or more of the other class of factors is widespread, if
not universal. Further, it has been shown that a more or less automatic
adjustment is attained by means of variations in the intensity of the
operation of these latter factors, whereas it is difficult to see how it
could come about by variations in the former factors only, and, however
unprogressive social organization and general conditions may be, some
adjustment must be necessary from time to time.
It has been observed that there is no apparent connexion between the
practice of any of these customs and the different economic stages, and
it may be stated that an investigation undertaken to see if any
connexion could be detected was without result. This conclusion is not
surprising. The problem of how to control numbers is one which is
presented to all races at all times. We have grouped races according to
their economic status; but there is no reason to expect that under any
one economic system a particular method of controlling population would
be adopted more than any other method—no reason, for instance, why
infanticide rather than abortion should be practised under one system
rather than under another. As has been said, the problem is always
present, and the method adopted must originally have depended upon some
factor quite independent of the economic stage; abortion, for instance,
might have been practised in one country because of the presence of some
herb which experience showed to be effective, while in another country a
taboo upon sexual intercourse for magical reasons might have been
developed into a taboo during lactation.
This survey of primitive races is limited to the elucidation as to what
is normally the position as regards the regulation of numbers. The
evidence is not sufficiently detailed to allow us to judge whether in
any one particular instance there was or was not a close approximation
to the desirable number before contact with Europeans had changed their
conditions. It is merely suggested that there was in general a tendency
for such an approximation to occur and it may further be deduced that,
since the desirable number remained the same over a great length of
time, rendering the approximation, so to speak, easy of attainment, the
adjustment to the optimum number normally came about. And in this
connexion the limitation to clearly defined areas may be borne in mind.
The very fact of the universal recognition and careful maintenance of
these areas is an indication that such was the normal condition.
Migration is abnormal, and this fact is apt to be forgotten for two
reasons. First, when reviewing the course of history, migrations stand
out as the chief, if not the only, known facts and the huge intervals of
time between one movement and another are forgotten. Secondly, our
knowledge of primitive races is largely derived from observations made
when migration had been set on foot owing to contact with Europeans, as,
for instance, in America. Migration may be a disturbing factor,
upsetting the adjustment of numbers; but it is an abnormal condition and
hence it is disregarded here.
And here, in answer to the objections that a greater prevalence of
infanticide and so on is assumed than there is evidence for, we may,
bearing in mind the many reasons why the evidence is deficient, reply
that this assumption is not unreasonable. If such an assumption is not
made, the position among these races is not comprehensible. It may be
granted, for instance, that there is evidence of the practice of
infanticide on a large scale among certain Australian tribes; but it may
be pointed out that similar evidence is lacking in the case of other
tribes. Allowing that a far more detailed examination of the evidence is
desirable than there is space for here, especially with regard to the
nature of the evidence and the date to which it refers, we may ask what
it is supposed was going on among those tribes who did not, as it may be
alleged, practise infanticide—abortion and abstention from intercourse
being uncommon or unknown in Australia. The fecundity of all Australians
is presumably very similar; it would be very remarkable indeed if it
were not. The factors tending to lessen fertility and to produce
elimination do not differ so very much from one tribe to another. It
must follow that, if one tribe practised infanticide on a large scale
and maintained its numbers nevertheless, another tribe which did not do
so must have been rapidly increasing. This rapid increase is not
compatible with the strict maintenance of well-defined territories and
with all that we know of normal inter-tribal relations, and it is
submitted that the assumption made here, namely that infanticide or some
other custom was almost always practised, provides the only explanation
of the position.[1284]
Lastly it may be recalled that there are many indications that fecundity
is somewhat less among these races than among modern races. However this
may be, it has always to be remembered that the power of increase is
nevertheless huge. It has been, for instance, calculated that between
the years 1906 and 1911 the population of the world was increasing at
such a rate that it would double itself in about sixty years. At this
rate of increase the estimated population of the world in 1914—namely,
1,694,000,000—would be produced by the progeny of a single pair in 1,782
years.[1285] Furthermore, this is occurring under conditions in which
the increase is everywhere obviously and severely checked in very many
ways; therefore, even if the fecundity among these races is less than
among civilized races, it must not be thought that there is thereby
brought about any considerable alleviation of the problem as to how
numbers should be controlled.
13. We have now to ask how far the conclusions to which we have come
regarding primitive races are applicable to prehistoric races. In the
first place, they are clearly only applicable to races among whom social
organization has become established; for it is only when men begin to
reap the advantages of co-operation that the conception of the optimum
number arises. As we have seen, it is not possible to say when primitive
social organization arose. It must certainly have been present in the
Upper Palaeolithic; the evidence of the presence of a large body of
tradition is otherwise incomprehensible. As suggested, it may very well
be that we should look for the origin of social organization in the
Lower Palaeolithic. Among the Tasmanians, whose skill was not much in
advance of that of Acheulean man, there was a primitive form of social
organization. Nevertheless, wherever the beginnings of social
organization are to be placed, we must suppose that a long period of
time elapsed before it assumed that rigid form characteristic of
primitive races. Giving all due weight to this consideration, we must
assume that in, and perhaps before, the Upper Palaeolithic era the
position with regard to numbers was in all essentials similar to that
among primitive races. It is not uncommon to meet with statements to the
effect that man was a wanderer until he began to practise agriculture.
This is a mistake if it implies that after social organization had
arisen definite areas for different groups of men were not recognized.
There can be no direct proof of this; but the fact that, wherever we
look, absolutely without exception we find among all primitive races the
recognition and careful maintenance of such areas, just as much among
hunting and fishing as among agricultural races, must lead us to suppose
that among the more skilled hunters of pre-history similar conditions
normally obtained. It is altogether unreasonable and without foundation
to suppose that the recognition of areas is a development subsequent to
the separation of primitive races from the main line of social
evolution. If then the recognition of areas, which probably arose with
the development of social organization, was a characteristic of the
later prehistoric races, we are led to conclude that the desirability of
attaining to and maintaining the optimum number must have had the same
consequences as among primitive races. It must, in other words, have
resulted in the practice of infanticide, of abortion, or of abstention
from intercourse. For there is no reason to assume that the factors
bearing upon fertility and elimination reached a considerably greater
intensity than among primitive races. We have, however, no reason to
assume that any one of these habits was practised rather than another,
for there is, as we have seen, no correlation between these factors and
stages in economic development. All that we assume is that in one way or
another adjustment was brought about, and in corroboration of this we
may note, as will be pointed out in the next chapter, that as
prehistoric races emerge into the light of history there is abundant
evidence of the practice by them of one or other of these customs.
14. Lastly we may ask how we are to view the change from the conditions
under which the pre-human ancestor must have lived to the conditions
which we have found reason to attribute to prehistoric races. The
conditions to which species in a state of nature are subjected, and to
which therefore we assume the pre-human ancestor to have been subject,
were described in the second chapter. We found that the fecundity of any
species was connected with the sum of all the unavoidable dangers as we
called them to which the young of the species are exposed. A limit is
set to the development of the strength of fecundity beyond a certain
point by the fact that it cannot be to the advantage of any species that
its “fecundity should increase considerably beyond the point which
ensures the survival of the species, as such an increase would intensify
the struggle between the members of the species—this intensification of
the struggle not bringing any corresponding advantages.”
We are ignorant with regard not only to the form of the pre-human
ancestor, but also with regard to the conditions under which he lived.
We must suppose, however, that his fecundity, like that of any other
species in a state of nature, was of a strength that enabled a
sufficient proportion of his offspring to survive the unavoidable
dangers. As we have seen, that which marks the setting out of man on the
path which led to the dominion over all other species was the growth of
his intellect. The most obvious consequence of this increase in
intellectual power must have been to enable man to protect himself
against many of these dangers. We do not know to what dangers he was
subject, but they must in all probability have been many and serious in
view of his relatively poor equipment with means of defence. Yet we have
only to look at the Tasmanians to find that, when a degree of skill had
been reached not far superior to that of Lower Palaeolithic man, he had
freed himself from most of these dangers. Parasites were not then, so
far as we can tell, a serious menace, and against the attacks of other
species he could defend himself with almost complete success. Whether
his fecundity had come to differ from that of the pre-human ancestor by
that time we cannot tell; in any case the fecundity of prehistoric man
was evidently in the main a legacy of the pre-human ancestor—a degree of
fecundity that had been evolved in the face of quite other conditions.
Since the time of prehistoric man fecundity has increased—this increase
being apparently in the main in the nature of a modification due to
changed conditions of life.
It appears that we must regard the growth of intellect as having enabled
man to avoid the serious consequences which a fecundity in excess of
that necessary to ensure survival would otherwise have brought about.
Excessive fecundity, not therefore being a disadvantage, was not reduced
by selection. It must be remembered that human fecundity is only
relatively excessive; actually man is a slow-breeding animal, and when
we speak of this relatively excessive fecundity, we are not to think of
such a degree of fecundity as would occupy so prominent a place among
the bodily functions as to render man less adaptive than he would have
been had it been less. Fecundity, in other words, could only have become
disadvantageous had it led to greatly increased competition among the
members of the species without any corresponding advantage. This might
perhaps have happened, had not the growth of the intellect indirectly
produced new causes of elimination and intensified some of the formerly
existing factors. Thus the change in food and in the mode of life was
evidently productive of a higher infant mortality; such changes were due
to the growth of the intellect, and the higher mortality consequent upon
them, if not, as is possible, an actual advantage, was at least
countenanced by natural selection.[1286] Such changes therefore were,
other things being equal, tolerated, as were also abstention from
intercourse due to taboos, pre-puberty intercourse, prolonged lactation,
and so on. The practices of abortion and infanticide together with
prolonged abstention from intercourse—also due to the intellect—enabled
man completely to escape any disadvantages which might have arisen from
his relatively excessive fecundity—the reserve, so to speak, of
fecundity being possibly an advantage.
In some such manner as this it seems that we have to regard the present
position of man with reference to fecundity. The strength of fecundity
is in the main a legacy from ancestors who were subject to wholly
different conditions. It is excessive relatively to his present needs;
this excess has, however, not been a disadvantage; for the consequences
which might have been deleterious have been avoided owing indirectly to
the modifications of the conditions of life and directly to the rise of
certain customs all ultimately traceable to the growth of the intellect.
X
HISTORICAL RACES
1. In this chapter we deal with the factors bearing upon fertility and
elimination in the third of the three groups described in Chapter V. In
one important respect this and the following chapter are contrasted with
the preceding chapters. In the latter we were dealing, not with the
facts derived from the peoples whom it was our object directly to
investigate, but with the facts derived from primitive races with the
object of throwing light upon prehistoric races. Here we are dealing
with the facts relating to the peoples whose position it is our object
to consider. The setting out of the facts relating to these races
presents great difficulties. The amount of information is huge, but for
the most part it is far from being of a satisfactory nature, and the
rapid changes which have occurred within the historical period increase
the difficulties. Only a brief review of the subject, designed to
illustrate the more important features, is attempted.
The races under consideration are divided into four sub-groups.
Sub-group 1 includes the civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece,
and Rome up to the fall of the Western Empire. In these countries we
have some knowledge of the progress from Neolithic culture to a culture
exhibiting a far greater command over nature. From this culture is
derived the later civilization of Europe, which we consider under
sub-groups 3 and 4—the former beginning with Europe after the fall of
the Western Empire and ending roughly about A. D. 1760, the date given
by Marshall as marking the beginning of the industrial system, the
latter beginning about 1760, and including all European races and their
derivatives in America, Australia, and so on. Generally speaking,
therefore, sub-group 1 includes the ancient empires, sub-group 3 Europe
from the Roman Empire to the rise of the industrial system, and
sub-group 4 the epoch of the industrial system.
There remain those races which have passed beyond the culture of the
races included in the second group, but which have been out of the main
stream of the evolution which led to the industrial evolution. In
sub-group 2 are included India, China, Persia, Japan, and also the
partly nomadic Arabs and certain other Asiatic peoples. In late years
the customs of the races in this sub-group have been influenced by
contact with Europeans; changes due to this contact will be disregarded,
as were similar changes in the races belonging to the first and second
groups.
In one very important respect the conditions with regard to all races in
the third group differ from those in the preceding groups. Disease is a
factor of the greatest importance, and we may consider in the first
place the facts regarding the prevalence of disease in all groups. What
little there is to be said regarding war, famine, and child mortality in
all the races of this group may also be considered together. With regard
to the other factors we find that in many respects the conditions in the
first two sub-groups are similar and are contrasted with those in the
latter two sub-groups. Therefore, after considering disease and the
other factors mentioned for all groups taken together, it will be
convenient to deal with the sub-groups separately, taking the ancient
empires and the Asiatic peoples first, and mediaeval and modern Europe
afterwards.
2. Something was said in Chapter VI with regard to the evolution of
disease. It was there shown that in all probability most diseases
evolved relatively late in history. The more settled conditions of the
Neolithic Age may have provided the first suitable surroundings for the
evolution and spread of disease. The taking of metals into use was
followed by an increase in the density of population when conditions
became yet more favourable. The use of metals was followed by the rise
of the first civilizations. It was then that men first came to dwell in
towns and cities, and it is interesting to observe that the earliest
cities were very compact. Mr. Hall, speaking of Minoan civilization,
says that the towns were very cramped, ‘more so than the most confined
of European mediaeval cities’.[1287] On the rise therefore of these
early civilizations the conditions were strongly contrasted with those
which, we imagine, must have been prevalent before, and favoured the
spread of disease as it had never been favoured before. From the rise of
the early civilizations until within the last hundred years, conditions
have remained favourable. They may perhaps have been most favourable in
European towns in mediaeval and later times. According to Rogers, ‘the
habits of the people were favourable to pestilence. Every writer during
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries who makes his comment on the
customs and practices of English life, adverts to the profuseness of
their diet and the extraordinarily uncleanliness of their habits and
persons. The floor of an ordinary Englishman’s house, as Erasmus
describes it, was inconceivably filthy, in London filthier than
elsewhere, for centuries after these events. The streets and open
ditches of the towns were polluted and noisome beyond measure. The
Englishman disdained all the conditions of health.’[1288]
Turning to the evidence, we find that facts are very scanty for the
earliest times of this period. Such evidence as we have points to the
prevalence of disease during the early civilizations. We know that
pestilence swept over Egypt—the references to the subject in the Bible
being familiar. But precisely what diseases were prevalent are not
known; the descriptions of the symptoms are seldom sufficiently accurate
even in mediaeval times to make it possible to identify the
diseases.[1289] From other evidence it appears that in any case
tuberculosis, leprosy, plague, and bilharzia were common in Egypt. There
is much evidence to show that most diseases only reached Europe in
relatively late times. Plague, for instance, probably first reached
Europe in A. D. 542. It is possible, however, that the pestilence which
ravaged most of Europe between A. D. 164 and 188 was plague.[1290]
Generally speaking, the evidence points to the conclusion that many
diseases came from the East, where they in all probability originated.
Plague, cholera, and small-pox all seem to have had their origin in
India. This conclusion is in harmony with what we know of the origin of
civilization, for it is where men first came to dwell in close proximity
that we should expect to find that disease originated.
With regard to mortality from disease very little accurate information
is available until modern times. It is quite impossible to say, for
instance, whether disease was the cause of a higher mortality in the
Middle Ages than in the times of the Early Empires. All we know is that
it was in both cases an important factor of elimination. Within the last
century disease has come to be in an increasing degree under the control
of scientific methods. Some diseases such as small-pox have been almost
banished from this country; others, such as diphtheria, have been
rendered less lethal. Of the Early Empires there are of course no exact
facts. Macdonell, working on figures from the _Corpus Inscriptionum
Latinarum_ of the Berlin Academy, found that there was a very low
expectation of life in ancient Rome as compared with the present day.
Whereas in England at the age of fifteen the expectation of life for
boys is forty-five years and for girls forty-eight years, in Rome it was
twenty and fifteen years respectively; and again, whereas in England at
the age of thirty the expectation of life for men is thirty-three, and
for women thirty-six years, in Rome it was nineteen and fourteen
respectively. He also found that, though the death-rate was less high,
the position was much the same in the provinces of Hispania and
Lusitania as in Rome. In Africa, however, the expectation of life was
higher, but this may perhaps be due to the presence of a large number of
colonists.[1291] There is abundant evidence of a high rate of mortality
in Europe up to the opening of the last century. We must remember, says
Rogers, that ‘in the Middle Ages the risks of death from disease were
far greater than they are at present, that medical skill was almost
non-existent, that the conditions of life were eminently unwholesome,
that the diet of the people, during fully one-half of the year, though
abundant, was insalubrious’;[1292] and in another place he says that ‘in
the large towns the deaths, to judge from the return up to the
eighteenth century, greatly exceeded the births’.[1293] Theilhaber,
quoting Goldstein, gives figures which corroborate this view for Basel
and Frankfort.[1294] Halley constructed one of the earliest tables of
mortality for the city of Breslau for the years 1687 to 1691, and they
show that the mortality was ‘considerably higher than that shown by
modern statistics’.[1295] Price constructed a table for Northampton for
the years 1735 to 1780, and it shows a death-rate of 249·31 per thousand
for the ages 0–2, which is far higher than at the present day.[1296]
Finally, though disease has nowadays very largely come under scientific
control, by far the greater number of deaths is due to disease. Thus in
1917 there were 498,922 deaths among the civilian population of England
and Wales. Of these, 20,480 were due to violence (not suicide), 2,495 to
suicide, 2,485 to ill-defined or unknown causes, and 2,598 took place
during pregnancy. Of the remainder all were due to defined diseases.
Enteric fever (typhoid and paratyphoid) accounted for 977, measles for
10,538; whooping cough, 4,509; tuberculosis for 59,934; syphilis for
2,127; cancer for 41,158; pneumonia for 39,832; diphtheria and croup for
4,498; meningitis for 4,761; organic heart disease for 52,692;
bronchitis for 38,907; other respiratory diseases for 7,031; diarrhoea
for 13,311; nephritis and Bright’s disease for 14,298; and congenital
debility for 23,850.[1297]
3. Warfare is the second factor—disease being the first—which among
these races is remarkable in that its effects are not regular. It is
wholly impossible to estimate the loss of life in war until modern
times. Contemporary statements nearly always hugely exaggerate the
numbers engaged in battle and the number slain. ‘In the first Battle of
St. Albans we have been told that five thousand persons were slain. It
is almost certain that not much more than half that number were in
action.’[1298] This is probably equally true of nearly all such
statements. With regard to elimination through warfare there are two
facts to be borne in mind. The first is that, even if the contemporary
statements were correct, war is by no means so important a factor as it
seems at first sight. A practice which resulted in the conscious
limitation of each family by one child would have greater results over a
period of years than there is ever claimed as the direct result of
warfare in reducing numbers over a similar period. The second is that
the indirect elimination following upon warfare is of far greater
importance than the direct elimination. Famine and disease following
warfare were until recent times responsible for many more deaths than
warfare itself. When we are told that during the Thirty Years’ War the
population of Würtemberg was reduced from 500,000 to 46,000,[1299] it
has to be remembered that disease and famine played a greater part than
loss of life in battle. Further, when the direct effects of warfare as a
whole are contrasted with those of disease, it is apparent that they are
relatively insignificant. Elimination from disease, though irregular, is
always in progress within this period; there are lengthy epochs when
there is little or no loss through war. Again, the great epidemics are
far more destructive of life than the great wars; Hecker, for instance,
after a lengthy examination of the various accounts, came to the
conclusion that about a quarter of the inhabitants of Europe perished
during the Black Death.[1300]
The nature which warfare assumed in this period is obviously connected
with the rise and consolidation of large states. Warfare becomes a
matter of policy; it is no longer a cause of a regular degree of
elimination. There is among the races under review in this chapter every
degree between the kind of warfare typical of the races previously
reviewed and that typical of this period. The nomadic races of Asia have
at least until recent times maintained a form of regular warfare.
Vambéry states that there is ‘inveterate and irreconcilable enmity’
between two tribes of Turkomans.[1301] We are told that among such a
primitive people as the Nagas the tribes were formerly in a state of
constant hostility.[1302] Among these people also head hunting was
formerly common and the victims sometimes included women.[1303] ‘One
individual showed Mr. Carnegie his apron which recorded the deaths of
twenty-five individuals—men, women and children—slain by his own
hand.’[1304] Generally speaking, however, we have in this period to
think of warfare as typically of a different nature to that which we
have noticed before, but whether it on the whole accounts directly for a
higher degree of elimination, it is not possible to say.
The features of warfare which are of importance here are its relatively
slight effect in producing elimination, its irregular action, and its
important consequences in bringing about disease and famine. With
disease we have already dealt. Famine appears here for the first time
among the more important factors of elimination, and its appearance is
obviously connected with the higher organization of society which, if
broken down, as by warfare, may give rise to famine.[1305] Social
organization may be broken down by other causes than war, as by some
failure in government. Famine may also result from exceptionally bad
weather in any period; but it would seem that when a certain stage of
organization has been reached the danger is greater than before or
afterwards. There were great famines in England in the years 1194 to
1196, 1257 to 1259, and 1315 to 1316, since when famines have been
unknown. These famines were all connected with bad weather, but the fact
that they have not occurred since is to be attributed rather to superior
social organization and increasing knowledge than to better climatic
conditions. The sudden and prolonged changes of climate which occur in
certain places, as for instance in Peninsular India, tax the resources
even of modern knowledge and skill. In the case of famine, more so even
than in the case of warfare, the loss of life is apt to be
overestimated. Famine somehow strikes the imagination and gives it a
prominence in history which it does not deserve. It is in reality a
minor factor.
Before leaving the subject of warfare, it is interesting to note, in
view of what will be said later regarding the influence of Christian
teaching in assisting to put a stop to abortion and infanticide, that
the early Church was also opposed to warfare. According to Clement of
Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, and Lactantius, all warfare was unlawful
for the converted. Under Domitian a Christian soldier who refused to
fight was executed. There was a controversy between Celsus and Origen on
this matter. The view of the latter was that the prayers of Christians
were more effective than their swords. This attitude, however, was soon
abandoned, and by the time of Constantine the army was largely
Christian.[1306]
4. In the groups already discussed we have found child mortality to be
an important factor. We traced it to certain factors such as
carelessness, ignorance, and practices such as bathing new-born babies
in cold water. Within the historical period child mortality also plays
an important part. Though there is little or no evidence of the practice
of such customs as those referred to, ignorance and carelessness are
familiar enough among the less educated classes at the present day, and
in addition disease exacts a very heavy toll of infant life. In fact,
whereas among primitive races the actual cause of the death of children
appears generally to be exposure or debility following on the results of
ignorant and careless treatment, among the races of this group the
actual cause of death is usually disease to which children have been
more or less predisposed by the treatment they have received.
There is little exact evidence as to the conditions among the historical
races, but the general impression gained from the literary evidence is
that infant mortality was high. The high rate of child mortality among
Asiatic races is well known. In the period 1902 to 1911 the average
deaths of children for one thousand births was in the United Provinces
352, in Bombay 320, in Burma 332, and in the Punjab 306.[1307] Referring
to these figures, Wattal comments on the ‘extremely unsanitary
conditions of child-birth and the appalling ignorance prevalent on the
subject’.[1308] With regard to ignorance it is everywhere the same
story. Of the modern Egyptians we are told that ‘the children are foul
in the eyes, and are allowed to munch such indigestible dainties as
beans and bread as soon as they have teeth with which to bite, while the
mother protests to the lady doctor that nothing but milk has ever passed
the child’s lips, though its little hand may actually be holding a hunch
of raw potato’.[1309]
Of the Middle Ages again there is no exact evidence, but all we know
points to a very high child mortality. Some figures for the eighteenth
century from the country have been quoted and doubtless there was a
considerably higher death-rate in the towns.[1310] From the general
conditions and from the prevalence of disease it is obvious that it
could not have been otherwise.
Within the last century there has been in most European countries a
considerable decrease in child mortality. The degree of mortality varies
greatly from country to country. For the same period as that for which
the Indian figures were given the figures are for England and Wales
127·3, France 132·4, Germany 186·6, Hungary 207·6. New Zealand 64·4,
Sweden 84·4, Australia 87·5, and Scotland 116·1.[1311] Some further
reference to this subject and particularly to the differences between
the various countries will be made in Chapter XI.
5. With this reference to the importance of disease, war, famine, and
child mortality throughout the historical period we may pass to the
consideration of the remaining factors, dealing first with the ancient
empires and Asiatic peoples and afterwards with Europe from the fall of
the Roman Empire. We shall find that considerable differences exist
regarding the importance of the various factors as between these two
divisions. Roughly speaking, with the exception of the importance of
disease, conditions in the ancient empires and in Asiatic countries are
similar to those in previous groups. In Europe after the introduction of
Christianity we shall find that certain factors become of little or no
importance, whereas others appear for the first time, and finally in the
modern period we shall discover further changes. It is therefore
convenient to consider the conditions in the first two sub-groups taken
together and afterwards those in the latter two sub-groups.
All the evidence goes to show that celibacy and postponement of marriage
were very rare in the ancient empires and are very rare among Asiatic
peoples. The only instances to the contrary are such cases as those of
the later days of the Roman Empire; such cases are wholly exceptional
and what there is to be said about them will be deferred to the next
chapter. Generally speaking, every one married at or soon after the age
of puberty. In Greece ‘in various places criminal proceedings might be
taken against celibates’.[1312] Though the figures on which he worked
were small, Macdonell found that marriages in Rome took place between
the ages of ten and twenty.[1313] In all these countries we find
examples of religious celibacy. In Egypt[1314] and Chaldea[1315] there
were celibates of both sexes for religious reasons, in Rome there were
vestal virgins, in Persia Sun Priestesses who did not marry, and in
India and Tibet there are similar examples.[1316] But unlike Christian
celibacy, these instances of celibacy were of no importance whatever as
regards the question of numbers. The religious celibates never formed
more than an insignificant fraction of the whole population. In general,
as we shall see later, marriage was strongly encouraged by religions
other than Christianity for the mass of mankind. The one other important
exception would seem to be Buddhism, which not only forbade marriage to
the sacerdotal caste, but discouraged marriage among all those who would
attain to wisdom. It would appear, however, that celibacy, though
possibly widespread in the earlier days of Buddhism, soon ceased to be
practised except by a small proportion of the adherents of Buddha. ‘It
is said that in Nepal, under the modern Gurkha rule, the celibate
occupies a lower position than the married monk, to whom the services in
the temples are committed. It is said, too, that the Lamas of Sikkim and
other northern countries constantly have children living with them,
though they do not admit them to be their own. Yet for all that celibacy
is the rule, and, nominally at any rate, the great majority of Lamistic
monks in Western Asia are unmarried coenobites, who live together in
monasteries.’[1317]
Much evidence could be given as to the view taken of celibacy and of the
duty of marrying early. ‘The Oriental’, says Polak, ‘does not understand
how any one can remain a celibate who has the chance to marry.’[1318]
‘Le célibat’, says Fustel de Coulanges, ‘devait être à la fois une
impiété grave et un malheur; une impiété, parce que le célibataire
mettait en péril le bonheur des mânes de sa famille; un malheur, parce
qu’il ne devait reçevoir lui-même aucun culte après sa mort et ne devait
pas connaître ce qui réjouit les mânes. C’était à la fois pour lui et
pour ces ancêtres une sorte de damnation.’[1319] Doughty describes the
reasons for the absence of celibacy among the Arabs.[1320] The same
conditions are found in China.[1321] Of Corea, Ross says ‘the male human
being who is never married is never called a “man”, whatever his age,
but goes by the name of “yataw”, a name given by the Chinese to
unmarriageable young girls, and the man of thirteen or fourteen has a
perfect right to strike, abuse, order about the “yatow” of thirty who
dares not so much as open his lips to complain’.[1322] ‘Among natives of
India’, says Kerr, ‘it is considered an indispensable duty to enter into
the marriage state.’[1323] ‘A Hindoo male’, according to Wattal, ‘must
marry and beget children—son, if you please—to perform his funeral rites
lest his spirit wander uneasily in the waste places of the earth. The
very name of son, “Putra”, means one who saves his father’s soul from
the hell called “Puta”. A Hindoo maiden unmarried at puberty is a source
of social obloquy to her family and of damnation to her ancestors. Among
the Mohammedans, who are not handicapped by such penalties, the marriage
state is equally common, partly owing to Hindoo example, and partly to
the general conditions of life in primitive society where a wife is
almost a necessity both as a domestic drudge and as a helpmate in field
work.’[1324]
Early marriage is considered to be a duty for all. Westermarck quotes
Mohammed as saying: ‘whenever a servant of God marries verily he
perfects half his religion’.[1325] According to the Laws of Manu it is a
religious duty incumbent upon all.[1326] In the Vedic Age marriage was
much encouraged and offspring greatly desired.[1327] Confucianism and
Zoroastrianism similarly encouraged marriage. ‘A youth’, says Dubois,
speaking of India, ‘who was not married before he was eighteen was
considered by them to be sinning against the command of the Creator,
which says “Increase and Multiply”.’[1328] ‘Almost all Chinese,’ says
Gray, ‘robust or infirm, well formed or deformed, are called upon by
their parents to marry so soon as they have attained the age of
puberty.’[1329] ‘Marriage and the upbringing of offspring became a duty
incumbent upon every Chinese who is normally fit for marriage’,[1330]
say two modern Chinese authors. Similar statements are to be found
regarding Burma,[1331] Upper Siam,[1332] Persia,[1333] the
Mongols,[1334] and the Kalmucks.[1335]
6. Marriage before the age of puberty is not uncommon and is very
prevalent in India. It is doubtful how far intercourse takes place
before maturity. In the North-West Provinces of India it is stated that
in most cases there is no cohabitation before puberty.[1336] This
statement is confirmed by Risley; he further states that in Bengal
cohabitation begins at once.[1337] In India in 1901, 243,500 girls were
married under the age of five, 2,030,000 between the ages of five and
ten, and 6,585,000 between the ages of ten and fifteen.[1338] Eram,
speaking generally of the East, states that pre-puberty marriages are
not rare.[1339] We hear that 10 per cent. of the Kirghiz marry before
the beginning of menstruation.[1340] Among the Annamites[1341] and the
Todas[1342] intercourse sometimes occurs before puberty. Macdonell’s
figures for Rome, already referred to, show that marriage must sometimes
have taken place before puberty.
7. The ancient Egyptians suckled their children for two or three
years.[1343] The suckling period is prolonged in Arabia.[1344] In the
Koran mothers are recommended to suckle for two years.[1345] Among
Asiatic races lactation is usually extended for a considerable length of
time. The Japanese sometimes do not wean their children until the fourth
year.[1346] The poorer classes in Persia suckle until the third
year.[1347] In Upper Siam ‘infants are generally suckled three
years’.[1348] In Turkey lactation is also prolonged.[1349] Generally
speaking, the evidence is to the effect that the suckling period is
always prolonged—the average being perhaps somewhere about two to three
years.
8. In sub-group 1 many examples are found of restraint from sexual
intercourse being imposed upon married persons at certain seasons.
Examples from Egypt are given by Müller.[1350] According to the Laws of
Manu separation from the wife was obligatory at certain periods—for
instance, at new and full moon and on certain days of the month.[1351]
Similar conditions existed in Persia.[1352] Such restrictions, however,
are not of much importance. Of prolonged abstention from intercourse
there is little evidence. In China, according to Gray, ‘a husband is not
expected to cohabit with his wife after she has conceived, nor after the
child is born, during the whole period that it is being nourished at the
mother’s breast. Any violation of this rule is supposed not only to
cause the child to become sickly but to provoke the displeasure of the
ancestors and to bring misfortune upon all members of the family.
Wealthy Chinese are generally very careful in the practice of such
abstention.’[1353] It is quite clear, however, from what we know of
Chinese fertility that this custom is not widely practised among the
people as a whole. Smith speaks of ‘the objection of the Arabs to
intercourse with a nursing mother which was supposed to hurt the
suckling’.[1354] In Turkey also there is said to be no intercourse
during lactation.[1355] There are thus indications of the practice of
this important custom, and it may be that it existed in such a degree as
to have exerted considerable influence.[1356]
9. There is a general impression that the knowledge of contraceptive
methods has only been acquired in modern times. This, however, is not
correct. We have already seen that there is evidence of their use in the
second group. In the third group there is evidence of the knowledge of
certain methods in early times. Theilhaber gives some particulars
regarding their employment among the Jews, German tribes, Arabs, the
Franks before their conversion to Christianity, the Greeks, and the
Romans.[1357] Methods are employed at the present day in China[1358] and
in India,[1359] though there is some doubt as to how far they are
effective. According to Wattal there is some statistical evidence from
India which may be interpreted either as a result of such practices or
as a result of abstention from intercourse.[1360] There is not
sufficient evidence to allow of any exact estimate being made of the
extent of these practices. Generally speaking, however, it would appear
that it is not until we arrive at the latest period of human history
that we find these practices to be of considerable importance.
10. With regard to the size of families in early times there is little
exact evidence. Among Asiatic peoples at the present day we have some
evidence of the degree of fertility, whereas hitherto the evidence has
been only that of the number of children surviving after infanticide and
infant mortality had taken their toll. This evidence from the Asiatic
races we may now turn to discuss, but we may note before doing so that
the evidence for the remaining races of the first sub-group gives a
rather different impression than that which we obtain when studying
primitive races; upon the whole we get the impression that families were
at least not so markedly small as among primitive races.[1361]
Fertility is often said to be higher in the East than in Europe. So far
as India is concerned this is not so. The error has arisen because
attention has been paid to the crude birth-rate. When the crude
birth-rate is corrected for the number of married females of
reproductive age, then the true birth-rate is found to be lower than in
Europe. ‘The total number of births registered in England and Wales
during the year 1911 was 881,138, which when calculated on the total
population gives a crude birth-rate of 24·4 per thousand. The total
number of births registered in India during the same year was 9,209,703,
which when calculated on the total population gives a crude birth-rate
of 38·59 per thousand. It would seem therefore that the fertility in
India is higher than in England. But this is not so. The total number of
females of reproductive age (15 to 45) in England and Wales at the
census of 1911 was 8,988,745 and if we calculate the births per thousand
of such females the figure stands at 98. The total number of females of
those ages in India in 1911 was 71,535,861 and the corresponding Indian
figure is 128. If, however, we calculate the births on the number of
married females of reproductive ages the Indian figure stands at 160
while the English figure is 196.’[1362]
The fertility in other Asiatic countries is often said to be very high;
it is asserted to approach 50 per 1,000 in China. Exact figures are,
however, lacking. There is no doubt that the corrected birth-rate would
be much less. Among nomadic people the evidence is to the effect that
the number of children is small, and this is probably connected with the
practice of abortion, which is common for instance among the Arabs.
11. We have now to give some account of the factors which have a bearing
upon elimination in the third group. Of these the first is abortion.
Classical literature is full of references to the subject. Plato and
Aristotle both permitted abortion. ‘No law in Greece or in the Roman
republic or during the greater part of the Empire condemned it.’[1363]
‘A long chain of writers both pagan and Christian represent the practice
as avowed and almost universal. They describe it as resulting, not
simply from licentiousness or from poverty, but even from so slight a
motive as vanity which made mothers shrink from the disfigurement of
child-birth. They speak of a mother who had never destroyed her
offspring as deserving of signal praise and they assure us that the
frequency of the crime was such that it gave rise to a regular
profession.’[1364] The practice was more common in Rome than in
Greece.[1365] It was deplored, nevertheless, by many authors including
Ovid, Juvenal, and Seneca. Some details of the methods employed are
given by Theilhaber.[1366]
In sub-group 2 we find the practice to be widespread. Eram comments upon
its frequency throughout the East.[1367] Wilkins says that ‘the crime of
procuring abortion is one of the commonest in India’, and quotes Dr.
Chevers as saying that abortion is ‘an act of almost daily commission’
and has become ‘a trade among certain of the lower midwives’. It is
especially common in Bengal—perhaps 10,000 being destroyed
monthly.[1368] According to Matignon, in China abortion is legal and
usual during the three-year suckling period.[1369] It is also common in
Annam,[1370] in Japan,[1371] Persia,[1372] and Turkey.[1373] Infanticide
was condemned by Mohammed but not abortion, which is frequent among the
Arabs.[1374] In Turkey it is very common;[1375] it is said to be brought
about after the second birth if the husband consents.[1376] The fact
that in later times we hear of enactments against abortion among the
Burgundians, Ripuarians, Visigoths, Bavarians, Saxons, Frisians, and
Lombards seems to point to the conclusion that the practice was common
before their conversion to Christianity.[1377]
12. There is some reason for believing that infanticide was common among
the Egyptians at the time of Moses.[1378] ‘The ancient Jews seem to have
themselves practised infanticide, for as late as the time of Isaiah they
are reproached with the habit of “slaying the children in the valleys
under the clefts of the rocks”. In 2 Chron. xxviii. 3 and xxxiii. 6 the
same statement is made. It is true that these cases may have partaken of
the nature of human sacrifices rather than of ordinary infanticide, but
the two generally prevailed together, and we have express testimony that
both of them existed at that time among all the surrounding nations,
Phoenicians, Aramaeans, Syrians, and Babylonians as well as among their
kindred the Carthaginians.’[1379]
Glotz has an interesting chapter on the subject of infanticide in
Greece. In prehistoric times in Greece the head of the family could, as
among all people of ‘Aryan origin’, dispose of his children as he
wished.[1380] After examining the myths it is clear, according to Glotz,
that infanticide was a daily occurrence during the period at which myths
were being formed.[1381] In historical times it was universal. Most
often infanticide was ordered by the father, who generally on the fifth,
sometimes on the seventh or tenth, day after the birth publicly
proclaimed whether he would keep the child or not.[1382] If he decided
not to keep the child, it was exposed, and there is reason to think that
most of the exposed children died.[1383] Infanticide was enjoined by the
ideal legislation of Plato and Aristotle and by the actual legislation
of Lycurgus and Solon. Summing up his examination of this subject Glotz
says: ‘L’opinion de la Grèce ancienne est donc à peu près unanime. Reçue
dans la vie privée, cette pratique a été admise en droit par les
législatures et fondées en raison par les maîtres de la pensée.’[1384]
In very early times infanticide was general in Rome. Later the right of
the father to destroy his children was somewhat restricted. ‘The power
of life and death, which in Rome was originally conceded to the father
over his children, would appear to involve an unlimited permission of
infanticide; but a very old law, popularly ascribed to Romulus, in this
respect restricted the parental rights, enjoining the father to bring up
all his male children, and at least his eldest female child, forbidding
him to destroy any well-formed child till it had completed its third
year, when the affections of the parents might be supposed to be
developed, but permitting the exposition of deformed or maimed children
with the consent of their five nearest relations.’[1385] There is
evidence to show that this permission was frequently utilized. The plots
of Plautus and Terence sometimes turn upon the reappearance of children
supposed to have been destroyed. ‘Pliny says that infanticide is really
a lamentable necessity “seeing that the fertility of some women is so
over-abundant in children that it needs some such practice to
counterbalance it” while ... Seneca saw nothing reprehensible in
it.’[1386] Suetonius has several allusions to the matter which prove
that infanticide was accepted by the Romans in a very matter-of-fact
spirit. For instance, in describing the public grief for the death of
Germanicus, he mentions that many women exposed their infants. The
opening of the fourteenth episode of the _Golden Ass_ of Apuleius
describes how a husband before going forth on a journey directed his
young wife that the coming babe if a girl was to be destroyed; the whole
being related as a perfectly natural and common occurrence.[1387]
Among the Arabs it was very prevalent before the time of Mohammed, by
whom it was forbidden. Instances are given by Smith to show the extent
of the practice.[1388] Discussing the matter in another place Smith says
that Wilken ‘doubts whether among the Arabs the practice was carried to
such an extent as to do more than keep the sexes balanced—men being more
exposed than women to violent deaths; but there is evidence that, at any
rate in some places and at some times, there was a strong pressure of
public opinion against bearing any daughter, even though she were the
only child of her parents. If we take along with this the fact that
wealthy and powerful men had often several wives, there can, I think, be
no question that, at least in some parts of the country, wives must have
been so scarce that the mass of the tribesmen must have been driven to
practise polyandry.’[1389] The evidence from China is somewhat
conflicting; this is probably to be accounted for by the variations in
habits in different parts of the country. Norman has collected evidence
to show its wide extent. ‘The testimony’, he says, ‘of a Chinese teacher
is as follows: “Infanticide is very common among the poor, and even
people in pretty easy circumstances. There is hardly a family in which
at least one child has not been destroyed, and in some families four or
five are disposed of.”... Another man, who is now a member of the
Christian Church, says that in his village there is hardly a family that
has not destroyed two or three children.... A lady contributor to the
_North China Daily News_ furnished the following statistics: “I find
that 160 Chinese women, all over 50 years of age, had borne 631 sons and
538 daughters. Of the sons 366 or nearly 60 per cent. had lived more
than 10 years; while of the daughters only 205 or 38 per cent. had lived
10 years. The 160 women had, according to their own statement, destroyed
158 of their daughters; but none had ever destroyed a boy. As only four
women reared more than three girls, the probability is that the
infanticides confessed to are considerably below the truth. I have
occasionally been told by a woman that she had forgotten just how many
girls she had had more than she wanted. The greatest number of
infanticides confessed to by any one woman is eleven.”’[1390] Gray
states that infanticide prevails to a huge extent and gives an example
of a young husband who had had three sons and four daughters. Of the
latter three had been killed.[1391] According to Douglas the practice
prevails among the poorer classes ‘to an alarming extent’.[1392] Abeel
speaks of infanticide in China as ‘very common’.[1393] ‘In Pekin,’ he
says, ‘after deducting more than one-half for the natural deaths the
number of exposed children is, according to Barrow, about 4,000 a
year.... In some Provinces not one in three is suffered to live.’[1394]
The practice is said to be specially prevalent in South China.[1395]
Milne says that in Canton ‘infanticide was rare. Dr. Williams, however,
states that though the practice is rare in Canton it is common in Amoy.
He thinks that in general the proportion of children killed is not
great, but mentions two provinces wherein the practice prevails to an
atrocious extent, twenty to thirty per cent. of the female children,
therefore, ten to fifteen per cent. of the total number of infants born,
being put to death.’[1396] The important fact, upon which we shall
comment in the next chapter, seems to be that in China infanticide is
practised not so much as a regular habit as in times of distress. Moule
thinks that infanticide is connected with times of want, and Douglas
that it is in general only committed by the poorer classes in times of
distress. Norman emphasizes the fact that it is chiefly committed by the
poorer classes. Giles denies its existence altogether.[1397] It is
therefore of particular interest to find two modern Chinese authors
speaking as follows. ‘One must not assume that such a custom is
prevalent; flagrant and sometimes dramatic accounts, of which we have
heard so much, only hold true in certain districts and at times of
famine.’[1398] According to Faulds infanticide was formerly common in
Japan.[1399]
It is said that infanticide was formerly characteristic of five-sixths
of British India.[1400] Recently it was common in Central India,
Rajputana, Cutch Bhooj, Agra Province, Khondistan, among the Jats, and
in the Punjab generally.[1401] The Mysore census for 1852 showed that in
a population of 3,410,382 there was a 10 per cent. excess of males in
the adult population in spite of a 16 per cent. excess of female
births.[1402] It is stated to exist among the Nagas[1403] though the
evidence is conflicting.[1404] It was formerly ‘very common all over the
Jeypore country’.[1405] It was especially prevalent among the Khond
people,[1406] where ‘it was expressly sanctioned and promoted by their
religious doctrine’.[1407] It was also common among the Todas.[1408]
‘Lieut.-General Walker estimated that about 33,000 female children were
annually put to death in Cutch and Gujerat, a rate amounting to about
one-fourth of the total births and therefore to about half of the girls
born. Watson and Kaye assert that “no criminality either by law or usage
was ever attached among the Rajputs to infanticide. The child was
smothered in milk or else opium was smeared upon the mother’s breasts in
quantities sufficient to cause immediate death.” The _Encyclopaedia of
India_ asserts that in one of the districts of this Province, while
there were 82,400 boys, there were only 35,137 girls at the 1874
enumeration, a discrepancy which clearly showed that more than one-half
of the girls had been destroyed.’[1409]
It is worthy of note that in addition to infanticide ‘the wilful neglect
of female children operates destructively in every town and village
throughout the length and breadth of India’.[1410] This is especially
noticeable where in recent days infanticide has much diminished. Thus in
Rajputana girls are allowed to die when in the case of a boy medical aid
would be summoned.[1411]
Infanticide was extensively practised among the Teutonic tribes before
their conversion to Christianity.[1412] The well-known statement of
Tacitus that the Germans did not practise infanticide is certainly
erroneous. Lecky suggests that the whole passage is to be taken rather
as an indirect way of scolding his own people than as a sober statement
of fact about another. ‘Guizot regards the picture which Tacitus draws
as being analogous to the portrait Fenimore Cooper gives of the Red
Indians.’[1413] There is ample evidence that the practice was common.
‘Grimm declares that “all the Teutonic Sagas are full of the exposure of
children, and there can be no doubt that in the early days of heathenism
it was lawful”. Müller says that all the Teutonic races in early times
had the right of exposing their children, but in the course of centuries
it came to be exercised only by the parent.... It is related that, when
in A. D. 1000 the Norsemen of Iceland were converted to Christianity,
they stipulated that the right of slaying their infants should not be
removed.’[1414] There is evidence from graves that infanticide was
practised in Neolithic times in England.[1415] It is thus of particular
interest to notice that, where we can catch sight of peoples emerging
out of the prehistoric period, we find infanticide established as a
practice; the conclusions derived from the direct evidence of the
peoples of this group are thus linked on to the conclusion to which in
the last chapter we came from indirect evidence.[1416]
13. Turning to sub-groups three and four, disease, war, famine, and
child mortality have already been dealt with. The remaining factors are
those in respect of which there is a contrast between these sub-groups
and those just considered. Furthermore, as regards these factors there
are certain important differences as between what we may call mediaeval
and modern races.
Of pre-puberty intercourse there is no evidence. Among modern races it
is certainly negligible. If it occurred at all in the mediaeval period
it was very uncommon, and we may therefore regard this factor as of no
account. Hitherto we have found that, though far from being universal,
it is a fairly common practice. Its disappearance thus makes one
distinction between these races and those which we have previously
studied.
The length of the suckling period marks a similar distinction. It is not
possible to lay down any hard and fast distinction; even at the present
day in certain country districts it is prolonged, as, for instance, in
Hungary for several years according to Gönezi.[1417] Generally speaking,
however, the tendency has been for a reduction to the conditions which
now rule in Western Europe.
14. A far more remarkable difference between these races and those
hitherto considered is provided by the conditions regarding celibacy and
the postponement of marriage. Hitherto we have found that, with the
exception of a very few individuals who chiefly for religious reasons
did not marry, all women, if indeed not married before puberty, got
married soon after. Such postponement of marriage as occurred was
confined to men, and therefore neither celibacy nor postponement had any
effect upon numbers. At this point we come upon wholly new conditions.
The views of St. Paul with regard to marriage are well known and the
attitude of all early Christians authors is similar though usually more
pronounced. If marriage was tolerable, virginity was in any case
preferable. ‘For why’, says Tertullian, ‘should we long to bear
children, whom, when we have them, we desire to send before us ...
ourselves also longing to be removed from this most wicked world....
Therefore whether marriage be for the sake of the flesh, or of the world
or of having descendants, not one of these necessities belongeth to the
servants of God.’[1418] Such a passage as this can be paralleled in the
works of almost any of the Fathers. They return to the subject over and
over again. St. Augustine did not avoid the practical difficulty. ‘But I
am aware’, he says, ‘of some that murmur. What, say they, if all men
should abstain from sexual intercourse, whence will the human race
exist? Would that all would thus; ... much more speedily would the City
of God be filled and the end of the world hastened.’[1419] There are
many decrees of the early Council regarding celibacy. It was first
enjoined by the Popes in 385.[1420] Gregory VII was very zealous on
behalf of celibacy, and owing to his efforts it became very general in
Europe in the eleventh century though it was not rigidly enforced until
the thirteenth century among the clergy.[1421] Much earlier, however, in
certain countries celibacy had come, under the influence of Christian
teaching, to be of importance. It was initiated by Paul the Theban and
St. Antony after the Decian persecution[1422] and according to Schönberg
there were at one time in a single diocese in Egypt 20,000 men and
10,000 women celibates.[1423] It was felt to be necessary to take steps
to limit the extent of the practice, and in 381 the Council of Saragossa
forbade virgins to take the veil unless over forty years of age.[1424]
Thus under the influence of Christianity celibacy became for the first
time in human history a factor of importance. That the celibate is to be
preferred to the married state is emphasized by the Council of
Trent.[1425]
Also in this period for the first time in the history of the world
postponement of marriage became of importance. The evidence as to the
age at marriage is unfortunately far from exact. There is, however, a
very large amount of evidence which shows that, at least in the society
typical of most European countries from the tenth century onwards,
marriage was, except among the privileged classes, always somewhat, and
often very long, postponed both for men and women, though more for the
former than the latter. This postponement was brought about by the
pressure of social conditions, customs, and laws. To these conditions
and customs it will be necessary to refer in the next chapter, and it
will suffice to say here that, generally speaking, in the country there
was a limited number of households and that, until death made vacancies,
there was no house for those wishing to marry, who in consequence had to
wait, and that in the towns guild restrictions bound apprentices for a
large number of years during which they might not marry, and that at
many times in many places the poor were prohibited from marrying.
There is very little statistical evidence. The matter has been
investigated by Rubin, who worked with the Danish figures for the
sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. ‘It was the universal
rule’, he says, ‘that as soon as the obstacles ... were surmounted,
every one proceeded to get married.’[1426] Apart, therefore, from
religious celibacy, there was no voluntary celibacy such as we find at
the present day. But these obstacles in the case of the dependent class
were serious, and marriage was long postponed by men in this class,
though postponed for a shorter time by women than by men. ‘Even though
the social and economic structure of the community of old restrained one
section of the population—the dependent section—from marriage, the other
part of the population, the independent section, married far earlier
than nowadays. There was perhaps ... some holding back in certain
circles of the best society. But for ordinary independent people
marriage at an early age was a matter of course. Those who could marry
early, then, did so. But those who were unable to marry till late in
life—when they no longer held the position of journeymen, labourer,
&c.—yet married.’[1427] With regard to women there was ‘a state of
affairs resembling that found in the case of men, a compulsory condition
of celibacy for certain sections of the population.... In certain
classes of the population there were a good many more unmarried women at
something over twenty years of age than there are now.’[1428] Summing up
his conclusions the same author says ‘in spite of the fact that in the
independent section of the community marriage took place, as a rule, at
an earlier age in the eighteenth century than it does now, the average
age of marriage was yet higher at that time, because the more numerous
dependent class married later’, and adds that ‘there must have been a
difference between the age of the bride and bridegroom considerably
greater than in the marriages of our time’.[1429]
The state of things indicated above is that typical of mediaeval Europe
and lasted up to the industrial revolution. It is not to be supposed
that there was any abrupt change from the conditions prevalent before;
on the contrary the conditions described developed slowly as European
mediaeval society assumed its typical aspect. The growth of these
conditions is connected with the disappearance of abortion and
infanticide, and, as we shall see; there is evidence that there was a
lengthy period during which these customs continued to be practised
after the introduction of Christianity.
The transition from the conditions of what we have called the mediaeval
period to those of the modern period was relatively sudden. The economic
changes connected with the rise of the industrial system in the latter
half of the eighteenth century did away with the obstacles to marriage
which have been mentioned. As a result the average age at marriage was
lowered. In England between 1867 and 1888 it was for men twenty-six and
for women twenty-four. The question of the age at marriage in the modern
period need not detain us because it was not the variations in that
factor which have controlled numbers. There have been variations, but
these variations have been compensated for by other factors.
Celibacy for religious reasons, which at certain times and places was of
great importance in the mediaeval period, has ceased to be of any
importance in the modern period. On the other hand, for the first time
in history voluntary celibacy on grounds other than religious has come
to be of importance. ‘In the course of this century [nineteenth century]
Wappaus found that in Saxony 14·6 of the unmarried adult population died
single; in Sweden 14·9 per cent., in the Netherlands 14·2 per cent., and
in France 20·6 per cent.’[1430] The returns of the thirteenth United
States[1431] Census showed that of the females 35–44 years of age 10 per
cent. were single.
In this connexion there is another matter which may be mentioned here.
It will be referred to in detail later on. Whereas in the mediaeval
period the independent class married early and the dependent class
considerably later, in the modern period this has been reversed. It is
now the wage-earning class which marries earlier than the independent
class.
15. Contraceptive methods were known in the mediaeval period,[1432] but
there is no evidence that either these practices or restraint from
intercourse between married persons were of any importance. According to
Rubin, ‘so far as the eighteenth century ... is concerned, it may be
taken as a fact that in the main the limit of fertility of marriage was
set by nature alone.’[1433] This applies equally to the whole of the
period. In this respect, therefore, this period resembles those which
preceded it.
Whatever effects may have to be attributed to these factors in the
former periods, it is within the modern period that they first become of
primary importance. Something was said in the First Chapter as to the
history of the so-called Neomalthusian propaganda, and it was pointed
out that it began relatively early in the century. It is obviously very
difficult to obtain any definite facts regarding the extent of these
practices, but a very great body of evidence points to the conclusion
that, not only have these practices come to be of great importance, but
also that it is by means of variation in their use, together with
deliberate restraint from intercourse between married persons, by which
population has come to be regulated.
With regard to definite evidence the results of an inquiry carried out
by the National Birth-Rate Commission may be quoted. Of 481 schedules
issued, 366 gave definite replies regarding the limitation of births. In
288 cases the marriages were specifically stated to be limited, and in
203 of these 288 cases there were further particulars. In 105 cases
(51·7 per cent.) limitation appears to have been due merely to
restriction of intercourse to periods when conception was believed to be
unlikely or to abstention from intercourse. There were 98 cases in which
contraceptive methods were apparently employed.[1434]
16. We now come to a consideration of the three practices which we found
to be of such importance in the first two groups. Of prolonged restraint
from intercourse imposed as a social custom there is no trace. It was
certainly not characteristic of the mediaeval period; it is possible
that in the earlier portion of the period, of which in these respects we
have little definite knowledge, the practice may have been continued
from the times previous to conversion to Christianity, just as we shall
find that abortion and infanticide were continued in some cases. It is
important also to notice that abortion and infanticide, at least in the
form of well-recognized social customs, are also absent. For the first
time in history none of these practices are in common use. We may
shortly consider how they came to disappear.
‘Abortion’, says Lecky, ‘was probably regarded by the average Roman of
the later days of Paganism much as an Englishman in the last century
regarded convivial excess, as certainly wrong, but so venial as scarcely
to deserve censure. The language of the Christians from the very
beginning was widely different. With unswerving consistency and with the
strongest emphasis, they denounced the practice, not simply as inhuman,
but as definitely murder.’[1435] The evidence goes to show that the
Christian objection to abortion was the chief factor in bringing this
practice into discredit. The Christian attitude was due to the belief
that children in the womb possessed souls. St. Clement of Alexandria,
for instance, was of opinion that such children had guardian angels. It
is probable that abortion was not stamped out altogether; it may have
continued to some extent throughout the whole mediaeval period; it is
known to be practised to a considerable extent among the less educated
classes in the more advanced countries at the present day.[1436] Figures
have been given which show that abortion is at the present day a
considerable factor in France. But it is clear that from being a factor
of the first importance it has come to be altogether a secondary factor
and what is more to be regarded definitely as criminal.
The first protest against infanticide was made by Philo in the first
century A. D.[1437] The Christians opposed infanticide as they did
abortion, but it does not appear that Christian influence played as
large a part in putting down this practice as it did in the case of
abortion. Speaking of the later days of the Empire, Lecky says that ‘the
legislators then absolutely condemned it and it was indirectly
discouraged by laws which accorded special privileges to the fathers of
many children.... Pagan and Christian authorities are united in speaking
of infanticide as a crying vice of the Empire and Tertullian observed
that no laws were more easily or constantly evaded than those which
condemned it. A broad distinction was popularly drawn between
infanticide and exposition. The latter, though probably condemned, was
certainly not punished by law; it was practised on a gigantic scale with
absolute impunity, noticed by writers with most frigid indifference,
and, at least in the case of destitute parents, considered a very venial
offence.’[1438] Finally in 374 Valentinian made all infanticide a
capital offence and particularly enjoined the punishment of exposition.
There is much evidence to show that many centuries elapsed before the
practice was finally suppressed in Europe. It was apparently common in
France up to the time of Charlemagne, who made it a capital offence. A
law of the Spanish Visigoths in the seventh century punished both
abortion and infanticide with death.[1439]
The disappearance of both these practices is connected with the
evolution of the typical conditions of mediaeval society which are
marked, as we saw, by postponement of marriage and religious celibacy.
As the former went out the latter came in, and we shall find that
numbers came to be regulated by the peculiar methods of the latter
period as they had previously been regulated by those of the former.
17. Mention may perhaps be made of the influence of venereal disease.
Gonorrhoea has long been prevalent; there is some reason to think that
it was known in Assyria. Syphilis is of more recent introduction into
Europe and may be of more recent evolution. Though syphilis is a
frequent cause of abortions, still-births, and infant mortality, it does
not produce sterility. The presence of gonorrhoea tends to prevent
conception in women and, if not cured within a certain time, it may
cause permanent sterility. A considerable proportion of the sterile
marriages at the present day may, as indicated in the Fourth Chapter, be
due to gonorrhoea. Though no great influence is to be attributed to
venereal diseases when the whole question is broadly viewed, it may be
remembered that within the third period they have been prevalent and
thus further distinguish that period from the first two periods.[1440]
XI
THE REGULATION OF NUMBERS AMONG HISTORICAL RACES
1. At the beginning of the Ninth Chapter it was shown that under any
given conditions there is a certain density of population which is the
most desirable. What was there said applies whenever men enjoy the
benefits of co-operation. In the first and second groups, most men are
engaged in the production of food, and, except in some races in the
second group, the distinction between rich and poor, the division of
labour, and other complications of social life are not far advanced.
Where such complications are much increased, as in the third group, it
may seem that so simple an idea as that of an optimum number is no
longer even in general valid. It must suffice here to state that such
complications do not destroy the general validity of this view. In fact
the quotation from Professor Cannan given in the Sixth Chapter has
direct reference to modern conditions, and the principle there laid down
was intended by him to apply to the economic conditions of the present
day, though it is, as he says, also applicable to any society once
co-operation has arisen.
Among the complications of social life to which we may refer are those
connected with property, the division of labour, and the division into
classes. The latest development connected with property—the introduction
of the capitalist system and the appearance of a large class of wage
earners—does not change the general position. One remarkable modern
development of the division of labour results in one country devoting
itself largely to manufacture while another may devote itself to the
production of food. Of all such complications there is only one which so
modifies the idea of an optimum number as to require mention in a broad
survey. That complication is the division into classes. Where there is a
more or less well-marked division into classes performing more or less
well-defined kinds of labour, there is nevertheless generally such an
ebb and flow between them that there can hardly be any question, broadly
speaking, of over-population in any one class. This, however, may not
always be so, and in particular at the present day it may be that in the
lowest social class there is over-population though not in the nation as
a whole. It may be that in this class there is a failure to attain to
such a standard of living as is within reach owing to over-population,
and whether this does in fact happen will have to be discussed later.
In the Ninth Chapter, when discussing the data of the first and second
groups, we showed how approximation to the desirable number might be
brought about and we further came to the conclusion that normally there
was such an approximation. It is proposed here to treat the data for the
third group in the same fashion, though the treatment will be even
slighter than in the case of the other groups. Subsequently we shall
discuss the chief causes of failure of adjustment in this and in the
preceding groups. Lastly we shall touch upon the questions of migration
and war which have often been held to be caused by over-population.
2. The difficulties in dealing with the first sub-group are so great
that we shall only devote a very few words to the consideration of the
problems that arise. The facts regarding the social conditions in Egypt,
Assyria, and other great empires are very scanty. It is only with regard
to Greece and Rome that we have any considerable amount of information.
Our conclusions as to what was in the main the position with regard to
the ancient empires will be rather in the nature of a deduction when we
have completed our sketch of all the races in the third group.
How adjustment may be conceived to have come about in these races is in
the absence of knowledge of their social conditions not possible to
illustrate. We know, however, that the social life of these races was
based upon the cultivation of the land. It is true that in addition to
the cultivator we find the artisan and the wage-earner.[1441] The
question as to how the increase of the artisan, merchant, and
wage-earning classes may be kept down to the desirable level will be
discussed when dealing with the third and fourth sub-groups, and, as in
general the conditions are probably much the same everywhere, we may
omit the consideration of what happens among these classes in this
sub-group. With regard to the cultivators we have already seen, when
dealing with the second group, how, when either family or village
communities are limited to a certain area, we can understand that the
undesirability of such an increase as would cause the average earnings
to fall below the possible maximum not only might, but actually does,
result in a limitation of increase. So again here among the cultivators,
we can suppose that the danger of an undue increase was brought to
notice in the same fashion. We shall also discuss in some little detail
what happens among the cultivators in the third sub-group, and thus we
can omit the consideration of what facts there are for this sub-group
and merely ask what methods there are whereby increase could have been
checked.
Of fertility we have little evidence. It has to be remembered that on
general grounds fecundity was if anything greater than among the races
of the former groups. Lactation was apparently often prolonged and
pre-puberty marriage may not have been uncommon. Disease and war were
very important as factors of elimination, and moreover they were both
erratic in their action. It is no longer possible to think of a certain
average degree of elimination from these causes which varied little from
year to year. On the other hand there is no difficulty in supposing that
abortion and infanticide were employed in varying degrees to meet the
situation. It may be observed that abortion in Rome and infanticide in
Greece were practised systematically, and not merely when pressure had
arisen but in order that it might not arise. Thus Hesiod recommends the
cultivator not to bring up more than one son at home, for thus ‘wealth
will increase in the house’.[1442] What practices were in use among the
Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Hittites, and other peoples we do not
know in any detail, though there is considerable evidence of the
prevalence of infanticide. There may have been a tendency to practise
these customs to some average degree, but there is no difficulty in
supposing that following upon war and pestilence there would be such a
relaxation as soon to bring numbers up to the former level. The question
as to how far we may assume these methods to have been effective will be
left for discussion until later in the chapter.
3. There is a great variety of races in the second sub-group; they fall
under the headings of the more or less nomadic peoples, the more
primitive peoples of India, who in many respects are comparable to the
races of the second group but who have been to some extent influenced by
Eur-Asiatic culture and the chief races of India and China. Those races
which fall under the second and third headings are predominantly
agricultural; 75 per cent. of the population of Bengal, for instance, is
supported directly or indirectly by agriculture. Whether, as in many
parts of India, the village community system obtains,[1443] or whether,
as in China, there is family or individual ownership of the land,[1444]
what was said above regarding the possibility of the desirable number
making itself felt also applies here. So also does what was there said
about the position of the artisan and wage-earner. As a typical example
of the manner in which the pressure is felt where the family system
obtains in an agricultural community, we may take the conditions in
China as described by two Chinese authors. ‘In a village the well-to-do
family is a rare exception, and the typical family is the working-class
family. The father is, as a rule, a husbandman, and the sons follow his
footsteps. If they do not possess a piece of land of their own they
cultivate either the land of the ancestral hall, of the village temple,
or that of any private owner. The mother, daughter, and daughter-in-law
do the household work together, and also add considerably to the family
income by such employment as may be carried on in the home. The earnings
of all the members of a family are given to the mother in a hotch-potch
for the maintenance of the corporate whole. The family from our point of
view is a living organism which possesses a spirit quite apart from the
individuals who form it. Each member does not live and work for himself,
but for the family to which he belongs. Every other member has a claim
on his earnings.’[1445] Another author, after describing this system,
tells us that ‘any member of the family who should disgrace himself in
any way, as by becoming an inveterate gambler and permanently neglecting
his work, or by developing the opium vice to great excess, would be
formally cast out, his name being struck off the ancestral register. Men
of this stamp generally sink lower and lower, until they swell the ranks
of the professional beggars, to die perhaps in a ditch.’[1446]
With regard to the nomadic peoples we always find that they are
restricted to clearly marked territories. Robertson Smith, after
describing the local groups among the Arabs, goes on to say that ‘the
nomadic Arabs, whose way of life supplied the type in which all Arabian
society was mainly moulded, are not to be thought of as roaming quite at
large through the length and breadth of the peninsula. Each group, or
confederation of groups, had its own pastures, and still more its own
waters, beyond which it could not move without immediate risk of a
hostile encounter.’[1447] Somewhat similar conditions are recorded of
all nomadic people.[1448]
4. When we consider the factors which bear upon fertility and
elimination, we find that, as in the first sub-group, war and disease
are of importance—especially the latter—and that, further, the amount of
elimination to which they give rise is very irregular from one period to
another. For some thousands of years India appears to have been subject
to the passage of scourge after scourge, sweeping away hundreds of
thousands of the population. Famine at times is the cause of many
deaths, and is due in part, as it is in varying degrees among all races,
to climatic factors. It happens, however, that in India these conditions
are such as to produce famine more often than anywhere else. Peninsular
India is ‘subject to excessive variations [of rainfall] distributed
quite irregularly and over very long periods. In such regions years of
adequate rainfall and abundant yield may follow in successive decades at
a time during which a considerable population settles and opens up the
country; then follow a few years of drought with high temperature and
aridity; and unless migration and storage works are practicable and are
executed in time, the land is deserted.’[1449] Famine is also due at
times to some failure in social organization or to some failure to keep
up the previous level of skill, as, for instance, to maintain irrigation
works.
Fecundity, as we have seen, is probably, on the whole, higher among
these races than among the races of the second group. Pre-puberty
marriage in India probably has a considerable influence in reducing
fertility, at least among the Hindu part of the population. With regard
to practices limiting fertility and causing elimination, we have seen
that infanticide and abortion are widespread and perhaps to some small
extent contraceptive practices or prudential restraint are employed by
all these races. It may also be noticed that there is plenty of evidence
that in former times in any case marriage customs existed which ensured
that before marriage took place the bridegroom was competent to support
a family at the recognized standard of living. ‘The days are still
remembered when no young Munda could marry before he was able to
construct a plough with his own hands, nor would a Munda girl be given
away in marriage before she could, with her own hands, weave mats with
palm leaves and spin cotton.’[1450]
5. There is no reason for thinking that over-population occurs among the
nomadic people such as the Arabs; presumably the methods we have seen to
be in use are effective. There has been much discussion as to whether
over-population exists in India, and there is a very great difference of
opinion on the matter. Hitherto, in order to throw some light on this
point, we have had to rely on general evidence; here, for the first
time, there is some exact evidence of the kind which should enable a
definite answer to be given. What we want to know in the case of India
is whether the real income per head is increasing or not with the
increase of population. Unfortunately the evidence in India is somewhat
contradictory. It has recently been summed up by Wattal.[1451] He shows
that some of the arguments in favour of the view that there is no
over-population are of very doubtful validity. It has been said, for
instance, that large areas are sparsely populated; in this connexion it
has to be remembered that the soil is poor in these areas. It has also
been said that the complaints about insufficiency of labour point to the
same conclusion. There are, however, many reasons to account for this
fact. On the other hand, Wattal points out that the acreage per unit of
the agricultural population hardly exceeds one and a half acres and
further shows a tendency to fall. He also points out that in Europe 250
persons to the square mile is thought to be the limit of density where
agriculture is practised, whereas in India from four to five times that
number in many places find their support on an area of this size. He
finds the explanation of this not in any superiority of soil or of skill
but in the lowness of the standard of living. Four persons subsist on an
income that would hardly support one person in Europe. The lowness of
the standard of living, the small area of land per head, and the
tendency for the amount of land per labourer to decrease points strongly
to the conclusion that over-population does occur in many parts of
India.
It is also probable that many parts of China are over-populated. The
apparent overcrowding and the low standard of living lend support to
this views and in this connexion it is interesting to note that
infanticide is practised not so much as a regular custom but at times
when, numbers being so great, no further increase could be supported.
Moule says that infanticide is ‘local and spasmodic’ rather than
‘chronic and national’ and notices that it is especially connected with
‘want from flood, or famine or civil war’.[1452] There is much other
evidence to the same effect.[1453] It will be remembered that some
evidence was given in the last chapter pointing to the great prevalence
of infanticide; it is necessary to remember that such conditions are
consistent with a state of over-population. The prevalence of such a
custom in no way shows that numbers are as a result being kept down to
the desirable level. These customs may bring about this result, or they
may, in a country in the position in which there is reason to believe
that many parts of China now are, merely eliminate those for whom there
is no place at all. Almost the same amount of infanticide, which would
limit numbers to a desirable level in a country where such a level was
being maintained, would, in a country where numbers were already
excessive, merely cut off those for whom enough food to support
existence could not be found.
What, then, is the cause of the over-population which almost certainly
exists in parts of India and China? The irregularity of the factors of
elimination is itself no bar to the adjustment of population, but this
irregularity may indirectly have an important bearing upon the outlook
of man and ultimately upon the behaviour of the mass of the population.
Great scourges must tend to produce a hopelessness of outlook. When time
and again war and disease sweep through a country, there must arise a
tendency for the standard of living to be lost sight of. Gradually there
may come about a condition of things when there is no hope or fear.
European influence may have had an ill effect. The lessening of
elimination through disease and war does not of necessity in itself tend
to bring about any over-population. On the contrary, it tends rather to
remove the causes which produce degraded social conditions and the
consequences referred to above which flow from them. But in other ways
European influence is not beneficial. Those customs, for instance, which
insist upon the bridegroom possessing a certain degree of skill break
down, and unless a more or less distinctly formulated ambition takes
their place, there is nothing to ensure that the necessary effort to
secure the highest standard of living that is possible will be made.
That which is common to these races, where over-population is suspected,
is the absence of hope and fear alike, of ambition and of a standard of
living; they are contented to subsist on what will just support life.
Such conditions are fatal to the attainment of the desirable number.
Abortion and infanticide may still be practised, but as a rule only in
the presence of absolute need, not as regular customs before the need
arises. To the bringing about of these conditions the factors mentioned
above contribute, but they probably never represent the whole cause. In
these cases we seem always to find that political misfortunes have
overtaken these peoples. They have suffered from oppression in one form
or another and gradually the old customs have been lost; hope and
ambition have faded from the outlook. In consequence of oppression the
mass of the people has by degrees sunk to a degraded condition in which
neither the former customs are practised nor is an individual effort, as
a rule, made towards the attainment of the best which the skilled
methods available, surroundings and so on, make possible.
It is also probable that there is over-population in Egypt; it is
probable, that is to say, that with the recent increase of the fellaheen
population there has been a decrease in the income per head. Any one who
has had an opportunity of watching the behaviour of the fellaheen side
by side with that of members of some race such as the Somalis cannot
fail to have been very much impressed. The fellaheen cultivate one of
the richest countries on earth, and they have within their grasp and to
some extent within their use a considerable degree of modern skilled
methods. At an Egyptian port these men were to be seen at work during
the war. From time to time Somalis disembarked with shiploads of camels.
The Somalis live in a country which relatively to Egypt is infertile and
have little knowledge of skilled methods. Stepping ashore for the first
time in a modern port, bewildered as was inevitable with his
surroundings, the Somali, nevertheless, showed himself a man. He carried
a certain pride with him. The fellaheen grovelled to him; the Somali
obviously despised him. The Somali is a man who has not suffered from a
tradition of oppression as has the Egyptian fellah; it is easy to
understand how among the Somalis conditions would arise and would be
maintained whereby excess of numbers would not reduce them to a bare
level of subsistence, whereas among the fellaheen numbers probably tend
to be regulated by the ability of the land to keep men alive in spite of
the possibility of the return per head being far higher in Egypt than in
Somaliland.
6. Passing to the third sub-group we come for the first time upon
conditions substantially different to those with which we have hitherto
met. All those factors, which in previous groups we have noticed as
having a bearing upon fertility, have either diminished in importance or
more often have vanished altogether. Lactation was not prolonged, there
was no pre-puberty marriage, and there is no evidence of restraint from
intercourse between married persons being imposed as a social custom.
Though the knowledge of contraceptive practices may have been present
there is no evidence of their extensive use. It has also to be
remembered that fecundity, if anything, was increasing. On the other
hand disease was the cause of a very high death-rate, higher almost
certainly than in any previous age.
The most striking difference, however, between this and former
sub-groups is the absence of abortion and infanticide. Further, we find
what we have never found before, or rather never in such a degree as to
be of any importance, postponement of marriage and celibacy; in other
words, for the older methods there has been substituted a new method
whereby fertility may be reduced. We have now to inquire how the
realization of the desirability of some limitation brought about the
most important factor—postponement of marriage—and how effective it was.
With regard to religious celibacy, which was of less importance and
ceased to be of any importance in England during the sixteenth century,
we may merely notice its existence. Under conditions, such as we shall
describe, and which rendered marriage difficult, monastic institutions
were obviously a refuge for many for whom there was little prospect of
marriage.[1454] The estimates of the number of religious celibates are
too vague and conflicting to be worth analysing. It can only be regarded
as a secondary factor representing the most extreme result of the
working of the pressure which we are about to describe.
7. The following sketch is in the main confined to conditions in England
since the thirteenth century, and we may first notice that in that
century ‘almost every one not only possessed land, but cultivated
it’.[1455] Yet the serf, in addition to the pressure to postpone
marriage which was felt by all cultivators, was definitely restricted
with regard to marriage. Besides being unable to move away from his
manor, ‘the serf was disabled from marrying his daughter without licence
and fine. Very numerous instances are found of these kinds of payment,
under the name of mercheta, in the earliest times. Similarly fines are
paid for marrying a daughter outside the manor, for marrying a nief, i.
e. a female serf, who was possessed of property, and men of another
manor for marrying a female serf from her lord’s manor. I have found
traces of this custom,’ says Rogers, ‘though they become very infrequent
far on into the fifteenth century.’[1456] Such facts are to be regarded
as the legal enforcement among serfs of that amount of postponement
which was on the average enforced by circumstances upon cultivators in
general. As villein tenements were usually indivisible, the question
arises as to what happened when there was more than one son. ‘The
indivisibility of villein tenements is chiefly conspicuous in the law of
inheritance; all the land went to one of the sons if there were several;
very often the youngest inherited; and this custom, to which mere chance
has given the name of Borough English, was considered as one of the
proofs of villeinage. It is certainly a custom of great importance, and
probably it depended on the fact that the elder brothers left the land
at the earliest opportunity and during their father’s life. Where did
they go to? It is easy to guess that they sought work out of the manor
as craftsmen or labourers; that they served the lord as servants,
craftsmen and the like; that they were provided with holdings, which for
some reason did not descend to male heirs; that they were endowed with
some demesne land, or fitted out to claim land from the waste. We may
find for all these suppositions some supporting quotations in the
records. But still it would be hard to believe that the entire increase
of population found an exit by these by-paths. If no exit was found, the
brothers had to remain on their father’s plot, and the fact that they
did so can be proved, if it needs proof, from the documents. The unity
of the holding was not disturbed in this case; there was no
division.’[1457] Here we see the pressure at work. The tenement would in
general be of the size which could well support a family, and a tenement
might not be divided, thus ensuring that there was no overcrowding of
families until life could only just be supported.
8. Far more important than any particular disabilities regarding
marriage which attach to serfs are the conditions making very difficult
any increase in population which are always found among cultivators.
When a village has as many hands as it requires, the number of houses is
not increased. Speaking generally of the Middle Ages Pollard says that
‘the number of holdings was almost stationary and the number of families
fixed’.[1458] The number of hands in a village found to be required
would be about that which experience has shown to produce the largest
average income. Any further increase is made very difficult, if not
impossible. ‘Country life was as elsewhere rigid in its habits; young
people found it difficult to establish themselves till some married pair
had passed from the scene and made a vacancy in their own parish; for
migration to another parish was seldom thought of by an agricultural
labourer under ordinary circumstances. Consequently whenever a plague or
famine thinned the population, there were always many waiting to be
married, who filled the vacant places.’[1459]
Such always are the conditions among cultivators in a settled country;
it is forced to the notice of every one that not more than a certain
number of hands are required and postponement of marriage is thus
imposed upon the younger people. Neither land nor houses are available
for them at an early age. ‘Before the Reformation, not only were early
marriages determinately discouraged, but the opportunity for them did
not exist. A labourer living in a cottage by himself was a rare
exception to the rule; and the work of the fields was performed
generally ... by servants who lived in the families of the squire or
farmer, and who, while in that position, commonly remained single, and
married only when by prudence they had saved a sufficient sum to enable
them to enter some other position.’[1460] Miss Davies, working on
figures for the parish of Corsley, found reason for thinking that at any
one time there was usually a number of younger people who were debarred
from marrying and were waiting their turn, so to speak, until they could
step into places vacated by members of an older generation.[1461]
9. In addition to those who cultivated the land there were merchants and
craftsmen who for the most part lived in the towns. ‘The essence of the
mediaeval town was the formation of gilds of merchants and craftsmen’
and ‘within the limits of the corporation gilds had the monopoly of
manufacture or trade’.[1462] Membership of a guild was a birthright or
an inheritance, and newcomers could only enter after a long period of
apprenticeship. The result of this system of apprenticeship was to bring
about the postponement of marriage, and thus to limit the undue increase
of population. ‘The position of a son who acquired a holding when his
parent died is analogous to that of an apprentice who cannot set up as a
master till given permission by the proper authorities. It is quite
plain that in the eyes of the ordinary man in the sixteenth century one
of the advantages of a system of compulsory apprenticeship was that it
prevented youths marrying at a very early age, e. g. an Act (2 and 3
Philip and Mary) forbids the admitting of any one to the freedom of the
City of London before the age of twenty-four, and enacts that
apprentices are not to be taken so young that they will come out of
their time before they are twenty-four. The reason alleged for this rule
is that distress in the city of which “one of the chief occasions is by
reason of the over-hasty marriages and the over soon setting up of
householdes by the younge folke of the city ... be they never so younge
and so unskilful”.’ Again a petition of the weavers states (Hist. MSS.
Com. Cd. 784, p. 114): ‘whereas by the former good laws of their trade
none could exercise the same until he had served an apprenticeship for
seven years and attained the age of twenty-four, now in these disordered
times many apprentices having forsaken parents and masters ... refuse to
serve out their time, but before they are 18 or 20 years old betake
themselves to marriage.’[1463]
Rubin, whose conclusions regarding the age at marriage in the sixteenth,
seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries have already been quoted, sums up
the position in these words: ‘The domestic servant class then, as now,
was unmarried, but that class was much more numerous than at present.
Subordinates in the industrial class and in handicrafts were not, as in
our own time, free and independent, but lived for the most part in the
houses of their masters, and, at any rate, were accustomed to wait until
they became masters before marrying; the chances of attaining the
position of master were greater than now. The same rule applied to other
journeymen in various employments, whether in town or country.’[1464]
Thus in the town as well as on the land the pressure was at work. The
result was twofold. Marriage was made difficult, and many sought refuge
in lifelong celibacy in religious institutions. Again, a standard of
skill was insisted upon which tended to ensure that young husbands would
be able to support a family as well as ensuring that they would not have
a family at all until there was a place for them. And it must be assumed
that the number of families felt to be desirable was somewhere about
that which given all circumstances produces the maximum benefit from
co-operation. It may also be observed that we can in evidence of the
above kind detect the recognition of a standard of living—the essential
feature in any community in which an approach to the desirable number is
to be attained. For this standard of living is only the income per head
which, given all the circumstances, is the highest within reach.
10. Regulations prohibiting the marriage of the poor were not uncommon
in this period. ‘In Bavaria ... the regulations of the Government and
the Police Ordinances of 1616 forbade the marriage of servants, day
labourers, and others without property, and the punishments by which
those were threatened by the legislation of 1751 who, without the
permission of the superior authorities, entered into wedlock, and were
afterwards unable to support themselves without begging or the like,
extended to corporal chastisement and the like.’[1465] The Poor Law
Commission of 1834 obtained reports regarding the regulations in various
European countries. Of Denmark we hear that ‘all those persons who are
in receipt of parish relief are not allowed to marry unless by
permission granted on special grounds by the Commissioners’.[1466] In
Würtemberg no subject of the state could marry until he possessed ‘the
rights of a member of a community or a settled non-freeman. But even
such a one must prove to the magistrates before his marriage that he
possesses sufficient means of subsistence. The want of such means of
subsistence is considered as existing, (_a_) in every one who is not
primarily qualified in the exercises of a liberal art or science, or for
exercising on his own account, commerce, a profession, agriculture or
some other business sufficient for the support of a family, or possesses
sufficient property for the independent support of a family; and (_b_)
in every one who, at the time of the intended marriage, is the subject
of political or police investigation, for vagabondage, prodigality,
habitual idleness, notorious propensity to drinking, or repeated fraud,
repeated theft or systematic begging, or who has been punished for the
same, during the two years immediately preceding, or who in the course
of the three preceding years (except in the case of misfortune not
incurred by his own fault) has received assistance from public funds for
his own support, or is in receipt of such at the time of the intended
marriage.’[1467]
11. Somewhat similar conditions to those which led to postponement of
marriage in England were operative elsewhere. Looking at this period in
general there is little doubt that the restrictions upon increase were
upon the whole effective. There were fluctuations in the nearness of
approach to the desirable number; at times for some reason too great an
increase became noticeable. Adjustment, however, soon followed. ‘There
was reason to believe that towards the middle of the fifteenth century
there was a considerable increase in population, unaccompanied by any
great improvement in the means of production, and consequently a
relative over-population in many European countries. The frequent
complaints of poverty and lack of employment which led eventually to
stringent measures against foreign competitors, confirms the evidence
from other sources to show that the gilds were being overstocked with
journeymen who could hardly hope to attain the position of householders
and employers. In the callings where the old-world organization was
effective there was an increasing tendency, during the fifteenth
century, to restrict the avenues by which the freedom to exercise a
craft could be obtained; larger fines were demanded on admission, while
the social qualifications of those who were eligible as apprentices were
raised.’[1468] At other times certain social changes caused
over-population. Such was the case in the sixteenth century owing to the
enclosures. ‘According to one calculation made in 1548 three hundred
thousand men had been thrown out of work by the decay of agriculture—or
about ten per cent. of the whole population.’[1469] What is important,
however, is that in general the determination of the people to maintain
the standard of living brought about adjustment—which at this period
usually took the form of making marriage more difficult.
There were also instances of a definite failure over a long period to
achieve adjustment. Such a case is that of Ireland in the eighteenth
century. The potato was introduced about 1585, and when taken into
cultivation throughout the country could have enabled a larger
population to subsist at a higher standard of living. So degraded,
however, did the social conditions become, that the introduction of the
potato merely enabled a larger population to subsist at the lowest
standard which would support life. The conditions of that period have
been described in the following passage by Goldwin Smith: ‘The mass of
the people were socially and economically in a state the most
deplorable, perhaps, which history records as having existed in any
civilized nation.... The Irish gentry were probably the very worst upper
class with which a country was ever afflicted. Their habits grew beyond
measure brutal and reckless. Their drunkenness, their blasphemy, their
ferocious duelling, left the squires of England far behind.... Over the
Roman Catholic poor on their estates these “vermin of the kingdom”, as
Arthur Young calls them, exercised a tyranny compared with which the
arbitrary rule of the old chiefs over their clans was probably a
parental authority used with beneficence and justly repaid by gratitude
and affection.... All moral restraints on the growth of population were
removed by the compulsory ignorance into which Protestant ascendancy and
the penal laws had plunged the Catholic peasantry and by the abject
wretchedness of their lot.... The island became utterly overcharged with
population.’[1470]
In this period it is not common to find over-population on this scale
for so long a time. In all countries there were periods when population
was excessive, but as a rule the circumstances were seldom such that the
vigour of the people did not before long bring about a return to a
higher standard.
12. In the fourth sub-group there is available a far larger amount of
information, and more exact estimates as to the position are rendered
possible than could be the case before. We have first to ask whether
there is evidence of over-population. Where, as in this period, there
has been a rapid increase in numbers the question is more easy to answer
than when asked in connexion with periods which, compared with the
present conditions, were relatively static. We can form a judgement
based upon the relative increase in wealth and in population and upon
the average real wages over a number of years. The following figures
show that wealth has grown more quickly than population.[1471]
_Wealth of Great _Population._
Britain._
£
1865 6,113,000,000 1861 28,927,485
1875 8,548,000,000 1871 31,484,661
1885 10,037,000,000 1881 34,884,848
1895 10,663,000,000 1891 37,732,922
1905 13,036,000,000 1901 41,458,721
1909 13,986,000,000 1911 45,216,665
The following figures show that real wages have risen during the
period.[1472] With regard to the drop in real wages in the last years
shown in this table it has to be remembered that such minor fluctuations
may be due under complex modern conditions to a variety of causes. The
condition of credit, the share taken of the total income by capital and
many other factors, the action of some of which, there is good reason to
think, was the cause of the decline in real wages noticeable in the
early years of the present century, all affect real wages.
_Nominal Wages._ _Cost of Living._ _Real Wages._
1880 100 100 100
1881–5 101 96 105
1886–90 104 89 117
1891–5 110 88 125
1896–1900 115 87 132
1901–5 121 91 133
1906–10 126 94 134
1911 128 96 133
1912 132 100 132
1913 134 100 134
All the evidence points to the same conclusion—namely, that throughout
this period there has, on the whole, been an increase in the average
real income per head, and that therefore there has been no
over-population in England. On the whole the same conclusion applies to
other countries in which the industrial conditions are more or less
similar. It is well known that during this period there have been very
remarkable fluctuations in the birth-rate. In England it was stationary
from about 1840 to 1880. Since that date it has declined by about
one-third.[1473] It seems clear that during this latter period the rapid
increase of the former period ceased to be economically advantageous. In
other words the decline has been in response to changing economic
conditions. What we have now to ask is how the desirability of a limited
increase under the conditions existing in this period can have been so
realized that the adjustment of numbers to economic requirements took
place.
13. The factors bearing upon fertility and elimination are in this
sub-group in the main the same as those in the former sub-group. The
factors which did or may have limited fertility in the earlier groups
are again absent. Postponement of marriage is, as in the third
sub-group, an important factor and in addition for the first time
contraceptive practices play a large part. The importance of
contraceptive practices, together with the decline in the birth-rate,
due to the start made in this period towards the mastering of disease,
are the chief differences to be noticed when comparing conditions in
this sub-group with those in the former. It may also be noticed that the
factors of elimination are more regular in their operation; epidemics of
disease are rare and war does not now, as so often formerly, indirectly
cause a large death-rate. The methods of limiting increase are confined
to those which reduce fertility with the exception of the practice of
abortion, which is still of some importance in the lower social classes.
It is important to observe that, although the postponement of marriage
has throughout the period had an important bearing upon fertility, it
has not been, as in the former sub-group, by raising or reducing the age
of marriage that the change in fertility has been chiefly due.[1474]
This change has been due to diminished fertility which is to be chiefly
accounted for by the conscious limitation of fertility in the form
either of abstention from intercourse between married persons or of the
use of contraceptive practices. We are not able to measure the
prevalence of the different forms of conscious limitation and thus
definitely to associate them with the declining birth-rate. We do not
find, however, any such increase in other factors, such as venereal
disease, which diminish fertility, as will account for the facts. We
have no reason for supposing that fecundity has diminished, and as we
have strong reasons for thinking that conscious limitation has been
increasingly practised, we must attribute the changes to this
cause.[1475]
14. In this sub-group we may roughly distinguish between property
owners, professional classes, peasant proprietors, and wage earners. The
distinguishing feature has been the rise of a very large wage-earning
class not possessed of property. The peasant proprietor, who, though a
property owner, is to be distinguished from other property owners, is of
little importance in England. In other countries, however, the class of
peasant proprietors is of importance, and we may first ask how the
desirability of limiting increase is brought home to them.
As we have seen, wherever men owe their living to the produce of a
definite area of land, whether ownership is vested in families or in
village communities, the situation is in the main always much the same.
That more than a certain number cannot maintain the standard of living
upon a certain area must be obvious. It may be more or less definitely
realized by each individual; it is also enshrined in the social
conventions of such people. The conditions in French rural districts
have been much studied, and there is a large amount of evidence pointing
to the conclusion that families are consciously limited owing to the
realization that large families are not economically advantageous. Legal
regulations and social customs as to the inheritance of landed property
are of considerable importance in France and other countries in this
connexion, but there is no space to enter upon the subject here. The
conditions are, generally speaking, clear; any one who is acquainted
with the conditions of life in the country districts of France,
Switzerland, or Norway, for instance, has probably observed what is
going on. Somewhat as has been described for the Middle Ages in England,
the number of houses, and consequently the number of families, is not
increased. Further, when marriage takes place the number of children is
clearly limited by considerations based on the economic conditions.
There is, of course, always an opportunity for the young people to go to
the towns and work for wages, and we must now ask what the conditions
are among the wage-earning classes.
Hitherto, with the exception of the artisans of the Middle Ages, we have
always found men in groups of varying size supporting themselves upon a
restricted area. In the case of the wage earners it is more difficult to
understand how the desirability of limitation can become translated into
customs or habits whether consciously or unconsciously followed,
because, first, we are no longer dealing with a small group confined in
the knowledge of all of them to a certain area, and, secondly, because
restrictive customs in the nature of taboos have little chance of
establishing themselves to-day. There are no restrictions of importance
on the entrance to various trades; there is at least nothing comparable
to the restrictions imposed by the guilds. A young man of the
wage-earning class finds no hindrance to marriage and further finds that
the maximum rate of earning he is ever likely to attain to is within his
grasp at an early age. Why therefore should he not marry early? Compared
with the mediaeval period he does marry early. As Rubin says, ‘the
journeymen and servants of former times were as a rule unmarried, while
in our times skilled workmen and factory employees, on account of the
high level of their earnings (and the fact that they are received in
money, not in kind), and because, for the greater part, as stated
earlier, they attain no better position by waiting—are married as
journeymen or labourers.’[1476] We have now to ask why the wage earners
should, if they do not limit fertility by postponing marriage, limit
fertility by conscious restriction of their families.
This is not an easy question to answer. As there are no barriers to
marriage, so to the production of a large family there are no barriers
in the form of social conditions or customs which must be conformed to.
There is apparently no hindrance to the production of as many children
as can be fed—that is to say, to the increase of population to the level
at which life can just be supported. Such an increase, however, does not
take place. To understand why it is so we must first realize how
powerful the desire to better the social conditions and to raise the
standard of living has been among the wage earners. Mr. and Mrs. Hammond
have lately described the conditions under which the village labourer
existed in the earlier years of the last century.[1477] During the
agricultural depression which followed the Napoleonic Wars the most
determined effort was made by the governing classes to induce the
labourer to lower his standard of living in the very mistaken hope that
such a change would ease the position. Above all things the labourers
were urged to abandon the use of wheaten bread and to accept some
substitute. All kinds of arguments and many forms of pressure were
employed. The labourers, however, were obstinate. They clung to their
standard of living and in England, at least since the Industrial
Revolution, this determination to maintain, and if possible to raise,
the standard has been powerfully manifested by the wage-earning
class.[1478] Returning now to the question we have to answer, we may say
that this determination becomes translated into a system of family
limitation, and that the decline in the birth-rate which is due to
conscious limitation has been in correspondence with changing economic
conditions. The previous rate of increase was no longer desirable in the
interest of the wage-earning classes, and it has been checked.
Nevertheless it has not been checked by a fully conscious realization of
the position. At the most there has only been a semi-conscious
understanding of what is involved. In the main we have to think of this
determination as achieving its end by an unconscious adaptation of
social habits and practices to the needs of the time. There have been
other factors at work tending in the same direction. The influence of
factory legislation in restricting the employment of children has been
to render large families of less economic advantage. Again among more
highly paid sections of the wage-earning classes certain influences,
which are not economic at all but rather social, have also tended
towards reduction in fertility.
It may be observed that, where the determination to maintain the
standard of living is not strongly manifested, there over-population may
occur. Thus in England, and in all industrial countries, there is at the
bottom of the social scale a thriftless, unskilled, and casually
employed class in which the limitation of families is little, if at all,
practised. Among this class the desire to improve conditions is seldom
shown and in consequence the birth-rate is not limited. If the members
of this class ‘restricted considerably their rate of growth, there is’,
says Hobson, ‘reasonable ground for holding that they would make a
double economic gain, being paid at a higher rate, for more efficient
and more regular work.’[1479]
The conditions among the professional classes need not detain us. In
addition to feeling, as do the working classes, the benefit in a general
way of restriction, there are many other factors which come in. Of these
perhaps the most important is the question of the age at which the
maximum income is attained. As these classes form only a small
proportion of the population, and as we shall have to discuss in the
following chapter the causes of the lower rate of increase in these
classes than among the wage-earning class—having in view the possible
bearing upon certain problems of qualitative change—we can omit any
further discussion here, merely observing that no question of
over-population arises. Possibly there may be relative under-population
in something the same way as there is over-population in the lowest
grade—whether this is so or not depending largely upon the ease with
which the professional classes are recruited from below.
15. The discussion of historical races has been brief and was only
entered upon in order to round off the subject. There are other points
in connexion with the adjustment of numbers to which allusion must be
made. It will be convenient, however, first to review shortly our
conclusions regarding the problem of adjustment as a whole and then to
ask in respect of the various periods in turn what we are led to think
that the position must have been.
Reasons have been given for thinking that, if any general change in
fecundity has taken place in the course of history, it has been in the
direction of increase. In any case fecundity is very large—the
theoretical power of increase, that is to say, is very great. Some
figures were given at the end of the fourth chapter in illustration of
this fact. There is a tendency noticeable in nearly all discussions of
questions of quantity to under-estimate the power of increase. Another
calculation previously given may therefore be recalled. It has been
shown that at the present average rate of increase of the population of
the world—a rate of increase which is obviously everywhere very severely
restricted—a single pair would produce in 1,750 years descendants equal
in number to the present population of the world.
In connexion with the under-estimation of the power of increase, is the
over-estimation of the relief given by any factor which allows of a
growth of population—increase in skill or migration, for example. It is
constantly assumed that, when such a factor can be detected in
operation, there is, so to speak, a complete outlet for fecundity. This
is the idea which lies at the basis of such statements as those which
speak of ‘surplus population’ as being drawn off by migration. When,
however, a calculation is made, it is seen that the relief given is,
except under very unusual circumstances, almost negligible. It was shown
on p. 105 that under the circumstances mentioned a population of
1,000,000 would remain stable so long as to each married woman there was
born an average of two children. But if the average was 2½ children,
then in a hundred years the population would be 3,050,000. It follows,
therefore, that most unusually favourable circumstances only make room
for a fraction of the possible increase and that migration likewise only
draws off an insignificant fraction of the possible additions to the
population.
Starting with such considerations and taking into account the fact that,
wherever social co-operation exists, there must be within any area a
certain desirable density of population—the optimum number—it has been
argued that there will come about an approximation to this number owing
to the practice of certain habits and customs restrictive of increase.
It has further been argued that, except under most unusual
circumstances, habits and customs having primarily, and not merely
incidentally, this result, must everywhere exist. This is seldom
realized. Professor Myres, for instance, after remarking upon the
fertility of ancient Egypt and of Assyria, says that ‘anything like
infanticide was out of the question’.[1480] It is clear from the context
that he is thinking not of infanticide in particular but of any
practices restrictive of increase—the implication being that in a
fertile country, where skill is increasing, there is a sufficient outlet
for the increase of population resulting from the power of human
increase. Again, it has been asserted that the Bantu races do not commit
infanticide—at least on a large scale—as do many other primitive races,
because, inasmuch as they have been in movement for an unknown length of
time, the attrition following upon the war that is always in progress at
the fringe of the movement is sufficient to absorb the ‘surplus
population’. But it has been forgotten that the Bantu races practise
prolonged abstention from intercourse—a custom quite as effective as
abortion and infanticide—as may be seen when the evidence as to the
small average number in a family is considered;[1481] for the average
number in a Bantu family is as small as among primitive races in
general, and it cannot be held that attrition through war falls
seriously upon others than adults. It therefore follows that war among
these people affords but an insignificant amount of relief.
16. Turning now to the methods of adjustment, we may take the first two
groups together and afterwards the third group. War and migration,
however, may be put aside and considered separately at the end of the
chapter. As regards the first two groups it is necessary to say no more
than this: evidence has been produced to show that everywhere among
primitive races either abortion, infanticide, or prolonged abstention
from intercourse are practised in such a degree and in such a manner as
to have as their primary result the restriction of increase.
The question as to how far these practices are effective in bringing
about an approximation to the desirable number is not easily answered.
As regards those primitive races which have come under European
observation there is no definite evidence because, before exact
observation could be made, the conditions of life had wholly changed.
But, putting aside the fact that the evidence, such as it is, does
suggest an approximation, it may be observed that conditions were such
as to render an approximation easy. Skill increased so slowly that for
long periods of time the desirable number remained about the same; the
factors of elimination, such as war and disease, were not erratic in
their action; social organization was not complex in the economic sense
and therefore the danger of break-downs followed by changes in the
desirable number was absent. Thus we may conclude that, in all
probability, in primitive society an approximation was normally
attained.
In the third period we meet with wholly different conditions. Social
organization becomes elaborate in the economic sense, war and disease
become erratic in their operation, and, relatively to what was the case
before, skill increases rapidly. As a result the desirable number
frequently changes, becoming on the whole larger, particularly in those
periods with which we are best acquainted. There has in consequence
grown up an idea that throughout human history population has been
increasing, whereas in fact it is far more correct to regard population
as normally having been stable. It may not improbably turn out that the
third period is in this respect peculiar and we may be approaching a
period when population will again normally be stable. However that may
be, the changes mentioned tend to make adjustment more difficult; on the
other hand, there have been at the same time at work changes tending to
facilitate adjustment among which growing freedom from convention and
increasing sensitiveness to the economic situation may be particularly
noticed. As regards the methods of adjustment, evidence has been adduced
to show that, up to the opening of what we have called the mediaeval
period, one or other of the same methods were in use that were in vogue
before, that all these methods ceased to be practised in the mediaeval
period and were replaced by postponement of marriage, and that finally
in the modern period deliberate restriction has replaced postponement of
marriage.
The question of the effectiveness of adjustment in this period has been
touched upon. In general it may be said that under-population is rare.
Under-population seldom arises and then generally as a result of the
abnormal incidence of war or disease. It sometimes happens that for a
long period an area once densely populated maintains but a sparse
population and this is not infrequently taken to indicate
under-population. But such situations generally arise when for one
reason or another—such as the destruction of capital during prolonged
war, or the breakdown of artificial works upon which the food-supply
depends—there has been a decrease in the density desirable. Thus the
Mesopotamian watercourses were neglected by the Mongol conquerors in the
thirteenth century and in consequence the optimum number for that area
declined. Such a situation should therefore not be taken as indicating,
without further inquiry, under-population.
Over-population is less rare. It may be due to the neglect of ancient
practices having as their effort the restriction of increase without the
taking into use at the same time of new practices. This sometimes
happens when a higher and a lower civilization come into contact and has
been one of the causes of over-population in India. It may also arise
when on the passing away of old practices some influence may militate
against the taking up of new practices. In this manner the influence of
the Catholic Church, which has been directed against contraceptive
practices, may have tended to produce over-population in Ireland. More
commonly, however, over-population arises in this period as the result
of a spirit of apathy and listlessness. Under such circumstances, which
are usually the result of social oppression or political misfortunes, no
effort is made to keep up the standard of living and in consequence the
machinery designed to restrict increase breaks down.
Taking the third period in more detail, we have as regards the last
section of that period definite evidence to the effect that
approximation is fairly close. There are minor fluctuations in the
nearness of approach to the desirable number. That, however, which it is
in any broad view of the whole problem of quantity desirable to
emphasize, is the nearness of approach—the fact that in any country at
any given time within this period the numbers present are, roughly
speaking, those economically desirable. We shall, indeed, find later,
when dealing with war and when referring again to this subject in the
next chapter, that minor differences in the nearness of approach as
between countries in close proximity may be of considerable importance.
Within the mediaeval period, in spite of the very high death-rate from
disease, over-population occurred in England from time to time. The fact
that wages rose after the Black Death, and that, after the decline in
the population which took place in the last years of the seventeenth
century and in the opening years of the eighteenth century, the average
man was more prosperous, points to this conclusion, as does the fact
that frequent attempts were made to render the restrictions upon
marriage more severe. It seems probable that there was a similar
tendency towards over-population in most European countries, and the
reason would appear to be that postponement of marriage did not bring
about a sufficient restriction of increase; postponement of marriage was
not in fact a sufficient substitute for abortion, infanticide, and
abstinence from intercourse, in spite of the prevalence of disease.
Under-population was less frequent; when it occurred it was sometimes
due in part to a spirit of luxury and selfishness following upon a
period of expansion and prosperity, as in the later history of Spain.
There may for similar reasons be under-population among the richer
classes in Europe and America to-day.
With regard to the preceding period we have considerable knowledge of
the conditions in Greece and Rome. The history of both countries
presents very similar features. In the earlier times practices
restrictive of increase comparable with those found among primitive
races were operative. There followed a vigorous epoch of colonization
and then a period of decadence. These periods of decadence have been
much discussed. In these discussions it is sometimes forgotten that the
destruction of capital in civil war on a large scale, especially in the
last century B. C. in Rome, must have diminished the numbers desirable.
But in spite of this it is clear that we are here again in the presence
of examples of decline, at least among the richer classes, owing to the
presence of selfishness and luxury; this is certainly the conclusion to
which a study of Polybius leads as regards Greece, while the admirable
works of Sir Samuel Dill render the position in Rome equally
clear.[1482] Our knowledge of Egypt, Assyria, and Babylonia is
insufficient to enable any judgement to be passed on conditions in these
countries.
18. Our conclusions, therefore, are broadly as follows. Within the first
two periods failure to approach the optimum number is rare. Within the
third period departures away from the desirable number are less rare but
are usually checked so long as the tone of society remains healthy and
vigorous. In an oppressed society over-population not infrequently
arises; in a selfish and luxurious society there may at times be
under-population.
In the main, changes in numbers come about in response to economic
requirements. We should not therefore attribute directly to changes in
the quantity of population great historical events. Thus we may agree
with Mr. Keynes when he says that ‘some of the catastrophes of past
history, which have thrown back human progress for centuries, have been
due to the reactions following on the sudden termination, whether in the
course of Nature or by the act of man, of temporarily favourable
conditions which have permitted the growth of population beyond what
could be provided for when the favourable conditions were at an
end’.[1483] But we cannot agree when he says that ‘the great events of
history are often due to secular changes in the growth of population and
other fundamental economic causes, which, escaping by their gradual
character the notice of contemporary observers, are attributed to the
follies of statesmen or the fanaticism of atheists. Thus the
extraordinary occurrences of the past two years in Russia, that vast
upheaval of Society, which has overturned what seemed most
stable—religion, the basis of property, the ownership of land, as well
as forms of government and the hierarchy of classes—may owe more to the
deep influences of expanding numbers than to Lenin or Nicholas; and the
disruptive powers of excessive national fecundity may have played a
greater part in bursting the bonds of convention than either the power
of ideas or the errors of autocracy.’[1484] In the first passage it is
suggested that consequences of great import may follow when events so
derange social organization that the numbers previously maintained
cannot be supported. To this we may agree; the attribution of the
catastrophe is not directly to changes in numbers. In the second passage
it is suggested that national fertility may be so much in excess of
requirements as to disrupt social organization. To this we cannot agree.
In general increase is in response to economic requirements and, when it
is in excess and is not within a reasonable time curbed, the conditions
which result are not those which, though they may have important
consequences, produce the kind of result here attributed to them.
19. Both war and migration are frequently said to be the consequences of
over-population. We may take migration first.
It may be as well to give some typical expressions of this point of
view. Mr. Haddon says, ‘when reduced to its simplest terms a migration
is caused by an expulsion and an attraction, the former nearly always
resulting from a dearth of food or from over-population, which
practically comes to the same thing. Sooner or later a time comes when
the increase of the population of a country exceeds its normal
food-supply.’[1485] In the Report of the National Birth-Rate Commission
we read that ‘a pressure of population in any country brings as a chief
historic consequence overflows and migrations into neighbouring and
other accessible countries’.[1486] Professor Myres, speaking of the
Greek migrations of the eighth to the sixth centuries B. C., attributes
them to the fact that ‘population had overtaken the means of
subsistence’.[1487]
It is not altogether clear what is meant by such statements. Very
frequently it seems to be implied that there commonly exists a condition
in which there is more than enough food in an area occupied by an
existing population, that sooner or later population catches up, so to
speak, the food-supply and that migration afterwards follows any further
increase of population. We may first look at this point of view. All
that has so far been said goes to show that only for very short periods
and under very unusual circumstances can there be under any conditions
of social organization a state of under-population. Even if we put aside
the idea of an optimum number, we must regard the population, which any
area is capable of supporting, as strictly limited. Given the vast power
of increase that we know always to be present, there cannot commonly be
a condition of under-population—a condition, that is to say, in which
population has ceased to increase before it was checked by the food
limit. For we are not dealing with the spread of population into
unoccupied areas; that occurred perhaps before there was any social
organization. We are dealing with a period in which all portions of the
earth’s surface, relative to the degree of skill attained, had long been
fully occupied. Though increase of skill may at times enable regions
previously quite infertile to be occupied, this is altogether an
exceptional case; increase of skill normally merely allows of an
increase of density in the same area. General considerations point to
the normal condition being of necessity either one in which population
has increased up to the level of subsistence or one in which it has
increased to the optimum level, and the evidence presented shows that as
a rule some approximation to the latter condition is attained. General
considerations on the one hand and the evidence on the other both render
wholly unacceptable the idea that commonly there is a condition of
under-population which is followed by migration when the pressure due to
the catching up of the amount of food available by the increase of
population begins to be felt. Further, no support is given to this view
by the facts known regarding any particular migration. What evidence is
there, with regard to the Greek migrations referred to by Professor
Myres, that for some unknown length of time, for some unknown reason,
the increase of population had not reached the limit made possible by
the food-supply? Unless there is definite evidence of peculiar
circumstances in some peculiar combination, such a theory cannot be held
to account for migration. The idea of population catching up the means
of subsistence and bringing about a crisis followed by migration is the
product of an altogether unhistorical view of the matter.[1488]
We do know, indeed, that at times a condition of under-population arises
chiefly owing to the irregular action of certain factors of elimination.
Disease has been known to remove one-third of the population of a
country in two or three years. There does not, however, appear to be a
single instance in which migration can be traced to the recovery from
such a catastrophe. What appears usually to happen is that there is a
certain relaxation of the pressure which before either hindered marriage
or caused abortion or infanticide to be practised; population increases
until the pressure again makes itself felt. And it may be observed that
it is not following upon exceptional conditions such as these that
migration is supposed by the authors quoted to take place. It is
supposed to take place because not infrequently there is a condition of
under-population for which there is in fact no evidence whatever. This
view further clearly implies an over-estimate of the relief afforded by
migration. The calculations given on a previous page apply here.
The view criticized above is sometimes so expressed as not to lay stress
upon under-population as the condition which ultimately gives rise to
migration. It is merely asserted that over-population is in some manner
the cause of migration, and we may now examine this view. Let us recall
what we found to be the condition in those countries in which
over-population had undoubtedly occurred. We found the distinguishing
feature of the social conditions of those countries to be the absence of
hope, of a spirit of enterprise, and of a determination to maintain a
standard of living. It most emphatically is not where such conditions
are prevalent that migration takes place. All that we know of migration
points to precisely the opposite. It is not from countries in the
condition of India and China at the present day or of Ireland in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that waves of migration arise.
Migrating races exhibit the opposite characters. With them we associate
enterprise, hopefulness, courage, and so on. The conclusion cannot on
general grounds be doubtful. Migration does not arise where a condition
of over-population has come about. Further, if we examine the evidence
of particular migration in no case can it be shown that migration has
begun as a direct result of those conditions.[1489] It is true that
compared with the numerous migrations of which we have knowledge, there
are but few cases concerning which we have detailed information of the
social conditions. But where this information does exist, in no instance
do we find evidence that migration began after a condition of
over-population had come about.
It may be that what is implied by those who put forward the view that
migration is somehow connected with over-population is somewhat
different. It may be implied that migration occurs when what we have
called the optimum number has been attained. If our general conclusions
on this subject are borne in mind, it is clear that something more than
this is required as an explanation. Migration occurs irregularly at long
intervals; adjustment of population to some point approximating to the
desirable level is always going on. Clearly it cannot be in the ordinary
process of adjustment that some impetus to migration occurs; there must
be some particular predisposing factor or factors at work. What are
these factors? It would seem to rest with those who put forward the
theory to show what they are, and this has not been done.
On the other hand, there is another explanation which appears to account
at least in part for nearly every migration of which we have some
knowledge of the circumstances, and it may be that an explanation on
similar lines accounts at least in part for most of the later migrations
in history. There is nothing novel in this explanation; it is admitted
as an explanation of many migrations by Mr. Haddon.[1490] He admits that
many migrations have been undertaken for political or religious reasons
and instances the voyage of the _Mayflower_ and the Islamic and
Buddhistic movements. That which is common to these explanations is that
migration is undertaken in response to some idea. There is no question
of over-population at all, and in all those cases in which we have any
detailed knowledge of the conditions connected with migration we find
that we can point to some idea as the motive force. Why, therefore, when
details are not known, should another explanation be sought? It is
suggested that essentially the same explanation is the most reasonable
explanation of all migrations, at least in historical times. With regard
to the earlier movements we find that migrations appear to occur where a
high level of skill has been reached in some area. Where races are in
contact with others of a markedly lower degree of skill there arises a
tendency for the former to eject the latter. The immediate motive is
desire to possess their land where the land is fertile relative to the
skill of the first mentioned race. Thus the Bantu people have pushed
back the Bushmen until the latter were left with regions infertile
relatively to the Bantu culture. Throughout human history there must
have been this tendency for migrations to follow the great steps in the
acquirement of power over nature. But there is no reason to think that,
even in early times, migrations only arose as a result of increase of
skill. What we know of even the most primitive races, such as the
Australians, shows that we can imagine movements to have been initiated
quite apart from any differences in skill. The accounts given of the
respect in which the older men are held among the Australians renders it
possible to understand how an impulse to movement might be initiated by
them which, once having taken shape, might have far-reaching
consequences. We have further accounts of the existence of a spirit of
restlessness among primitive races. This restlessness proves on analysis
to be nothing more than the currency of an idea—an idea that some
benefit would arise if a movement took place.
We have, however, to remember when dealing with this matter that many if
not most of the migrations of pre-history were probably not migrations
at all in the usual sense of the term. They are probably better thought
of as driftings of people; they may have occupied very long periods of
time and have been connected with slow changes in climate. At any one
time the movement may have been quite imperceptible, and, when this was
so, such driftings are seen clearly enough to have had nothing to do
with over-population if the immensity of the power of increase is borne
in mind.
Some reference may now be made to the much-discussed theory to the
effect that historical migrations are due to climatic changes. Ellsworth
Huntington has put forward in a number of publications the view that not
only have important climatic changes occurred within the historical
period, but that these changes have been what he calls ‘pulsatory’—that
is to say, there has been an alteration between humid and arid
conditions in many parts of the world.[1491] This view has been
contested.[1492] In particular doubt has been cast upon the ‘pulsatory’
nature of such changes as have taken place. Whether this view as to
climatic change is correct or not is of no particular importance for our
present purpose; for on the one hand it has been shown that certain
migrations, particularly those in Central Asia, where the evidence as to
the pulsatory nature of the change is said to be most clear, are
explicable as due to political changes,[1493] while on the other hand it
does not appear to be possible in general to correlate the migrations of
history, which are essentially rapid movements, with slow changes of
climate. It seems likely that population would adjust itself to slow
climatic changes without difficulty or with as little difficulty as it
adjusts itself to other changes which alter the optimum density. Extreme
climatic changes very slowly brought about, as doubtless took place in
pre-history, might result in driftings,[1494] but the less extreme
changes in climate during the historical period have in all probability
been without any pronounced effect upon movement.
Enough has been said to show that, whereas there is much that can be
adduced both on theoretical grounds and after a review of the evidence
against the theory attributing migration to over-population, there is
much to recommend the extension of the explanation already admitted in
many cases. But even if migration is not a result of over-population, it
may seriously affect the adjustment of population, once it has been set
on foot. And it is to the observation of the secondary disturbing effect
of migration on population that we may attribute the error of tracing
migration to over-population.
When, however, all allowances are made, the easy manner in which the
common theory of migration is assumed to be true and is used by writers
of great authority is very surprising. Mr. Hogarth, for instance, in a
well-known and very delightful book alluding to the Chaldean or fourth
great wave of migration from Arabia, is led to explain all these Arabian
migrations as follows: ‘The great Southern Peninsula’, he says, ‘is for
the most part a highland steppe endowed with a singularly pure air and
an uncontaminated soil. It breeds, consequently, a healthy population
whose mortality, compared with its death-rate, is unusually high; but
since the peculiar conditions of its surface preclude the development of
its internal food-supply beyond a point long ago reached, the surplus
population which rapidly accumulates within it is forced from time to
time to seek its sustenance elsewhere.’[1495] Let us consider this
theory for a moment. To begin with, so far as relatively to the
civilizations of the valleys of the Nile and of the Euphrates disease
was rare and the death-rate on that account low, so far the position in
Arabia merely approximated to that normal among primitive races.
Therefore the healthy conditions taken by themselves do not necessarily
form an incentive to migration. The remainder of the argument rests upon
an over-estimate of the relief afforded either by increased skill or by
migration. It is implied by Mr. Hogarth that, could additional skill
have been applied to the increase of food, the ‘surplus population’
would have been absorbed; but that it was not so absorbed and found
relief in migration. The calculations already given show how illusory is
the idea that relief can be thus afforded. In such arguments the
strength of human fecundity is always under-estimated. Further the
theory assumes a condition of things within Arabia which is very
difficult to understand. The Chaldean migration took place about 800 B.
C., the third or Aramean, about 1500 B. C., the second or Canaanite,
about 2500 B. C., and we may add a fifth or Islamic in the seventh
century A. D. The shortest interval between these movements is 800
years. We are asked to suppose that for several hundred years there was
an increase of population over and above that which could properly be
supported; for evidently it is not supposed that the increases occurred
only shortly before the migrations. Now we know that abortion and
infanticide were practised regularly in Arabia. The increase therefore
must have been small compared with the possible increase, and yet these
methods were not according to the theory effective in producing that
position which it must be the object of every vigorous society to
attain. A very small increase in the degree to which these practices
were performed would have brought about this result, and is it not far
more reasonable to suppose that an approximation to this desirable
position was normally attained rather than to suppose that there was a
chronic failure the results of which could only have been socially
disastrous?
There are two other considerations which may be adduced in favour of the
view here advanced. Migration, in the first place, takes place rather
from vigorous communities than from countries where social conditions
have long been depressed by over-population. In the second place, the
migrations in question are susceptible of another explanation. Regarding
the only one of these migrations of which we have detailed knowledge—the
Islamic—we know that it was prompted by the currency of an idea, and why
should we not assume that the previous migrations were so prompted
rather than fall back on the theory of over-population which raises so
many difficulties?
20. It has often been said that war is a ‘biological necessity’.
‘Wherever we look in nature’, says General von Bernhardi, ‘we find that
war is a fundamental law of development. This great verity, which has
been recognized in past ages, has been convincingly demonstrated in
modern times by Charles Darwin. He proved that nature is ruled by an
unceasing struggle for existence, by the right of the stronger, and that
this struggle in its apparent cruelty brings about a selection
eliminating the weak and the unwholesome.’[1496] This has been a
favourite contention of German publicists.[1497] It is not necessary to
show here that such views rest upon a fundamental misunderstanding as to
what is implied by the term ‘struggle for existence’. The error has been
recently exposed by Mr. Chalmers Mitchell, who in particular has pointed
out that there is nothing in the relationship between species in a state
of nature which can in any sense be called war and further that modern
nations are not units of the same order as species.[1498]
It has also been held that war originates from the necessity for the
search for food. ‘La guerre’, said Comte, ‘constitue à l’origine le
moyen le plus simple de se procurer les subsistances.’[1499] There is no
foundation whatever for this view based either on what we know of
species in a state of nature or of the conditions obtaining among
primitive races. The same may be said of the theory that ‘eagerness to
acquire property was originally the cause and object of war’.[1500]
The idea that over-population is the cause of war is sometimes carried
back to some such ‘biological’ origin as that indicated above; in
disproof of such views no more need be said. More often we meet with
statements such as the following: ‘The population question pushes
Germany on. For the most part it is inland peoples that have most
severely felt that pressure of a growing population. Islanders and coast
dwellers can expand over the seas. But when inland peoples outgrow their
bounds, they must burst them.’[1501] Such a statement is a striking
example of the over-estimation of the relief afforded by war and by
migration and of the under-estimation of the power of fecundity. What
has been said above regarding migration is again applicable here.
If our contention that over-population is not the cause of migration is
well founded, then the argument that war is also due to over-population
falls to the ground. Precisely the same conditions which are supposed to
push nations on to fight are also supposed to push them on to migrate.
As we shall see later, this by no means implies that questions of
population do not at times enter into the situation when war breaks out.
What then is the cause of war? It is probable that the instinct of
pugnacity led to fighting when men lived in groups of families—at least
between the males for the headship of the family. It is further probable
that, as social organization slowly evolved, sporadic fighting of this
kind was continued and led to fighting between groups. But in very early
times tradition began to overlay and obscure the manifestations of
instinct; the manner in which this occurs will form an important part of
the discussion in the second part of this book. It is enough to say here
that among primitive races tradition can be of such a nature as
altogether to overlay the instinct of pugnacity, as among certain
peoples, who though not devoid of the instinct scarcely ever fight
because of the existence of powerful social conventions and customs
inhibiting its expression. Thus, though war may form an outlet for
pugnacity, it can no longer be said that it is the direct consequence of
pugnacity. War, in fact, gradually becomes a custom. That this is now
essentially the nature of war needs no proof. It is obviously at the
present day a mode of action whereby the highly organized governments of
modern nations try to achieve some political end.[1502]
It has, however, to be remembered that warfare takes a place among the
factors of elimination and that the greater the amount of elimination
through war, the less need there is for the practices of abortion and
infanticide. But this is quite a different thing from saying that
warfare results from over-population or from the pressure of population.
It merely implies that, given the power of increase, warfare is a factor
which may perform to a small degree the elimination necessary in order
that numbers should not exceed the desirable limit and is therefore
tolerated—other things being equal—as a factor in social life by the
natural selection of customs.
It has nevertheless to be allowed that, when war breaks out, the
position as regards population may form an element in the situation—just
as the passions which have been aroused may do so though they cannot be
regarded as the cause of modern war. Let us consider the late war.
Broadly speaking in all European countries increase in population was in
response to economic requirements. Yet there were what we have called
minor fluctuations away from the desirable economic density. France and
Germany represented two opposite tendencies—towards under- and
over-population respectively. These relatively slight differences were
greatly exaggerated in popular opinion owing to the attention paid to
the birth-rate. The Germans were thinking and talking of expansion
whereas the French were stay-at-home people. The Germans looked across
the frontier and thought they saw a half-empty country which they could
well develop with their ‘surplus’ population, while the French thought
they saw a teeming population ready to burst its bonds and overwhelm
them. Again, as between England and Germany it appeared to many Germans
that, while Germany had little or no opportunity of expansion, Great
Britain had owing to her overseas dominions ample opportunity. But
increase is governed by the conditions within a country, and the fact
that emigration from Great Britain to Greater Britain was possible did
not enter into the situation as regards the control of increase in Great
Britain; very many people in this country, however, as well as in
Germany, if they did not actually think that it did so, at least held
opinions which were in fact founded upon this supposition. Thus though
in actual fact England broadly speaking restricted her population as did
Germany in accordance with the economic situation within the country,
yet the position of England with reference to Greater Britain had an
influence upon the situation, and many Germans thought that unless there
was an outlet for ‘surplus population’ Germany would eventually be
over-populated, whereas the fact is that, as we have seen, so long as
conditions remain healthy in a country, over-population does not
arise.[1503]
This subject could be elaborated at great length. Upon analysis it would
always be found that, though certain aspects of the population problem
and certain mistaken views of the position may and do predispose nations
and governments towards war, it is not true strictly speaking to say
that the population question is in any sense a cause of war. War has now
merely become a mode of action whereby an organized state tries to
achieve certain political ends. It is within the power of mankind to
renounce this mode of action. There is nothing in the nature of man or
of social organization which renders war inevitable. ‘Dieu ne leur a
donné ni des canons de vingt-quatre ni des baïonnettes, et ils se sont
fait des baïonnettes et des canons pour se détruire.’[1504]
XII
SOME MODERN PROBLEMS
1. The present period, which may be dated from 1760 in England and from
rather a later date in most European countries, has been marked by an
unparalleled increase of population. The rate of increase has for some
years been slowing down. This outburst of population is sometimes
referred to as though there was something mysterious about it. It was,
in fact, merely the response to increase in skill, and similarly the
declining birth-rate is, at least for the most part, merely the response
to the fact that skill is no longer increasing so fast.[1505] The fact
that the upper social classes began to restrict their increase before
the lower social classes is partly due to the fact that they are more
sensitive to economic requirements. This point is almost always
overlooked in discussions of the question of differential fertility, and
when forming any judgement on this subject the possible loss in quality
has—though it is a very difficult problem—to be balanced against the
gain in arriving at an adjustment of quantity. There may be more to be
said for Mill’s opinion quoted on a previous page than most eugenists
would be willing to admit.
Before we go on to notice some of the many problems that arise,
something may be said as to the future. So deeply have men been
impressed by this increase that the most pessimistic prophecies have
been published as to the fate in store for the human race. Numerous
calculations have been made to show that within a certain length of time
there will only be standing room. Mr. Knibbs has calculated that, if the
rate of increase of the population of the world obtaining in the five
years preceding 1911 was to be continued, there would in 500 years be
246,114 millions. He is appalled by the prospect. ‘No artifices of
cultivation,’ he says, ‘nor any possible diminutions of human stature,
so as to decrease the necessary quantity of food per person, can
possibly relieve the gravity of the situation. In no case can the
increase of 1 per cent. per annum be maintained for five
centuries.’[1506] This pessimism is baseless; he appears to regard
increase as something inevitable that cannot be stopped—forgetting that
throughout the greater part of human history numbers have been for all
practical purposes stationary, and that increase only exceptionally
outruns economic requirements.[1507] There is no room, it is true, for
mere complacency. Though the desirable density may as a rule result from
economic pressure without conscious effort, it does not follow that it
would not be better if adjustment was consciously brought about. And it
may be that if and when men begin consciously to adjust numbers, they
may have to take some criterion other than the economic into account. To
this point we may now turn.
2. So far we have proceeded on the assumption that the only criterion
was the economic criterion—that the only test whereby the desirable
number might be ascertained was the test founded on the average income
per head. There does not seem to be any reason for supposing that there
is any limit to the increase of skill in the production of food, and
that therefore there is any limit to the desirable number so long as the
criterion remains economic. This suggests that at some point mankind
will have to introduce another method of estimating what density is
desirable, as it is clear that the economic advantages of increase
somewhere come into conflict with other ideals as to desirable social
conditions. In other words, at some point a larger income would not be
worth having if it necessitated too large a population.
It would require a lengthy discussion of many points and the weighing up
of many factors before it would be possible to come to any definite
conclusion on this subject. It may be observed that there are those who
with some apparent reason doubt whether, taking the broadest view of
human welfare, a denser population than that now existing in Belgium can
be thought desirable. It also seems reasonable to hold that our great
cities, and in particular London, have passed the limit that allows of
the development of the most healthy social conditions. It is a matter of
doubt whether such agglomerations of population are or will remain
necessary even if the total population of the country was to increase.
There are two considerations which are relevant here. First it may be
objected that in spite of the high average density of population in this
and other countries, it is still easy to find large areas which are
sparsely populated, and that their existence shows that there can be as
yet no question of overcrowding beyond what is the socially desirable
limit. But it must be remembered that the great mass of the population
scarcely ever moves out of the densely populated areas, and that if they
attempted to get out into the country, if only for holidays—as with
increased leisure and higher incomes they will soon attempt to do—there
would soon be little left of the solitude which can now be easily found.
The other consideration that is very relevant in this connexion is the
average income per head. ‘Before the war’, says Professor Bowley, ‘the
home income would not have yielded more than £230 gross annually per
family of five, or £170 net after all rates and taxes were paid and an
adequate sum invested in home industries.’[1508] No one can regard this
position as satisfactory. On all hands it is agreed that it must be
increased even by those who with justice insist upon the fact that any
general improvement must be accompanied by a decrease in the emphasis
now laid upon material comfort. Income can, of course, be increased
without increasing population, but probably it cannot be increased so
fast.
3. There are at least two other points of view from which the density
desirable may be considered. England, for instance, is in a peculiar
position with regard to her food-supply, a fraction only of which is
produced in the country while the rest is imported. Only by this method
can England maintain her present population. How far in the case of war,
or in a lesser degree in the case of social or economic disturbances
elsewhere, such a position is compatible with national safety is
certainly a matter for careful consideration. It seems scarcely likely
that the decision would ever be taken to limit population on this
account alone in view of the economic sacrifices which it would entail.
In addition to treating the question as it affects safety in the sense
just alluded to, it may also be treated from the purely military point
of view. The desire for a dense population so frequently expressed from
the sixteenth century onwards, as noted in the first chapter, is largely
based on the fact that the larger the population the more potential
soldiers there are. Harrison, for instance, wrote as follows: ‘Some also
do grudge at the great increase of people in these days thinking a
necessary brood of cattle far better than a superfluous augmentation of
mankind. But if it should come to pass that any foreign invasion should
be made, which the Lord God forbid for his mercy’s sake, then should
these men find that a wall of men is far better than stacks of corn and
bags of money, and complain of the want when it is too late to seek the
remedy.’[1509] This attitude was especially noticeable in Germany before
the war. A German author comments on the ‘mad craze for numbers’, and
goes on to add that ‘at the back is rather the desire, which I admit is
often vague, for as many soldiers as possible’.[1510] It is by no means
absent in England. In the second Report of the National Birth-Rate
Commission we read as follows: ‘But in the event of a war similar to
that which we have just experienced, what would happen to us with a
greatly reduced birth-rate? Surely all we have would be taken, and we
must become slaves—as we should be to-day if we had entered on the
struggle with Germany without adequate man-power. Moreover what would
happen to our Empire?’[1511] It may be doubted whether there has been
produced by such considerations in recent times even in Germany any
effect upon numbers; probably economic forces have overruled such
considerations altogether. It is possible that they may have had some
influence upon military nations in earlier days. It is to be imagined
and certainly to be hoped that they will not mould views on this subject
in future.
4. As has been indicated, such departures as there are among European
nations at the present day from the desirable density are of the nature
of minor fluctuations. Europe is not from the point of view of
productiveness over-populated (or was not in 1914; it is very difficult
to sum up the position in this respect since the loss of capital owing
to the war). There is no ground for the pessimism of Sir Thomas Holdich,
who says that ‘Asia affords no asylum for overcrowded Europe’.[1512]
It may be observed that the phenomenon of unemployment as generally seen
in industrial countries is not evidence of over-population. It has been
shown by Beveridge that unemployment, such as now occurs in England, is
in no way connected with over-population. It is due to certain
maladjustments in the industrial system, such as the decay of
industries, the seasonal and cyclical fluctuations of trade, and the
position as to the normal reserve of labour. The industrial system so
functions that, unless special measures are adopted, there is always a
certain amount of unemployment. Unemployment is thus ‘a problem of
industry’ as Beveridge has called it.[1513] It may also be observed that
the remarkable differences in the return per head as between different
countries are in any case very largely due to the amount of skill
employed and not to the nearness of approximation to the desirable
number.[1514]
At any given time in any nation it is desirable either that population
should be stable or that there should be a certain ratio of increase. It
is clear that increase may be brought about under many different
conditions. A high birth-rate and a high death-rate may give the same
ratio of increase as a low birth-rate and a low death-rate. These
conditions have been much studied; the consideration of them falls
outside this book. But we may note that, as far as numbers and the
direct effect of the environment are concerned, but not necessarily so
far as quality is concerned, a low birth-rate and a low death-rate
represent more healthy conditions than a high birth-rate and a high
death-rate. There is a certain correlation between the birth-rate and
the death-rate, though it is often exaggerated. In Japan, for instance,
there has recently been a tendency towards a decrease in the birth-rate
and an increase in the death-rate. It is necessary to beware of those
sweeping generalizations which assert that a high birth-rate means a
high death-rate and vice versa. It may also be noted that the decrease
in the birth-rate has been attained in different European countries in
very different ways. Thus, whereas in England the decrease has been
general throughout the country, in Germany it has been almost entirely
confined to the towns.[1515]
Here, however, the discussion is limited to general principles; problems
of this nature cannot be further inquired into. We have already noted
that minor fluctuations in the nearness of approach to the optimum
number as between neighbouring countries may increase, if it does not
give rise to, friction between them. We may further note here that such
consequences only follow when there are differences of nationality
involved. When within an area inhabited by one nationality some part of
it is becoming under-populated—say the urban districts—population flows
in from other districts and in this case from the country. But when one
country is tending towards under-population and a neighbouring country
towards over-population, there is but little flow of population and but
little adjustment. Various difficulties, some legal, others sentimental,
check the movement towards the less fully populated country.
Nevertheless, there is some movement. Thus there were resident in France
in 1911 1,132,696 foreigners.[1516] But this immigration only went a
little way towards bringing up the population towards the level which
was apparently economically desirable, and there thus arose a position
which aggravated the tension between France and Germany.
There are certain ‘new’ countries where curious conditions obtain. Their
position cannot be judged in the same manner as can that of a country
which has long been settled. The occupation of such countries can only
proceed at a certain pace, and if it went more quickly we should have a
peculiar condition of relative over-population. There is reason to think
that population in many of these countries has not grown as quickly as
it might have done, and that there is, in fact, a condition of relative
under-population.
5. This leads us to refer to the methods of limiting increase in use at
the present day. It is clear that some methods are necessary. Even if it
should be thought advisable that population should increase, it cannot
possibly be desirable that it should increase as fast as is possible. It
therefore falls to those who disapprove of certain methods to suggest
others. This problem is seldom faced by those who would dissuade men and
women from certain practices. The attempt to advise in these matters
without regarding the problem as a whole is strongly to be
deprecated.[1517]
Abortion is condemned on every hand, and we are thus left with
postponement of marriage, restriction of intercourse between married
persons, and the use of contraceptive methods as the means of bringing
about the limitation of families. There is much to be said for the
postponement of marriage for a certain period after the age of puberty.
That education should be completed, and that a certain experience of
life should be gained, before the choice of a partner is made and the
responsibilities of setting up a home are undertaken, are obviously
desirable. In order, however, that postponement of marriage should be
effective, it would require that the average age at marriage should be
so late as to produce many undesirable consequences. It seems certain
that, not only under present conditions, but under almost any conditions
of social life that we can picture, late marriage must be accompanied by
a system of prostitution and irregular sexual habits which nearly every
one agrees in deploring. Apart from this almost overwhelming argument
against late marriages, there are many other objections. It is not a
good thing on the whole for children that their parents, should be
beyond a certain age.[1518] Much can be urged with force against late
marriage on the lines that after a certain age the outlook and habits of
celibates so change as to render them less fitted to bring up a family.
As few will be found to advocate late marriage as the only method, we
may leave the matter at this point.
With regard to restriction of intercourse, the most important question
is whether it can possibly be effective. Very serious doubts arise on
this account when it is proposed to rely on this method alone. Late
marriage might be in practice effective because sexual desire would find
its satisfaction apart from marriage. Abstention from intercourse
implies that sexual desire will not find its satisfaction; on this
account it is likely that it can only be effective when accompanied by a
system of prostitution that we have already agreed to regard as
undesirable. Apart from this there are strong arguments against this
method founded on the undesirable psychological results of abstention.
It is in fact perhaps scarcely possible to think of a marriage system as
satisfactory in which what we must regard as the physical object of
marriage is not realized.
We are thus led to speak of the use of contraceptive methods and we may
glance at two sides of the matter—ethical and physiological. It is a
notable fact that all religious bodies, so far as their opinions can be
discovered, are strongly opposed to this method.[1519] This objection is
founded upon many considerations, of which the most striking is perhaps
that the method allows of, or rather that it encourages,
self-indulgence. Those whose attention has been drawn to the problem of
the causes of the progress and decay of civilization will not fail to
feel the force of any argument against the spread of habits which
encourage self-indulgence. But it may be suggested that the normal
exercise of any physical function can scarcely be called
self-indulgence. There is a mean in the satisfaction of physical
appetites, on the one side of which is self-indulgence and on the other
side asceticism. It is a question whether those who disapprove of these
methods because they encourage self-indulgence are not in fact demanding
an ascetic life. As a form of self-discipline there may be much to
recommend ascetic practices, but that is another matter. The fact is
that in the use of these methods there is nothing which necessarily
encourages self-indulgence. They make it possible to exercise a normal
function; they do not necessarily lead to its over-use. This would seem
to be without doubt the most tangible objection to these methods. The
other objections are on the whole rather of a religious than of an
ethical nature, and as such fall outside the scope of this book.[1520]
In addition to the ethical there is the physiological aspect of the
matter. There are several different methods employed to prevent
conception. It is a matter of great importance to know which of them can
be employed without causing ill health. With regard to this little is
known and opinions vary. More than this need not be said.
It is no part of the object of this book to advocate any particular
methods;[1521] it is only intended here to show what problems arise at
the present day from the quantitative aspect of the whole matter. It may
be suggested that upon the question of the methods of limiting
population it is desirable that there should be some consensus of
opinion. Man has not only to settle how far he is going to limit
population, but how he is going to do it.
6. We may now glance at certain questions which if they are to be
referred to at all in this part of the book are most easily introduced
here. These questions are not directly concerned with the quantitative
aspect of the problem; their importance lies chiefly in their bearing
upon the qualitative aspect.
It is a familiar fact that at the present day the birth-rate is higher
among certain sections of the population than among others. There is
reason to believe that this was also the case in some of the older
civilizations—notably in Rome. We may first look at the facts and
afterwards at the causes. Many investigations have shown that there is a
higher fertility among the lower social grades. Heron found that there
is a high average correlation between the birth-rate and conditions
which indicate a lower social grade, such as the number of pawnbrokers
per 1,000 inhabitants, the amount of child employment, pauperism,
overcrowding, and other indications of poverty and lack of
culture.[1522] Whether a differential birth-rate results or not in a
differential contribution to the next generation depends on whether
there is a differential survival rate, and if so, whether it compensates
for or not the differences in the birth-rate. The following extract from
the Report of the National Birth-Rate Commission throws light upon this
point. Using material provided by the Registrar-General for England and
Wales giving the births for 1911 classified according to the occupation
of the father, the following is the position:
‘Classifying into groups arranged in descending order of social grade we
have:
_Social Class._ _Births per 1,000 married males aged under 55
years._
Upper and middle classes 119
Intermediate 132
Skilled workmen 153
Intermediate 158
Unskilled workmen 213
‘The rate of mortality in the first year of life is also provided in
these groups, and follows the same order, viz. 76·4, 106·4, 112·7,
121·5, 152·5. If, however, we multiply the birth-rate by the difference
between unity and the proportion of deaths, i. e. the proportion of
survivals in the first year, the resulting effective birth-rates are
still in the same order, viz. 110, 118, 136, 139, 181, after the hazards
of the first twelve months have passed. We must conclude, therefore,
that the initially higher birth-rate of the lower classes is not so
reduced by heavier infant mortality that their effective birth-rates are
brought into approximate equality with those of the wealthier classes.
We have no material allowing us to extend the comparison to later years
of life; but equally we have no reason to suppose that such an extension
would change the order.’[1523]
All available evidence goes to support this conclusion, namely, that the
higher the social status the lower is the fertility, and that this
initial difference is not removed by subsequent differential mortality.
This is apparently true not only for England but also for other
countries in which the economic situation is similar, and is a
relatively recent phenomenon.[1524]
7. In looking for the causes of this differential increase as between
various sections of the population, we have to remember that, in
accordance with what has been said in the last chapter, we suppose the
position in regard to population in the nation as a whole to be ruled by
economic factors. If there is an increase, then we suppose that increase
to be somewhere about that which the economic situation demands in order
that the greatest income per head should be gained. It follows that
generally speaking the conditions we find among the mass of the
industrial population excluding the lowest class approximate to those
which are demanded; but it is possible that, just as the increase among
the lowest class is excessive, so the increase among the higher social
class may be too small judging from the economic standpoint. We have
here to ask what factors there are which bring about a lower fertility
among the upper classes, recollecting that this low fertility may not be
wholly due to an approximation to economic requirements, but may
represent a failure in adjusting increase to the economic situation.
Among the factors which bring about a low fertility in these classes,
those connected with differences in education and the age at which the
maximum income is obtained are the most important. Education is
continued in these classes up to an age at which men in the industrial
classes are earning almost the maximum wage to which they will ever
attain. Even when education in the ordinary sense of the word is
finished, there usually follows a period when the salary gained is low,
or when perhaps a premium has to be paid in order to obtain a start in
whatever profession is chosen. Doctors and barristers seldom begin to
earn until some years after their education is complete. Further, when
they do begin to earn, the income is often for many years low, and may
in some cases not reach the maximum until late in life. Among the
industrial population conditions are wholly different, and the maximum
rate of wages is soon reached. Whatever forces, therefore, may be
playing upon the industrial population, there are in addition the above
forces playing upon the professional classes which account for the lower
rate of increase among them.
There are also many other factors at work in the same direction. In the
life led by the upper social classes there are more numerous ways in
which the desire for relaxation, change, and pleasure may find
satisfaction than among the lower classes. Life is in many ways more
varied. This has an influence upon fertility in two ways. When a
marriage takes place among the upper social classes it involves to a far
more considerable extent than among the lower classes a renunciation of
much that has given pleasure hitherto. When a man marries and ‘settles
down’ he gives up, as a rule, many activities from which he had derived
pleasure before. Further, after marriage the possibility of indulging in
many of the pleasures which this varied life offers is often
incompatible with the bringing up of a family. Children are often in the
way. Again, though children are no longer the economic asset among the
lower classes which they were before the passing of the Factory Acts,
the possession of children is generally looked upon among those classes
as a support in old age when the power of earning has gone. Children, on
the other hand, among the upper classes have rather to be provided for,
and in any case are seldom regarded as a support.[1525]
Very many other factors might be mentioned, but enough has been said to
show how in the main the different fertilities may be explained. The
insufficient income of many of the less well-paid groups of the higher
classes is often alleged as a cause of low fertility. This view is well
founded when, as often occurs, social conventions force a so-called
higher standard of living upon them—a standard which merely involves the
expenditure of more money than among the industrial classes in
preserving appearances without adding to welfare. When, however, this is
extended to classes in which income has reached, say, between £600 and
£1,000 a year, it cannot be allowed that income is truly insufficient.
It is in such cases only insufficient when more than is reasonable is
expended in the way of material satisfaction. A man cannot be heard to
say that he cannot afford a large family as otherwise he will not be
able to keep a motor-car—so long, that is to say, as the motor-car is
not necessary to his profession.
7. This differential fertility occurs in countries where the population
is less homogeneous than in England, and thus assumes importance in
another aspect. For whether we assume the differences between the
elements in the population to be due to inherited characters or to
varying social traditions—a question to be discussed later—a change in
the proportion of the different elements will be of great importance.
According to Hill, who has investigated this matter in America, the
percentage of white women of native parentage under 45 years of age
bearing no children is 13·1, while the percentage of foreign women is
5·7. The average number of children for white married women of native
parentage is 2·7, and for similar women of foreign parentage 4·4. Among
the foreign women the average number of children for a married English
woman is 3·4, for a German 4·3, for an Italian 4·9, for a Pole
6·2.[1526] The above is only one example of conditions which obtain in
many countries raising difficult problems.
The same problem arises in an even more important form when there are in
the same country races as different as the white and the negro. In the
United States and in South Africa the problem assumes greater importance
than elsewhere. In the latter country the negroes are increasing faster
than the white element of the population. In America this has not been
the case in the last hundred years; but the fact that the white element
has maintained its relative position is due to the fact that in addition
to the increase in the native-born white population there has been an
increase due to immigration.[1527]
8. The question of the relative rate of increase of the population of
different countries is a somewhat different matter. It is due to many
factors, one of the less important of which is that the population of
various countries does not approach equally closely to the number
desirable in each country. The chief factor is the variation in the arts
of production in use in each country. It is only an extension of this
fact that the natural resources of different countries have been more
exploited in some cases than in others. In Russia the arts of production
in use are less advanced than in more western countries. The
introduction of western methods into such a country enables a rapid
increase of population to take place. During the same period the
increase can only be slow in countries which already use these methods,
and thus, so long as the knowledge of the arts of production is not
equal in all countries, different rates of increase are liable to arise
when knowledge spreads into a more backward country.[1528]
Such changes are altering the composition of the population of the
world. The following figures have been given for Europe. Out of 1,000
inhabitants there were in the years named the following proportion of
Teutonic, Romance, and Slav elements:
1801 1850 1905
Teutonic 375 369 273
Romance 355 321 251
Slav 268 310 375
XIII
THE QUALITATIVE PROBLEM
We now approach the second part of the problem, and turn from a
consideration of the quantity to a consideration of the quality of the
population. In the second and third chapters we found that reproduction
was a necessity, and that to the fact of reproduction can be traced the
origin of problems both of quantity and of quality. In the third chapter
we further found that the position of animals and plants in a state of
nature as regards problems of quality was in its broadest aspect simple.
The changes in the forms of organisms, which, when viewed as a whole, we
call evolution, are due to changes in the physical basis from which new
generations arise. The long procession of organisms, usually of
increasing complexity, from the simplest type to the immediate ancestor
of rational man, thus owes its being to a long procession of changes in
the germ-cells.
When treating of the quantitative problem among men, we considered a
large amount of evidence which bears also upon quality, and this
evidence, supplemented as and where necessary, will enable us to make
some estimate of the importance of qualitative changes among men. This
is the object of the remaining chapters. We have to try and estimate how
far human history is comparable with changes among species in a state of
nature—is due, in other words, to germinal changes. There are two other
possible causes of change among men—the direct influence of the
environment and the influence of tradition—and in order to estimate the
importance of germinal change, it will be necessary also to consider
what importance is attributable to these two factors. To one of
them—namely to tradition—we shall find reason to attribute great
importance. Tradition, in fact, comes ultimately to be of more
importance than germinal change among the underlying causes of history.
But tradition is profoundly influenced by the quantity of population
among other factors, and, therefore, to the extent to which this is so,
the determining factor in human history is still bound up with the
population problem. As history ceases to be strictly correlated with
changes in quality, it comes to be influenced by a factor the nature and
strength of which is largely determined by the quantity of population.
Thus the two aspects of the whole problem are linked together in the
case of man in a manner that does not obtain among species in a state of
nature.
The attempt to deal with this problem will be undertaken in the
following manner. In Chapter III reference was made to the influence of
the environment upon growth and upon the adult form. In Chapter XIV this
subject will be developed so far as species in a state of nature are
concerned, and the results of the inquiry will be applied to man in
Chapter XV. The subject-matter of Chapter XV will be confined to the
influence of the environment upon human bodily and mental characters.
The influence of the environment as a stimulus affecting the direction
in which mental characters are used will be left to a future chapter.
We next turn to inquire what influence changes in the germ-cells have
had. Before we can make any progress it is necessary to ask what
characters—physical and mental—have their basis in the germ-cells, and
an inquiry into this subject will occupy Chapter XVI. In Chapters XVII
and XVIII we ask what evidence there is of selection and other factors
throughout human history which we have reason to suppose have a bearing
on change in the average germinal constitution of the human species.
This will among other things necessitate an examination of the facts in
Chapters VII, VIII, and X in order to ascertain what bearing they have
upon selection. Having thus some knowledge of what is inherited, and
having discussed the occurrence of such factors as in human history may
have brought about changes from one generation to another in the
character inherited, we shall be in a position in Chapter XVII to
attempt an estimate of the results which the factors—selection and
others—have had upon physical characters. We shall find that as regards
these characters the position is more or less clear; we shall find, that
is to say, that the influence of selection and other factors, considered
in conjunction with the influence of the environment discussed in
Chapter XV, does enable us in the main to understand how the physical
evolution of man has come about. With regard to mental characters to be
discussed in Chapter XVIII, we shall find that the task cannot be
similarly completed. With a far less degree of certainty than in the
case of physical characters we shall arrive at some idea as to how
mental characters have evolved. This, however, still leaves unanswered
the problem as to how far the evolution of mental characters accounts
for what we call history. To attack this problem it is necessary to
consider how the environment acts as a stimulus upon the mind,
conditions the degree to which and the direction in which the mind is
used, and thus leads to the building up of tradition. In Chapter XIX we
consider the nature of human mental endowment and the manner in which
tradition is built up and handed on. In Chapter XX we consider the
nature of the environment under which human mental activities have been
exerted. This will enable us in Chapter XXI to survey the broad facts of
history and to come to some conclusion as to the parts played
respectively by the changes in human mental endowment, by the direct
influence of the environment upon the mental faculties, and by its
influence as a stimulus upon the exercise of these faculties. In a
concluding chapter the results of the whole inquiry will be summed up.
XIV
THE INFLUENCE OF THE ENVIRONMENT AMONG ANIMALS AND PLANTS
1. A brief inquiry into the part played by the environment among animals
and plants forms a necessary introduction to a similar inquiry as
regards man such as we shall undertake in the next chapter.
In the second chapter something was said as to fertilization and as to
the development of the zygote or fertilized egg to the adult form. It
has been shown by Herbst that, if this process of development is to
result in a normal adult, all the factors comprising the normal
environment must be present. Herbst ascertained the exact composition of
sea-water at Naples.[1529] Using as his material the larvae of
sea-urchins, he changed slightly in many different ways the composition
of the water. The experiments were very exhaustive. At every stage in
the development he observed the results of abstracting one or more of
the constituents of sea-water—the normal environment of the larvae.
Commenting upon the results of these experiments, Jenkinson says:
‘Whatever may be the ultimate explanation of the facts, there can be no
doubt whatever that the most complete demonstration has been given of
the absolute necessity of many of the elements occurring in ordinary
sea-water, its normal environment, for the proper growth and
differentiation of the larva of the sea-urchin. Nor is this all. Some of
the substances are necessary for one part or phase of development, some
for another, some at the very beginning, others only later on. Thus
potassium, magnesium and some degree of alkalinity are essential for
fertilization, chlorine and sodium for segmentation, calcium for the
adequate cohesion of the blastomeres, potassium, calcium and the
hydroxyl-ion for securing the internal osmotic pressure necessary for
growth, while without the sulph-ion and magnesium the due
differentiation of the alimentary tract and the proper formation of the
skeleton cannot occur; the secretion of the skeleton depends on the
presence of some sulphate and alkalinity, the skeleton requires calcium
carbonate, cilia will only beat in an alkaline medium containing
potassium and magnesium, and muscle will only contract when potassium
and calcium are there.’[1530]
Summing up the results of these and other experiments, Jenkinson says:
‘Every factor, or nearly every factor [of the environment], is necessary
for this or that phase or part of the process, some for the whole. Light
of a certain wave length will accelerate development; light of another
kind, or, in some instances, darkness, will retard it, or will stop it
altogether; a certain degree of heat is indispensable; oxygen is
required for respiration, water for growth; some eggs demand constant
agitation, others complete rest; fertilization or segmentation or
gastrulation, or some one or other of the later phases of development
may depend absolutely on the presence of some particular chemical
element; remove the factor in question, whatever it may be, and that
particular process will not occur, and the specific typical end which is
reached in normal development will not be attained.’[1531]
Putting aside until later the question as to what is implied by the term
normal environment, we may now ask what the relation is between heredity
and environment. To regard a developing organism as subject to the
action of two forces, one tending to thrust it in one direction and the
other in another, is to view the matter in a wholly false light.
Heredity and environment are, as is clear from the evidence given above,
complementary one to the other; without a germinal constitution there
can be no organism; without appropriate stimuli an organism cannot
develop. Similarly it is misleading to speak of the relative importance
of the two factors unless the terms are very clearly defined. To see
that careful definition is necessary, we have only to remember that,
because, with the exception of the anaerobic bacteria, all organisms
require free oxygen, environment might be held to be all important.
Here, however, we are not concerned with the problem as to the
conditions under which we might speak of the relative importance of the
two factors; we have merely to note that they are essentially
complementary.
2. We may now observe that, just as a normal adult only develops under
normal stimuli, abnormal stimuli experimentally induced may be followed
by every kind of result from the most extreme to the most insignificant
changes both of form and of life-cycle. We may note the results of a few
of the vast number of experiments which have been made. With regard to
plants it has been shown that ‘each developmental stage depends upon
special external conditions, and in cases where our knowledge is
sufficient, a particular stage may be obtained at will. In the Green
Algae, as in the case of the Fungi, we may classify the stages of
development into purely vegetative growth (growth, cell-division,
branching), asexual reproduction (formation of zöospores, conidia), and
sexual process (formation of male and female sexual organs). By
modifying the external conditions, it is possible to induce algae or
fungi ... to grow continuously for several years, or, in the course of a
few days, to die after an enormous production of asexual or sexual
cells. In some instances even an almost complete stoppage of growth may
be caused, reproductive cells scarcely being formed before the organism
is again compelled to resort to reproduction. Then again the sequence of
different stages of development may be modified as we desire.’[1532]
Another kind of experiment shows that foliage shoots can be converted
into runners and vice versa; it is, for instance, possible to induce a
germinating tuber of the potato to form foliage shoots under the
influence of a higher temperature. The transfer of plants from one
environment to another is often followed by remarkable changes. MacLeod,
for instance, states that a species of Philodendron which has large
leaves pierced with round holes was cultivated for many years in the
Botanical Gardens at Ghent in a greenhouse which was rather cool and
dry. The holes were found to be rare; at times it was not possible to
observe a single perforation in any of the leaves of a specimen. In
every other respect the plants were healthy. The plants were later
transferred to a greenhouse that was warm and moist and after a few
months the new leaves were found to be abundantly perforated.[1533]
Bonnier made some very interesting observations on the dandelion. He
found that the plant, when sown at a high altitude in the Pyrenees,
produced very short stems with hairy, dark green leaves and a compact
flower. On the other hand, seeds gathered from such plants growing at a
high altitude and sown in the neighbourhood of Paris produced after
three years elongated stems with less hairy and brighter leaves, or, in
other words, plants very similar to those grown from seeds obtained in
the neighbourhood of Paris. The modifications acquired during a given
time by a lowland plant grown at a high altitude, or by a highland plant
grown at a low altitude, took about the same time to disappear on
returning the plants to their original climates.[1534] Similarly
‘Schubeler sowed seeds of various plants in different latitudes in
Norway and proved that the brilliancy of the flowers increased with the
latitude. So great was the difference that it was difficult to conceive
that they were produced from the same batch of seeds.’[1535]
Observations on European peach-trees transported to Réunion were made by
Bordage. Such trees lost their deciduous habit and became evergreen,
though in some cases it took twenty years before the change was
complete.[1536] Lastly the red primrose ‘reared at a temperature of
30°–35° C. (with moisture and shade) has pure white flowers, but the
same plants reared at 15°–20° C. have red flowers. If the white-bearing
plants are brought into a cooler place, the flowers that are already in
bloom remain white, but those that develop later in the cooler
temperature are red.’[1537]
We may also notice the results of some of the experiments upon
developing animals. Stockard experimented with the fish _Fundulus
heteroclitus_. He subjected the eggs both before cleavage began, and
after the two- and four-celled stages had been reached, to solutions of
magnesium salts in sea-water. The eyes of a large percentage of the
embryos were abnormal. In some cases there was a single median eye; in
other cases there was a median eye showing signs of a double
structure.[1538] ‘In a long series of experiments Féré has shown that
monstrosities can be produced by exposing the hen’s egg to the
unfavourable influence of a large variety of substances. Vapour of
ether, alcohol, essential oils, nicotine, mercury and phosphorus,
injection of alkaloids such as morphine, nicotine, strychnine and
others, of bacterial toxins (those of tubercle and diphtheria), of
peptone, dextrose, and glycerine, several alcohols, certain salts ...
are all harmful, retarding and distorting the embryo to a greater or
less extent.’[1539] Many experiments show the effect of differences in
food, temperature, and humidity upon developing organisms. Agar carried
out some experiments on a small water-flea, Simocephalus. This animal is
enclosed in a kind of shell composed of two valves, somewhat like a
mussel. Normally the edges of the valves nearly meet, so that if a
section is cut across the animal transversely the shape of the body
enclosed in the valves is oval. When the food was varied in a certain
way, Agar found that the edges of the valves were turned outwards so
that the shape of a transverse section was no longer oval but bell-like.
He also found that the length was reduced by exposure to a high
temperature.[1540] Experimenting with a beetle, Tower found that both
the colour and the colour pattern could be modified by changes in
temperature and humidity.[1541] Similarly Morgan showed that a species
of the fruit fly exhibited a peculiar formation of the abdomen in the
presence of moisture; when raised in dry conditions the abnormality
disappeared.[1542] Poulton obtained some remarkable results when working
with the larvae of moths. ‘Larvae surrounded by the leaves on which they
fed, became, in the majority of species, light brown or light grey in
colour. If, however, an abundance of twigs had been mixed with the
leaves of the food plant, they became dark in colour. The larvae of the
Peppered Moth afforded the most striking result of all, for when reared
among green leaves and shoots they became bright green without
exception, whilst in the presence of dark brown twigs they nearly all
assumed a corresponding colour.’[1543]
A Japanese experimenter exercised rats for 90 to 180 days; he found that
this long-continued exercise markedly increased the weight of the heart,
kidneys, and other organs on an average to about 20 per cent.[1544] A
thickening has been observed in the stomach of a gull fed on grain for a
year and this change is said to take place under natural conditions in
the herring gull, which feeds in winter on fish and in summer on grain.
Conversely if graminivorous birds are fed on a carnivorous diet, the
gizzard assumes the form of a carnivorous bird’s stomach. Cuvier found
the length of the intestine of the wild boar is as 9 to 1 and of the
domestic boar as 13·5 to 1, a difference which is in part probably due
to diet.[1545] The colour of birds’ plumage is affected by their diet.
Hempseed causes bullfinches and other birds to become black. Cayenne
pepper causes yellow to change to orange red. In the New York Zoological
Gardens it has been shown that some birds, such as the bobolink, may be
so dieted that they keep their breeding plumage throughout the year and
will sing their spring song in mid-winter.[1546] Warren produced marked
changes in the common water-flea, Daphnia, by keeping them in a confined
space for many generations. ‘Semper and de Varigny found that when
fresh-water snails were reared in vessels of a shape that allowed them
abundant water but very little surface in which to take exercise they
developed into dwarf forms. Every precaution was taken to procure
abundant food, perfect aeration and thorough removal of waste products.
De Varigny’s experiments were particularly careful and point
convincingly to the conclusion that the condition of dwarfing was the
restricted area for exercise.’[1547] Lastly it may be remembered that,
as is well known, parasites may induce remarkable changes in their
hosts.
3. From what was said in the third chapter it follows that the results
of artificial subjection to abnormal stimuli just described are to be
interpreted as examples of the fact that different responses are given
to different stimuli by the same or approximately the same germinal
constitution. But large and conspicuous changes of this nature are not
visible only as the result of artificial circumstances. Many species are
normally subject to more or less definite and sudden changes in the
surroundings, and some of them exhibit more or less definite responses
to such changes. This is especially obvious in the case of sessile
organisms the outward form of which is clearly modified by the
surroundings. Thus ‘the water ranunculus, when growing submerged beneath
the surface of a pond, produces leaves the blades of which are cut up
into a number of fine thread-like segments. As soon as the top of the
plant reaches the surface of the water, those leaf-rudiments which are
just commencing their existence, proceed to develop in a totally
different fashion. The leaves to which they give rise possess a wide and
unpointed blade, which floats upon the surface of the water. The two
sets of leaves are as utterly different in their appearance as it is
possible for leaves to be. Yet the effect of the external conditions
upon the young leaf-rudiment determines which of the kinds is to
appear.’[1548]
Examples may also be found in the life-history of free-living organisms.
One is afforded by the common honey-bee. As is well known, a queen bee
differs markedly from a worker bee in shape. Both queens and workers
arise from fertilized eggs; whether a queen or a worker develops from
any one egg appears to depend wholly on the environment—a larva that
gives rise to a queen receiving in the first place different and
presumably more nutritious food than that received by a larva giving
rise to a worker, and, in the second place, inhabiting a cell which
differs in size and shape from that inhabited by a worker larva. Another
is afforded by the life-history of the plant lice (Aphids). At certain
seasons of the year winged forms appear. It has long been suspected that
the appearance of winged forms depends on some environmental stimulus.
That this is so has been rendered practically certain by the work of
Shinji, who has shown that aphids reared on plants watered with certain
solutions are winged almost without exception.[1549]
Among mammals the assumption of a winter coat by the lemming, ptarmigan,
and variable hare is a similar phenomenon. Sir John Ross has told how a
Hudson Bay lemming was protected from the cold on board his ship by
keeping it in the cabin. It retained its normal summer coat during the
winter. On exposing it in a cage on deck to a temperature of 30° below
zero, the fur on the cheeks and a patch on each shoulder became
perfectly white during the first night. After another day’s exposure
‘the patches on each shoulder had extended considerably, and the
posterior part of the body and the flanks had turned a dirty white....
At the end of a week it was entirely white except in a dark band across
the shoulders prolonged posteriorly down the middle of the back.’[1550]
A curious example of the importance of the environment before birth is
afforded by the difference between the mule and the jennet. The former
is the product of a cross between a stallion and a she-ass, the latter
between a jackass and a mare. There is every reason to believe that it
is not the fact that horse-ancestry is in one case traced through the
father and in the other case through the mother that gives rise to the
difference; the difference can only be attributed to the fact that in
one case the period before birth is passed within a mother of one
species and in the other case is passed within a mother of another
species.
4. We are now in a position to discuss what is meant by the term ‘normal
environment’. There is a more or less definite range of variations of
the environmental stimuli to which species in a state of nature are
subject. The range may differ greatly from species to species, but
remains more or less constant for any species. So long as the variations
fall within this range, the environment may be described as normal. Such
variations will be followed by different responses on the part of
similar germinal constitutions, and the variations among the members of
any species under a normal environment are due to the combined influence
of differences in the environment and of differences in the germinal
constitutions. From time to time in a state of nature organisms are
subject to variations of the environmental stimuli which fall outside
the normal range, and there are thus produced extreme modifications
similar to those which can be experimentally induced. Thus Gemmill on
examining a large number of fish embryos found monsters with a single
eye very similar to those experimentally produced by Stockard.[1551]
It may next be observed that there is a marked difference in the degree
to which sessile organisms on the one hand and free-living organisms on
the other hand respond to differences in the normal environment. The
former are much more susceptible to differences—or at least to certain
differences. Sessile organisms, for instance, differ from one another
very greatly in form and such variations are known to be chiefly due to
differences in the environmental stimuli. Free-living organisms do not
vary in this manner. The reason is fairly clear. All species are adapted
to a particular niche in nature, and among the former the mode of
adaptation of necessity takes the form of susceptibility to surrounding
conditions; a tree or a sponge must be able to adapt itself to its
actual surroundings. A free-living organism is, on the other hand,
adapted by its specific form to its niche in nature and, in order that
it may reach and maintain this form, it must exhibit a relative lack of
susceptibility to surrounding conditions.
5. The broad features of the situation among species in a state of
nature are now fairly clear. By outward inspection it cannot be
ascertained whether any particular characteristic is of the nature of a
modification or of a mutation. But we know that among sessile organisms
outward form is largely of the nature of modification, whereas among
free-living organisms, which interest us more closely because conditions
are more nearly comparable to those obtaining among men, modifications
play a much smaller part. A large number of measurements has been made
of certain features of particular species in a state of nature as, for
instance, by Allen for the squirrel and Weldon for the common shrimp.
Though on general grounds we may have reason to suspect how far the
variations recorded are of the nature of modifications, we can arrive at
no certain answer. Observations made on members of a species in a state
of nature, some of which are subject to conditions that differ from
those to which the rest of the members are subject, are of more
assistance for our present purpose. Thus the tiger ranges from tropical
to temperate regions. Tigers from the former regions exhibit certain
differences from those from the latter regions in respect of the
condition of the coat. It is possible that these differences are purely
environmental. Again certain marine molluscs from cold waters exhibit
differences when compared with members of the same species from warmer
waters; these differences may again be purely environmental. In those
cases in which a species has within recent years spread to a new
environment, it is often found the degree of variation has increased.
Thus Bumpus found that the egg of the common sparrow is more variable in
the United States than in England;[1552] it has also been noticed that
the variation of the common periwinkle is greater in America than in
England—both these species having been recently introduced into
America.[1553] It is also of interest to observe that Montgomery found
greater variations among migratory than among non-migratory species of
birds and the greatest variation among those that had the widest
range.[1554] Though, until the matter has been put to the test of
experiment, nothing can be affirmed as to the nature of these
differences, it is probable that in part at least these differences are
environmental. Such observations help to exhibit the degree of
importance that we are led to attribute to modifications among
free-living animals in a state of nature. It must also be borne in mind
that departures from the normal range of variations of the environmental
stimuli are not so very infrequent and that more or less extreme
modifications, as result, for instance, from the attacks of parasites,
do occur.
Lastly we may go a step farther and ask what happens when the
environment changes. This inquiry, if pursued, would lead us beyond the
scope of this chapter. A reference, however, to this problem may assist
to render the relation of a species under natural conditions to its
environment rather more clear. Change of environment may be due either
to the migration of some or all the members of a species to a locality
where the environment is different, or to an actual change in the
environment in the same locality. If the change is at all marked, then
there will be a different response on the part of the germinal
constitution to the new conditions. Let us suppose that the diet is
changed and that some members of a species of bird take to a diet of
grain having previously existed on a diet of fish. There will be a
different response in that the stomach will assume a different form. But
it is most unlikely that the old germinal constitution will be that
which gives the best response to the new conditions. Almost certainly a
somewhat different type of germinal constitution will be that which will
give the best response to the new conditions, will be that, in other
words, from which there will arise the form of stomach most suited to
dealing with grain. If and when, therefore, a mutation arises exhibiting
this changed type of germinal constitution, it will be favoured, and in
this manner a new variety and ultimately a new species may be formed. It
has thus to be remembered that, although the germinal constitution to
some extent responds differently to different stimuli, it is very
unlikely that any average type of germinal constitution will give the
best response to any other environment than that to which the species is
now subject. It does not therefore follow that, because the responses of
the germinal constitution are various, there are not factors making for
a change in the germinal constitution when the environment changes.
Summing up what we have said, we have to think of every species as
living under a more or less clearly defined environment into which very
many elements enter; whether the variations in these elements are great
or small, there is an average condition, and to that average condition a
certain type of germinal constitution gives the best response. In the
case of a free-living animal in the adult form the germinal constitution
does not respond readily to ordinary variations from the normal, though
it has to be remembered that extreme influences such as those caused by
parasites may cause marked reactions. Further, it has always to be borne
in mind that during development all animals and plants are particularly
susceptible to environmental changes. It is not possible to make any
precise statement as to how far the differences we see under natural
conditions are modifications and how far mutations. All that we can say
is that the part played by the environment in producing modifications is
on the whole smaller in the case of free-living animals than in the case
of sessile animals and of plants.
XV
THE INFLUENCE OF THE ENVIRONMENT UPON MAN
1. The way has now been cleared for a consideration of the influence of
the environment upon man. The relation of the ancestors of man to the
environment must have been the same as that between any wild species and
its environment. In the course of his history man has moved away from
this position until his relation to the environment has become so
different from that described for other animals and plants that we can
no longer speak of a normal environment. This has not come about because
man is not subject to the same laws as are other organisms. It has come
about because his relation to the environment has been modified in many
ways.
The conception of the normal environment involved the idea that, much as
the different elements composing the environment might vary, there was
some more or less clearly defined limit to their variations. In one
sense this remains true for man; but the variations are so much greater
in degree and in kind that there is a clear distinction between the
conditions obtaining among civilized races and those obtaining among any
wild species. Let us glance for a moment at what has happened. It is
obvious that man has varied his surroundings in every respect, not only
with regard to what we may call external circumstances, but also with
regard to nutrition and to customs and habits that we sum up under the
name of use. The most obvious changes in external circumstances are
those connected with the spread of man to every corner of every
continent. Man has become subject to every extreme of heat and cold,
humidity and aridity, of barometric pressure and all that goes to make
up climate. There is in addition a vast mass of artificial influences,
due in the first place to various methods of protection adopted against
climate. Every description of house is known, involving all degrees of
access to fresh air. Dress again varies almost infinitely—the variations
all being of possible influence upon the development of mental and
physical characters. The aggregation of men into towns involves exposure
to smoke, noise, and vibration among other factors. Modern industrial
conditions in particular expose workers to varied surroundings. Human
diet has become equally varied. The cooking of food was an innovation
involving great changes in the factors which play upon the digestive
organs. Innumerable animals and plants have been drawn upon by man as
food. Perhaps more important than the variations in what man eats are
the variations in what he drinks. Under the heading of use come all
those habits such as reading, washing, smoking, and shaving. Various
occupations bring with them various degrees of muscular activity or
involve its reduction to next to nothing. There are various modes of
riding and various ways of sitting. Lastly the prevalence of disease has
introduced another factor which has a profound influence upon mental and
physical characters.
This varying of the environment has come about gradually, slowly at
first and with increasing speed latterly, until at the present day, of
four men having their homes in the same town one may do clerical work
involving no exercise, another may labour in a cotton mill where it is
warm and moist, a third may perform hard physical labour in a mine in
semi-darkness where the air is full of a particular kind of dust, and a
fourth may work on board ship exposed to all the rigours of the
Atlantic. To such differences may be added all the differences between
meat-eaters and vegetarians, smokers and non-smokers, alcoholic drinkers
and abstainers, and so on. Contrast the variations in the environment of
modern man with the variations in the environment of any species in a
state of nature and it will be apparent why it was said above that the
relation of man to his environment was clearly distinguishable from that
of any species in a state of nature to its environment.
We are about to consider in this chapter the influence of the
environment upon the physical basis of life; we shall be concerned, in
other words, with its function as the complement of the germinal
constitution. The discussion will be limited to the notice of such
factors as are in operation; of the possible effects of the environment
there is no need to speak. From two other points of view also the
environment is of importance; as a factor in selection it will be
considered in Chapters XVII and XVIII; as the subject-matter, so to
speak, upon which mental processes work, it will be considered in
Chapters XIX and XX. It is important to distinguish the influence of the
environment in this latter respect from the sense in which it is
considered in this chapter. The failure to do so has vitiated many
contributions to the subject. It is felt that the environment is somehow
of great influence in social life and it is not realized that, if in the
respect in which it is considered in this chapter we find reason to
conclude that its influence is not great, there is another field in
which its influence may be established.
When considering the influence of the environment on man, it is
convenient to distinguish between physical and mental characters. Mental
characters may be considered under the head of the intellect, the
disposition, and the temperament. It must, however, be clearly
understood that this is merely a distinction convenient for our present
purpose which is not based upon, and does not imply, any fundamental
distinction. Mental characters, such as the instinct of gregariousness,
and physical characters, such as head form, are for our purpose merely
characters resulting from the play of certain stimuli upon a certain
germinal constitution.
2. It is remarkable how little on the whole is known with regard to the
influence of the environment on man. For the most part we have to depend
upon observations as distinguished from experiments. Though a few
experiments have been made, some deliberately but others accidentally,
we are for the most part in the position with regard to man that we
should be with regard to other animals, had we only such observations to
go on as those quoted respecting the size of marine molluscs, the
variation in the coat of the tiger, and the changes in the sparrow and
the periwinkle when introduced into America. Though such observations
may strongly suggest certain conclusions as to the part played by the
environment, no definite or precise results can be reached.
We may first consider some evidence bearing upon the influence of
particular factors such as exercise and climate. We may disregard those
rare cases of extreme modifications deliberately induced, such as the
distortion of the shape of the head or of the feet by pressure. These
extreme modifications approximate to mutilations such as amputation of
the finger-joints or the knocking out of the incisor teeth.
It is well known that exercise has considerable effect upon the
development of the muscles. It is also well known that there is a
clearly defined point for each individual beyond which exercise will
produce no further effect. Though exercise has a considerable effect
upon other organs, especially certain internal organs, it is probable,
not only that it has more effect upon the muscles than upon any other
system of organs, but that the effect upon the muscles is relatively at
least as great as, if not greater than, the effect upon any organ of any
other factor that we shall consider except disease. Owing to differences
in the amount of exercise the bodily development of man in a modern
community varies very considerably; owing to such modifications clerical
workers differ from blacksmiths, whether or not there are also germinal
differences. So too owing to differences in habits men of one race
differ from men of another race. Darwin, for instance, refers to the
thin legs and thick arms of the Payagua Indians who spend a large part
of their lives in canoes.[1555] It is certain that all such physical
differences are not due to germinal differences and that environment in
the shape of use is in part the cause. The position is similar with
regard to certain peculiarities observable among races that have adopted
unusual modes of squatting.
Little is known as to the effects of use upon mental characters. To some
degree no doubt the intellect is developed by use, though, perhaps, the
degree to which this is so is apt to be exaggerated in popular
estimation owing to the fact that modes of thinking acquired through
education add to the efficiency of the faculty, which result is mistaken
for the effects of use. That the effects of exercise are not great is
shown by the experience of the Workers’ Education Association. This
institution gives advanced courses to men often of middle age who have
received but little intellectual training in early life. It does not
appear that the strength of their intellects is much less than it would
have been had they received a university training. It seems at any rate
certain that the differences in the amount of use now obtaining between
the various professions and classes in England have less effect
generally upon mental than upon physical characters. Given, for example,
two men of equal intellect, one of whom received the best educational
training of the day, and the other of whom received the training given
to the working classes, it does not seem that at the end of the training
there would be anything like the same difference as regards strength of
intellect between them as there would be between two men, one of whom
received an athletic training and the other of whom did not.
3. Physical changes are not infrequently observed to follow upon changes
in the environment, though, when these changes are complex, it is often
impossible to say with which features of the environment the changes are
connected. Thus ‘the Anthropological Committee of the British
Association long ago showed the beneficent effects of the Factory Acts,
which rescued young children from the hardships of daily toil. Boys of
nine years in 1873 had a height and weight equivalent to the height and
weight of boys of ten years old in 1833.’[1556]
It is known that stature has increased in certain European countries
during the last century. Soren Hansen gives the following figures for
Denmark:[1557]
1852 to 1856 165·42 cm. average height.
1879 „ 1888 167·78 „ „ „
1891 „ 1900 168·43 „ „ „
1904 „ 1905 169·11 „ „ „
Similarly the stature of the Dutch has increased from 165·5 cm. in 1866
to 167 cm. in 1883 and to 168 cm. in 1899. A number of reasons has been
suggested to account for this marked increase, the higher standard of
living, the decrease in the incidence of disease which is known to
inhibit growth, and the smaller number of children in a family. This
last factor is certainly of importance at the present day. From some
observations made in an English manufacturing town Ewart concludes that
when children are born at a longer interval than two years they are on
an average three inches taller and three pounds heavier than children
born at a shorter interval.[1558] It is a fair assumption that in
families, where the income is small, the fewer the children the more
favourable would be the environmental conditions.
The physical inferiority of people living in poorly endowed surroundings
is often thought to be at least in part due to modifications induced by
hard conditions. Thus physical inferiority is noticeable in districts in
Europe that are markedly poorly endowed, as for instance in the area
between Limoges and Périgueux in France. So far as this is so, the
causes may have to be sought in climatic differences as well as in other
differences more directly comparable with those which exist between
well- and ill-treated children in the same country.
4. The influence of climate upon man has long attracted attention.
Statistical evidence has been produced showing that the shape of the
head—a characteristic usually considered not to be in any way
susceptible to such differences in the environment as occur between one
climate and another—is modified by climate. Boas produced figures
showing that the cephalic index (a measure obtained by calculating the
relation of breadth of the head to the length which is put at 100) of
Sicilians born in America to be 80, while that of Sicilians born in
Sicily is 78, and of Hebrews born in America to be 81, while that of
Hebrews born in Eastern Europe, whence the immigrants came, is 83. It
would appear that the Hebrews who are broad-headed in Europe become
narrower-headed in America, and that the Sicilians who are narrow-headed
in Europe become broader-headed in America. There would thus seem to be
an approximation in America to a cephalic index the mean of which lies
between 80 and 81.[1559] These results have been severely criticized
from many points of view. Sergi claims to have shown that the results
are the ‘pure effect of illusion due to the statistical methods employed
by the author’.[1560] It has also been suggested that the results are
due to selection. In this connexion it is interesting to note that both
Ammon and Levi obtained somewhat similar results and that they both
attributed them to selection. The former, working with figures from
Baden, found that the inhabitants of cities tended to become
longer-headed and concluded that the short-headed type tended to die out
under the conditions of city life.[1561] Levi, working on Italian
figures, came to the same conclusion and attributed it to the same
cause.[1562] Others have suggested that the methods of nursing children
may affect the shape of the head and that the changed habits of the
immigrants in America may account for the changes in the shape of the
head. Though it has certainly not been proved that the environment can
in the manner suggested change the shape of the head, the question
cannot be regarded as settled.
Observations have been made on the cephalic index of Jews which may
perhaps be held to lend support to the views of Boas. Huntington gives
the following table:[1563]
_Country._ _Cephalic Index of _Cephalic Index of _Difference_
Jews._ other Races._
Caucasus 87·5 87·4 0·1
Galicia 83·6 84·4 0·8
Baden 83·5 84·1 0·6
Little Russia 82·9 83·2 0·3
Turin 82·4 84·9 2·5
Lithuania 81·7 80·6 1·1
Russian Poland 81·9 80·9 1·0
White Russia 80·9 82·5 1·6
It would appear that there is a tendency for the cephalic index of Jews
to vary as does that of the surrounding types. Fishberg has attributed
this fact to intermarriage[1564] and this may be in part at least the
explanation, though in the present state of our knowledge the possible
influence of the environment cannot be altogether excluded.
The uncertainty surrounding the matter is in fact a good example of the
state of our knowledge regarding many similar problems affecting
man.[1565] Boas himself, it may be noticed, only believes in a ‘strictly
limited plasticity’[1566] of head form; it is indeed evident that this
and other physical characters which distinguish the races of man are for
the most part of the nature of mutations and not of modifications.
Europeans who migrate to tropical climates and the inhabitants of
tropical climates who come to live in Europe retain the greater part of
their distinguishing physical characters.
The manner and degree in which tropical climates influence Europeans is
a matter of considerable interest. There is as yet but little known on
the subject. Sir Patrick Manson, writing in 1907, said that ‘although
many attempts have been made to trace and explain the effect of
temperature on the physiological processes of the human body, more
especially in reference to the pathological proclivities to which
atmospheric heat and cold may conduce, it cannot be said that any
important conclusions have been attained.... But though we may not be
able to indicate precisely the way in which our bodies are
physiologically affected by extremes of atmospheric temperature,
especially prolonged high temperature, our sensations, the loss of
physical and mental energy, the modification of physical characteristics
undergone by white races when placed for several generations in tropical
conditions, and the dark skins of all tropical races indicate that the
white races on first arrival are not in all respects adapted for
tropical conditions, that they are somehow prejudicially affected
thereby, and that while living in tropical countries they are more open
to certain pathological risks than are the natives of those
countries.’[1567] Since the year in which Sir Patrick Manson wrote
further information has been obtained on this subject. Our knowledge is,
however, still scanty. With regard to actual facts it is known that the
pulse, rate of breathing, and temperature of the body do not vary when
measured in Europe and when measured among white men under tropical
conditions. The number of red blood-corpuscles and the amount of
haemoglobin in the blood is the same and metabolism is not less intense.
On the other hand the rate by which a nervous impulse travels along a
nerve decreases in Europeans the longer they live in the tropics. The
muscles and the connective tissue become more elastic. The well-known
pallor of Europeans living in the tropics is due to a thickening and
softening of the epidermis, which becomes opaque.[1568]
It is very difficult to arrive at any conclusions as to what the effects
of a tropical climate upon Europeans really are. It is necessary to
discount the effect of tropical diseases and of the habits and customs
of Europeans living in the tropics. On the whole it is probable that the
popular notion of the considerable and generally injurious nature of the
modifications undergone by Europeans living in the tropics is
exaggerated. It is said that, for example, in Java, when sanitary
conditions are good and reasonable habits adopted, the death-rate among
European children is less than in Europe. Nevertheless a tropical
climate does have an injurious effect upon Europeans. There is no doubt
that Europeans in the tropics are more irritable and in general more
highly strung than in their native land. Clearly in some fashion the
nervous tone is injuriously affected by residence in tropical climates.
In a similar manner nervous tone is affected by many elements in the
environment in civilized countries, such as vibration, noise, and so on,
leaving aside the effect of food, drink, and disease. To the importance
of disease in this respect we shall return later. As regards noise,
vibration, and so on, but little is known—their influence being possibly
considerably greater than is usually suspected.
5. Ellsworth Huntingdon has in recent years in a number of publications
elaborated a theory according to which climate has been one of the main
factors in determining where civilization shall develop and flourish. As
this theory depends upon the supposed direct influence of the
environment on man, it may be noticed here. He has made observations
which are interpreted as showing that there are optimum climatic
conditions under which the maximum energy is exhibited. These conditions
arise when the average temperature of day and night together lies
between 58° F. and 71° F. and when there is a certain degree of
moisture. His observations, made in America, were based on the output in
piece-work factories and on similar data and tend to show that not only
do all European races, including the Finns, display most energy under
these optimum conditions, but also the Japanese and the negroes. He then
proceeds to show that where these optimum conditions prevail in the
world, there to-day are to be found the highest forms of civilization.
Upon these data he raises a very far-reaching theory to the effect that
throughout history civilization has arisen and flourished only where
there has been an approximation to these climatic conditions. To the
obvious difficulty that former civilizations have often flourished in
countries the climate of which at the present day is far from these
optimum conditions, he replies that climate has changed, a theory which
he has for some years strongly advocated.[1569]
It may be said that there is nothing novel in the idea of optimum
climatic conditions.[1570] In the previous section it was pointed out
that Europeans in tropical climates suffer from injurious mental
disturbances. What is remarkable is that the optimum conditions for
negroes should be the same as for Europeans. It will require more proof
than has yet been advanced before this can be accepted. Further, the
changes in climate which the theory demands have not been proved.
Professor Gregory has reviewed the question and his conclusions do not
support those of Huntingdon—at any rate not in such a manner as to
render the theory tenable.[1571] Nevertheless, whatever the fate of the
theory in its present form may be, its enunciation has raised many
interesting questions and has incidentally helped to show how little we
know at present regarding the effect of the surroundings on man.
6. When men move from one climate to another they come under the
influence not only of changes in temperature and moisture but also of
food and sometimes of altitude and other factors about the effects of
which there is a considerable amount of information. A vegetarian diet
is said to produce changes in the gut; but changes in beverages are
probably of far greater importance than changes in food. The effects of
alcohol have been closely studied, chiefly with regard to its influence
upon nervous tone. Nervous tone is affected in an important manner by
many drugs, as for instance by opium, and in a lesser degree by tea and
coffee. Changes in nervous tone are of such importance that its
susceptibility to various influences has to be borne in mind. It is
quite possible that the introduction of a new form of beverage into a
country might have a perceptible effect upon the average condition of
nervous tone and thus have a bearing upon the course of history.
Altitude is known to have various effects upon physical characters. The
fact that the larger lung capacity of those who live at high altitudes
diminishes on descent to the plains, as recorded by Darwin of the Quicha
Indians, is evidence that this character is in part at least
environmental.[1572] The effect of high altitudes has lately been
studied in much detail. It is known that there is among other changes an
increase in the number of red blood-corpuscles in the blood.[1573]
7. Attempts have been made to obtain more precise information by the use
of statistical methods. Thus the correlations have been measured between
the state of children’s eyesight and fifteen environmental conditions.
The mean of the correlations was found to be 0·04—only one reaching
0·1.[1574] Again the association between various intellectual and
physical characters and conditions, which were taken as representing a
good or bad environment, has been measured. A slight association was
found between intelligence in boys and few people per room and no
association between eyesight, condition of glands and hearing, and bad
economic and moral surroundings.[1575] Somewhat different results have
been reached by American workers, who find that by employing
psychological tests a fairly well-marked difference can be detected
between children in the same school whose parents belong to different
social classes and who would therefore be subject to different home
conditions.[1576]
The interpretation of these results is difficult. Before any definite
conclusion could be reached with regard to any one character, it would
be necessary to measure the effect of every factor in the environment
upon that character. As the matter stands there is strong but not
conclusive evidence of the small influence of the surroundings, so long
as we suppose that innate differences do not exist between the subjects
measured. But if innate differences exist, then the interpretation of
the absence of any marked degree of correlation must be that the common
elements of the environment supplied by the community are of greater
importance than the innate differences. We shall find reason to conclude
in later chapters that small innate differences do exist, and, if this
is so, then the interpretation of these results is not at variance with
the general, though necessarily vague, conclusions derived from the
evidence previously given, i.e. that the influence of the environment as
represented by the variations actually occurring in the elements of the
surroundings hitherto mentioned is small.
8. There is another class of factors which may be summed up under the
heading of disease. It was remarked that disease may produce notable
results among species in a state of nature. Compared, however, with the
state of things among men, and especially in the later stages of
history, disease is rare among such species. Among men it comes to
assume a peculiar importance.
Disease results both from the attacks of parasites and from other
causes. The various classes of disease will be referred to in the next
chapter. We are here concerned only with the results, and we may think
of the disease as affecting particular organs in the body and as
affecting the general functioning of the organs. Every organ in the body
is liable to be attacked by disease and the modifications produced are
in many cases familiar. Thus all physical and mental characters may be
directly and to almost any degree modified by disease. Again it is known
that the result of disease in children is to inhibit growth, and that
the growth thus lost is not subsequently made up. Disease may thus be
said to draw upon the capital and not upon the income of children.[1577]
We may here confine ourselves to some notice of the effect of disease on
the general functioning of the bodily organs which though not so
familiar is more important from our point of view.
The functioning of the bodily organs has been found in late years
largely to depend upon certain glands—known as the endocrinous or
ductless glands—in a manner and to a degree altogether unsuspected. The
thyroid gland, for example, manufactures a secretion which is essential
to the proper growth and normal metabolic functions of the whole body.
If it is removed from a child, the whole body is stunted and mental
deficiency results. Certain maladies, such as goitre, cretinism, and
others are known to be connected with a diseased condition of the
thyroid. Profound modifications of both physical and mental characters
may thus follow when these glands cease to function normally, which is
known to be the case in certain specific diseases and may arise in other
ways which are not fully understood.
Temperament depends upon the general functioning of the bodily organs
and upon the actual condition of the nervous system. Disease, whether it
takes the form of a failure of the ductless glands to function as they
should, or some other form, always affects the general functioning of
the body and thus has a direct bearing upon temperament. Thus ‘we know
now’, says Mr. McDougall, ‘that defect of the functions of this organ
(thyroid) may reduce any one of us to a state of mental apathy bordering
upon idiocy, and that its excessive activity produces the opposite
effect and may throw the mind into an over-excitable condition verging
upon maniacal excitement. Again we know that certain diseases tend to
produce specific changes of temperament, that phthisis often gives it a
bright and hopeful turn, diabetes a dissatisfied and cantankerous turn.
It is clear that in some such cases of profound alteration of
temperament by bodily disorder the effects are produced by means of the
chemical products of metabolism, which, being thrown out of the diseased
tissues into the blood and reaching the nervous system by way of the
blood-stream, chemically modify its processes. It is probable that every
organ in the body exerts in this way some influence upon our mental
life, and that temperament is in large measure the balance or resultant
of all these many contributory influences.’[1578]
Thus in addition to the more obvious direct effects of disease upon
mental and physical characters, there are the more subtle and profound
effects upon temperament, and in our general summing-up we shall find
reason to attribute no small importance to temperament in its influence
upon progress. It thus becomes of importance to observe that in
particular regions of the world certain chronic and non-lethal diseases
are very common. Clearly the result of disease upon temperament is
greatest when it takes the form, not of kill or cure—which is on the
whole the case in temperate climates—but of chronic non-lethal maladies
which are common in tropical climates, especially in Africa. The
hook-worm disease is an African disease which has been introduced into
America. The hook-worm (Ancylostomum duodenale) is an internal parasite
which attaches itself to the lining of the intestine and causes bleeding
and anaemia. Death may ensue, but the patient usually lives a long time.
It is a most debilitating disease; it is said to affect some 50 per
cent. of the inhabitants of some tropical and sub-tropical countries.
Even as a mild infection it is the cause of much invalidity and heavy
economic loss. The laziness and degeneracy of the ‘poor white trash’,
who are said to belong to the purest-blooded English stock in the United
States, are due not so much to the environment[1579] and heredity as to
the ravages of these parasites. In a public lecture, delivered before
the University of Pennsylvania, in 1915, Allan Smith, citing the factors
which have caused the Southern States to lag in American progress,
mentioned that the hook-worm disease ‘stands with malaria as worse than
wars and the devastations of battles and worse than all other pathogenic
agencies in combination’. Through the influence of these diseases ‘the
men and women of the South, bred from the best colonial stock, offspring
of pioneers, with the blood of English gentry and of continental
cavaliers in their veins, sank lower and lower in physical degeneration
and squalor, were derided and denounced as lazy and shiftless and
condemned in popular opinion as worthless and a disgrace’.[1580]
There are many other tropical and sub-tropical diseases of a somewhat
similar nature. Among them may be mentioned the ‘yaws’—marked by various
eruptions probably due to a spirochaete—the guinea-worm, which lives
buried in connective tissue; bilharzia, a trematode worm which lives in
the bladder and infects nearly 50 per cent. of the inhabitants of Egypt;
and elephantiasis, due to a worm related to the guinea-worm. The manner
and degree in which these various diseases affect the nervous tone
varies very much. In general the result is debility and a lowering of
the nervous tone. So too malaria is a cause of debility, and the main
reason for the decadence of Ancient Greece has been sought in this
disease.[1581]
9. The results of the inquiry so far, though illuminating, are
indefinite. This is largely because we are ignorant regarding innate
differences. The consideration of the evidence as to identical twins
offers a way out of this difficulty. It is known that there are two
kinds of twins. There are the so-called identical twins, between whom
there is a very close resemblance, and other twins between whom there is
no greater resemblance than between any two children of the same
parents. It was formerly thought that there was a sharp distinction
between the two kinds of twins—identical twins arising from a single
ovum, which completely separated into two halves during early
development, each half giving rise to one child, ordinary twins arising
from the simultaneous fertilization of two ova. If this was so, then
identical twins would always have approximately the same germinal
constitution, whereas other twins would have germinal constitutions as
different as on the average are those of the offspring of the same
parents. That identical twins do thus at times arise is practically
certain, but it has recently been shown that the supposed sharp
distinction between identical and other twins does not exist.[1582] This
may be explained by various assumptions. It may be supposed that some
ova are binucleate or that some ova are penetrated by two spermatozoa;
again the earlier or later separation of the blastomeres may have a
bearing upon the position. Under any of these circumstances twins
intermediate between identical twins and ordinary twins would
arise—twins, that is to say, not having approximately similar germinal
constitutions, but germinal constitutions more nearly alike than those
of ordinary twins. However this may be, it is sufficient for our purpose
to note that so-called identical twins are always more alike in their
germinal constitutions than are ordinary twins and may quite frequently
have practically similar germinal constitutions. It, therefore, follows
that differences between identical twins must be very largely of the
nature of modifications. It is thus of great interest to ask in what
these differences consist.
Galton collected data regarding thirty-five cases of identical twins. He
summarizes the information about them up to the time at which they left
the family circle as follows. ‘In a few of these not a single point of
difference could be specified. In the remainder, the colour of the hair
and eyes were almost always identical; the height, weight, and strength
were nearly always so. Nevertheless I have a few cases of a notable
difference in height, weight, and strength, although the resemblance was
otherwise very near. The manner and personal address of the thirty-five
pairs of twins are usually described as very similar, but are
accompanied by slight differences of expression, familiar to near
relatives though unperceived by strangers. The intonation of the voice
when speaking is commonly the same, but it frequently happens that the
twins sing in different keys.’[1583] He goes on to say that ‘both twins
are apt to sicken at the same time in no less than nine out of the
thirty-five cases. Either the illnesses, to which I refer, were
non-contagious, or, if contagious, the twins caught them simultaneously;
they did not catch them the one from the other. This implies so intimate
a constitutional resemblance, that it is proper to give some quotations
in evidence,’[1584] and he proceeds to give detailed evidence. Later he
remarks on the ‘similarity in the association of ideas. No less than 11
out of the 35 cases testify to this. They make the same remarks on the
same occasions, begin singing the same song at the same moment and so
on.’[1585] With regard to tastes and dispositions Galton says that ‘in
16 cases—that is in nearly one-half of them—these were described as
closely similar; in the remaining 19 they were much alike, but subject
to certain named differences. These differences belonged almost wholly
to such groups of qualities as these: the one was more vigorous,
fearless, energetic, the other was gentle, clinging, and timid; or the
one was more ardent, the other more calm and placid; or again the one
was the more independent, original, and self-contained; the other the
more generous, hearty, and vivacious. In short the difference was that
of intensity or energy in one or other of its protean forms; it did not
extend more deeply into the structures of the characters. The more
vivacious might be subdued by ill health, until he assumed the character
of the other; or the latter might be raised by excellent health to that
of the former. The difference was in the key-note, not in the
melody.’[1586] Galton sums up the evidence as follows: ‘It follows from
what has been said concerning the similar dispositions of the twins, the
similarity in the association of their ideas, of their special ailments,
and of their illnesses generally, that the resemblances are not
superficial, but extremely intimate. I have only two cases of a strong
bodily resemblance being accompanied by mental diversity, and one case
only of the converse kind.’[1587]
It has to be remembered that up to this period the twins had been reared
under very similar conditions indeed; Galton in fact says that they had
been reared ‘exactly alike’.[1588] He goes on to ask what changes were
produced when they left the family and went out into the world. He sums
up the result of his inquiries into this point as follows: ‘Here are 35
cases of twins who were “closely alike” in body and mind when they were
young, and who have been reared exactly alike up to their early manhood
and womanhood. Since then the condition of their lives has changed; what
change of nurture has produced the most variation?... They (the 35
cases) showed me that in some cases the resemblance of body and mind had
continued unaltered up to old age, notwithstanding very different
conditions of life; they showed me that in other cases the parents
ascribed such dissimilarity as there was, wholly or almost wholly to
some form of illness.’[1589] ‘We may, therefore, broadly conclude that
the only circumstance, within the range of those by which persons of
similar conditions of life are affected, that is capable of producing a
marked effect on the character of adults, is illness or some accident
which causes physical infirmity.’[1590] Galton then turns to consider
the details regarding twenty cases of unlike twins and he finds that in
spite of similar surroundings no growing resemblance can be
traced.[1591]
10. In attempting to sum up our conclusions on this subject, we may
first ask what influence is to be attributed to the environment and then
ask what bearing such influence has upon the main problem under review
in these later chapters. It has always to be recollected that changes in
the environment may have the most extreme results. Some examples were
given of experiments upon developing animals, and it was shown that in
the case of fish, for example, monsters of various kinds can be
produced. So too doubtless extreme modifications could be produced in
the case of man and are occasionally produced by untoward surroundings
and by such customs as those of the distortion of the head and of the
feet. What we want to know, however, is not what modifications can be
produced, nor what exceptional modifications sometimes arise, but what
changes are induced by the variations in the environment which usually
occur.
The answer is that, putting aside disease among the factors and leaving
out for the moment temperament among the characters, such variations as
occur are of little importance. This applies to both physical and mental
predispositions and includes the effect of not only such factors as
climate and so on but also of such factors as are summed up in a good or
bad home environment. It is probable that physical predispositions are
on the whole more susceptible to such changes as occur than are mental
predispositions. There is no reason, for instance, to think that the
normal variation of any factor which influences mental predispositions
produces as much effect as does use upon muscular development. But it is
also further clear that, though we must, keeping aside for the moment
questions connected with disease and with temperament, think of such
modifications as occur as not of much importance, nevertheless these
modifications are of greater importance than among species in a state of
nature closely related to man. Consider for a moment muscular
development. Side by side in the same street may live a man whose daily
work is wholly sedentary and whose muscles are in consequence
undeveloped, and a man who works in a mine or engineering shop and
develops his muscles accordingly. Nowhere among vertebrate animals in a
state of nature are such differences found.
Though but little is definitely known on the subject, it seems that
temperament is more susceptible to changes in the environment than are
other mental or physical characters. Changes of climate, for example,
appear to produce more marked changes in temperament than in any other
character. Temperament is certainly very susceptible to the influence of
disease, which may also profoundly affect all characters both mental and
physical. It is probably in its effects upon temperament that disease
has its chief importance. We may even have to recognize in the effects
produced by certain tropical diseases a serious hindrance to progress in
tropical countries. It is difficult, however, to disentangle from the
effects of disease in this sense the effects which it produces in the
sense awaiting consideration in later chapters. Clearly the wide
prevalence of disease, where such is the case, must form an important
factor in the surroundings which the mind has for the subject-matter of
its activities—but on this and on allied subjects there will be more to
say later.
We have already in what has just been said referred to one kind of
modification in its effect upon progress. Upon this subject in general
it may in the first place again be emphasized that, so far as is at
present known, there are no grounds for believing that modifications of
the kind considered in this chapter give rise to mutations. From this it
follows that the results of modifications are not cumulative. Unless in
every successive generation the modification is induced, it will not
reappear. Secondly these modifications on the whole tend, as in the case
of the effect of disease upon temperament, to be connected with a
condition of things that acts as a drag upon progress rather than as a
spur to progress. The reason for this is clear in the light of what has
been said in the last chapter. It was there shown that the germinal
constitution among species in a state of nature has come to be through
the action of selection of such a kind that under certain stimuli it
gives rise to a certain form. This form is that which is best adapted to
meet the normal features which characterize the niche in the organic
world which the species occupies. Large modifications only become
apparent when the species or certain members of it are no longer subject
to their normal environment. To meet the new surroundings a somewhat
different germinal constitution would give a better response. In other
words the most satisfactory conditions are those under which
considerable modifications do not arise.
Lastly we may again refer to a point that has already been alluded to.
Great stress has been laid by certain authors, for instance by Professor
Ridgeway, upon the influence of the environment upon man. Ridgeway in
one passage speaks as follows: ‘My argument was, and is, that as the ice
sheet receded, man passed upwards from the south or south-east into
Europe, and settled in the three southern peninsulas, gradually
spreading northwards over the Alps and extending eventually up to the
Baltic. As they gradually spread upwards, under the influence of the
environment (and in the environment I, of course, include food), they
grew less dark, those of them who settled permanently along the axis of
the Alps tending to have shorter skulls, while those who had passed
upwards earliest became the most blonde and tallest people in the
world.’[1592] It is clear from other passages that Ridgeway is including
two very different things under the phrase—the influence of the
environment. He is thinking of the production of modifications such as
have been studied here, and also of the elimination of certain types
under the influence of the environment. He does not make it as clear, as
is perhaps desirable, to which of these two factors he attributes most
importance. But what is more relevant to our argument is that to include
the results of selection under the heading of the influence of the
environment is somewhat misleading. Selection is a wholly different
matter and, unless it is carefully distinguished from other factors,
confusion of thought results. The effects which follow from elimination
owing to climate and food should not be summed up under the heading of
the influence of the environment; in this book they are considered in
Chapters XVII and XVIII.
XVI
HEREDITY IN MAN
1. Having touched upon the influence of the environment in producing
modifications, we have now to approach the subject of the selection of
characters, both mental and physical. It is proposed to consider in this
chapter what it is that is inherited, and in the two following chapters
to consider the results of selection.
What is meant by saying that any character is inherited is clear from
former chapters. There are certain predispositions in the germinal
constitution of every individual—predispositions to give rise to certain
characters under certain conditions and to other characters under other
conditions. There is a predisposition, for instance, in the species of
primrose referred to in Chapter XIV to give rise to red flowers at a
certain temperature and to white flowers at a different temperature, the
colour of the flower being equally inherited in both cases. We may
therefore take as our starting-point the fact that there are in the
constitution of every individual many such predispositions.
From the results of breeding experiments upon Mendelian lines certain
conclusions have been reached which carry us farther. These experiments
have shown that certain unit-characters can be isolated which behave in
a certain manner when crossed, and from the manner in which they behave
it is deduced that they depend upon unit-factors in the germinal
constitution which are invariable. The number of unit-characters which
have been detected in any one species is not large; it is true that in
one species of insect about two hundred unit-factors have been found,
but even this number can only form a small proportion of the total
number if it is the case that the germinal constitution consists
entirely of unit-factors which on crossing give the Mendelian ratio.
This is the working hypothesis which is put forward as the explanation
of inheritance, and which it is the object of investigators now to test.
We may consider for a moment what it is that this hypothesis implies.
We have to think of the germinal constitution as containing a very large
number of factors—predispositions in other words. The characters to
which these factors give rise may be the characters which we see when we
examine any individual, but more often they are not. There are, for
instance, cases in which the colour of a flower or of the coat of a
mammal are unit-characters but more often such visible characters are
the product of two or more unit-factors. There are many cases now known
in which the visible character is in this fashion due to the presence of
several unit-factors. With regard to this hypothesis in general all that
can be said is that at present no facts are known which are definitely
in contradiction to it. It is the only hypothesis which holds the
field.[1593]
Up to the present very few unit-factors have been distinguished in man.
It has been found that brachydactyly—a peculiar malformation of the
hand—presenile cataract, tylosis—a thickening of the hands and of the
soles of the feet—epidermolysis bullosa—a blistering of the skin—and
night blindness behave as simple Mendelian characters. So too does eye
colour, pigment in front of the iris being dominant to its absence—in
other words, brown, green, and hazel being dominant to pure grey and
blue. There is also some reason for thinking that musical ability is a
recessive character. On the hypothesis outlined above it must be
supposed that most of the visible characters of man are the product of
several unit-factors which have not yet been identified. What appears to
happen when matings take place between people of different colour,
stature, and so on is that there is a blending of characters in the
offspring. Such appearances are not incompatible with the hypothesis—the
assumption being that many unit-characters are concerned.
This question as to the ultimate nature of inheritance has been
introduced here because of its inherent interest. It is not as a matter
of fact strictly relevant. What we require to know is rather what
predispositions are present in the germinal constitution. It is this
which is essential; the precise manner in which the predispositions are
represented in the gametes, whether by unit-factors or not, is not
essential to the present inquiry. We require to be able to give some
answer to such questions as whether disease, intellect, and temperament
are represented in the germinal constitution or not, and we can find an
answer to these questions without concerning ourselves with the ultimate
nature of inheritance.
2. Since studies of inheritance on Mendelian lines do not at present
enable us to say what human characters are inherited, we are dependent
for our knowledge of this subject chiefly upon biometry. The method
pursued by biometricians is as follows. The particulars with respect to
any character—say stature—are noted both for the parents and for the
children. The average degree of resemblance between parents and children
can thus be measured and expressed numerically. If the resemblance was
complete, if, that is to say, in respect of any character children
exactly resembled their parents, the fact would be expressed by saying
that the correlation was equal to unity. When the resemblance is less,
the fact is expressed by representing the degree of resemblance as a
fraction. It must be emphasized that this method merely measures the
average degree of resemblance; it does not without further inquiry tell
us how far that resemblance is due to inheritance. So far as such
degrees of resemblance are found, it is quite possible, supposing that
we had no further knowledge of the subject at all, that they might arise
as follows. It might be that all men had the same germinal constitution,
and that the degree of resemblance was due to the fact that fathers and
their children were brought up under more or less similar surroundings.
Though this fact should be borne in mind, such an explanation of the
resemblances found in the cases that will be quoted in what follows is
as a matter of fact shut out, and we may accept the correlations as a
measure of the degree of likeness due to inheritance.
The correlations between parents and children and between children of
the same parents have been determined in respect of many characters—both
mental and physical—and found to be about 0·5. Thus, in respect of
height the correlation between father and son was found to be 0·514,
between father and daughter 0·510, between mother and son 0·494, between
mother and daughter 0·507, between brother and brother 0·511, between
sister and sister 0·537, between brother and sister 0·553. So too the
average parental correlation in respect to eye colour is 0·495, and the
average fraternal correlation is 0·475. With regard to ability the
fraternal correlation is 0·46, the correlation between sisters 0·47, and
that between brother and sister 0·44.
All that has been said with regard to the nature of fertilization and
development lead to a similar conclusion. In the processes of maturation
and fertilization we can detect a mechanism whereby the bearers of
inherited qualities are transmitted from parent to child. In development
we see how, when the appropriate stimulus plays upon the fertilized egg,
an adult member of the species grows up. It is only when we suppose that
within the fertilized egg there are certain predispositions in respect
of every character which are derived from the parents that we can in any
way understand how adult individuals come into being.[1594] And it must
be emphasized that, however much opinions may differ regarding the
precise nature of the mechanism of inheritance, there is no difference
regarding the fact of inheritance. All biologists are agreed on this
subject up to a point; the matters in debate are not strictly relevant
here.
3. There are certain points, however, which, in view of the form which
the discussion in the following chapters will take, require further
treatment. As regards physical characters, it is sufficient to think of
all such characters whether great or small as inherited. But with regard
to disease it may be as well to consider further to what degree it can
be said to be inherited.
What we call disease falls under two headings: disease due to the
attacks of parasites and disease due to structural defects or
weaknesses. Parasitic infections are of post-conceptional acquirement;
they may be acquired, it is true, before birth, but such an acquirement
is strictly analogous to the ‘catching’ of a disease after birth. In the
sense, therefore, that parasites are not transmitted from the parent to
the ovum, as the germinal constitution is transmitted, disease is never
inherited.
It has been shown, however, that in the case of certain diseases, such
as tuberculosis, a definite susceptibility to contract the disease is
inherited. In other words, given an equal exposure to infection, some
men do not ‘catch’ the disease, some only experience a mild form, and
others die rapidly of it. It is probable that there are innately given
degrees of susceptibility to all diseases which are caused by the
invasion of the body by small, chiefly unicellular, parasites, which
produce their harmful effects by the secretion of toxins. The same does
not apply to the diseases caused by the attacks of the larger
multicellular parasites, such as tapeworms, which, at any rate to a
large extent, produce their harmful effects directly by causing lesions
of the tissues. As to how far we have to think of different kinds of
susceptibility to different diseases, or how far diseases go in classes,
so that susceptibility to one disease goes with susceptibility to
another disease and vice versa, little is known, but it is probable that
in some cases at least there is a linkage of susceptibilities, that, for
instance, susceptibility to scarlet fever is to some extent linked with
susceptibility to measles. We must suppose that there are structural
peculiarities which underlie these different susceptibilities. Though
various hypotheses have been put forward, we are still ignorant as to
their nature. But whatever the exact nature of these structural
differences, it is clear that they are inherited like any other physical
character.
We have therefore to note that (_a_) susceptibility to specific
infections is inherited. If gross anomalies, such as polydactyly and
syndactyly (malformations of the hand) are to be accounted as diseases,
then we may note that (_b_) gross anomalies are inherited. (_c_) Minor
anomalies are also inherited. Under this head come haemophilia, due to
some peculiarity in the blood-vessels, which results in their not
contracting as they should and to the absence of coagulating power in
the blood, albuminuria, due to some defect in the filtering apparatus in
the kidney, albinism, myopia, icthyosis, and others, all of which are
clearly due to structural peculiarities. Further, we may note that (_d_)
‘other conditions due, it would seem, to disturbances of metabolism,
underlying which may very possibly be finer anatomical variations, have
for long been noted as tending to be inherited; such as obesity,
diabetes, gout, and chronic rheumatism’.[1595] Lastly (_e_) certain
nervous diseases are inherited. We may distinguish two classes of
nervous disease—the homeomorphic and the heteromorphic. ‘In the former
the offspring show the same lesions and symptoms as the parents. These
are cases more particularly of lack of development or of premature
atrophy of certain groups of nerve cells.’[1596] In the latter the
parent may suffer from one kind of disease, while the offspring may
exhibit one or more of a group of other diseases. This is attributed to
a lack of development of the highest nerve-centres as a whole. There is
a lack of ‘perfect stability and co-ordination of various parts so that
according to the strains to which the individual members of family are
subjected, now one, now the other series of centres may show itself
unable to respond adequately, and one or the other form of mental
disturbance and nervous disease may result. Here are to be included the
condition of insanity, familial epilepsy and the neuroses.’[1597] In
other words, we sometimes find stocks in which there is a nervous
weakness, which may manifest itself in very various ways, including
hysteria, epilepsy, inability to control impulse, delusion, and so on.
Alcoholism is sometimes spoken of as though it was to be regarded as an
irresistible impulse to drink. Probably we should rather imagine that a
condition of general nervous weakness may at times manifest itself in
the form of a loss of control with regard to the use of alcohol.
According to Mott ‘there can be no doubt that neurasthenics, epileptics,
imbeciles, degenerates, eccentrics, and potential lunatics—all those
indeed with an inherent narrow margin of highest control—possess a
marked intolerance to the effects of alcohol’.[1598] Certain facts are,
however, very puzzling. Suicide, for example, would seem to be a manner
in which general nervous weakness may manifest itself. Nevertheless, the
tendency to suicide appears sometimes as a very definite and peculiar
disease which manifests itself generation after generation at a certain
age. Perhaps in these cases we should rather see an example of how the
same outward circumstances—here the knowledge of the family
history—tends to cause a general nervous weakness to manifest itself in
the same way, rather than an example of a specific nervous
weakness.[1599]
4. What we know as temperament stands half-way between physical and
mental characters. As we have seen, temperament depends upon influences
exerted by the functioning of the bodily organs on the nervous system
and upon the peculiarities of the nervous system itself. Though on this
account temperament or nervous tone is peculiarly susceptible to
environmental influences, a certain condition of nervous tone is
innately given. We must suppose the actual structure of the nervous
system to be largely inherited, and we must suppose that the manner in
which the bodily organs function is largely due to their innate
organization. We have thus to think of a certain temperament as always
given in the germinal constitution. An extreme example is an innate
defect of the thyroid gland which can produce any degree of mental
apathy. Again, such characters as excitability, rapidity of response,
and differences in respect of fatiguability and recuperation are largely
inherited.
Habit is best considered under this heading. The essential fact about
habit is that, if the nervous system is stimulated in a certain fashion,
so that a stimulus passes along certain paths, the next stimulus of the
same kind will produce an impulse which passes more easily along those
paths. Thus in time the same result, whatever it may be, is achieved by
the application of a weaker stimulus. This fact, which is of great
importance, suggests an actual modification of structure—an actual
fashioning of a path. Whether this is so or not, we do not know. What is
noticeable here is that the ease with which habits are formed
undoubtedly differs from man to man, and we have again to postulate
predispositions in the germinal constitution which tend towards a
definite degree of development of the power of the formation of habits.
5. The greatest difficulties arise when dealing with the purely mental
characters. There is a general agreement among biologists that mental
characters are inherited just as physical characters are inherited. As
we have pointed out, there is evidence to this effect derived from
studies on biometric lines. The difficulties arise when we attempt to
give more precision to the statement that mental characters are
inherited. One method of approaching this problem is to analyse mental
behaviour, and to ascertain if possible what faculties there are which
cannot be explained in terms of other faculties. Such faculties are the
least that we must suppose to be given in the germinal constitution. It
does not, of course, follow that irreducible characters are Mendelian
characters. In all probability they are due to the presence of many
Mendelian factors. This analysis is a matter of great difficulty, and
there is at present no agreement among psychologists as to what ultimate
faculties of the mind are given out of which the characters we observe
are compounded. Modern analysis leads to the idea of mental process as
the activity of a subject. But though we may not think of the mind
merely as a bundle of faculties, we have to attribute certain faculties
to the subject, and the question arises as to what these faculties are.
There is less difficulty with regard to the affective and conative
faculties, that is to say, those that are connected with feeling and
striving, than with regard to the cognitive faculties. Psychologists are
to some extent agreed as to what instincts can be recognized. McDougall,
for instance, gives the following list, associating in each case with
the impulse an emotion representing the conative or affective
aspect.[1600] (1) Instinct of flight and emotion of fear. (2) Instinct
of repulsion and emotion of disgust. (3) Instinct of curiosity and
emotion of wonder. (4) Instinct of pugnacity and the combative emotion.
(5) Instinct of self-assertion and the emotion of elation. (6) Instinct
of self-abasement and the emotion of subjection. (7) Parental instinct
and the tender emotion. To the remaining instincts which he names a
special emotion is less definitely attached. These instincts are those
of reproduction, sexual jealousy, female coyness, gregariousness,
acquisition, and construction. This list is not exhaustive; there are
other instincts of less importance, such as the instinct which tends to
make a boy at a certain age leave his home. The list, however, includes
all the more important instincts.
There are a number of other emotions often described as primary which
McDougall describes as complex. Thus, according to his view admiration
is a combination of wonder and self-abasement. When fear is added, we
have the emotion of awe, and when gratitude is added we have the emotion
of reverence. Gratitude is itself a combination of tender emotion and
self-abasement. In a similar fashion loathing, fascination, and envy can
be explained. According to this view, therefore, we should not think of
separate predispositions towards these complex emotions as existing in
the germinal constitution; we should think of them as determined by the
predispositions towards the simpler emotions.
McDougall further describes three general or non-specific tendencies
which have sometimes been classed as instincts.[1601] Sympathy, or the
sympathetic induction of the emotions, describes the fact that
instinctive behaviour incites similar behaviour in the observer.
Suggestion is defined as a process of communication resulting in the
acceptation with conviction of the communicated proposition in the
absence of logically adequate grounds for its acceptance. Imitation,
which has often been used to include sympathy and suggestion, is in the
limited sense adopted by McDougall, the tendency to copy the bodily
actions of some one else. Finally there is the tendency to play.
Apart, therefore, from temperament and the faculties connected with
cognition, we have to recognize predispositions towards certain
instincts and certain general tendencies. Without question they differ
in strength from man to man; without question such differences are in
large part attributable to varying predispositions in the germinal
constitution, and we must presume that such differences are in some way
connected with differences in nervous structure or organization. The
subject is one of great difficulty, and nothing can be affirmed
regarding it with any certainty. The ultimate modes of feeling seem to
be those of pleasure and displeasure, and of excitement and depression.
It is scarcely possible to stop at this point, and it seems that we have
to go on and attribute the more specific forms of feeling or emotions to
primary faculties incapable of further analysis. So, too, conation or
striving seems to be distinguishable into striving towards and into
striving away from an object. Again as with feeling it appears that we
have to go farther and presume certain more clearly-defined faculties as
indicated above.
6. The difficulties are still greater with regard to cognition. Analysis
seems to bring us to three ultimate faculties—those of judgement, of
comparison, and of association.[1602] Judgement consists in affirming or
denying, and upon this faculty all higher reasoning is built. Memory
should perhaps be considered as a special aspect of this faculty—as the
power to think of an object over again, and to affirm or deny it to be
the same object. This faculty, together with the faculty of comparing,
enables that process of distinction and systematization to be performed
upon which all the higher developments are based. To these faculties of
analysis and synthesis are to be added the faculty of association,
whereby objects come to be thought of in groups according to the
sequence in which they came to be presented to the mind quite apart from
their intrinsic affinities or distinctions. Thus, in addition to the
faculties whereby the mind attains some grasp of the constitution of the
world of objects, there is a faculty which in some degree mirrors the
history of the world.
It is probable that in addition to these ultimate faculties, there may
be many other faculties which cannot be reduced to aspects of the
former, and have therefore to be considered also as primary. However
that may be, what is important for our present purpose is that the
faculty commonly known as ability is undoubtedly innate. It may be very
variously composed of specialized forms of these three primary
faculties, and perhaps of other faculties combined in very many ways.
Every degree of ability is known and there are many forms in which it is
specialized, such as in musical, artistic, and other directions. It has
been shown that a high development of general ability is correlated with
a high development of any special ability. In other words, we have to
think of a genius with some marked talent as possessing on an average a
high general level of ability. There is ample evidence of the
inheritance of ability, both derived from the examination of large
numbers of cases and from the analysis of family histories. This
evidence also shows that musical and other forms of special ability are
inherited. We have therefore to think of predispositions in the germinal
constitution, which give rise to abilities of all kinds, although a more
correct analysis may refer them to some combination of the ultimate
faculties enumerated above, much as certain complex emotions are to be
referred to the combination of certain primary emotions, and not thought
of as given as such in the germinal constitution.
There are other characters which do not appear to be covered by any
extension of the term ability. Such, for instance, are will and
self-control. In its essence will seems to be the rising up of some
dominating impulse which controls or harmonizes the feelings. The weaker
impulse somehow overcomes the stronger. The will is variously explained,
and in modern psychological writings often in such a manner as to
exclude the idea of a special faculty. It is not necessary here to go
into these explanations of the origin of will. It is clear that, if it
has to be referred to the working of complex faculties which are
themselves explicable in the terms of more ultimate faculties, it is in
a sense innately given. Undoubtedly will is in a sense inherited.
However much will may be a product of the environment in the second
sense, there is clearly an innate tendency towards the development of a
will of a certain form and strength. Whether therefore it is an ultimate
faculty or not, it is due in some measure either to a definite innate
predisposition or to such a combination of other innate predispositions
as give rise to the manifestation of a will of a certain nature.
Finally, we may look at the whole problem of the inheritance of mental
characters from another point of view. It is known that certain areas in
the brain associated with particular functions are differently developed
in different individuals, and that there are differences in the speed at
which the nervous impulse travels which are doubtless due to anatomical
peculiarities and so on—that there are, in fact, differences in the
physical basis which underlies the manifestation of mental characters.
It is thus easy to understand in a general way how mental characters
which are based upon the nervous organization are inherited. A man may
inherit a brain in which certain regions are of relatively large size,
or a nervous organization by which impulses are swiftly conducted, and
thus we can understand how quickness of response, power of
concentration, readiness of association, type of mind (whether emotional
or intellectual) are inherited.
7. This brief inquiry into what is given in the germinal constitution
leads to the conception of large numbers of predispositions which under
the stimulus of the environment develop into the characters that we
observe. This is true at least of physical characters. In physical
characters we observe the result of the play of the environment upon
certain predispositions. With regard to mental characters the position
is somewhat different. Into mental characters, as presented to us—into
ability, for instance—there enters the influence of the environment in
the second sense. When we are judging the ability of a man from a
practical point of view, we are judging a character into the make-up of
which has entered not only certain predispositions and a certain
environment—using environment in the sense of the complement to
inheritance—but also the results of the influence of the environment in
the second sense, such as habit and what may be regarded as tools,
namely, modes of thought and so on. In order to get at the characters we
must disentangle or allow for these tools. This difficulty does not
arise in the case of physical characters. When measuring the physical
strength of two men we are not likely to allow one man to throw an
object with a throwing-stick and another to use his own unaided
strength. But we are apt when comparing ability to forget that one man
may have learnt to distinguish between the categories when another may
not have done so. To this difficulty we shall refer again later.
These predispositions have their basis in the germinal constitution and
are therefore inherited. It is probable that we should regard the
germinal constitution as consisting of unit-factors. However that may
be, it is clear that either a differential birth-rate (reproductive
selection) or a differential death-rate (lethal selection), will change
the average germinal constitution of the race among which they are
operative. Bearing this in mind, we may inquire when and where in human
history we can detect reproductive and lethal selection at work. And we
must remember that in the first place not merely obvious factors such as
war have been and are at work, but also that subtle changes in social
life and social organization may have profound effects, and that in the
second place not merely obvious characters may be favoured or
eliminated, but the least striking and most minute (though not
necessarily the least important) characters both mental and physical may
be similarly affected.
XVII
THE EVOLUTION OF PHYSICAL CHARACTERS
1. Having discussed what is given in the germinal constitution, we are
now in a position to inquire into the question of changes in the
germinal constitution. Such changes may affect physical or mental
characters. In this chapter we are concerned with physical characters
alone. Compared with the evolution of mental characters the evolution of
physical characters is a subsidiary matter; as this evolution, however,
has gone hand in hand with the evolution of mental characters and
furthermore possesses an importance of its own, all reference to it
cannot be omitted though the subject will be treated very briefly. As a
preliminary to this inquiry we may note certain facts about the
selection of physical characters in general.
We know practically nothing as to the cause of mutations. We have,
therefore, to take mutations for granted, and to inquire how certain
stocks with particular predispositions are favoured and others
eliminated. In this process both lethal selection and reproductive
selection play a part. Among species in a state of nature lethal
selection is more important than reproductive selection; among men the
importance of reproductive selection tends to increase until in the
latest period it assumes an importance approaching that of lethal
selection.
Hitherto we have only referred in passing to the existence of tradition
among men. Tradition will be found to form a serious complication when
we come to deal with the selection of mental characters. With regard to
physical characters it also complicates the position, but only to a
relatively unimportant degree. In the first place it makes the
environment very varied, especially in industrial societies where men
living next door to one another may be subject to very different
conditions in their daily occupations. Secondly, the fact that men
protect themselves against external conditions—for instance, against
cold—may lead to a group of men who are protected surviving, where a
less well-protected group perishes, though the former may conceivably be
naturally less resistent to cold than the latter. In the broad and rapid
survey that we shall make these complications can be disregarded; the
existence of tradition does not introduce, so far as physical characters
are concerned, that peculiar complication which is the cause of much
difficulty when we come to deal with mental characters—namely, the
combination of what is acquired through tradition with the underlying
character itself in such a way that the manifestation of the character
is connected in a varying degree with its innate strength. We shall
thus, when dealing with mental characters, have to attempt to strip off
the acquirements. When dealing with physical characters we can always
get down to the character at once. There is no difficulty in separating
the arm from the tool which it employs, and we thus get directly at the
character which has developed as the result of the influence of certain
stimuli upon a given predisposition. It is, on the other hand, difficult
to separate the intellectual characters from all those traditional
elements which combine with them in their outward manifestations—to
measure, for example, the strength of the instinct of curiosity, which
involves discounting all those elements in the tradition which may
inhibit or emphasize its expression.
With regard to the strength of selection there is no exact knowledge,
with the exception of some work which has been done upon statistics for
modern communities. The occurrence of selection in the past is in fact
merely a deduction from what we know regarding innate predispositions
and regarding elimination and differential fertility. It has been shown,
however, that lethal selection does occur at the present day. Professor
Karl Pearson has calculated that selection accounts for a very large
percentage—perhaps 60 per cent.—of the deaths at the present day,[1603]
and Mr. Snow, summing up the results of an inquiry into this subject,
states that ‘natural selection in the form of a selective death-rate, is
strongly operative in man in the early years of life’.[1604] As it is
universally agreed that, if anything, the intensity of natural selection
has decreased with civilization, we may take it as certain that it was
operative to as great, or to a greater, extent during the emergence of
man and during what we have called the first and second periods of his
history.
2. During the intermediate period, which was of relatively immense
length, the greater part of human bodily evolution was accomplished.
Only two or three worn and fragmentary remains have as yet been
discovered from this period. It is at least apparent from them that the
amount of physical evolution which has been accomplished since the end
of that period is slight compared with what was accomplished within that
period. We may assume that lethal selection was strongly at work.
Changes in mode of life—the assumption, for instance, of a terrestrial
for an arboreal existence and the adoption of an upright posture—must
have involved lethal selection. These changes of habit must also have
brought ancestral man into contact with new enemies. The spreading of
man into new climatic zones was doubtless followed by selection, and
must again have involved contact with new enemies. So, too, selection
followed upon the first great steps in the acquirement of skill—the
making of clothes, the use of fire, and so on. In addition to lethal
selection, differential fertility acting through polygamy must have been
at work. In part no doubt differential fertility merely reinforced
lethal selection; but in part also it may have taken the form of sexual
selection and have favoured other types.
But when we come to details we find that we are ignorant regarding the
causes of even the largest changes. Some guesses have been hazarded. The
increase in the capacity of the skull is connected with the evolution of
the intellect and may be left for consideration in the next chapter. The
decrease in the size of the jaw and the corresponding decrease in the
size of the teeth were perhaps connected with a change in diet. The loss
of the hairy covering may have been connected with sexual selection or
it may have been favoured because it removed a lodging-place for
parasites.
3. As we pass from the intermediate to the first period of human history
we reach a region of less uncertainty. We are ignorant as to the
physical characters of man at the close of the intermediate period, but
we know that in the earlier part of the Upper Palaeolithic there was
existing one variety—the Grimaldi race—which bears certain resemblances
to the negroid type, and that in the latter part of the same period
there were existing several varieties closely resembling types of modern
European man. It seems, therefore, that, so far as this period is
concerned, we have to account not merely for the evolution of the main
types but also for the evolution of the less easily distinguishable
varieties of man. The splitting up may have begun in the former period
but it probably did not go far. As to how this evolution took place
certain conclusions may first be drawn from what we know must have been
the general conditions of life. Secondly, from what we know as to the
position among races of the first group, rather more definite
conclusions may be added concerning the nature and direction of
selection.
It has already been remarked that in all probability man spread into
various climatic zones before the beginning of the first period of
history. The consequences of this spreading of man must have been
twofold. Mankind became segregated into groups, the surroundings of
which differed, first in that they were subject to different climatic
environments, and secondly in that they were forced to pursue different
modes of life. It is clear that, whereas in some tropical regions man
would be supporting himself by hunting and collecting in such a way as
to require a certain type of bodily exertion, in a temperate region he
would be supporting himself by a very different form of exertion. This
difference between the needs of daily life would result in the favouring
of different types in the two regions. The type best adapted to gain a
living in one region would be different to that best adapted to gain a
living in another region.[1605]
Of far more importance in the production of varieties of men than the
factors already noted are differences in climate to which man has become
exposed. How great these differences are is familiar and need not be
laboured. We know little with regard to the manner in which different
types of man are suited to different types of climatic zones. But it is
clear that in general the races of men are innately adapted to different
climates. There is no historical reason why in all parts of North and
South America the European races should not have ousted the American
Indian as they have done in the United States. In Mexico and other
regions, however, where the climate differs most markedly from that in
Europe, Europeans have not succeeded in establishing themselves as they
have elsewhere in the Continent. In Mexico Indian blood largely
predominates over European, and the explanation must be that Europeans
are not so well physically adapted to the climate as are the original
inhabitants. In this there is nothing surprising. We can understand how
certain types of respiratory, excretory, and circulatory organs might be
better adapted than others to certain conditions of temperature,
moisture, actinic rays, and so on, though we may be ignorant as to what
types of circulatory and other organs are best fitted to any particular
climatic zone. It would be very remarkable if it were not so, if, that
is to say, any type of constitution was equally well fitted to any kind
of climate. In this manner to differences in habits and in climate we
may attribute the origin of the varieties of mankind.
Nevertheless, differences between races are far from being wholly due to
selection on these grounds. Sexual selection is of importance. There
grows up within each race a more or less clearly defined type of
physical beauty, and differential fertility working through polygamy
would evidently favour such types. That differences in colour to some
extent represent adaptations to climate is clear; in part such
differences are probably to be explained as due to varying ideals of
beauty, but there are probably yet other factors entering into the
evolution of racial types.
Recently Professor Keith has made an interesting contribution to the
problem of racial differences. Reference has already been made to the
ductless glands. It is now known that variations in the functioning of
these glands have a profound influence upon the bodily organs. Keith has
remarked that, if the peculiarities characteristic of the chief racial
types of man are considered together, it appears that they are
attributable to different degrees of development of these glands in
different races. It should be observed that this suggestion does not
involve the conclusion that racial differences are of the nature of
modifications. It is merely supposed that the innate development of
these glands is different in different races—that there is a
predisposition in one race to the peculiar development of one gland and
in another race to the peculiar development of another gland. The value
of the suggestion lies in the fact that it shows how many racial
peculiarities, for which there are at least no obvious explanations, may
be merely the accompaniments of a difference in the development of one
or more of these glands. It must be supposed that one or more of the
results of the developments of a gland are of direct value in facing the
peculiar conditions, whether climatic or otherwise, to which the race is
subject, and that the other consequences of the development of the gland
are in any case not prejudicial. These other consequences may possibly
take the form of noticeable peculiarities of colour or of bodily
structure which thus turn out in themselves not to be of survival value
but merely to be, so to speak, accidental peculiarities.
Some quotations from Professor Keith’s exposition of this suggestion may
make the matter more clear. ‘When we compare’, he says, ‘the three chief
racial types of humanity—the Negro, the Mongol, and the Caucasian or
European—we can recognize in the last named a greater predominance of
the pituitary than in the other two. The sharp pronounced nasalization
of the face, the tendency to strong eyebrow ridges, the prominent chin,
the tendency to bulk of body and height of stature in the majority of
Europeans, is best explained, so far as the present state of our
knowledge goes, in terms of pituitary functions.’[1606] After remarking
that the interstitial glands are largely the cause of secondary sexual
differences he goes on to say: ‘I am of opinion that the sexual
differentiation—the robust manifestation of the male characters—is more
emphatic in the Caucasian than in either the Mongol or Negroid racial
types. In both Mongol and Negro, in their most representative form, we
find a beardless face and an almost hairless body, and in certain negro
types, especially in Nilotic tribes, with their long, stork-like legs,
we seem to have a manifestation of the abeyance in the action of the
interstitial glands. At the close of sexual life we often see the
features of a woman assume a coarser and more masculine
appearance.’[1607] Later he remarks that the evidence points to the
original human colouring as black. Now, the supra-renal bodies cause a
clearing away of pigment and ‘there can be no doubt that the supra-renal
bodies constitute an important part of the mechanism which regulates the
development and growth of the human body and helps in determining the
racial characters of mankind. We know that certain races come more
quickly to sexual maturity than others, and that races vary in
development of hair and of pigment, and it is therefore reasonable to
expect a satisfactory explanation of these characters when we have come
by a more or less complete knowledge of the supra-renal
mechanism.’[1608] The thyroid acts directly upon the skin and the hair
and also upon the skeleton. ‘This is particularly the case as regards
the base of the skull and the nose, the arrest of growth falls mainly
upon the basal parts of the skull with the result that the root of the
nose appears to be flattened and drawn backwards between the eyes, the
upper forehead appears projecting or bulging, the face appears
flattened, and the bony scaffolding of the nose particularly when
compared with the prominence of the jaw is greatly reduced. Now these
facial features which I have enumerated give the Mongolian face its
characteristic aspect, and, to a lesser degree, they are also to be
traced in the features of the negro. Indeed, in one aberrant branch of
the negro race—the Bushman of South Africa—the thyroid facies is even
more emphatically brought out than in the most typical Mongol. You will
observe that, in my opinion, the thyroid—or a reduction or alteration in
the activity of the thyroid—has been a factor in determining some of the
racial characteristics of the Mongol and Negro races. I know of a
telling piece of evidence which supports this thesis. Some years ago
there died in the East End of London a Chinese giant—the subject one
must suppose of an excessive action of the pituitary glands—the gland
which I regard as playing a predominant part in shaping the face and
bodily form of the European. The skeleton of this giant was prepared and
placed in the museum of the London Hospital Medical College by Col. T.
H. Openshaw, and any one inspecting that skeleton can see that, although
certain Chinese features are still recognizable, the nasal region and
the supraorbital ridges of the face have assumed the more prominent
European type.’[1609]
4. If we turn now and look at the conditions of life among primitive
races, we find that natural selection and differential fertility tend to
work towards the preservation of existing types rather than towards
further evolution. The Australians may have existed in their present
home for many thousands of years without undergoing any considerable
change of type, and we have every reason to suppose that, if they had
been left untouched by white or other races, the racial type would have
remained substantially the same for thousands of years to come. The same
holds good if we consider any primitive race in its normal surroundings.
That this is so is clear if we glance at the chief causes of
elimination. The heavy child mortality recorded of all these races is
put down to neglect and exposure; it must on the whole result in the
elimination of the physically weak. Such customs as the bathing of
new-born babies in cold water seem designed to ensure this result. Among
the adults who on the whole are but little protected against climate
there must always be a certain tendency towards the elimination of those
less able to withstand the relatively harder seasons. There are also
many factors making for the cutting-off of the malformed and the
congenitally deficient. Among those races which normally practise
infanticide, deformed children are always killed, and among those races,
such as the Bantu races of Africa, who never regularly practise
infanticide as a custom, abnormal children are nearly always done away
with. Similarly the destruction of witches tends towards the same end
though they are more often marked by mental than by physical
peculiarities. Again the fact that abortion and infanticide are
practised to a greater degree among the less fortunate and the lower
social classes of the races in the second group has the same result, as
in general the stronger and more successful members of the race are
those who do not need to practise these customs to the same extent.
Finally, the general conditions of life among these races—more
particularly among the races of the first group—is such as to bring
about a continual elimination of the less physically fit. Speaking of
the Seri Indians McGee remarks upon the ‘elimination of the weak and
helpless’, and says further that ‘a parallel eliminative process is
common among American aborigines; the wandering bands frequently undergo
hard marches under the leadership of athletic warriors with whom all are
expected to keep pace, which leads both to the desertion of the aged and
the feeble’. He calls it ‘a merciless mechanism for improving the fit
and eliminating the unfit’.[1610]
As remarked above, the effect of polygamy must be to intensify the
action of selection. In this particular case the general result of
polygamy must be to preserve the average features of the race; for it
will be, so to speak, the all-round man, the man best adapted to the
climate, to the peculiar conditions of life and so on who will leave
most descendants. It is thus of interest to investigate the frequency of
polygamy among the races of the first two groups. This point has been
inquired into by Professor Hobhouse and his fellow authors. Polygamy was
distinguished by them into general and occasional polygamy, and though
it is very difficult to arrive at any exact figures their general
conclusions may be summed up as showing that, in all the subdivisions
considered by them, general and occasional polygamy was found in from
80–95 per cent. of the cases. General polygamy increases among the races
here placed in the second group, though there is no strong correlation
between the degree of polygamy and the economic stage. We observe in
fact a wide prevalence of polygamy among all races of any economic
stage, and upon the basis of these figures we must regard the
differential fertility arising from polygamy as a factor of great
importance.
It seems, therefore, that within the first and second periods there were
two tendencies at work—towards the evolution of varieties and towards
the maintenance of the various types. The evolution of varieties was due
in the first place to the spreading of man. As soon as spreading was
complete, a tendency towards a cessation of progress must have set in.
That further evolution took place was due chiefly to migration, with the
results of which we have yet to deal. Once varieties had been evolved,
apart from migration, and apart from changes in climate and progress in
skill, which only slightly and at long intervals modified the
surroundings, there was little basis for further evolution. Man had
mastered his surroundings up to a point and had made his position secure
in the circumstances under which he lived and the tendency was towards
the preservation of the types which had achieved these results in
different places.
5. In the third of our three periods there has been a remarkable change.
We find that there has been a gradual moving away from the conditions
under which in normal times there is in the races of the first and
second groups a rigorous elimination of those types which depart from
the mean. Lethal selection has come largely to take the form of
selection through disease.[1611] Though polygamy gradually ceases to be
a factor of importance, other forms of differential fertility become
prominent.
We may glance at the chief features of these changes. In the last
section we mentioned various factors—infanticide of the deformed,
customs with regard to the treatment of children, the neglect and
exposure of children, the general conditions of life, and so on—all of
which have as their result the cutting-off not merely of the deformed
and the monstrosities but also of all departures from the type best
fitted to contend with the climatic environment and the conditions of
daily life. Some of these factors—such as infanticide—disappear; the
action of others becomes, if anything, reversed; not only do the less
well-fitted types have a better chance of survival than before, because
the conditions are less rigorous, but they suffer little or no
disadvantage owing to the fact that the conditions have been
artificially rendered almost as favourable for the less fitted as for
the better-fitted. To take two examples, not only are men with defective
eyesight not eliminated, but they are by the invention of spectacles
placed in as good a position as those with perfect eyesight. Similarly a
woman with a narrow pelvis is, owing to the advance in surgical skill,
enabled to bear children and to transmit her peculiarity to her
daughters.
It should not be forgotten that, in spite of the gradual lessening of
the rigour of selection, selection owing to climate and the general
conditions of life still continues. But another factor has within this
period come to assume a preponderating importance, and that is selection
through disease. It was pointed out that diseases may be roughly
distinguished into those due to the attacks of parasites and those due
to structural defects. It is to diseases of the first kind that the
greater part of selection, which occurs in the third period, is due.
Some figures were given in an earlier chapter showing how large a
proportion of deaths at the present day is due to one or other of these
diseases. In the last chapter it was shown that men differ in their
susceptibility to these diseases, and selection has thus very largely
come to take the form of the elimination of the more susceptible, and of
the favouring of the naturally immune and of those who have a power of
resisting disease and of acquiring immunity. There has therefore come to
be an increasingly heavy premium upon the type of constitution which can
resist disease, and a strong constitution in this sense is not
necessarily the same as a strong constitution among primitive races
where the premium is rather upon muscular strength, perfect development
of the senses of seeing and hearing, and upon resistance to climatic
conditions. We have thus to think of the whole course of bodily
evolution as changing in the third period so as to meet a new danger
rather than as continuing on the former lines so as better to contend
with the old difficulties.
It is noteworthy that selection in this period has not been on account
of diseases of the second type due directly to structural defects. These
diseases are seldom lethal until after maturity has been reached, and
the tendency has rather been, as in the case of eyesight, towards the
increased chance of survival of those suffering from these defects.
Thus, though selection has turned in this period towards the weeding-out
of those susceptible to the attacks of parasites, it has come to
tolerate those who exhibit defects in structure as distinguished from
the peculiarities of structure which must be presumed to constitute the
physical basis of susceptibility.
All this is familiar enough. It is not so often realized that the
disappearance of polygamy in what we have called the mediaeval and the
modern sections of the third period works in precisely the same manner.
But the disappearance of polygamy does not mean that reproductive
selection ceases to be of importance. In mediaeval and modern times
celibacy, postponement of marriage, and restriction of families have
come to be practised in varying degrees by different stocks. There is
some trace of differential fertility in the earlier periods owing to
causes other than polygamy, but it is only in the mediaeval and modern
periods that they become important. It is doubtful how far, if at all,
the religious celibate class of the mediaeval period differed in
physical characters from the average. It would appear that during this
period postponement of marriage led to the producing of less children by
the lower social classes than by the upper. Therefore, so far as this
epoch is concerned, it is not apparent that differential fertility had
any considerable effect upon bodily characters one way or the other.
Possibly the net result of postponement may have been to favour the
better stocks.
Within the latter part of the modern period restriction of families has
assumed very great importance. It has been calculated that, as a
consequence of the fact that restriction is more practised by certain
sections of the population than by others, 50 per cent. of the married
population provide 75 per cent. of the next generation. It thus becomes
most important to determine whether the various sections of the
population are innately different as regards their physical characters.
Largely owing to our ignorance respecting the direct influence of the
environment, it is not possible to arrive at present at any precise
answer. But there can be little doubt that on the whole the most fertile
sections of the population are the less physically fit sections.
It is necessary, however, to view these facts in their proper
perspective. Though differential fertility of this kind may have been at
work among some of the ancient empires in their later years, it is
chiefly a very modern phenomenon characteristic of modern European
countries and their derivatives only within the last fifty years.
Therefore, however important a problem it may be for modern communities,
it is a factor which has had but little effect on human history as a
whole. It may be noticed that restriction of increase is not the only
form of reproductive selection in modern communities. Sexual selection
is also at work.[1612]
6. Such has been the direction in which, through selection and
differential fertility within races, changes have taken place. But
changes also take place through the conflict of races, and the nature of
these changes demands some notice. Warfare plays a part in the normal
existence of nearly all primitive races. It is sometimes, as among the
American Indians, a bloodthirsty affair, but more often than not it is a
relatively unimportant cause of elimination. It is not easy to arrive at
any conclusion regarding the results of warfare as an agent of
selection. Upon the whole, among primitive races, so far as physical
characters are concerned, there is probably a tendency towards the
preservation of the physically strong and fit. But it has to be
remembered that missile weapons were early introduced, and that, as
Thucydides remarked, missile weapons kill the strong man in the prime of
life as well as the weak. Again, success in warfare very largely depends
upon characters other than physical—such as the possession of skill. All
that can be said with certainty is that in the first and second periods
warfare was not a cause of elimination of the fit which it has come to
be in the third period. This latter fact has been lately brought home to
the civilized nations of the world in so obvious a manner that it need
not be further discussed.[1613]
Warfare following upon migration may exterminate whole races. The
Bushmen were apparently on the verge of extinction at the hands of the
invading Bantu peoples. In this manner a peculiar physical type may be
lost and another may become of relatively greater prevalence. Migration
may also be followed by any degree of racial mixture. Many rash
statements have been made by historians as to the biological results of
crossing. The consequences actually observed to follow upon a mixture of
races are to so large a degree the result of a conflict of traditions—a
subject with which we shall deal in a later chapter—that the purely
biological effects of crossing may be very largely obscured. Bearing
this in mind we may briefly refer to the conclusions to be derived from
recent biological work which bear on the problem. Roughly speaking there
are two possible kinds of crosses between races. First there are crosses
between the most clearly distinguished varieties such as white and
black. Heterosis, or hybrid vigour, will be exhibited in a marked
fashion in the first generation. Heterosis, the underlying cause of
which has only recently become apparent, is always at its height in the
first cross. The increase of vigour, however, is not long maintained in
subsequent generations. Further, each type, such as those which we are
considering, has a series of character complexes, built up through ages
of selection and compatible with one another, and by crossing such
complexes are broken apart. The chance of gain, on the other hand,
through the favourable re-combination of characters is small. On the
average, therefore, the result of such a cross is unfavourable. There
may also be crosses between races exhibiting less differences. Again,
heterosis will be visible on crossing. But in distinction to the results
of the former kind of cross, the other results may not be unfavourable.
Great variability may follow such a cross and this is on the whole
advantageous. Valuable character re-combinations may also come to light.
Thus we may say that, so long as there is not too great a difference
between the races which cross, the results are usually genetically
favourable; there will be the advantage of hybrid vigour, though this is
always temporary, and there may very possibly be the advantage of
valuable character re-combinations.[1614]
Migration is important not only because it is connected with war and
racial crossing but also because of the selection which follows upon
transfer to new climatic conditions. To the nature of these changes
allusion has already been made; it has been pointed out that races
adapted to maintain themselves in one environment cannot as a general
rule maintain themselves in a very different environment. To new
surroundings, which only differ slightly from the old, they may become
adapted by selection, and much selection on these lines must have taken
place as a result of racial movements in Europe. It is probably now
taking place among Europeans who have migrated to America. Dublin and
Baker, for instance, have shown that the death-rate varies considerably
among the different racial elements who have immigrated, some elements
being probably better adapted to the new environment than others.[1615]
Similarly selection may be going on within modern races owing to the
rapid urbanization of industrial countries. Urban conditions may be more
favourable to some types than to others. But it has not yet been shown
in what direction these changes, if they are in progress, are taking.
Summing up our conclusions we may say that the great changes in human
bodily form were accomplished in the intermediate period when the
splitting up into varieties may also have begun. This splitting was
continued in the first period and the modern types were formed before
the end of that period. The chief characteristic, however, of the first
and second periods was the maintenance of the types evolved, though this
was interfered with by migration which brought about elimination of
certain types, racial mixture, and further climatic adaptation. Finally,
in modern times there has been a lessening of the stringency of
selection, which previously tended to maintain the existing varieties,
and a turning of lethal selection to the building up of immunity against
disease.
7. There are one or two other points connected with germinal change
about which a word may be said. Of the origin of mutations we know
nothing, but since in all probability the ultimate cause of mutations
may have to be sought in some kind of environmental change, it should be
borne in mind that, as man is subject to an immense variety of
environmental stimuli, mutations may be more frequent in man than in any
species in a state of nature. It has been suggested that the germinal
constitution may be adversely affected by certain factors, especially by
the use of alcohol. Of this there is no certain evidence.[1616] It has
been supposed that there may be some connexion between the difference in
age of the parents on the one hand and the germinal constitution of the
offspring on the other. It has been supposed, for instance, that the
offspring are innately more vigorous when the parents are at a certain
age. So far as investigation has gone at present, it has not been
established that there is any such connexion—of sufficient importance at
least to deserve consideration here. In other words, the fact that among
certain races young men have wives of considerably greater age than
themselves and older men young wives, does not to any noteworthy extent
affect the germinal constitution of the race. Again it has been stated
that the first-born are innately inferior to the later-born
children.[1617] This conclusion has been criticized.[1618] As, however,
the preponderance of first-born children among the offspring as a whole
would not appear to be markedly greater at any one period of history
than at another, the inferiority of the first-born, if it exists, would
make no difference between men of different races at the same or at
different times.
The correlation of characters one with another should not be forgotten.
The favouring of one character may involve the favouring of quite other
characters. Of this what was said regarding the ductless glands is an
example. It has been supposed that liability to disease is correlated
with pigmentation and that, owing to selection through disease, a change
in the average pigmentation is taking place. Attempts to establish this
correlation have, however, failed. It is of particular interest to
notice that no correlations have been found between physical and mental
characters; this is so even as regards intellect and size of head.
8. A survey of the facts regarding the bodily evolution of man, and of
the conditions under which it has taken place, shows that there is at
least no more difficulty in understanding how it has come about than in
understanding how the varieties of any other species have come into
existence. Given mutations, the action of selection and of differential
fertility provides an explanation which is in general satisfactory,
though we may be a very long way from understanding how any one
particular change came about. There are in fact greater difficulties met
with from time to time in trying to reach a satisfactory explanation of
evolution among other animals than when dealing with man. The evolution
along particular lines of organization, the evolution of teeth and horns
among mammals, for instance, raises a difficulty which seems in the
present state of our knowledge perhaps to require the assumption that at
times there is a tendency for the continual occurrence of mutations in
the same direction. Such a difficulty does not occur in the case of
human bodily evolution.
It has been suggested that the facts regarding the course which the
evolution of living organisms has taken requires the assumption that
large mutations have occurred from time to time and have established
themselves as varieties. There is no doubt that large mutations do occur
and have established themselves in the course of the evolution of the
varieties of animal types known to us, and they may have done so in the
case of man. There is, however, no reason to imagine that the origin of
any particular change in man was due to a large mutation. It has been
stated that the number of chromosomes is different in the white man and
in the negro, and upon the basis of this statement it has been suggested
that one variety had arisen as a mutation from the other. This
statement, however, was apparently based upon erroneous observation.
Again, it has been suggested that the Pygmy type arose as a mutation.
But it has been observed that some Ba Twa pygmies of the Congo who three
generations ago left their forests, settled near the Bushongo, and took
to agriculture have become markedly taller. Intermarriage is said to be
out of the question and therefore we are led to suppose in the new
environment a taller type has been favoured.[1619] If this is so, if a
taller type can be selected by degrees in one environment, the shorter
type may equally well have been selected in another environment.
So far, therefore, as the history of man outlined in the fifth chapter
is the history of the development of his bodily structure, so far the
explanation of history is to be sought in changes in the germinal
constitution, and the changes undergone are strictly comparable with the
changes among species in a state of nature, though owing to the more
varied environment outward differences in the case of man may be rather
more often due to environmental influences than in the case of species
closely related to man.
XVIII
THE EVOLUTION OF MENTAL CHARACTERS
1. When we originally asked how far changes in the quality of the
population accounted for the facts given in the sixth chapter, it was at
once obvious that the interest centred in mental changes. Now that we
have gained some idea as to what is given in the germinal constitution
and as to the influence of the environment in general, we are in a
position to come more closely to the main problem. Three questions
present themselves. We have to inquire into the facts regarding the
stage of mental evolution reached at any one time. This involves making
both an estimate as to the extent of the gap between the pre-human
ancestor and Palaeolithic man and an examination of the differences in
the mental characteristics of the chief living types of man which may be
taken roughly to represent stages reached in the three chief periods. We
have next to ask if we can account for these facts, and this involves an
inquiry into selection, differential fertility, and such other factors
as may assist to explain changes in the germinal constitution. Lastly we
have to ask how far such changes as have taken place are correlated with
the main features of human history.
To make an estimate of the stage of mental evolution reached by one race
as compared with that reached by other races is not an easy matter. To
begin with there is the difficulty of discounting the direct influence
of the environment. Temperament we found to be peculiarly susceptible to
environmental influence. Temperament affects the functioning of other
mental characters in a very important manner. ‘Effective mental
ability’, says Professor Punnett, ‘is largely a matter of temperament,
and this in turn is quite possibly dependent upon the various secretions
produced by the different tissues of the body. Similar nervous systems
associated with different livers might conceivably result in different
individuals upon whose mental ability the world would pass a very
different judgment.’[1620] Apart, however, from this difficulty and
apart from the influence of disease, it is not probable that other
factors in the environment have any marked direct effect upon either
disposition or intellect.
There is a far more serious difficulty to which allusion has already
been made. It arises from the fact that mental faculties as exhibited in
daily life are overlaid by tradition and shaped by habit. There is no
difficulty in getting down to any physical character. It is always
possible to separate the limb from the tool which it uses. It is
frequently very difficult to effect the corresponding separation between
the faculty and the tool in the case of mental characters. Human mental
characteristics, as manifested in daily life, represent the combination
of acquirements with a certain basis. By the basis is meant that which
develops as the result of environmental stimuli acting upon the
predispositions. The basis of all mental faculties is, therefore, that
which strictly speaking is comparable with physical characters. Mental
characters as manifested in daily life represent this basis combined
with tradition. This applies not only to the intellectual but also to
the instinctive faculties. The manifestation of instinct is dependent
upon the channels into which it has been led by tradition and upon the
outlets which tradition provides for it.
In attempting to estimate the stage of evolution of mental characters
reached at any one time, we must, as far as we can, allow for all that
obscures their manifestation. There are several different ways in which
this may be attempted and it will be found possible to reach a fairly
definite conclusion with regard to the degree of development of mental
characters as exhibited by two races as different as the white and
black. But the inquiry into the differences between the more nearly
related varieties, such as the different branches of the white race,
present far more difficult problems, and by these methods we shall not
be able to approach them with much hope of success. Further, these
difficulties will be more strongly felt when we go on to inquire into
the causes of the changes which have led to the evolution of the
different types. Therefore, though in this chapter we shall reach
certain conclusions as to the nature, causes, and results of mental
changes in the earlier periods, we shall find that, owing to the
difficulties mentioned, we are unable to reach any conclusion as to the
later periods until we have inquired into the importance of tradition.
It will thus be necessary to cut short this inquiry and turn to consider
tradition in the following two chapters. Only when this subsidiary
inquiry has been made shall we be able to complete our estimate as to
the part played by changes in the germinal constitution so far as they
affect mental characters.
2. The indications as regards mental development obtainable from a study
of fossil remains are, of course, very vague. Such as they are, however,
considerable interest attaches to them. In the later part of the first
period, in the Upper Palaeolithic, that is to say, we meet with types of
men whose cranial capacity and the formation of whose brain, so far as
it can be judged from skulls, do not indicate any difference in mental
capacity as compared with modern man. It must be emphasized that this is
a very rough method of comparing intellectual capacity. Something,
however, may be deduced from such observations, and it is probable that,
though there may have been noteworthy differences between Cro-Magnon and
modern European intellectual capacity, as we judge differences to-day,
nevertheless looking at human evolution as a whole, we cannot escape the
conclusion that by the end of the first period, before man had learnt to
support himself otherwise than by hunting and fishing, by far the
greater part of the journey from the condition of our pre-human ancestor
to that of European man had been accomplished. This is a very important
deduction, because, inasmuch as the greater part of the progress in
skill had still to come, it means that progress in intellectual capacity
and progress in skill did not go hand in hand.
What we should like to be able to do, but cannot at present do, is to
follow the evolution of the cranial capacity and the shape of the brain
of the ancestors of Upper Palaeolithic man. But all we have in the
Middle Palaeolithic are representatives of the peculiar Neanderthal
type, which apparently died out. Judging from the cranial capacity, the
intellectual development of Neanderthal man must have been considerable
and probably not inferior to that of the Australians. If Eoanthropus is
to be assigned to the Lower Palaeolithic, it is the only skull of that
period that we have. Judging not so much from the cranial capacity as
from the formation of the brain, the intellectual capacity of
Eoanthropus was clearly much less than that of Neanderthal man and of
any other type of man now living. Pithecanthropus was certainly anterior
to the Palaeolithic. He may, it is true, have used and even fashioned
implements of a very primitive type. It is noteworthy that, so far as
can be judged, in cranial capacity he stands about half-way between
modern man and the hypothetical ancestor, and if we are going to make
any deductions at all regarding so difficult a point, it is reasonable
to assume that in general his intellectual capacity was about half-way
between that of modern man and the pre-human ancestor.
On the basis of this evidence the broad outlines of the picture are as
follows. At the very least the intellectual development of Early
Palaeolithic man had reached a point half-way between that of the
pre-human ancestor and that of modern European races. Almost certainly
it had gone farther, perhaps considerably further. As regards man in the
Middle Palaeolithic, we have details only regarding an aberrant type
whose intellectual capacity, though considerable, probably did not reach
that of the contemporary ancestors of the Upper Palaeolithic types of
whom as yet we know nothing. The cranial capacity and other features of
the Upper Palaeolithic types show no essential differences from modern
man. though it has to be remembered that, as cranial capacity is but a
rough guide, differences in mental capacity may have existed.
3. In order to gain a more exact idea of the stage of mental evolution
reached in the first and second periods, we are obliged to turn to the
evidence supplied by primitive races, just as we turned to them to fill
in the gaps in our knowledge of the social habits of Palaeolithic man.
There are at least three methods whereby an attempt may be made to
arrive at some idea of the intellectual development of primitive races
as compared with modern European man. There is to begin with a very
large number of observations and impressions recorded by men who in many
cases have lived a long time among primitive races and have had unusual
opportunities for judging them. Then attempts have been made to measure
the intelligence of these races by the use of the Binet-Simon methods,
and we may notice the results of some of these attempts. Lastly, in
certain parts of the world for some generations white and coloured races
have been living side by side under almost identical conditions and now
compete together almost on an equality, and we may note the current
opinion in those regions with regard to their respective intellectual
capacities.
All the evidence regarding the Australians agrees in attributing to
them a relatively high level of intellect. ‘Most observers’, says
Thomas, ‘agree that up to the age of puberty, possibly longer, they
have an extraordinary facility in the acquisition of knowledge.’[1621]
Speaking of the aborigines of Victoria, Smyth records that ‘black
children brought up in the schools learn very quickly, and in
perception, memory, and power to discriminate, they are, to say the
least, equal to European children. A missionary, the Rev. F. A.
Hagenauer, a gentleman of great ability, who has control of the
aboriginal station at Lake Wellington, reports that the examination
made by the Government School Inspectors shows that the aboriginal
pupils taught by him are quite equal to the Whites. In his last report
he states that the whole of the fifth class in his school has passed
the standard examination (that appointed for children in State
schools) and that they had received certificates.’[1622] Spiller has
collected a large number of such opinions,[1623] and Semon says that
‘on examining the accounts of missionaries who have had occasion to
instruct children of Australian natives, it will be found that nearly
all of them come to the conclusion that at the onset of instruction
hardly any difference between faculties of black and white children in
grasping the elements is to be remarked. There is such a capability of
memory and sharpness of the senses that in reading, writing, drawing,
topography, and geography they at first even excel the whites.’[1624]
Nearly all observers agree that there comes a point when the faculties
of aboriginal children cease to develop. Thus Smyth says that ‘With
keen senses, quick perceptions, and a precocity that is surprising, he
stops just short of the point where an advance would lead to a
complete change in the characters of his mind’,[1625] and Mathew who
remarks that ‘in schools it has been observed that aboriginal children
learn quite as easily and rapidly as children of European parents’,
goes on to say that ‘while among Europeans the range of mental
development seems almost unbounded, with the blacks its limit is soon
attained’.[1626]
Among the Andaman Islanders there is, according to Man, up to the age of
12 or 14 ‘as much intelligence as [among] ordinary middle class children
of civilized races’; he goes on to quote another observer who found
these people ‘not deficient in brain power; it rather lies dormant and
unused in their savage state’, and gives the example ‘of an aboriginal
patient of 12 years of age, who had been entered in the Ross Orphanage
School, and who, in his tender years, could yet read English and Ordu
fluently, as well as speak and write in both these languages, retaining
also a knowledge of his native tongue. He had besides a fair knowledge
of arithmetic. I may add that this is not an exceptional case, for I
would instance others, and one lad in particular who was his
superior.’[1627] These opinions could be paralleled many times over. The
Jesuit missionary Baegert, for example, had a high opinion of the
intellectual abilities of the Californian Indians. ‘Like other people,
they are possessed of reason and understanding, and their stupidity is
not inborn with them, but the result of habit; and I am of opinion that,
if their sons were sent to European seminaries and colleges, and their
girls to convents where young females are instructed, they would prove
equal in all respects to Europeans in the acquirement of morals and of
useful sciences and arts.’[1628]
The opinions of observers of races which fall within the second group
are all very similar. Some typical opinions may be given. Speaking of
Bantu races south of the Zambezi Theal says that ‘in Mission Schools
children of early age are found to keep pace with those of white
parents. In some respects, indeed, they are the higher of the two ...
but while the European youth is still developing his powers the Bantu
youth in many instances is found unable to make further progress. His
intellect has become sluggish and frequently he exhibits a decided
repugnance, if not an incapacity, to learn anything more. The growth
of his mind, which at first promised so much, has ceased just at that
stage where the mind of the European begins to display the greatest
vigour.’[1629] Later he says that ‘the strong desire of the greater
number is to live as closely like their ancestors as the altered
circumstances of their country will permit, to make use of a few of
the white man’s simplest conveniences and of his protection against
their enemies, but to avoid his habits and to shut out his ideas.
Compared with Europeans their adults are frequently children in
imagination and in simplicity of belief, though not infrequently one
may have the mental faculties of a full-grown man.’[1630] Of the
Bangala of the Upper Congo Weeks says that ‘up to the age of 14 and
15, the boys and girls, especially the boys, are very receptive and
easily taught; but after that age comparatively few make real advance
in learning’.[1631] This is attributed partly to the fact that at this
age other matters occupy their attention—working on their own account,
looking round for a wife, and so on, but more especially to the fact
that by this age they have learnt all that their fathers have to teach
them and thenceforth settle down into a routine. Of the men of the
races of Central Africa Johnston speaks as follows: ‘his mental powers
are not much developed by native training, but I am certain that he
has in him possibilities in the present generation as great of those
of the average Indian; and there is really no saying what he may come
to after several generations of education. I think it is truly
remarkable the way in which a little savage boy can be put to school
and taught to read in a few months and subsequently become a skilful
printer or telegraph clerk or even book keeper. The little boys are
much sharper and shrewder than the grown-up male. When the youth
arrives at puberty there is undoubtedly a tendency towards an arrested
development of the mind.’[1632] This latter tendency is attributed to
the attention paid to sexual matters. This arrest of development is a
feature in all descriptions of the mental characters of these races.
Junod is inclined, however, to think that these descriptions are on
the whole exaggerated.[1633] In order to enable us to form such
judgement on this point a few further quotations may be given. Ellis,
describing the Ewe-speaking peoples of Togoland, mentions the
precocity of the children when compared with Europeans, and says that,
‘at puberty the physical nature masters the intellect and frequently
completely deadens it’.[1634] The Bambala children ‘are very
precocious, and up to the age of puberty are often astonishingly
intelligent; after puberty, however, they become exceedingly
apathetic; sexual excess and continual intoxication with palm wine
contribute largely to this result’.[1635] Speaking of the natives of
Portuguese East Africa, Maugham refers to the great brightness and
promise early displayed; as regards the later stages says that he has
‘over and over again been the witness of the sudden and astounding
change which takes place among the young male house servants as youth
approaches manhood. Brightness and initiative disappear; they go about
their duties in a most casual manner; they are unable to remember the
clearest and simplest instructions, and are constantly away without
permission.’[1636] Referring to this subject so far as the natives of
the Congo are concerned, Weeks states that ‘for generations boys on
arriving at the age of 14 or 15 had learnt all their father had to
teach respecting fishing, hunting, woodcraft, building, paddling,
&c.... Thus their intelligence had attained for generations the
fullest development by the above age; now we have to help them over
that crucial stage; in some cases it is very difficult; but in other
cases we can do so; and in such there is no limit to the intellectual
progress they can make. In many cases they have mastered a good
working knowledge of French, Portuguese or English, both spoken and
written, and as larger opportunities are given, a larger number of
youths will make such mental progress as will encourage their friends
and teachers.’[1637] Bryant, who has had a wide experience of South
African natives, sums up his impressions by confirming the common
opinion that the native boy is, at an early age, if anything, superior
to the European boy of the same age, and that at puberty his mental
development is arrested. He thinks that Boer boys living in the
backwoods and receiving practically no training are, if anything,
inferior to the African boys. He adds—what is of particular
interest—the fact that the African boys, whose education begins early,
do not show the same arrest of development as those whose education
begins later. Nevertheless the African boy educated from an early age
is surpassed by the European boy later on. We find also, he says, that
‘in practically every case where a South African native has had the
opportunity of receiving an education in one of the universities of
Europe or America, that that native has invariably been able to hold
his own against all white rivals and to pass as successfully as they
the same examinations in Law, Medicine, or Arts.’ Such men, however,
he adds, may have been selected as particularly fitted to profit by
further education.[1638] Summing up his opinion upon this subject,
Olivier says that it is not possible to ‘justify a generalization that
there is any particular human function for which coloured persons are
by their African blood disqualified. In various categories of human
activity we may maintain that, as a rule, black and coloured folk are
not up to the normal standard of the white, and are difficult and
disheartening to deal with. But in other categories they are more
liberally endowed than the average white man, not only with
sympathetic and valuable human qualities, but with talent and
executive ability for their expression.’[1639]
The evidence has been taken from the accounts of African races; very
similar evidence could be presented for all races in the second group.
No purpose would be served by so doing, however, because such evidence
amounts merely to a repetition of opinion similar to those given above.
Before attempting to analyse this evidence, we may glance at the
evidence obtained on other lines.
4. Many investigations have been recently carried out to test the
relative intelligence of children of modern Europeans and of primitive
races. The method used is known as the Binet-Simon method and consists
essentially in subjecting children to a large number of carefully
prepared tests upon the total result of which an estimate is made of the
intelligence of each child. Some of the most instructive of these
observations have been made in America, where white and coloured
children receive a very similar education; the result of an
investigation carried out by Miss Strong in that country may be
described. She tested 225 white children belonging to two schools and
125 coloured children belonging to one school. There is a standard
degree of intelligence for each year of age, and thus every child can be
graded according as to whether it reaches the standard degree of
intelligence, or is above or below it. The results of this particular
investigation are summed up in the following table:[1640]
_Coloured Children._ _White Children._
More than one year backward 29·4 10·2
Satisfactory 69·8 84·4
More than one year advanced 0·8 5·3
That the inferiority of the coloured children is exhibited at all ages
is shown by the following table:[1641]
_Below Age._ _At Age._ _Above Age._
_White._ _Coloured._ _White._ _Coloured._ _White._ _Coloured._
6 years 19·4 40·0 30·6 33·3 50·0 26·7
7 „ 13·9 39·4 61·1 58·8 25·0 11·8
8 „ 18·5 23·0 55·5 38·5 26·0 38·5
9 „ 32·2 71·4 41·9 21·4 25·9 7·2
10 „ 55·1 75·0 27·6 12·5 17·3 12·5
11 „ 34·6 43·7 42·2 50·0 23·1 6·3
12 „ 67·5 77·0 32·5 23·0
34·5 51·4 41·2 33·9 24·3 14·7
With regard to these results Miss Strong writes as follows: ‘This seems
to lead to the conclusion that the coloured children are mentally
younger than the white. There is a difference of nearly 15 per cent. in
the satisfactory group, nearly three times as many are more than a year
backward, and less than 1 per cent. are more than a year advanced. A
course of study in the coloured school is practically the same as that
in the white schools. To what extent the difference is due to racial
inferiority, to what extent differences in the home environment, cannot
be said. It is certainly not due to difference in school
training.’[1642]
There are certain criticisms of weight to be made regarding the
importance to be attached to estimates of intelligence due to this
method. These need not detain us beyond noting that, although in
general, inasmuch as the children use the same language, the mental
equipment is similar, nevertheless there may be considerable differences
in acquired habit as between white and coloured children which affect
their responses to the test. There is a further criticism of some
importance to be made regarding this particular investigation. It was
entirely carried out by white examiners, and it may very well be that
the coloured children did not respond as readily and acquit themselves
as favourably as if they had been examined by members of their own race.
There is reason to suspect therefore that the coloured children may not
show up in as favourable a light as the white children quite apart from
any colour bias that may possibly affect the results in the same way. In
any case it seems certain that the results are not unduly favourable to
the coloured children.
The results of several similar inquiries have been summarized by Popenoe
and Johnson. ‘The most careful study yet made’, they write, ‘of the
relative intelligence of negroes and whites,’ is that of G. O. Ferguson,
junior, on 486 white and 421 coloured pupils in the schools of Richmond,
Fredericksburg, and Newport News, Va. Tests were employed which required
the use of the higher ‘functions’ and as far as possible (mainly on the
basis of skin colour) the amount of white blood in the coloured pupils
was determined. Four classes were made: full-blood negro, ¾ negro, ½
negro (mulatto), and ¼ negro (quadroon). It was found that ‘the pure
negroes scored 69·2 per cent. as high as the whites; that the ¾ negroes
scored 73 per cent. as high as the whites; that the mulattoes scored
81·2 per cent. as high as the whites; and that the quadroons obtained
91·8 per cent. of the white score.’ This confirms the belief of many
observers that the ability of a coloured man is proportionate to the
amount of white blood he has.[1643]
Summing up a review of this subject Huntingdon writes as follows: ‘So
far as I am aware, every exact test which has been made on a large scale
indicates mental superiority on the part of the white race, even when
the two races have equal opportunities. For example, in Washington the
coloured children remain in school quite as long as the white; they do
not accomplish so much in the way of study and do not reach so high a
grade. In the cities of the south, Mayo and Leram find that where the
races are given essentially the same instruction, the proportion of
whites who are promoted is greater than than of negroes. Moreover, the
differences seem to increase with years, which suggests that the average
coloured child not only stands below the average white child in mental
development at all ages, but ceases to develop at an earlier age. In the
High Schools of New York, superiority of the white race is shown by
Mayo’s examination of the average marks. By the time the children reach
the High School, the processes of promotion have weeded out a much
larger proportion of coloured children than of white. Hence, the negroes
form a specially selected group whose superiority to the average of
their race is more marked than the superiority of the white High School
children when compared with the rest of the race. Nevertheless, the
average marks of the white children are distinctly higher than those of
the coloured.’[1644] Here again, as in the case of Miss Strong’s
investigation, it is not improbable that the conditions are to some
extent weighted against the coloured race.
5. A third method of arriving at some indication of the relative degree
of mental capacity is to notice what has happened where for some
generations the two races have lived under more or less similar
conditions. ‘One of the best places for comparing the two races is in
the Bahama Islands’, writes Huntington. For reasons which I shall
present later, the process of making ‘poor whites’ has probably gone
farther in the Bahamas than in almost any other Anglo-Saxon community.
Part of the white population are like their race in other regions, but a
large portion have unmistakably degenerated. Witness their intense and
bigoted speech, their sunken cheeks and eyes, their sallow complexion,
and their inert way of working. In spite of racial prejudice, there is
no real colour line in the Bahamas. Persons with more or less negro
blood are worthy occupants of the highest positions, and are universally
accepted in the most exclusive social circles. The British Government
gives the negro every possible opportunity. The state of affairs may be
judged from the remarks of a ‘poor white’ sailor, who said to me: ‘You
want to know why I like the Southern States better than the North. It is
because they hate a nigger and I hates him too. What kind of a place is
this where they do everything for the nigger and nothing for the white
man? It is bad enough to have to go to jail, but it’s pretty hard for a
white man to be taken there by a nigger constable.’ In one Bahaman
village I saw negro girls teaching white children in the public school.
In that same village a number of the leading white men cannot read or
write.
‘When they were children, their parents would not send them to school
with negroes. The despised negroes learnt to read and write but have now
largely forgotten these accomplishments. The proud whites grow up in
abject ignorance. To-day the same thing is going on. I visited two
villages where the white children are staying away from school because
they will not go to negro teachers. The homes of such whites are
scarcely better than those of their coloured neighbours, and their
fathers are called “Jim” and “Jack” by the black men with whom they
work. Racial prejudice apparently works more harm to the whites than to
the blacks. So far as occupations go there is no difference, for all
alike till the soil, sail boats, and gather sponges.
‘When the lumber industry was introduced into the islands, whites and
blacks were equally ignorant of the various kinds of work involved in
cutting trees and converting them into lumber. The managers did not care
who did the work so long as it was done. They wanted three things:
strength, docility or faithfulness, and brains. They soon found that in
the first two the negroes were superior. Time and again persons in
authority, chiefly American but also some of the more capable native
whites, told me that if they wanted a crew of men to load a boat or some
such thing, they would prefer negroes every time. The poor white shirks
more than the coloured man. He is not so strong, he is proud and touchy.
Other things being equal, the negro receives the preference, but other
things are not equal. The very man who praised the negroes generally
added: “But you can’t use a negro for everything. They can’t seem to
learn some things, and they don’t know how to boss a job.” The pay roll
reflects this. Even though the negroes receive the preference the 400
who are employed earn on an average only about 60 per cent. as much as
the 57 white men. If we take only the 57 most competent negroes their
average daily wages are still only 88 per cent. as great as those of the
native whites. The difference is purely a matter of brains. Although the
white man may be ignorant and inefficient, with no more training than
the negro, and although his father and grandfather were scarcely better,
he possesses an inheritance of mental quickness and initiative which
comes into evidence at the first opportunity.’[1645]
6. What conclusions are we to draw from this varied evidence? Let us
first ask how we should view the differences between the negro and the
modern European. There seems to be no marked difference in innate
intellectual power; the differences are rather differences in
disposition and temperament. The white man has initiative,
inventiveness, versatility, and power of leadership; the black man has
humility, patience, loyalty, and self-sacrifice. It is remarkable with
what unanimity observers of the negro race in its own country speak of
the high degree of intellectual development. Certain points are
noteworthy. The apparent arrest of development is associated with an
absorption at a certain age in practical matters, in tribal habits and
customs, in sex and in settling down to a normal married existence as
much on the lines of their ancestors as is possible under the altered
conditions. Several passages quoted above strongly suggest that what we
are here witnessing is a turning away from the training felt to be
strange and foreign, owing to the strength of the native tradition which
claims all the affection and interest of the young man. In other words
this arrest may not be so much an inevitable result of the kind of
mental faculties which are inherited as a result of the coming into play
of a peculiar tradition. This conclusion is supported by the fact that,
when in Africa education begins earlier, when, that is to say, there is
more of a break with native tradition, the arrest is less well marked.
Further, in America, it is still less marked though it can be detected.
The conclusion would thus seem to be that, though there may be some
tendency for intellectual development to stop at a rather lower stage
than among European races, it is nothing like so well marked as the
observations of residents in South Africa would seem at first sight to
show.
The evidence quoted has chiefly been drawn from observations upon the
negro races. It must suffice here to say that what is known regarding
the intellectual development of other races included in the first and
second groups leads to the conclusion that, although there are signs of
differences as between these races, yet these differences are not
remarkable, and further that the degree to which so apparently low a
race as the Australians differs from Europeans is not in any case much
greater than the degree in which negroes differ from Europeans.
It remains to ask how far this evidence supplements that derived from a
study of fossil remains. Judging from the fact that the general level of
the development of the mental faculties of any primitive race is not
separated markedly farther from that of modern European man than are the
negro races in this respect from modern European man, it seems that we
must allow to Upper Palaeolithic man on the average a degree of mental
development at least equivalent to that of the negro. It is further only
reasonable to suppose that the ancestors of Upper Palaeolithic man in
the Middle Palaeolithic were little inferior in mental capacity,
inasmuch as to Neanderthal man, to whom they were superior and whom they
apparently exterminated, we must attribute a degree of intelligence
little, if at all, inferior to that of the Australians. Of Lower
Palaeolithic man we know much less. We do not know, for example, whether
he buried his dead. But if we consider the variety of instruments
fashioned and used by him, it is not unreasonable to attribute to him,
in view of the nature of the general conclusions to which we are being
led, a degree of intelligence again but little inferior to that of
Middle Palaeolithic man.
Our conclusions can only be tentative; nevertheless such indications as
we have all point the same way. It would seem that the major part of the
progress in the evolution of the intellectual faculties had been
accomplished far back in Palaeolithic times. Those living races which,
with all due reservations and qualifications, may be held to represent
in mental and bodily characters Palaeolithic races, differ from modern
European man rather in disposition than in intellect. And it is
important to note that it is in the growth of the intellect rather than
in the growth of the other mental faculties that modern man is
distinguished from his pre-human ancestor.
7. We may again follow the same procedure as in the last chapter. We may
recall the general conditions to which man was subject in the
intermediate and early periods and ask how the evolution of mental
characters was influenced by them. We may further ask to what degree and
in what direction the conditions of life among primitive races influence
the selection of mental characters since in general we may assume the
same influences to have been at work among prehistoric races. With
regard to the intermediate period we have to remember that it was far
longer than, perhaps many times as long as, the period which has elapsed
since the rise of Palaeolithic industry. Within this period man
descended to the ground, spread, if not into every continent, at least
far over the surface of the world and came to dominate all other living
organisms as no species had ever done before. Clearly he was enabled to
achieve this result by his intellectual powers and by them alone. He did
not develop any other means of attack or means of defence: he conquered
by his intellect.
In a general way it is possible to understand how this came about. To
begin with, the pre-human ancestor was favourably situated for such a
development because he was a generalized and not a specialized type.
Once specialization of form has set in, as it has among the anthropoid
apes, there are two bars to such a development as occurred in man. The
specialization of bodily form in order to cope with a peculiar
environment renders the body less adaptable to any changes in the
environment which may take place. Further, unless the body is of the
nature of an instrument capable of being readily employed to perform
various functions, the intellect is unable to manifest itself. We have
only to think of the specialized fore and hind limbs of most mammalian
types to see how poor an instrument the body would in those cases make
in the service of the intellect.
Under these favourable circumstances, evolution took this momentous
turn. We can understand how, since the pre-human ancestor depended for
his survival almost solely upon his intellect, there would be a high
premium upon intellectual development. It is reasonable to suppose that
he lived in groups of polygamous families and that differential
fertility thus intensified selection. There is, of course, never at any
time only a single factor governing selection, and though undoubtedly
intellect was the chief factor in selection, climatic and other factors
were, as we have noticed, also in operation, bringing about those
changes in bodily form that we have observed.
The instincts of the pre-human ancestor were doubtless, in common with
those of other mammals, of a generalized type compared with what we find
among some lower groups of animals. The tendency has been for them to
become even more generalized, though not on the whole any less powerful.
It seems likely, for instance, that the instinct of flight was
definitely associated with the snakes among other objects from the
attacks of which presumably the ancestor was at one time in danger. We
assume this because we occasionally meet with cases in which this
specialization of the instinct of flight still obtains. The instinct of
flight has now become wholly generalized, being aroused by general
conditions and not by specialized occurrences. If it is correct to think
of the ancestor as living in groups of families, for the leadership of
which there must have been continual struggles, we may conclude that the
instincts of pugnacity and of self-assertion were favoured, and we may
make other similar deductions in estimating the value of which, however,
it must be remembered that we are very largely in the region of
hypothesis and speculation. The one thing to which we may with certainty
hold fast is the premium upon intellect.
8. At length the intermediate period gave place to the period marked by
the origin of society of the primitive type, defined by the fact that
men are bound together by rigid custom. Obedience to custom involves a
considerable measure of control of the impulses. Before society of this
kind could have arisen, mental evolution must have reached a still
higher level.
Let us consider what is implied. To begin with, the dependence of man
upon his intellect for his position in the world accounts, as we have
seen, for the evolution of his mental faculties up to a relatively high
level in the intermediate period. When this level had been reached, the
next step was rendered possible. What was now required was that man
should be able to enjoy the advantages of social co-operation. To this
end law was necessary. McDougall quotes Bagehot as saying that ‘law,
rigid, definite, concise law, was a primary want of early mankind; that
which they needed above everything else, that which was requisite before
they could gain anything else’, and that: ‘in early times the quantity
of government is much more important than its quality. What is wanted is
a comprehensive rule binding men together, making them do the same
things, telling them what to expect of each other, fashioning them
alike, and keeping them so. What this rule is, does not matter so much.
A good rule is better than a bad one, but a bad one is better than
none.’[1646] That man should acquiesce in the restrictions imposed by
society involves prudence, which inhibits those impulses which would
lead to a contravention of custom. Now; fear is a simple emotion, but
prudence implies something more. It involves ‘a capacity for
deliberation and the weighing of motives in the light of
self-consciousness.’[1647] In order that society might become
established, there was thus required a further evolution of the
intellect, and, since the advantages to be gained by the establishment
of society were so great, there must have been a heavy premium upon
evolution in this direction.
The beginning of the first period in history thus marks the successful
completion of a step in mental evolution raising man above the stage
reached in the intermediate period. It is important to observe that all
primitive races known to us are representatives of man after he had
completed this step. So far, therefore, as their mental faculties throw
light upon the mental evolution of man, it is the level of evolution
reached after and not before the evolution of social organization that
is illustrated.
We may now glance at the conditions characteristic of primitive races
and ask how they bear upon the selection of mental characters. Primitive
society we found to be characterized by hard and fast rules which must
be implicitly obeyed if social organization is to be maintained.
Obedience to these conventions is of the utmost importance; we may
remember incidentally that, unless the conventions are observed, an
approximation to the optimum population will not be made. There is in
consequence a tendency towards the elimination of those exhibiting
characteristics incompatible with due subservience to the prevailing
tradition. Such characteristics are any marked developments of intellect
or of disposition away from the average. The man who will not conform is
not tolerated. However advantageous to the individual certain
developments might be, such developments are not favoured because the
importance of maintaining intact the group to which he belongs is of
greater moment. Thus, as in the case of physical characters, the general
tendency is on the whole against further evolution and towards the
preservation of those types which have reached the position
characteristic of any primitive race. And it is to be noted that,
whereas bodily form is on the whole adapted to the physical environment,
mental characters are adapted on the whole to the traditional
environment. Men come to be selected in accordance with the needs of
social organization, and as tradition grows in amount also in accordance
with their capability of absorbing tradition.
It is difficult to point to any factors which markedly favour further
evolution of mental characters. On reading the admirable accounts of the
daily life and customs of the Australians as given by Messrs. Spencer
and Gillen, or of a much more advanced people—the tribes of Borneo, as
described by Messrs. Hose and McDougall—we observe, it is true, the
respect paid to men of experience and of rather more than average
intelligence. We can understand how men not up to the average level of
intelligence would not in all respects fare as well as others, but we do
not find that there are factors distinctly favouring unusual
intelligence. Some progress there probably was. On the whole those men
who attained the leadership were probably rather more intelligent than
the average, though among the qualities which assisted such men to gain
the leadership many other mental qualities played a more prominent part
than intellect; thus, by practising polygamy, or practising it to a
greater extent than the rest, they left more than the average number of
descendants—and, while perhaps raising the intellectual level of the
race, more certainly altering the average mental endowment in respect of
these other qualities.
Such an examination also shows that a somewhat different disposition is
favoured in different cases. Thus a warlike type is favoured among the
American Indians, for, though possibly the most warlike may be killed
off the most quickly, this is more than counterbalanced by the ease
which with such men get numerous wives. But such differences in no way
conflict with the fact that the tendency is towards the preservation of
a mean, which though it may vary somewhat, is in general outline the
same among all these races.
There still remains to be noticed the result of conflict between groups,
other than normal warfare, which at times led to the substitution, whole
or partial, of a less intelligent by a more intelligent race, or at
least of a less skilled by a more skilled race; for by this time the
outward manifestation of intellect was to a considerable extent overlaid
by tradition. But such substitution, though it changes the average
germinal constitution of the species as a whole, scarcely accounts in
any noteworthy degree for the evolution of a higher level of
intellectual capacity. The conditions which did favour further evolution
within these two periods are the same as those which, when present to a
more marked degree and acting over a longer period of time, finally gave
rise to the races of the third period, and to these conditions we may
now turn.
9. There are certain regions of the world’s surface which contain within
them areas abutting one upon the other and differing sharply one from
the other. Such a region is found in that part of Western Asia which
embraces Asia Minor, Armenia, Syria, Arabia, Mesopotamia, and Western
Iran. In such areas races live in close contact with other races of very
different habits, customs, and modes of life; hunting and fishing races,
pastoral races, agricultural races, races predominately sea-faring, all
come into contact and conflict. Under conditions of these kinds there is
more tendency for advantage to accrue to intellect not only as between
members of different races but as between members of the same race than
in conflicts between races of similar culture. Where these conditions
have ruled, therefore, there has been a tendency, though perhaps not a
very marked tendency, for a premium to have been set upon intellect. It
so happens, however, that this region of Western Asia is endowed above
all other regions with plants and animals that can be domesticated and
with other features offering rewards to skill. In this region there was
thus an additional premium upon intellect, and it was apparently in this
region that the races who initiated the third period made their
appearance. To the favouring of intellect under these conditions we may
thus attribute what superiority of intellect the races of this group
exhibit over the races of other groups. But it is rather in disposition
and temperament that the predominant races of this group differ from
those of the preceding groups. In them we meet with a power of
leadership, a resourcefulness, a versatility, that marks them off from
the primitive races, and it is precisely these qualities which would be
chiefly favoured in conflict and competition of the kind described. The
outward manifestation of these qualities may indeed be largely a matter
of tradition, but that they are also in part innate in the modern
European we have seen to be the case, and the explanation of this
further evolution is clearly to be found in the conditions to which they
have long been subject.
Turning to the conditions within the races of the third period and
neglecting the Asiatic races, those races which in fact have been left
in a backwater out of the main stream of progress, we find ourselves
faced with the difficulty that tradition has so far come to overlay the
innate qualities of intellect and disposition, that we are only with
great difficulty at present able to estimate the result of any factors
which we may see at work favouring or otherwise particular types. We may
note, however, that success both between and within races has fallen
rather to character than to skill. There is, in other words, little
reason for thinking that intellect, so far as it is measured by skill,
has been markedly favoured. On the other hand, character as outwardly
manifested has been clearly favoured. But how far we should see in this
process a favouring of certain innate types of disposition and of
temperament must be left for consideration until later. These
reservations regarding the passing at present of any judgement apply
with the greatest force to the results of the differential fertility
between the social classes in many countries at the present day. But we
may say that, as in the case of physical characters, there has now
ceased to be any strong tendency towards the preservation of a mean
type. Conditions allow of the existence of variations away from the
mean—but, as regards intellect, unfavourable equally with favourable
variations.
10. We have seen that the evidence derived both from a study of fossil
remains and from a study of primitive races leads to the conclusion that
the evolution of human intellectual capacity early reached a relatively
advanced stage. An inquiry into the forces which we must assume to have
been at work shows that intellectual capacity was more favoured in the
intermediate stage than after primitive society had come into being. It
was favoured at first as the character which enabled man to obtain his
dominating position in the world and afterwards again as the necessary
trait which enabled him to enjoy the benefits of co-operation. When
dwelling on the fact that the advance since the setting up of primitive
society has been relatively small, it must not be forgotten that the
latter period has been far shorter than the former. The period of time
which has elapsed since the ancestors of man set out, so to speak, to
conquer the world, must at a minimum estimate be five to ten times as
long as the period since the establishment of primitive society to the
present day.
The general conclusion to which we are led is that of the whole degree
of mental evolution which has taken place by far the greater part was
achieved at a time when only a beginning had been made with progress in
skill. To the question whether the historical process outlined in the
fifth chapter is comparable with progress among wild species—is based,
in other words, upon changes in the germinal constitution—these
conclusions suggest the answer that the happenings in the intermediate
period are very largely in any case to be accounted for in this manner.
There can be little doubt that the increasing domination of man was
largely proportional to the growth of his innate intellectual capacity.
But to the question as to how far the happenings within the period since
the origin of primitive society are connected with the further evolution
of innate capacity we can at present return no answer. We may note the
striking fact that within this period progress in skill has been immense
and has latterly gone on at a greatly increased speed, whereas changes
in the germinal constitution have been relatively small. This clearly
suggests that there has been but little connexion between the course of
history as usually understood and changes in the germinal constitution.
But before we can pass any judgement, we must gain some idea as to the
manner in which tradition contributes to the shaping of history. Only
then shall we be in a position to estimate the part played by such
changes in innate characters as have occurred, and to this task we may
now turn.
XIX
THE NATURE OF TRADITION
1. So far as bodily characters are concerned, we have seen that we have
to look for the explanation of human history primarily in changes in the
germinal constitution. With regard to mental characters the position is
different. It is evident that, at least in the later stages of history,
the outstanding features are not correlated strictly with changes in the
germinal constitution underlying mental faculties. To some extent,
possibly to a large extent, they are independent of such changes. The
influence of the environment in the second sense has to be considered,
and until it has been considered we cannot arrive at any conclusion as
to the importance to be attributed to the former factor in bringing
these events about. What is now required, therefore, is a study of the
influence of the environment in the second sense. It will be very
briefly undertaken in this and the following chapter. In this chapter we
are concerned with the nature of tradition, and the manner in which it
is passed on, stored up, and retained. In the next chapter we have to
examine the influence of the various factors in building up tradition.
In Chapter II we saw that, as far as mental development is concerned,
the distinguishing characteristic of man is the conceptual process of
thought. Man is, of course, also possessed of all the simpler mental
processes there described. We have here in particular to study the
consequences which follow the attainment to this higher level of mental
process. It has already been observed that the circumstances were
favourable to the evolution of this faculty. They also enabled the
fullest use to be made of it.[1648] In the first place the human
instincts are very generalized. They provide a basis for all kinds of
vaguely directed activities in response to vaguely discriminated
impressions from a large class of objects. Since it is only through the
instinctive faculties that the intellect gets to work, the generalized
nature of the instincts is a great advantage. Secondly the immature
period is prolonged. In comparison with the higher animals the immature
period occupies a far longer proportion of the normal term of life and
thus there is provided a far longer period in which learning can
proceed. Lastly there is the power of speech.
The question has been much debated as to whether there can be thought on
the conceptual level without language. It would seem that conceptual
thought can only exist without language when of a very rudimentary kind.
‘Language is not merely an accompaniment of conceptual activity; it is
an instrument essential to its development. It is an appropriate means
of fixing attention upon ideally represented objects as distinguished
from percepts.’[1649] Language, on the other hand, so far as it is a
means of communication concerning objects outside the actual range of
perception, can only arise between persons capable of conceptual
thought. And this is essentially the function of language. It reflects
the conceptions by which empirical data are brought into relation.
‘Resemblances of quality are expressed by general terms, continuity of
existence by individual names, the relation of ideas and the order of
connexion in thought by the arrangement of words in a sentence.’[1650]
Language expresses that breaking up and re-combination of the elements
of experience which we have seen to be the essential features of
conceptual thought.
Language makes possible the influence of mind upon mind, and is the
basis of all human social development. It fixes the mind of a thinker
upon his own ideas, and, when in communication with another person, it
fixes the mind of the hearer upon the ideally represented objects
present in the mind of the speaker. Into its origin it is not necessary
to go. But it may be observed that, just as the generalized nature of
the instincts and the prolonged immature period enabled the fullest use
to be made of the power of conceptual thinking, so the fact that the
mouth and the throat, usually otherwise unoccupied, were ready at hand
as convenient instruments of communication enabled speech to be
developed without occupying other organs, such as the hands, which could
be profitably employed at the same time for other purposes.
2. Before we go on to consider how tradition—the product of conceptual
thought—is passed on and stored up, it should be noticed that we have
not to regard the process of conceptual thought as one which sprang into
being in its present form and continued as such ever since. There has
been a movement of thought up from dim and rudimentary beginnings to its
present stage. This movement may be considered as consisting essentially
in the clarification of concepts. It is possible to examine the nature
of this movement without reference to the question as to how far the
later stages are dependent upon the evolution of innate mental
characters. It may be that the higher stages of conceptual thought are
possible only when the evolution of the intellect has proceeded beyond
the point where lower stages of thought alone are manifested. This
question may be neglected for the present and we may consider very
briefly the nature of this movement, which is best illustrated if we
contrast in a few words the stage which conceptual thought has reached
among primitive peoples as a whole with the stage it has reached in the
everyday life of the so-called civilized races of the present time, and
in so doing we may follow Professor Hobhouse’s recent exposition.[1651]
With the origin of language arises the first sign of the power to grasp
the data of experience in accordance with their affinities and so to
build up conceptions of individuals, groups, and classes as the subject
of rough-and-ready generalizations. ‘With regard to matters standing out
very plainly in experience or very close to practical interests there is
not room for much divergence in method.... But outside the limited area
of readily tested belief lies a mass of more doubtful ideas of great
significance in human life. In this region we find in the first stage
that the movements of fancy under the sway of feeling take the lead in
forming belief, and that the ideas formed are so obscure and
inconsistent as to blur the deepest lines of distinction drawn for more
developed thought in the logical categories. We may then consider the
first stage in human thought to be one of which the process of
organizing experience into common categories is incomplete, and the
evidence for the truth of an idea is not yet separate from the quality
which renders it pleasant.’[1652] This is the stage characteristic of
the most primitive peoples. The categories—particularly the category of
substance—are not clearly defined. Thus vital functions may be confused
with material substance, men and animals may be identified with their
shadow, and a pain may be confused with a stone that can be extracted.
So, too, it is thought that a man’s qualities can be obtained by eating
him. Relations and qualities tend to become substances, substances
deliquesce into a series of changes, and the general is confused with
the particular. These tendencies of early thought underlie animism and
magic, which are characteristic of all primitive races. Mr. Frazer, for
instance, has distinguished two forms of sympathetic magic which he
calls homoeopathic and contagious magic. Dancing and leaping to make the
crops grow high is an example of the former; ‘the sympathy that is
supposed to exist between a man and any severed portion of his person,
as his hair or nails, so that whoever gets possession of human hair or
nails may work his will at any distance upon the person from whom they
were cut’,[1653] is an example of the latter. ‘Homoeopathic magic is
founded on the association of ideas by similarity: contagious magic is
founded on the association of ideas by contiguity. Homoeopathic magic
commits the mistake of assuming that things which resemble each other
are the same; contagious magic commits the mistake of assuming that
things which have once been in contact with each other are always in
contact.’[1654]
There follows a second stage which Professor Hobhouse calls the stage of
‘common sense’. It is characterized by the organization of ideas in
accordance with the categories and by the differentiation of feeling
from belief. At this stage the categories are no longer ordinarily
confused and the difficulty of affirming what a man does not like to
believe is no longer so strongly felt as in the previous stage.
Experience is tested and good evidence is recognized as such. It is no
longer believed that an enemy can be harmed by maltreating a likeness of
him or that qualities like courage are substances that may be
transferred. This is the stage of conceptual thought reached by the
ordinary man in everyday life in a modern community when he is not
specifically engaged in work of a scientific nature or in problems of
religion or philosophy. Just as the simpler mental processes are present
among men who have reached the conceptual level, so the earliest stage
of conceptual thought can be recognized where later stages have been
reached, as, for instance, when grace is conferred by the laying on of
hands in a modern community.
The beginnings of the common-sense stage may perhaps be found in the
second period. Essentially it is characteristic of the third period, and
it was only within this period that this stage came to its full
development. When this stage is contrasted with that which preceded it,
it is seen that it is the clarification of concepts which is the
distinguishing feature of the movement of thought. In other words there
has been an improvement in the instrument whereby the intellect
works—comparable to any other process through which skill is increased.
Just as the bow and arrow and the plough have been improved by a series
of inventions, so has the instrument of thought been improved; and just
as further improvements in the plough and the bow and arrow after a
certain stage has been reached may possibly depend upon further
evolution of mental capacity, so possibly progress in the movement of
thought may depend upon further evolution of the intellect. Again it
should be observed that just as tools such as the plough are handed down
as part of the tradition, so, too, the instrument of thought is handed
down as part of the tradition and that, therefore, in studying in what
follows the manner in which tradition is passed on and stored up, we are
studying the methods whereby the instrument of thought as much as any
other skilled process is transmitted.
Further stages in the movement of thought maybe distinguished. It is not
necessary to go into them here. They arise within the third period, and
relatively late within that period. They are characterized by the rise
and development of science, philosophy, and religion—religion, that is
to say, which has passed beyond the stage of folk-religion.
3. Let us now consider the passing on and storing up of the products of
conceptual thinking. We may take the latter point first. Ideas may be
stored up in language, customs, folk-lore, institutions, tools, and so
on, using tools in the narrower sense of material implements. In one
sense language is in itself a great storehouse of ideas quite apart from
its function as a means of transmitting ideas regarding specific customs
and rights. Slowly and painfully concepts have been elaborated,
distinguished, clarified; and as a child learns his native language, in
a few years he acquires the products of the thinking of untold
generations from whom he is descended. It is difficult to exaggerate the
immense importance of this method of storing ideas. Very largely through
language alone, though not without the acquirement of ideas otherwise
stored, a man passes, by the time he has reached maturity, through a
stage of thought corresponding to the primitive stage, to the
common-sense stage, and even to the higher stages.
It is obvious enough that at the present day ideas are largely stored in
books and the vast importance of writing and printing—inventions of the
third period[1655]—is a commonplace. Similarly, ideas are stored in
customs, institutions, rites, folk-lore, and so on. Behind all
institutions, ceremonies for example, we must seek ideas. The original
ideas which gave birth to customs have often been lost, but whether this
is so or not, where an institution exists and is passed on there we are
witnessing the perpetuation of an idea, if it is merely an idea that it
is the correct thing to perform some simple action on certain occasions.
Many valuable ideas are stored up in the making and use of tools and in
the practice of skilled processes, especially those which are concerned
with the provision of food. We can understand how by the exercise of
thought improvements in some tool or in some method are now and again
made, and, once made, how they are stored up. What is less easy is to
understand precisely how the passing on of ideas so stored is brought
about.
4. Something has already been said as to the manner in which by means of
language ideas present in the mind of the speaker are transmitted to the
hearer; and it has been pointed out that apart from this the learning of
any language is in itself a process by which the ideas elaborated by
former generations are acquired. Bearing in mind the manner in which
ideas are transmitted by language, it is clear how, after the invention
of writing and more especially after the invention of printing, ideas
thus stored up are transmitted. But before these inventions, and indeed
to a large extent after them also, ideas committed to memory by each
generation are passed on by language. Among primitive people there is a
vast store of ideas affecting conduct, belief, and every side of life
which is so passed on. But the storing up of ideas is not merely a
matter of memory and the passing on is not merely a matter of language.
Rites, ceremonies, implements, and so on, are themselves storehouses of
ideas, and the transmission of the ideas therein contained, as well
indeed as the ideas solely retained in the memory of past generations,
is accomplished in large part by a process of absorption.
This process of absorption is due to the presence of certain innate
tendencies. These tendencies have sometimes been grouped under one head
and called imitation—as, for instance, by Tarde and others who have
studied the process and emphasized its great importance in social life.
Following McDougall we may distinguish three innate tendencies. By
sympathy is meant that the exhibition of emotional excitement on the
part of the agent may induce a similar emotional excitement on the part
of the patient. By imitation is meant that there may be a tendency for
the patient to assimilate his bodily movements to those of the agent.
Important as are these innate tendencies in facilitating the
transmission of customs and so on—themselves ultimately the product of
conceptual thought—suggestion assumes a far more prominent place.
McDougall’s definition of suggestion has already been quoted. According
to his view it is essentially the acceptance with conviction of a
proposition in the absence of logically adequate grounds for its
acceptance. He points out that a proposition is not necessarily
communicated in formal language, and further distinguishes certain
conditions which are favourable for the communication of propositions by
suggestion. Chief among these are deficiency of knowledge relating to
the topic in regard to which the suggestion is made, imperfect
organization of knowledge, and the impressive character of the source
from which the suggested proposition is communicated. These conditions
are very prominent among children and in all primitive society. There is
no doubt that it is largely by virtue of suggestion that children absorb
the tradition of their race and time. Children have little knowledge and
what they have is imperfectly organized; further propositions come to
them from a source which is impressive and has prestige whether it is
from parents or grown-up people or from the conventions ruling in
society. Just as children in modern society absorb tradition by
suggestion, so do men among primitive races where the conditions are
even more favourable for transmission by this means. Thus, in order that
the products of conceptual thinking of former generations should be
transmitted, it is not necessary that there should be convictions based
on logical grounds or that formal language should be employed. Tradition
can be, and is to a large extent, ‘absorbed’.
5. Tradition, having thus passed on, is retained, and in the process of
retention habit plays an important part. Habit applies to all forms of
mental process and to all forms of action. Once something has been
performed in one way, it is easier to do it again in that way than in
any other. ‘This is the great principle’, says McDougall, ‘by which all
acquisitions of the individual mind are preserved’,[1656] whatever the
mode of acquisition may be.
6. The products of the thinking of past generations are thus stored up,
transmitted, and retained. Additions are made to the store, and
improvements are made in the method of storing. Tradition, by which is
meant this store, is thus cumulative. The acquirements of past
generations are passed on to the present generation and, modified in
some degree, are transmitted to future generations. New generations,
therefore, so far as acquired knowledge is concerned, begin at the point
where the former generation left off. It does not, of course, follow
that additions are always being made to tradition; it may be for all
practical purposes stagnant or much that has been acquired may be
lost.[1657] It does, however, permit of accumulation, and this fact
introduces an element of vast importance into the life of man as
compared with his pre-human ancestors.
It is not, however, correct to say that this is a wholly new element.
Tradition may be and is present before the level of conceptual thinking
has been reached. Many animals, for example, live in herds and
instinctively take shelter when one member of a herd utters a warning
cry. If at some past time a new enemy has appeared, they will have
learnt by experience to take shelter. Subsequent generations will raise
the warning cry on the appearance of the enemy, because what we may
think of as a tradition has grown up concerning the hostile nature of
the species with which past generations were brought into contact. Thus
we may think of a tradition among horses that motorcars are not
dangerous. When cars were first introduced horses tended instinctively
to avoid them. Many horses learnt from experience that cars were
harmless, and young horses, seeing motorcars for the first time in the
presence of older horses, which have learnt the lesson, absorb the
tradition that they are not dangerous. Tradition among animals can go
even farther than this. To some degree it seems that the manner of nest
building among birds is traditional and not instinctive.[1658] But
compared with the vast importance of tradition among men, tradition
among animals is an almost negligible feature in their lives, and for
all practical purposes we can think of tradition as a peculiar
characteristic of man due to the higher mental process to which he has
attained.
7. In any race at any given time there is thus a vast body of tradition.
These traditions govern both the degree and the direction in which the
various mental processes function. What is meant will be clearer if we
think of the influence of the mass of traditions upon physical
characters. At any given time there are a number of tools and skilled
processes known and employed and, in the first place, the degree in
which the body is exercised will depend upon their nature. It may be
that hunting with bow and arrow, or fishing in canoes, is the chief
occupation of the men. The degree of physical exercise will be
conditioned by these traditions and so too will, in the second place,
the nature and direction of physical exercise. Similarly with regard to
the intellectual faculties, the degree to which they are used will be
conditioned by the form of language, by the necessity of learning what
custom lays down as the acquirement of an average member of society, and
by the opportunities and inducements generally to the employment of
reasoning. The direction in which the intellectual faculties work will
also be closely conditioned by tradition. Having absorbed the traditions
of the race and time, the direction which reasoning follows will always
be very largely governed by what has been acquired. Few men strike out
new paths, and, when they do, the direction of the path is seen to be
greatly influenced by the previous trend of thought. Tradition, as it
advances, thus tends to proceed in grooves.
The manner in which tradition conditions the degree and nature of the
manifestation of the instinctive tendencies is equally well marked.
Among some races, such as the Eskimos, fighting is almost unknown.
Though among such races the instinct of pugnacity is probably less
strongly given in the germinal constitution than among other races, to a
large extent the relative absence of fighting is certainly due to
tradition. Among the Eskimos we find a great body of custom and ideas
all of which tend to impress upon them that fighting is wrong. An
emotion again may be greatly developed by some racial tradition.
Self-assertion is much more developed among the members of the larger
and more prosperous European races than among the smaller and weaker
races. The attitude of the Englishman is very different from that of the
Dane, who will tell you that Denmark is only a little country that wants
to be let alone. Latterly the attention of the world has been drawn to
the peculiar manner in which the teaching of various historians,
moralists, philosophers and others has moulded the outlook of the
Germans and come to direct the expression of their emotions. Thus in a
most striking manner it has been made obvious how a peculiar body of
tradition, ultimately the product of conceptual thinking, has directed
the emotions and sentiments of a whole people into certain channels with
such disastrous results. The direction of an instinct is often changed;
the tender emotion may be diverted among the childless to charitable
works, and the instincts of celibates obviously become much changed. Any
instinct indeed is capable of manifesting itself in very different forms
according to the outlet which it finds, and the nature of the outlet is
determined chiefly by tradition. ‘On a, aujourd’hui’, says Joubert, ‘non
seulement la cupidité mais l’ambition du gain.’[1659] The simpler
emotion has, that is to say, become more complex under the influence of
the traditional environment.
8. Lastly we may note that the tradition acquired and present at any one
time may form the basis for the selection of men and of groups of men.
There are often, especially among the higher races, differences in
tradition as between the groups and classes in the same race. The
differences are usually much greater between different races. The
tradition present in a race, whether because it includes a higher degree
of skill, enables a greater degree of coherence to be realized, is the
foundation of more vigorous endeavour, or because it is a combination of
these and other elements, may enable one race, when in conflict with
other races, to overcome those other races, should the latter be
possessed of a tradition, which, taken as a whole, is, relatively to the
conditions of the contest, less valuable. There is thus a process of
natural selection based upon differences in tradition, just as there is
a natural selection based upon differences due to modifications and also
upon differences due to mutations. Selection of modifications, as we
have seen, produces no permanent results. But selection of tradition,
like selection of mutations, has results which may be permanent. In
primitive society, where tradition within a race tends to be uniform,
this selection of tradition chiefly comes into play in the conflict
between races. In more advanced societies where there are considerable
differences in tradition between the classes, it also comes into play
within races.
The conflict between races is always in large measure a conflict between
traditions whether or not the differences in tradition are a measure of
more fundamental differences. In these conflicts a mass of tradition may
be wiped out and lost for good or any degree of amalgamation of
tradition may take place.
At length within modern races there arises a competition of ideas of a
rather different nature. Within civilized races there is no longer a
mass of tradition which has to be accepted as a whole; there are
different ideas which may be said to compete. One idea may get the
better of another within the minds of the majority without involving any
elimination of men who hold any other idea, because men can now change
their outlook—not, of course, in the case of the great majority by any
logical process. Thus a struggle comes into being between ideas,
customs, and institutions in modern communities which leads to change
without involving human selection.
These considerations pave the way to an examination of the influence of
the actual conditions under which tradition has been elaborated. We have
seen that conceptual thinking develops with, and is furthered by, the
use of speech. It does not develop merely to a particular level and
there stop. There is a movement of thought which at least in its earlier
stages takes the form of a clarification of concepts. The products of
conceptual thinking are stored up and handed on in the form of
tradition. This tradition is cumulative. Not only are additions made to
it but the methods of storing are improved. Elements may also be lost.
Finally, forming, as it does, a very important element in the
manifestation of human mental character, men, and more particularly
races of men, may be selected in accordance with the degree and quality
of tradition acquired by them.
XX
THE ORIGIN OF TRADITION
1. The study of the formation of tradition is a matter of great
complexity. Many important aspects of the problem await elucidation. It
is proposed here to reduce the discussion to the barest outline, and to
confine it to the origin of skilled processes and in particular to the
origin of skill in the provision of the essential requirements of daily
life. We further take into account only the most important aspects of
the environment—namely, the influence of fertility and the influence of
contact of man with man and of race with race. All questions connected
with innate differences in mental and physical characters will be for
the present disregarded. We want to know—other things being equal—how
skill will originate and grow, given such differences in the environment
as regards fertility and contact as exist.
2. The first problem which confronts us is concerned with the
differences in the environment arising from differences in fertility. To
this term a special meaning is attached. Fertility as here employed
corresponds to what is usually spoken of as the wealth of any country or
district. The nature and abundance of the fauna and flora, the surface
features of the land, the composition of the upper layers of the ground,
the minerals and to some degree the climate, as well as other factors,
all go to make up the fertility or wealth of any area. The differences
in the factors which go to make up fertility as between different
portions of the world’s surface are well known; they are very
great—areas closely approximated being at times sharply differentiated
one from another whereas in other places conditions remain very similar
over large areas.
The most important fact to be observed in this connexion is that there
is no absolute standard of fertility. ‘The term fertility’, says
Marshall, ‘has no meaning except with reference to the special
circumstances of a particular time and place.’[1660] Fertility is in
fact purely a relative term, and, now that we have for the moment put
aside differences in mental and physical characters, fertility is
relative for our purpose only to the amount of skill and such other
elements of tradition as may be in existence. An area, which is very
fertile for a race with some agricultural skill, may be far from fertile
for a race with a knowledge only of hunting and fishing, and the
presence of minerals obviously adds nothing to the fertility of an area
to a race lacking knowledge of their use. The country inhabited by the
Eskimos, who maintain a standard of living that, relative to the
standard achieved by many races, is far from low, would be wholly
infertile to a race not possessed of the peculiar skill distinctive of
Eskimo culture.
It should be noticed that, so far as fertility is dependent upon animal
and plant life, the fertility of different regions of the world’s
surface has varied in the period covered by the emergence of man, not
merely relatively but absolutely. There have been climatic changes of
which the glacial periods were the most remarkable. There have been
changes in the boundaries of seas, such as the Mediterranean, which have
profoundly affected the fertility of the neighbouring regions. The
Sahara at one time was certainly not as barren as it is now. In any
survey, such as that we are going to make, which was at all detailed,
such changes would have to be taken into account. But in what follows
they may be disregarded.
It may be observed here that in certain areas there is a destructive
element in the total make-up of the surroundings. The variable climatic
conditions of Australia and India which have been noticed in another
connexion are of importance also in this respect. The hurricanes of New
Caledonia are another example. So too are all those features in the
Central African environment which destroy the products of man’s
handiwork.[1661] This destructive element is only an exaggeration of
certain features which characterize all areas; nevertheless where these
features are exaggerated important results follow. There may be, for
instance, two areas, otherwise equally fertile; but if the destructive
element is important in one area, it is probable that so high an
economic stage will not be reached or maintained there as in the other,
and further, for the same reason, there will be less tendency for any
advance in tradition to be made. The reason for this will be clear when
we have examined the influence which fertility has upon skill. For this
destructive element is a kind of negative fertility, and just as
fertility is on the whole favourable to progress in skill, so what is
equivalent to its absence is a hindrance to progress in skill.
3. Fertility is thus relative to the tradition prevalent at any one
time. Let us suppose that man has spread over the surface of the world
and that the tradition present is everywhere very similar, being of a
simple form so far as skill is concerned, and consisting in a
rudimentary knowledge of hunting and fishing. It is clear that certain
areas—the great deserts, the frozen wastes of the north—will be
absolutely infertile; with this degree of skill only, life cannot be
maintained there. The remaining areas will vary from those which are
just sufficiently fertile to permit of life being maintained to those
which are the most fertile relative to this particular degree of skill.
Supposing for the moment that the degree of skill remains everywhere
similar, it follows, from what has been said earlier, that population
will be most dense and the return per head highest where the fertility
is greatest. Other things being equal, differences in fertility are thus
responsible for important differences in social life.
From these differences in fertility therefore consequences of the
greatest importance follow. In the first place, where population is most
dense, there, other things being equal, will be the greatest amount of
contact between men. With the results that flow from contact we shall
deal later, but it may be mentioned here that contact is in itself a
stimulus leading to the origin of, additions to, and modifications of,
tradition, and that the greater the amount of contact the more quickly
and the more thoroughly is tradition transmitted. Therefore, in the
first place, where the fertility is greatest, there will be the greatest
opportunity for existing tradition to be quickly absorbed. In the second
place, quite apart from the question of contact, where fertility is
greatest there is also for other reasons the greatest stimulus to
increase in skill. To illustrate this point let us remember in what
fertility consists. The existence of areas of greater fertility implies
that there are in such areas either a greater abundance of animals,
plants, minerals, and so on which can be of use, or a greater variety,
or both together. Let us further remember how inventions come about. For
thousands of years in a variety of ways the fact that the seed if sown
would produce its like in twenty-, fifty-, or a hundred-fold measure
must have been pressing itself upon the attention of man when supporting
himself by hunting and fishing only. How often the metal softened in the
camp fire before the method of fashioning a far more effective tool than
stone was adopted, we cannot guess. Eventually the facts were observed,
the practical applications to the needs of life undertaken, and valuable
additions made to skill and embodied in tradition. Man in fact
throughout the greater part of his history has not gone about
consciously trying to better his lot. Rude and poor as life was, his
necessity was not the mother of his inventions. Once, however, an
invention was made it became a necessity, and it is more in accordance
with the facts to invert the proverb and to regard invention as the
mother of necessity. But where should we expect the facts to be noticed
and the improvements to be made in skill? Obviously where they most
often happened, where, in other words, fertility was greatest. For it is
in those regions where there is the greatest abundance in quality and
quantity of useful objects that there will be the greatest chance of
their usefulness being observed, and that there will be derived the
highest return per head from any improvements in skill.
The greater the fertility, therefore, the greater the incentive to
progress in skill. This conclusion may seem to be in contradiction with
the commonly accepted idea that, when a living is easily obtained, there
is a tendency to stagnation.[1662] This notion is derived from
observations and descriptions of countries where, so it is said, such is
the bounty of nature that the hand has, so to speak, only to be
stretched out in order to gather in the fruits of the earth. This idea
is largely founded upon an under-estimate of the labour undergone,
especially on the part of the women, and upon an exaggeration of the
returns per head, and, as far as it is so derived, it is incorrect. But
it is true that often in such regions there is a tendency to stagnation;
such tendency, however, is in no way derived from the fertility; it
arises because to the tradition there is added for quite other reasons a
spirit of apathy and of listlessness. How this comes about may be
discussed later but it may be mentioned here that a destructive element
in the natural endowment of any area, such as not infrequently exists in
tropical regions, is one cause of the existence of this spirit.
4. Fertility then is relative, but, other things being equal, where
fertility is greatest there we find the greatest incentive to increase
in skill. From this follow certain important consequences. So long as
progress in skill keeps along any one line, so long as it takes the
form, for instance, of improvement in methods of hunting, so long, as a
general rule, will the same areas remain the more fertile areas. But
this does not always follow. It may be that some remarkable invention,
that of the bow and arrow perhaps, renders areas, previously not the
most fertile, the most remunerative. Hitherto it may have been that in
such areas the hunting of game was for various reasons difficult until a
higher degree of skill was reached, but this higher degree having been
reached, these areas became more remunerative than those previously the
most fertile. With the progress of skill there is thus a shifting of the
centres of the highest fertility.
This shifting of centres becomes more marked where progress takes a
different turn, where, for instance, agriculture arises. For this there
are two main reasons. First, it generally happens that an area which is
very fertile to a high degree of development of one kind of skill, as
the north-west coast of America is fertile to hunting and fishing, is
relatively infertile to another type of skill, as, for instance,
agriculture, in any case in its lower forms. It is rare that any area is
so highly endowed that at one and the same time it offers a large return
to the development of a particular form of skill and is also relatively
fertile to the first beginnings of another and ultimately far more
remunerative type of skill. Secondly, it is not as a rule where skill is
specialized that we find the beginnings of a new form of skill.
Tradition tends to move in grooves and where attention is with success
concentrated upon one type of skilled process, it is not there that we
should expect to find the origin of quite another type of skilled
process. This is only an application of a principle noted in another
connexion, namely that evolution proceeds from the generalized and not
from the specialized type.
In this manner the differences in natural endowment which distinguish
one part of the world from another bring about a shifting of the centres
of progress. There are other factors still to be considered which work
in the same direction; but apart from them this shifting comes about.
Though this shifting has been a feature of every stage of human history,
it must have been most noticeable where the great steps in skill were
made—when agriculture superseded hunting, when animals were first
domesticated, and when metals came into use.
5. To differences in fertility we have to add differences in contact as
affecting progress in skill. Contact may be considered as varying in
quality and quantity and may be thought of as influenced chiefly by two
groups of factors which we may call geographical and economic. We may
first ask how it is that differences in contact bring about differences
in skill.
From contact two results follow. The spread of tradition is in varying
degrees encouraged and progress in tradition is more or less stimulated.
For the most part differences in the spreading of tradition are to be
traced to differences in the quantity of contact, though differences in
quality also play a considerable part, while differences in the manner
in which progress is stimulated arise chiefly from differences in the
quality of contact.
It is obvious that tradition can only be transmitted by means of
contact. Later developments such as writing and printing allow of
contact at a distance; but for the most part it is personal contact with
which we are concerned. It is on the whole true that, other things being
equal, the more contact, the more swiftly and easily is the existing
mass of tradition disseminated throughout any society, and that
therefore the more fertile an area, the greater the chance of the
spreading of tradition. But other things are by no means equal
throughout history. At a certain stage, owing to the working of what we
may sum up as economic factors, there comes about a profound change in
the organization of society, the nature of which is described below.
This change markedly favours the transmission of tradition and therefore
we have to remember that the amount of contact ascertained by the
density of population is by no means a fair measure of the degree in
which the passing on of tradition is facilitated. Further consideration
of this point may be left until we come to deal with the changes
referred to. Geographical factors also have a bearing upon the
transmission of tradition, but since their influence is chiefly
pronounced in the stimulus to skill arising from the conflict of
traditions of different quality we may leave them to be dealt with later
as a whole.
Of more importance than the bearing of contact upon the transmission of
tradition is the part it plays as a stimulus to tradition. The
remarkable change which at a certain period supervenes in the
organization of society and to which reference has been made above, has
as far-reaching effects in affecting stimulus to skill as it has in
facilitating the transmission of tradition. Again we may leave the
consideration of this point until we have described the nature of this
change. It is clear, however, that the presence of other men is on the
whole a stimulus, though not in itself an important stimulus, so long as
tradition is fairly uniform. Nevertheless the more contact there is, on
the whole the more stimulus there is. ‘There be thoughts’, wrote
Maitland, ‘which only come to men when they be tightly packed.’[1663]
But it is when traditions of different quality come into contact that
the stimulus becomes important. Where this happens, we have to
distinguish two things. There is the passing over of the elements
peculiar to each tradition to the other tradition and there is the
stimulus which the mere contact affords.
The passing over of elements of one tradition to another and the
stimulus afforded go more or less together. Under certain circumstances
there is no passing over and there is no stimulus, or at least they are
reduced to a minimum. This sometimes happens when two cultures varying
very markedly one from the other come into contact—one being
distinguished by the possession of a far higher degree of skill than the
other. The less skilled race is driven from its territory, and if it
survives it is because certain areas of its territory are relatively
infertile to the higher skill of the conquering race. A remnant of the
less skilled race survives in some corner of its former territory and
reaches a _modus vivendi_ with the dominant race. This _modus vivendi_
may take the form of an almost complete disregard of one race for the
other; no influence is exerted by one on the other; little, if anything,
is absorbed from the other tradition. Some such condition was reached as
between the Veddahs, the Todas, the Central African pygmies, and the
races respectively surrounding them.
In order that the contact should be effective it is necessary that the
differences between the cultures should not be too great. It is most
effective in such a region as Western Asia where in close proximity
there are several areas varying markedly one from another. In such a
region there will grow up, owing to the variations in fertility,
somewhat different traditions. These traditions coming into contact will
rarely wholly overwhelm one another; there will be a perpetual taking
over by one tradition of some elements from the other so that each
tradition will be enriched as it could not have been enriched had it
depended entirely upon the environment which gave birth to it. Further,
the fact that implements, skilled processes, customs, and institutions
of a strange nature are now and again coming under the notice of each
race acts as a stimulus to thought and invention quite apart from the
advantage that may be gained by the absorption of what is valuable into
its tradition. It is probable that in this stimulus to thought we have
to recognize one of the most important factors making towards progress.
There is no space to pursue this subject here. It may perhaps be noticed
that, when two cultures come into contact, all the elements do not
spread with equal rapidity. It has been observed, for instance, that,
when a tradition comprising greater skill comes into contact with a less
full tradition, ‘it is the recognition of the superiority of the natural
objects and arts which prevails and makes possible the acceptance of
other elements of an introduced culture.’[1664] Certain general
principles can be made out but there is much that requires elucidation.
There is a considerable body of evidence in favour of the view that
megalithic buildings have been derived from one centre. If this is so,
it is a remarkable example of the fact that an art of an obviously
impressive though not useful nature can pass from one race to another
without any noticeable assimilation of other elements of the culture
where the art was first practised. Again, if this is so, it is not
improbable that useful arts which in their way are equally impressive
may have similarly proceeded from one centre. It is remarkable also that
mythology can apparently spread from one culture to another. To whatever
source we may attribute their origin there seems little doubt that in
North America, for instance, tales and legends have spread from one side
of the continent to the other after very different economic systems had
been evolved and without any marked spreading of other elements in the
traditions at the same time.[1665]
6. Having thus indicated the manner in which contact influences the
origin, growth, and transmission of tradition we may turn to consider
what bearing geographical and economic factors have upon contact. The
former problem may be passed over with a few words; the latter will
require a rather longer discussion. The former has been the subject of
much attention and the main facts, which are all that concern us, are
familiar; the latter has not received so much attention though it is of
great importance.
Not only the spread of elements of culture but also the movement of
peoples are governed by geographical factors. An isolated area is
isolated from the slow permeation of elements of tradition, as well as
from migratory races. To the degree, therefore, to which any area is
isolated, it is removed both from those influences which favour the
passing on of elements of tradition as well as those which form an
incentive to skill. Isolation is never complete. The more isolated an
area is, the less often have migratory races reached it, with the result
that when they have done so, there has usually been a conflict between a
culture so dissimilar in skill that the migratory race has often wiped
out the original race. Apart from the visits of migratory races the
beneficial results of contact are reduced to a minimum within an
isolated area. The differences in traditions are small, and both the
elements of culture which can be acquired and the stimulus which can be
derived from contact are of little importance. What these geographical
features are is fairly well known.
The first factor is isolation by sea. America was apparently peopled
some time in the first period. Subsequently to the date of its original
peopling it may be regarded as having been for all practical purposes
isolated from the other continents and thus its inhabitants had been
long cut off from contact with the rest of the human race when it was
‘discovered’ by Columbus. America was probably visited, perhaps more
than once, by parties reaching the Pacific Coast and was certainly
visited by the Norsemen, but this small amount of contact has exerted no
influence upon the evolution of skill. America is the most remarkable
instance of isolation by sea. Isolation by sea has exerted a profound
influence upon Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania; and important also
has been the semi-isolation of Africa, which continent, until great
progress had been made in navigation, was only in contact with Asia by a
narrow neck. Among primitive races deserts and mountains hinder contact
in almost equal degree, and, though in one sense not geographical
features, forests and vegetation, especially in tropical countries,
exert a profound influence upon contact.
Other features in the environment may be regarded rather as facilitating
contact. Rivers form great arteries of communication, and it is
remarkable how small a hindrance they are to contact. Thus ‘Christopher
Gist, exploring the Ohio in 1751, found a Shawnee village situated on
both sides of the river below the mouth of the Scioto, with about a
hundred houses on the north bank and forty on the south. The small and
unique nation of the Mandan Indians were found by Lewis and Clarke near
the northern bend of the Missouri in 1864 in two groups of villages on
opposite sides of the river. They had previously in 1772 occupied nine
villages lower down the stream, two on the east bank and seven on the
west.’[1666] Fresh-water lakes, though not salt lakes, have again been
centres in which contact has been favoured, as was the case in
Switzerland at one period and also in Mexico and Peru where the highest
level of progress was reached in America.
In considering any area there are certain general features of importance
quite apart from those which actually hinder or facilitate contact. In
the case of any area there is what we may call its location, that is to
say, its position relative to its surroundings. The position of any area
in Africa with regard to its distance from the north-eastern corner,
through which contact with inhabitants of other continents came about,
is obviously of great importance, and similarly is the distance of any
one area from the sea when navigation has been developed. To location we
may add diversity of features which brings about the contact between
different economic systems. This feature of diversity is chiefly
relevant when considering large areas; and in this respect Europe and
Asia are far more favoured than America.
Lastly, differences in language are a potent influence in hindering
contact though they are rather evidences than causes of isolation. When
once established differences in language intensify the isolation due to
other causes. It may be observed in passing that, contrary to what might
be expected, the degree to which among primitive races ‘foreign’
languages are understood is considerable.
Though in the first two periods the importance of the various factors in
hindering and facilitating contact has varied greatly, it is sufficient,
when taking a broad view, to bear the general nature of these influences
in mind. The tendency in the third period has been obviously to reduce
vastly the importance of all hindrances to contact arising from features
of the environment. Railways cross deserts and tunnels pierce mountains,
and that amount of contact, small though it may be, which owing to the
inventions of writing and printing now occurs between all parts of the
world, can transmit more tradition than wide avenues of contact between
neighbouring peoples previously made possible.
Here we can leave this matter. It has been worked out in much detail.
All that is necessary for our purpose is to bear in mind the fact, which
indeed is obvious, that contact is in various ways hindered and
facilitated by geographical causes.
7. We have now to consider what is less familiar—the bearing of what we
may call economic factors upon contact. These factors are themselves but
an expression of the working of the economic system, and the economic
system is correlated with fertility though modified by the degree and
kind of contact allowed by the geographical environment. Therefore in
considering the working of these economic factors, we are in fact
considering another aspect of the manner in which the environment bears
thus indirectly upon contact.
Progress in skill, as we have said, is correlated with increasing
density of population, and, other things being equal, the greater the
density of population, the more contact there is. But other things are
not equal; the chief disturbing factors are those connected with the
organization of society in their influence both upon the quality and
quantity of contact. The vast importance of the step which led to the
origin of primitive society has already been remarked upon. When we
observe primitive society in more detail, it is seen that, compared with
the type of organization which arose in the third period, this form of
society essentially consists of a repetition of similar elements.[1667]
A perfect type of this form of society would be one which consisted
merely of a collection of families, not differing essentially one from
another, each being a microcosm of the whole society. Actually we find
that primitive society is usually composed of the repetition of larger
elements than the family, which Durkheim calls ‘clans’. This term is
employed in order to mark the family and political features which
characterize these elements. The variations of the constitution of
primitive society are very numerous, but it has essentially this form
which Durkheim calls ‘segmentary’. The solidarity of such a society
rests solely upon the similarity between these clans; the binding
forces, that is to say, which keep the society together, do not take
their origin in the fact that these elements are complementary to each
other and in combination form one organic whole; such coherence as there
is arises solely from the fact that these elements, in so far as they
are similar, coalesce together. Typically, then, we find in this stage
of organization families living side by side very largely independent
one of another but combining to form clans. These clans have as a rule
no definite constitution; but at times, owing to internal dissensions or
warfare, a leader or leaders may arise who put themselves at the head of
these groups.
As has been said, variations in and developments of this type of
organization may arise and, though among primitive races some approach
to the higher type can be detected, the evolution of the higher type of
organization is essentially a development which took place in the third
period. This type of organization we call organic, as distinguished from
segmentary, because in the first place the elements which go to form the
whole do not simply cohere owing to their similarity; they are in the
nature of more or less specialized organs all of which are necessary in
order that the whole may exist. Each again has a particular rôle and
each organ is formed of differentiated parts. These organs are not
simply connected one with another like links in a chain; they are
co-ordinated one with another and subordinated one to another into an
organic system. The parts are dependent on the whole and the whole on
the parts.
In an organic society, in fact, men are grouped according to their
profession and not according to their descent. One of the marks of the
segmentary type of society is that men are grouped according to their
descent, real or fictitious, and it is this relationship which
determines their position in society. In the organic type of society,
that which determines a man’s position is the function which he fulfils.
In this form of society there are remnants of the older form of
organization, as is seen in the recognition of areas, smaller elements
such as parishes being united into larger areas such as boroughs, which
are united in turn into provinces of which the country is composed.
This, however, is not the form of organization which keeps the higher
type of society together. That which forms its essential difference from
the lower type is the organic nature of the relation of the parts—the
complementary co-ordination of the various professions one with the
other. It is this interlocking of complementary parts and not the
coherence of similar segments which cement the form of society typical
of the third stage.
8. The evolution from the segmentary to the organic form of social
organization was relatively speaking a rapid process. The approach that
can be made to the organic type within the segmentary type is only
slight. Doubtless the new type developed within the old forms. Thus we
see among the Hebrews the assumption of priestly functions by a single
tribe—that of the Levites. But the development of the organic type
cannot go far without breaking up the segmentary form of organization;
the number and importance of functions does not correspond with the
existing forms of organization and cannot long develop within them.
We have now to ask what brings about the evolution of the organic type
of society and then what bearing these forms of organization have upon
the growth and transmission of tradition. It is rather that the
crumbling away of this segmentary organization of society brings to
birth the organic type than that the growth of the latter is the cause
of the disappearance of the former. This must be so because, as we have
seen, the existence of the segmentary type is a barrier to the
development of the organic type. This crumbling away is brought about by
what Durkheim calls the growth of moral density. Growth in moral density
comes about through the pressure of the increasing contact between men
performing the same functions, and this causes the decay of the
segmentary type of organization and brings about an organization resting
upon function. The effect acts upon the cause and accelerates the
process. The growth in moral density is connected with the growth in
volume of society which is measured solely by the increase in
population. But growth in moral density, though only made possible by
growth in volume, does not of necessity go hand in hand with it. Growth
of moral coalescence is not correlated absolutely with the increase in
volume. The density of population can become very considerable, while
the moral density remains relatively undeveloped. This result is
sometimes attributable to the survival of certain elements of segmentary
organization to which religious feelings have become attached and which
have, therefore, resisted the forces which make for their dissolution.
This is the case, for example, with regard to the maintenance of the
family system in China, which is the great barrier to a development of
moral coalescence. The most powerful motive in Chinese life is the
devotion to the family system, and this motive prevents the progress of
division of labour. Among the Hindus the caste system has the same
effect. But it is not merely a survival from a former segmentary
organization to which religious motives have become attached; it has
actually undergone a development for the most part in opposition to the
organic organization of society. ‘The divisions’, says Sherring, ‘among
the Hindus involving complete separation in respect of marriage and
social intercourse, number not hundreds but thousands. In other words
the Hindu brotherhood is split up into innumerable clans, holding not
the smallest connexion with one another, acknowledging no common bond
save that of idolatry.... Caste dissolves the social compact found in
other countries, infuses the poison of deadly strife into the small
village communities scattered in tens of thousands over the land,
induces enmity between neighbours on the most trivial grounds, carries
out its own childish rites and laws with Draconian severity, exercises
the strongest power of disintegration the human race has ever been
subject to, and only displays a spirit of binding and uniting in
relation to those selfish creatures who belong to one and the same
caste, and who are thereby kept apart from all the rest of mankind by an
unnatural divorce.’[1668]
Thus primarily it is the breaking down of the segmentary type of
organization and the condensation of society which permits the division
of labour. In the end the advance to the higher type of organization is
attributable to the growth of population. It is first necessary that a
relatively high degree of skill should be attained involving a certain
density of population. Then there arises a tendency for the segmentary
organization to break down and give way to the organic type. The
breaking down may be more or less imperfect and there may be factors
which work against the full development of the organic type.
9. The degree to which the higher type of organization favours the
increase of skill cannot be overestimated. So long as all men are more
or less self-supporting and perform all the functions necessary to
maintain existence, the securing of food, the building of shelters, the
fashioning of weapons, the making of clothes, their skill in any one
direction must remain small. But as soon as certain men begin to
concentrate upon certain functions the whole position changes. It then
becomes possible for skill to reach a far higher level, and with the
further division of functions there is practically no limit to the
degree of skill which may be obtained. A concentration upon one function
and the association of men so employed are themselves powerful stimuli
to further progress. The facts are familiar and there is no need to
elaborate the position. At length classification by function tends to
override classification by any other standard, and all those engaged in
any country in any one function become associated in such a manner that
the stimulus is further emphasized and the possibility of any favourable
new departure being lost is reduced to a minimum.
The importance of the organic type of organization in favouring the
transmission and storing of tradition is equally well marked when
compared with the segmentary type. The more society is divided into
self-contained and self-sufficient segments, the less likelihood is
there that any development in one segment will spread to the other
segments. All events tend to be localized, and any promising departure
in a new direction is unlikely to penetrate far and become embodied in
tradition. New departures are more likely to be lost altogether than to
be preserved. The more society is organized on the organic type, on the
other hand, the more facilities there are for the transmission and
storing of tradition. As the segmentary system breaks down, the
transmission and storing of tradition themselves become special
functions. Various means of communication are elaborated, the spreading
of news becomes a function in itself, teaching becomes a profession, and
libraries are established.
10. Such very briefly are the nature, causes, and results of the change
in the organization of society so far as concerns our present purpose.
There are certain points in this connexion to which some allusion may be
made. We have already commented on the fact that the transformation to
the higher type does not go hand in hand with growth in numbers. The two
examples from India and China showed how little correspondence there may
be between density of population and division of labour. Again, in
modern communities there is an apparent anomaly. There are considerable
differences as regards the amount and kind of tradition present in the
different strata of society, and this may appear all the more anomalous
because in such societies the division of labour has been developed to
the greatest extent. Tradition, it would seem, should be very uniform.
Uniformity of tradition, on the other hand, is a mark of primitive
society. But this anomaly is only apparent. Among primitive races there
is infinitely less tradition than among civilized races. Among the
latter not only is the amount of tradition vast, but it is in the course
of rapid evolution, and there is therefore in the first place a far
greater possibility for differences in tradition to arise. Further, the
very fact of the division of labour means that different forms of skill
are cultivated deliberately by different elements of the community.
Thence arise the differences in social customs and conventions which are
apparent in the different strata of modern society. Where there is
division of labour, there must be, as we have seen, differences in the
acquirement of the tradition of skill, and we may think of the
differences in the social and conventional tradition as originating in
the differences in functions. Where there is ownership of property on a
large scale, ownership may be regarded as a function in society, and
clearly enough certain customs and conventions become connected with
this function and distinguish the so-called upper classes. Differences
in social tradition so arising do lead to some approach to a segmentary
division of society. Once classes are set up, there is a tendency for a
man to take his position rather according to his class than according to
his function. Actually what happens is that the upper classes adopt
certain functions, the sacerdotal or the military for example, and thus
the differences in custom and convention become somewhat artificially
perpetuated, perpetuated that is to say over and above the distinctions
which would be the inevitable accompaniment of different functions. In
this fashion class becomes of considerable importance in modern
communities as a barrier to the transmission of tradition, and there is
thus less coalescence between those performing different functions than
the mere division of labour brings about.
Interesting as are these modifications of the working of what we have
called economic factors, they do not seriously affect the conclusions to
be drawn in a broad survey. The transformation to the organic type of
society is a mark of the third period, and therefore within this period
the conditions became such as to stimulate the growth of skill and to
facilitate the transmission and storing of skill in a manner never
before approached.
11. Given, therefore, differences in fertility and in the geographical
configuration as between one part of the world’s surface and another,
and given migration, we can understand how skill arises, how it is
transmitted, and how it is stored. The factors considered are not the
only factors, but they are the chief factors, and a consideration of
them alone enables us to understand how in the main progress may be
achieved—how, that is to say, to some degree command over nature may be
attained. Further, in thus tracing the causes of progress in this narrow
sense we are tracing in some manner the origin and growth of other
elements in tradition, not directly concerned with command over nature.
This can be illustrated by a reference to the results obtained by
Messrs. Hobhouse, Wheeler, and Ginsberg. As we have seen, progress in
skill falls easily into a series of stages—hunting and fishing,
agricultural and metal-using. These authors further subdivided hunting
people into two stages, agricultural peoples into three, and pastoral
into two. They then investigated the correlation between these stages
and the conditions relative to justice, the family, warfare, and so on.
It was found that in the points indicative of the degree of social
organization there is a certain correspondence with economic advance.
‘This correspondence’, they say they have found, ‘in the development of
government and of justice alike, in the fact that as we mount the scale
there is more of government and more of the public administration of
justice within society, and in the fact that the unit for government and
for justice extends. Both intensively and extensively there is a growth
of order corresponding roughly to the industrial advance. On the other
hand economic development has no necessary connexion with improvement in
the relation between members of a society. It does not imply greater
considerateness or a keener sense of justice, and in some ways may be
held even adverse to them. Thus in relation to marriage and the position
of women, we find little change throughout the grades, and of those
which we do find the most marked are specifically connected with the
economic factor, viz. the extension of purchase and of general
polygamy.... Economic causes are again associated with the development
of organized warfare and the substitution of the enslavement of
prisoners for their slaughter, liberation, or adoption.’[1669]
In other words social institutions are correlated to a considerable
extent with economic systems, and in tracing economic systems to
differences in the ‘wealth’ of the environment and to differences in
contact, we are at the same time accounting to the extent of this
correlation for the existence of most social institutions. Those aspects
of tradition which are not correlated with the economic system are
obviously often explicable as due to the direct influence of the
environment; for differences in the environment which have little or no
bearing on the economic system may give rise to differences in these
aspects of tradition. It has often been pointed out, for example, that
the trend of legends is explicable as due to certain aspects of the
environment; thus in Assyria legends were largely connected with floods.
In large part, therefore, differences in fertility and differences in
degree and kind of contact account not merely for progress in skill but
also in large measure for many social institutions, and those aspects of
social institutions which are not so to be explained are in part due to
the influence of aspects of the environment which do not contribute
directly to fertility, and in part to a complicated interaction of
tradition. It was remarked that, so far as can be seen, the more
conscious methods of adjusting the level of population to the optimum
number are not correlated with the economic system. There is no evidence
of infanticide and abortion, for example, being so correlated. The
occurrence of these institutions among certain races irrespective of the
economic conditions may be accounted for by differences in the
environment which do not affect wealth. We have seen that certain
methods must of necessity be employed, and the adoption of one method in
one place and of another in some other place may be due, for example, to
the presence in one area of plants by the use of which abortion can be
brought about, or the presence in another area of an instrument designed
for some other purpose which can be employed for this object. In other
areas the practice of killing deformed children from superstitious
motives may have been developed into a regular custom of infanticide, or
the taboo upon intercourse for short periods may have become developed
into a practice of abstaining for prolonged periods.
XXI
THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF TRADITION AND HEREDITY
1. We are now in a position to attempt an estimate of the relative
importance of germinal change on the one hand and of the accumulation of
tradition on the other.[1670] The direct influence of the environment
cannot be left altogether out of account; it is, however, already
apparent from what has been said on the subject that, although the
direct influence of the environment may modify the course of history, it
is not an important factor in comparison with the other two. That which
renders the problem so difficult is the fact that the manifestations of
human characteristics are shaped both by traditional changes and by
germinal changes, and that each kind of change reacts on the other. Thus
if we observe increasing subservience in the characteristics of a race,
we must remember that previous elimination of the more self-assertive
may manifest itself in this manner by moulding tradition through a long
course of years, that the nature of the environment may set the current
of tradition flowing in this direction, or that both factors may be at
work; and that, so far as the second factor is at work, it may for
reasons to be explained below cause the elimination of the more
self-assertive and so accelerate the process. It is in fact very
difficult to arrive at any precise conclusions regarding particular
problems, but we shall, after considering certain problems, reach a
fairly definite conclusion regarding the relative importance of these
factors in general.
2. With these problems in view we may first consider the general
characteristics of the intermediate period and then those of the three
subsequent periods.
It is clear that at the beginning of the intermediate period the
ancestors of man were living under those conditions which we have seen
to be common to all species in a state of nature and that, therefore, if
we are to speak of history at all, history was at this time an
expression of germinal change alone. We know nothing directly as to what
happened within this period, but from such hints as we can get we must
apparently make certain deductions. We know that within this long
period—many times as long as the whole period which has succeeded
it—there was accomplished by far the greater part of the evolution of
the human intellect. This is the conclusion we draw from the fact that
the intellect of primitive races, which must be taken as representing
man in the first period, differs in a small degree from that of modern
man relative to the difference which we must suppose to have existed
between the intellect of man in the first period and that of the
pre-human ancestor. Again the picture we must draw of our ancestors in
the intermediate period is that of a species acquiring domination almost
solely by its intellect. Further we have seen that the advance to the
stage of primitive society was only made possible by an important step
in mental evolution—so important a step that none of our ancestors who
did not take it have survived. The deduction to be drawn is clearly that
in the intermediate period history was founded in the main on germinal
change. If we find reason to conclude that germinal change has ceased to
play so important a part in the following periods, it should be
remembered that the sum of all these latter periods represents but a
fraction of the length of the intermediate period. If we regard human
history as a whole and date the beginning at the time when our ancestors
began to move away from those conditions which govern the existence of
all species in a state of nature, then we must conclude that germinal
change has been the explanation of what has happened during far the
greater part of history as defined above.
3. The course of history from the beginning of the first period to the
present day presents certain remarkable features. It has to be
remembered that the course of events in the first and second periods has
been reconstructed from evidence gathered almost solely in Europe, and
even then in large part from one country, namely, France. Europe was not
the centre of progress, and it may be that the abrupt replacement of one
stage of culture by another, of which we find evidence, would not be
what we should find nearer the centre of progress. There the evolution
of culture may have been more continuous. From time to time waves of
migration swept westwards and a higher stage of culture overwhelmed the
lower. It may be that the culture systems on reaching Europe followed
lines of development of their own which, owing to circumstances being
relatively less favourable, did not carry them so far as nearer their
point of origin. Therefore the next wave as a rule brought a higher
degree of skill which replaced the then existing European system.
However this may be, what we do undoubtedly find is a relatively slow
rate of progress in the early part of the first period. Progress became
more rapid in the Upper Palaeolithic and in the Neolithic. Finally at
the opening of the third period progress was vastly accelerated and has
gone on with ever-increasing rapidity subject to certain checks at
various times and places. This speeding up of the evolution of skill is
the chief outstanding characteristic of history since the opening of the
first period, and with it we may associate the facts that progress has
not been uniform as between different countries, and has been subject to
set-backs within countries especially within the third period. Recalling
what was said in the last chapter as to the influence of fertility and
contact upon the growth of tradition, we may now note that the main
outline at least of these outstanding events is apparently explicable as
the result of the working of these factors. We may begin with a
consideration of the facts regarding America.
America was apparently peopled from Asia at an early date.[1671] Putting
aside the Eskimos, it is probable that the invaders possessed a simple
and fairly uniform type of culture and that the cultural differences
found at the time of the discovery as between races in different parts
of the continent were indigenous. In other words America is a country in
which a section of the human race was early cut off from contact with
the remainder—such contact as occurred with the Norsemen and may have
occurred with the Pacific Islanders having been without importance. For
many thousands of years cultural evolution had proceeded independently
in this isolated area. At the time of the discovery it had in Mexico and
Peru reached a fairly high level. A form of writing had even been
evolved, and in general the level of culture was such as we may compare
with that attained shortly before the opening of the third period in
Eur-Asia. It is possible that at this time the evolution of culture was
on the verge of making a great step forward similar to that made in
Eur-Asia in the third period. But in any case progress in America had
fallen behind progress in Eur-Asia by some thousands of years, and it is
thus interesting to compare the endowment of America with that of
Eur-Asia.
It may first be noticed that the area is a large one and that it is
diversified in that it contains within it many types of geographical and
climatic environment. Nevertheless the shape of the area as a whole, and
more especially perhaps the absence of relatively fertile areas in
proximity differing sharply from one another such as we find in
Eur-Asia, renders it less favourably disposed to facilitate contact than
are parts of Eur-Asia. In this connexion it may be observed that the
Isthmus of Panama is a barrier rather than a means of communication.
Apparently the civilizations of Mexico and Peru had no knowledge one of
the other.
The differences in respect of fertility are more remarkable. Generally
speaking America is not notably less fertile than Eur-Asia, relative to
skill in hunting and fishing. The north-west coast of North America is
possibly more fertile relative to this type of skill than is any other
area in the world. But when we come to examine the endowment of America
as a whole relative to skill in the lower forms of agriculture and in
the domestication of animals, we find that America is poorly endowed
compared with Eur-Asia. Maize and rice are the only important indigenous
cereals. All the other valuable cereals were absent from America. This
is a very important fact because cereal culture is in many ways a far
more profitable art than either root-culture or arboriculture. But
America is poor not only in cereals; many plants which play so important
a part elsewhere in primitive agriculture are absent—the plantain, yam,
banana, breadfruit, and date-palm, for instance. Among the important
plants we may note the potato, coco-nut palm, manioc, arrowroot, and the
cocoa plant. Brazilian arrowroot is, it may be observed, very easily
propagated. ‘Even if the plant is left in the ground when the root has
been taken, new tubers grow from its joints after the first shower of
rain.’[1672] Some such plant as this in America or as the yam elsewhere
must have presumably been that first cultivated.
The poverty of America in animals fit for domestication is even more
remarkable. If we except the reindeer, milch animals were entirely
absent—a fact of great significance. The Indians had made the fullest
possible use of such animals as there were. ‘Setting aside the reindeer,
an unprofitable animal on any soil which produces any better crop than
moss, the Indians had domesticated every animal in the continent which
was capable of domestication.’[1673] Among them was the llama, an animal
of restricted usefulness, as it cannot be used for draught and cannot be
milked. The fact that there are several varieties of llama would seem to
point to the fact that it had been brought under domestication many
centuries before the discovery of America. Turkeys, dogs, pheasants,
ducks, and geese were also domesticated as well as a few other animals
of little importance.
When compared with Western Asia, America is seen to be poorly endowed in
animals fit for domestication and plants suitable for agriculture. But
it must be remembered that Western Asia is far richer than any other
area. America is not poor compared with Africa or Australia. We may now
glance at the endowment of these other regions beginning with Asia.
4. It is often a matter of the greatest difficulty to trace the original
habitat of the species of animals and plants which after many centuries
of domestication have given rise to the varieties now in use; in some
cases it is impossible; the camel, for instance, has never been found
wild.[1674] In some cases the evidence is vague and merely points to the
original home as having been within some large and not very clearly
defined region. Nevertheless an inquiry into the original habitat of the
more important domesticated animals and plants leads to a very
remarkable conclusion. We find that with few exceptions Western Asia was
the home of the great majority of such species. The chief exceptions
among animals are the elephant, buffalo, reindeer, and llama. The llama
originated in South America, the reindeer is found in the circum-Polar
regions, the elephant and buffalo are Indian. It is probable that the
original home of the camel was somewhere in this Asiatic region, and, if
this is so, then all milch animals, with the exception of the reindeer,
whether belonging to the ovine, equine, bovine, or camel group, had
their original home in the Asiatic region—a very important fact when the
large part played by milch animals is borne in mind. It should be
perhaps mentioned that certain species had a wide range and extended
beyond this Asiatic region vaguely defined though it is. The wild
ancestors of the ox and the pig were indigenous in Europe as well as in
Asia.[1675] The richness of the Asiatic endowment as regards plants is
no less remarkable. Practically all cereals of importance with the
exception of maize and one or two others originated there. Wheat,
barley, oats, rye, millet, and others of much importance at a certain
stage of progress in skill are indigenous in that region.
5. Turning to Africa we find that the large majority of domesticated
animals and of cultivated plants are not indigenous; when not introduced
by Arabs or Europeans, they were derived from Egypt and into Egypt they
had probably been brought from Asia. Of those animals now domesticated
cattle, goats, sheep, and fowls were derived from Egypt, the dog from
Arabia, the cat was brought by the Arabs, while pigs, muscovy ducks,
turkeys, and pigeons were introduced by the Portuguese. Sorghum grain,
millet, eleusine, colocasia (arum), yam, and the banana were introduced
from Egypt; the sugar-cane, rice, wheat, oranges, limes, cucumbers,
melons, gourds, onions, and hemp were introduced by the Arabs, while the
coco-nut palm came from Asia and the date-palm from the Mediterranean
basin. ‘The only doubtful exceptions are ground-nuts ... which may be
indigenous, and certain semi-cultivated beans.’[1676] It may be observed
that, although Africa is poor as regards animals and plants fit for
domestication, the negro never domesticated with one or two exceptions
such species as were capable of domestication. Thus the guinea-fowl and
the coffee plant, both indigenous, were not domesticated by the negroes.
6. Of the natural endowment of other regions it is not necessary to
speak. The absence of all mammals, with the exception of marsupials,
from Australia is well known, and the handicap resulting therefrom is
obvious. There are, however, certain broad facts with regard to
fertility and geographical configuration to which attention may be drawn
here. With respect to the fertility of tropical regions in general there
are two facts of importance. For the most part cereals are absent, and
it is chiefly trees and roots among indigenous plants which lend
themselves to domestication. Arboriculture and root-culture, however, do
not in many respects give as good a return as does the culture of
cereals. Further, fruits and roots cannot be stored as a rule; their
food value is not high, and in many ways the problems presented by the
cultivation of roots and trees do not afford anything like the same
stimulus to skill or require anything like the same advance in social
organization and in settled and regulated conditions of life as does the
cultivation of cereals. Again, in the general make-up of tropical
conditions there is frequently an element of destructiveness. The
rapidity with which in tropical Africa products of human handiwork are
destroyed is well known, and to a greater or less degree something of
the kind is a feature of all tropical regions.
7. Turning to geographical conditions in general as favouring or
hindering contact we find America isolated and, as a land mass taken by
itself, practically divided into two parts in which the conditions do
not markedly favour contact—especially contact between different
economic systems in close proximity. The remaining land masses may be
thought of as radiating out from one centre. The central area is not
only in general favourably located, but is in itself so formed as to
favour contact. The diversity of its surface, the inland seas, the
steppes, plateaux, mountain uplands, plains, and river valleys render it
in this respect richly endowed. Forests were less of a barrier to
contact in this region than elsewhere, and in this respect Western Asia
was better situated than Europe. Tropical forests and jungles form far
more serious barriers than do forests in temperate regions, and the
discovery of the use of metals is of less effect in reducing the
hindrances due to this barrier in tropical than in temperate countries.
Looking at the tracts of land which radiate out from this centre we see
how isolated is the greater part of Africa. Egypt is indeed almost a
part of the Western Asiatic region, but it is nearly cut off from the
rest of Africa by desert, being connected with the remainder of the
continent only by the valley of the Nile which in its middle regions is
almost barren while its upper reaches pass through huge tracts of marsh
and swamp. As we approach the south of Africa we come to what in
primitive times was a blind alley. So, too, in whatever direction we
pass outwards from the heart of Eur-Asia, whether we cross the sea to
Australia or travel to the eastern or western boundaries of the
Eur-Asiatic land mass, we reach regions where, on account of what we may
call their location and of other factors such as the presence of forest
or jungle or on account of the configuration of their surfaces, contact
is not favoured. We must in addition bear in mind that it is the central
region which is the most richly endowed as far as fertility is
concerned.
We may remember that there was another factor to which as a stimulus to
the formation of skill and to the transmission and storing of tradition
we found reason to attach great importance—namely, the replacement of
the segmentary by the organic type of social organization. This great
change took place in the Eur-Asiatic region and must be traced
indirectly to the characteristics of that region as a whole. For we
found that, before such a change could come about, a growth in the
volume of population was necessary, and growth in volume is directly
dependent upon fertility and all other elements in the surroundings
which favour the increase of skill.
8. There is, therefore, at the least a very remarkable correspondence
between the outstanding events of history since the opening of the first
period and the distribution in space and time of the chief factors which
influence tradition. We may set events in America up to the time of the
discovery against events in the rest of the world. We do not know with
what degree of skill the original emigrants were armed; but since,
generally speaking, the fertility of America relative to skill in
hunting and fishing is not, if at all, inferior to fertility elsewhere,
we have no reason to imagine that progress in the first period would be
less rapid than elsewhere. Again the presence, though not in great
variety, of easily cultivatable plants would facilitate much as
elsewhere the transition to the most primitive form of agriculture. But
the poverty in cereals and animals fit for domestication and the absence
of milch animals indicate an environment which, relative to conditions
in Western Asia, offers far less stimulus to progress. Further the
general configuration of the land does not favour contact as in the
latter region. Nevertheless considerable progress in cereal culture and
in the domestication of animals had been made, and in Mexico and Peru,
where the presence of lakes, the absence of formidable barriers, and the
diversity of surroundings offered by the proximity of high and low land
rendered contact most effective, there had grown up societies with a
relatively high level of skill. But America had lagged behind Eur-Asia,
and the degree to which this was so is only what would be expected if we
suppose that the innate capacity of the inhabitants of both regions was
once approximately equal and that, while some had wandered into less
favourable surroundings, others had remained in or migrated to more
favourable surroundings. It is at least clear that if we do set the
general trend of events in America against events in Eur-Asia there is
nothing incompatible with the theory that the constitution of the
environment can account in the main for the differences in the growth
and accumulation of skill.
Putting America aside, the same may be said of events elsewhere. The
rich endowment of Western Asia has been emphasized, and this region
appears to have been the centre of progress in the first period and was
most certainly so in the second and during the earlier part of the third
period. Everything leads us to suppose that at any given time up to a
comparatively recent date the level of skill was higher in this region
than elsewhere. From time to time waves of migration spread
outwards—most often apparently into Europe and less often into Africa
and Oceania—carrying with them a degree of skill so much higher than
that existing in the outlying areas that an abrupt transition to another
culture took place accompanied by varying degrees of extermination of,
and mixture with, the races situated there. If we bear in mind the
endowment of, and general conditions in, Africa and Oceania, the trend
of events in these regions is again comprehensible on the same
principles as those indicated above. It may also be observed that the
principle of the shifting of the centre of progress owing to the change
in relative fertility may be seen at work in Western Asia. At a certain
period, for instance, after a particular degree of civilization had been
reached, the great river valleys of the Nile and of the Tigris and the
Euphrates, which formerly had been relatively less fertile, became the
most fertile regions. Later the progress connected with the industrial
revolution led to another remarkable shifting of the centre of
advance—into regions, that is to say, where coal is abundant and easily
worked. This shifting of the focus of progress is often overlooked by
those who seek an explanation of the fact that the site of the earlier
civilizations has not remained the site of the later civilizations. ‘The
contrasts’, says Professor Elliot Smith, ‘in the achievements of the
various peoples cannot be explained away by lack of opportunities, in
face of the patent fact that among the most backward races of the
present day are some that first came into contact with, or were even the
founders of, civilization, and were most favourably placed for acquiring
culture and material supremacy.’[1677] The shifting of the centre of
progress is at least in part an explanation.
Within the third period there took place that remarkable change in
social organization already described which so markedly stimulated the
growth of skill and facilitated its transmission. This change had the
most profound effects on events in Europe and Asia. With it we must
associate a remarkable speeding up of the progress in skill which has
been the chief feature of the last period of human history. The
explanation of the acceleration of progress is thus ultimately based on
the endowment of different regions in respect to fertility, location,
and the facilities offered to contact. It may also be noted that the
further trend of events in Europe and Asia is made comprehensible by
this principle of the shifting of the centre of greatest fertility on
the one hand and by the imperfect realization of the organic type of
society on the other. In India and in China there have been forces
working contrary to the full development of the organic type of
organization in the shape of devotion, largely on religious grounds, to
various forms of a segmentary division of society, and this may prove to
be one of the chief reasons why in Eastern Asia we seem to be faced with
a backwater out of the main stream of progress.
Further, as tradition became more complex, small differences in the
environment often gave a favourable or unfavourable turn to the
development of skill. Thus after the invention of writing countries were
greatly favoured that possessed suitable writing materials. In China
writing, owing to the cumbersome form which it has taken, has never been
of more than a very restricted usefulness. It has been suggested that
the differences between the clarity of Greek thought and the vagueness
of Indian speculation are in part due to the greater use made of writing
in the former country.[1678]
9. Thus in general if we survey the outstanding facts we find that
explanations based on the influence of the environment in stimulating
progress in skill suggest themselves. Racial differences do exist and
play a part. We may gain some idea what this part is if we now turn to
consider the nature of these differences, and we may first pay attention
to the larger differences such as those which distinguish the negro from
the European. These differences, it must be emphasized, are only large
relative to the differences which exist between European races. Relative
to the difference between the ancestor in the intermediate stage and
modern man they are almost negligible.
Some analysis has been made of the differences between negroes and white
men and with regard to these differences we may observe two things. In
the first place they can only in part account for the differences in
performance. Before coming into contact with Europeans, negroes had not
passed beyond the stage of primitive thought; but it is evident that
they are not innately incapable of so doing. The results of educating
the negro have been to narrow the conception of the gap which separates
him from the white man. Just as D’Alembert and Diderot would not believe
that the Russians could be civilized up to the European standard, so a
later generation believed that the negroes could not be so civilized;
but ‘negroes are now indisputably the equals of white men in categories
in which one hundred years ago their masters would have confidently
argued that they were naturally incapable of attaining equality’.[1679]
Nevertheless there are differences; the negro is intellectually on the
average somewhat inferior, and certainly possesses somewhat different
emotional and temperamental characteristics.
In the second place from the end of the first period to the present day
the evolution of mental characters shows little correspondence to the
evolution of skill. Whereas progress in skill has been vastly
accelerated, progress in the evolution of mental characters has slowed
down and may within the third period have almost ceased. Selection
within this last period has, it may be remembered, come largely to be on
account of disease.
The nature, therefore, of racial differences and the trend of evolution
of mental characters tend to confirm the conclusion derived from a study
of the influence of fertility and of contact—namely, that the
outstanding events are to be traced to environmental rather than to
germinal changes. But germinal changes are not negligible. We have seen
how these circumstances which favoured progress in skill in the earlier
part of the third period also favoured mental evolution in just those
directions in which the white race is superior. Germinal changes may
thus be regarded as contributing to the progress which occurred at this
time; evolution in the direction of self-assertion and other qualities,
which characterize the white races, must have accelerated the cultural
changes already in progress. When Mr. McDougall says that ‘in so far as
differences of cultural level are associated with differences of level
of innate intellectual and moral qualities, cultural superiority must be
regarded as the effect, rather than the cause, of innate mental
superiority’,[1680] the above considerations suggest another view. It
would appear more probable that cultural changes and germinal changes
went hand in hand, and that they were both products of the same
environment; no doubt one kind of change reacted on the other, but there
seems as little reason for holding that the former were the effect of
the latter as for holding that the opposite was the case. Mr.
McDougall’s view meets with considerable difficulties when we extend our
inquiry to the events within the third period. He attributes the
cultural level of the early civilizations to previous mental evolution,
but as he thinks that there has been no appreciable evolution since that
time, the events of the last five thousand years including the continued
progress in skill must be otherwise accounted for. It is surely more
probable that this series of events beginning with the rise to the early
civilizations and continuing to the present day is in the main based
upon one determining cause. This we have found reason to identify with
the influence of fertility and contact upon the development of
tradition; to germinal change we attribute in the earlier epochs no
little influence but an influence which is contributory—supplementing
for a time the process which continued when germinal change had largely
ceased. So far as we find this conclusion to be supported by further
inquiry, so far it is correct to say that races with the innate
mentality of the negroes would not by themselves have reached the
position attained by the white races, though it is not true that the
white races progressed directly because of their superior innate mental
endowment.
10. We may now inquire into the importance of the lesser racial
differences. There are usually recognized in Europe three chief racial
types—Nordic, Mediterranean, and Alpine. If innate mental differences
exist, we should expect to find associated with each type certain
peculiar traditional features; for, as we have seen, innate racial
peculiarities tend to set the current of tradition flowing in certain
directions, and the association of different institutions and beliefs
with particular racial types would suggest that innate mental
differences are making themselves felt, though, before this conclusion
can be accepted, it must be shown that the play of environmental factors
upon tradition has been fairly uniform for all these types. A
considerable amount of evidence can be accumulated to show that such
association exists. Thus the Nordic peoples are mostly Protestant and
the Alpine and Mediterranean peoples mostly Catholic or Greek Church.
The fact that during the Reformation a choice was set before most
European nations as to what religion should be adopted—the issue hanging
in the balance for some time in many places—seems to indicate that the
conditions were more or less equalized and that the adoption of the
Protestant religion by the Nordic type was influenced by certain innate
characters attaching to this type—self-assertiveness and love of
independence, for instance.[1681] The South Germans, who are of the
Alpine race, remained Catholic, while in the Netherlands the Nordic
Dutchmen became Protestant. Similarly there is a certain correspondence
in Europe between the distribution of types of political institutions
and that of racial types, and much other relevant evidence could be
brought forward. We have seen how sharply negroes are distinguished from
Europeans in emotional disposition; similar differences, though on a
much smaller scale, are visible as between European races. It can hardly
be doubted that the Irish and the Scotch differ from the English in
disposition and—though this is more doubtful—there may be intellectual
differences. There may be some slight difference between the English and
the French intellect; it is hardly likely that the French passion for
logic and the English aversion to it are altogether traditional
characteristics. It would, therefore, appear that there are innate
mental differences between European races which tend not so much to
thrust races along certain paths as in the course of generations to
colour tradition and even at crises in national life, when a choice is
presented, to determine which path shall be taken. These differences may
be explained—though it is a somewhat speculative enterprise—by supposing
that the ancestors of the various racial types were exposed to different
surroundings—the ancestors of the Alpine race to patriarchal
institutions, of the Nordic race to more individualistic
institutions—and that thus subservient and assertive types were
respectively favoured.[1682]
The influence, however, of innate racial differences between races so
closely related as those of modern Europe must not be overrated. It is
possible to point to many examples of the fact that the distribution of
institutions, customs, and so on does not always correspond to that of
racial types. In Belgium, to take only one instance, the Walloons are of
Alpine stock, that is to say, they are racially similar to the great
majority of Germans. But the Walloons are distinctly French in character
and sympathy, whereas the Flemings—the other element in the Belgian
population—are Nordic and are in certain respects more allied to the
Germans with whom racially they have little in common. Either in such a
case innate racial differences do not exist of the kind suggested, or,
as is more probable, they exist but have been obscured by tradition.
That tradition is the predominant factor in shaping those
characteristics, of which we think when we have any nation in mind, can
be seen when we look at two examples of race formation in modern times.
Those characteristics which we find to be distinctive of the Boer race,
for instance, can be traced to the peculiar turn given by the
environment to the peculiar tradition—remarkable both in its religious
and social aspects—brought by the first settlers. The racial elements
represented among the Boers of to-day are well known—Dutch for the most
part with some admixture of French and English blood. But it is not to
this peculiar germinal constitution but to the motherhood of the South
African veldt acting upon a peculiar tradition that what is
distinctively Boer is to be attributed. So, too, there are no mental
characteristics as manifested so definite as those which are associated
with Americans. But it is impossible to think that they are the product
of the influence of the various racial stocks which have gone to make
the modern American population. Clearly enough these characteristics are
almost wholly traditional, and it can without much difficulty be shown
how the peculiar geographical, social, and political environment has
given rise to them.
Can we further understand how these distinctive accumulations of
tradition are maintained? Let us remember that a man requires not only a
home in the usual sense of a roof over his head, but what we may call a
home in the world of tradition, and that just as most men find a
dwelling-place in the country in which they are born, so most men at the
same time find a home in the world of tradition in the same country. Now
in any area, where men have for a longer or shorter time acted together,
there has been evolved a certain tradition under the influence of those
elements in the surroundings enumerated above. If another group of men
has been associated together in a very similar area, the tradition there
elaborated will show a likeness to that in the former area. But there
may be considerable differences. Small differences in the aggregate of
influences sometimes have far-reaching effects, and again what we regard
in our ignorance as ‘chance’ happenings may have, as we shall point out
later, profound consequences. Small differences and apparently
unimportant happenings give turns and twists to the direction in which
tradition is built up, and the individual differences between one
tradition and another become exaggerated by the tendency of tradition to
move in grooves. The peculiarities of a tradition become embodied in the
sum of all the institutions—using that term in the widest
sense—characteristic of a race and, as each man passes under the
influence of those traditions, so these peculiarities are maintained. As
often pointed out language is of less importance than might be supposed.
A common language does not imply a common tradition, and on the other
hand a diversity in language does not imply a diversity in tradition.
Institutions of another kind are of more importance. It is institutions
like the public schools of England which embody the distinctive elements
in social tradition. The case of the Jews is especially noteworthy.
There is no common language, no Jewish state, but one thing a Jew has in
common with other Jews—his religion. Round the Jewish religion centres
all that is distinctively Jewish, and the clinging of the Jew to his
religion has resulted in the maintenance of a Jewish race amidst all the
strange vicissitudes to which the Jews have been subject. ‘Qu’est-ce qui
a conservé le Juif à travers les siècles et l’empêché de disparaître au
milieu des nations? C’est sa religion.... Or ces rites protecteurs,
cette cuirasse ou cette carapace d’observances qui l’a défendu durant
deux mille ans, et que rien ne pouvait transpercer, notre esprit
occidental l’a entamée.... Si le judaïsme, débilité, venait à se
décomposer et à se dissoudre, qu’adviendrait-il du Juif? Fermé et
sauvegardé par sa religion, le Juif ne risquait-il point de s’évanouir
avec le judaïsme?’[1683]
Again, it has been pointed out that men have often achieved fame as
contributors to the civilization or literature of countries other than
that to which they by race belonged. It has been said that no one could
have been more French than the English Hamilton, the Swiss Rousseau, the
Italian de Maistre, the German Heine, or the mulatto Dumas. Great
contributions to the building up of what is typically British have been
made by men who were not of British blood though of course distinguished
British patriots. A string of names from Simon de Montfort to Disraeli
can be quoted. On the other hand, ‘natives of the British Isles have
helped to create the armies and fleets, and to build up the politics of
most European States. In the eighteenth century you might have found an
Irishman directing as Prime Minister the fortunes of Spain, and another
those of Naples, a third commanding the forces of Austria, and a fourth
seeking to rebuild the French dominions in India. Scots as a rule
restricted their attention to Protestant countries, but John Law in the
early years of that century did wonderful things with French finance.
The right-hand man of Frederick the Great was a Scot, and Scots took
more than their share in the making of Russia—an article of almost
exclusively foreign manufacture. Peter the Great himself had a mother of
Scottish birth, and the fact made all the difference between him and his
imbecile half-brothers. Napoleon himself was not a Frenchman by birth;
one of his marshals, an Italian, became king of Sweden, and founded the
present Swedish line of monarchs.’[1684]
This reference to the nature of minor racial differences thus tends to
confirm what was said above. Germinal differences are not to be
disregarded, but we must reject such theories as those of Gobineau and
Houston Chamberlain, who see in race the primary explanation of all
national achievement. Mommsen poured scorn upon the Celts and Vacher de
Lapouge attributed most of the misfortunes of France to the
brachycephalic element in the population.[1685] But we are now sceptical
of any such facile explanations of the course of history.
11. We can now come rather closer to the problem if we go on to examine
certain instances of germinal change that we know to have taken place,
and ask what effect is to be attributed to them and to such traditional
changes as have accompanied them.
Again and again in the course of history certain stocks have been
exterminated. This was apparently the fate of the Neanderthal race, and
in modern times was the fate of the Tasmanians. But though in this
manner the average germinal constitution of the whole species has been
altered, and as a rule raised, there has been little or nothing in such
events working towards the further evolution of the remaining stocks.
Intermingling of different racial stocks has been of frequent
occurrence.[1686] As we have seen, if the differences are large, vigour
may be exhibited in the first cross but will soon disappear;
unfavourable combinations of characters on the other hand are likely to
arise, and the mulatto thus tends to be a genetically undesirable type.
Nevertheless, the undesirable character of the mulatto is in large part
traditional. The mulatto is neither of one race nor the other and he
knows it. He is an outcast. There is no tradition which he naturally
absorbs. He neither grows up with the pride of the white man nor with
the feeling of community with his coloured relatives, whose position
with regard to other races is generally accepted as something
inevitable. In the world of tradition there is no home for him. There
are no channels which enable his capacities, such as they are, to
develop in a favourable manner, and we have thus to give greater weight
to tradition than to an unfavourable germinal constitution in producing
the results which we see.
When the differences are less, there is again the advantage of hybrid
vigour, though this again is transitory. More important is the chance of
a favourable re-combination of characters. Many interesting speculations
have been made, though they are all very fanciful, with regard to the
fortunate blendings which have produced some races, the bringing
together of practical capacities and imagination and the like. In
general we may regard such crossing as genetically favourable and of
considerable importance in history. Its frequent occurrence in Europe
and Asia has probably favoured those regions as compared with India,
where racial differences have perhaps been too great, and China, where
they have perhaps been too small.
Nevertheless, it is probable that too great an effect has been
attributed to the genetic results of crossing. When we come to consider
traditional changes, we shall see how potent a factor is the contact of
traditions which accompanies the intermingling of stocks and to which
the greater part of the results observed have to be in all probability
attributed.
It has been noticed that to an increasing extent from the first period
onwards the selection of mental characters comes largely to be
determined by tradition. The trend of tradition sets in a peculiar
direction; tradition develops in a groove and the peculiarities tend to
become exaggerated. Men are favoured in so far as they are innately
adapted to the chief features of the tradition. In an oligarchic society
like that of ancient Peru the naturally servile man fares better than
the self-assertive man; among the warlike tribes of North America the
servile man goes under. It may be argued that so distinctive a religion
as the Mohammedan would only gain ascendancy where the average innate
mental faculties were of a peculiar kind; however that may be, it is
clear that once having gained ascendancy this peculiar tradition would
favour a certain mental type and discourage others. Thus again we see
the tendency of germinal change to reinforce the trend of traditional
change rather than to determine traditional change.
We also saw that under a segmentary organization of society the tendency
was towards the preservation of a certain type of mental constitution
adapted to the peculiar tradition. Departures from the favoured type in
any direction are cut off. When organic organization supersedes
segmentary organization the whole position changes. It is no longer
necessary that a peculiar tradition should be strictly maintained
demanding a certain type of mental organization. There is favoured a
tradition allowing of the fullest division of labour which not only
permits but even encourages various types of innate mental capacity.
Various forms of intellectual and emotional capacity thus find a place
which would otherwise have gone under. But there are two sides to the
picture; though artists and philosophers may survive, even if they do
not exactly flourish, the feeble-minded survive also.
12. The selection of mental characters within the third period demands
further attention. We have commented upon the incompatibility between
group selection and the selection of individuals in the earlier periods.
Favourable individual developments may not survive because they are not
in harmony with the type necessary to maintain the group. Group
selection was active in the earlier part of the third period, and
resulted in the evolution of higher types. Later group selection took
rather a different form, but though it allowed the survival of
variations from the favoured type, it did not altogether cease. There
was, however, apparently little tendency towards further evolution of
groups as a whole; but germinal changes took place according as to
whether circumstances allowed the survival of more departures in an
upward or in a downward direction. We may glance at the results of
lethal and of reproductive selection. The average germinal constitution
of a race may be profoundly changed by the operation of factors that we
may place under the heading of lethal factors, though they do not always
operate by elimination. In a civilized country with its complicated
machinery of social organization, the government may adopt a policy
which greatly favours certain types and discourages others; apparently
chance happenings may so turn the course of events as to produce the
same results. Thus the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes drove out of
France men who undoubtedly differed in their innate mental constitution
from the average; so too did the setting up of the Inquisition in Spain.
The bad management of the liberal movement in Germany in 1848 resulted
in the setting up of a régime as a result of which a certain type of
German, to whom the régime was uncongenial, tended to emigrate. The
Bolshevist régime obviously favours a peculiar mentality. From such
instances it is clear that the average germinal constitution may be
changed in very different directions in neighbouring countries with
great suddenness. But in seeking the explanation of what follows in
these cases, it is clear that germinal change is following traditional
change; it may accelerate traditional change, but it is only a
contributory cause of the historical movement that we observe. The lack
of enterprise that has marked the Spanish people during the last three
hundred years was not caused by germinal change but by traditional
change which moulded the outlook and disposition of the people; germinal
change doubtless followed in the same direction and contributed to the
present position. The true importance of germinal change is not, as some
authors would have it, that it sets movements in progress among
civilized nations, but that it exaggerates the tendencies of traditional
change, and renders it difficult for nations to get out of the grooves
into which they have moved.
Just as germinal change may set in different directions owing to lethal
selection, so it may do owing to reproductive selection. In the
religious celibates of the Middle Ages we have probably to recognize a
distinct mental type, though how far a more valuable type than the
average it is impossible to say. Some of their peculiar qualities were
doubtless valuable, but they presumably lacked other valuable qualities,
since they were disinclined to face the difficulties of the normal
social life of their time. Even if it is held that their peculiar
qualities were on the whole distinctly valuable, we have, before a final
judgement is passed as to the effects of celibacy, to remember that it
may have had a beneficial influence on tradition. An authority upon the
Middle Ages has said that ‘It is more than probable that any real
familiarity with the early Middle Ages will lead an unprejudiced student
to the belief that the celibacy of the clergy was at that time essential
to the setting apart of the clerical order, to the purification of the
Church, and to its influence upon the world, that clerical celibacy was
in fact a necessary stage in the spiritualization of European
society’.[1687]
Reproductive selection chiefly arises because certain classes make
greater contributions to the following generation than other
classes.[1688] Generally speaking, throughout the Middle Ages, so far as
is known, the so-called upper classes contributed more to succeeding
generations than the so-called lower classes. The position is now
reversed, and it would appear that in the later days of Greece and Rome
also the upper classes contributed less to the population than the lower
classes. It is possible that the same may have been the case in other
ancient empires. The utmost importance has been attributed to the
influence of this form of differential fertility upon the course of
history. Mr. McDougall, for instance, writes as follows: ‘Looking at the
course of history widely, we may see in the differentiation of the
social classes by the social ladder and in the tendency of the upper
strata to fail to reproduce themselves, an explanation of the cyclic
course of civilization.’[1689] Clearly a careful inquiry into this
subject is needed. There are certain points to which attention may be at
once drawn, but we shall not be able to reach any definite conclusion
until we have examined farther into the nature of the modifications
produced by differences in tradition between the different classes.
Here we may observe that it is altogether misleading to speak, as Mr.
McDougall does, of the lower classes as being ‘drained’ by the operation
of the social ladder, even in England at the present day where the
chance of rising is as great, if not greater, than it has ever been
before. A very limited number can and do rise. The ladder is not only
steep and difficult to climb; it is also narrow and does not permit of
many upon it at the same time. Further, so great is the prestige of
class that very few of the descendants of those who have climbed ever
sink back, and yet among them the regression to the mean is always in
operation. In other words, supposing that the ancestors of those
composing the upper social classes to have been distinguished by
desirable mental qualities, their descendants, to whose disappearance so
much is attributed, are not distinguished by a similar superiority to
the average.
Granting for the moment all that has ever been claimed regarding the
superiority of those who climb, the above considerations modify the
importance to be attributed to differential fertility. It may further be
noticed that, although Mr. McDougall and others speak of differential
fertility as the origin of the cyclical course of civilization, what
they in fact attribute to this cause are the periods of decline. Other
causes are sought for to account for the equally remarkable periods of
advance. Mr. McDougall, for instance, attributes the rise of Greek
civilization to a ‘happy blending’ of two races.[1690] It may be said,
on the other hand, that the facts point strongly to the conclusion that
both the ‘ups’ and the ‘downs’ are part of the same phenomenon. The
‘ups’ are as remarkable as the ‘downs’; one process seems just the
reverse of the other. No one proposes to explain the ‘ups’ as due to the
favourable results of differential fertility, and before we can accept
unfavourable differential fertility as the chief cause of the ‘downs’ we
may ask if the fundamental cause of both processes is not of another
kind. If we should find this to be the case, it of course by no means
implies that germinal change does not play a contributory part.
13. The greater part of the discussion in this chapter has been devoted
to an attempt to estimate the importance of germinal differences and of
germinal changes; it is clear that in order to arrive at more definite
conclusions we have to consider in rather more detail traditional
differences and traditional changes. The influence of the direct effect
of the environment must not be forgotten, as it frequently enters as a
contributory factor into the moulding of the course of history. It may
conveniently be considered here.
Temperament is a characteristic of great importance. Just as among men
around us temperament is seen to influence each man’s achievement, and
largely to determine failure or success, so racial temperament is
important in determining racial achievement. This characteristic is
peculiarly sensitive to the direct effect of the environment, and it may
very well be that changes in diet and so on may have influenced the
course of history through their bearing upon temperament. At the present
day the urban conditions under which so large a percentage of the
members of western nations live—smoke, noise, vibration, and so on—may
have a bearing upon temperament and so upon achievement.
Such considerations are somewhat speculative. More clear are the results
of disease upon temperament. It is a remarkable fact that disease, which
is chiefly noticeable within the third period, upon the whole then takes
a lethal form from which the patient either dies or recovers more or
less completely. In tropical regions, however, there are a number of
diseases of the non-lethal chronic type, such as the hook-worm disease
for instance, which affect a large percentage of the population and sap
the energy—mental and physical—of those attacked. The prevalence of any
such disease must act in an important fashion as a drag upon progress,
and the spreading of such a disease into a country previously unaffected
may quite conceivably put a stop to progress, and even bring about a
condition of decadence. The decline of Greece has been attributed, for
instance, to the introduction of malaria. In answering the question,
therefore, why certain areas have lagged behind others, we must not
forget the influence of chronic disease when it affects a large
proportion of the population, and it is a curious fact that in general
the working of this factor has been in the same direction as that of
other factors which influenced tradition. Where, that is to say, there
has been a low degree of fertility in the environment and little
stimulus through contact, there also upon the whole the deleterious
effect of disease has been most pronounced.
It may further be noticed that the direct effect of the environment has
a bearing upon the moulding of tradition. The apathy and listlessness,
for example, resulting from the prevalence of a disease like malaria
form an element in the environment and give an unfavourable turn to the
development of tradition.
14. Something has been said in the last two chapters as to the nature
and formation of tradition, and in this chapter as to its influence in
determining the main outlines of the course of history in the chief
geographical divisions of the world. The part played by tradition may be
best further illustrated by a reference to two problems to which
allusion has already been made—namely, the cyclical course of
civilization and modern differential fertility. When we speak of the
cyclical course of civilization we have in mind the alternations of
periods exhibiting vigour and energy with periods exhibiting apathy. As
within the same culture we see progress along one line and within one
atmosphere. At times, more especially when the degree of skill is
relatively low, there may be scarcely any progress and the condition is
one of stagnation. But under such circumstances any turning back is
rare. On the other hand, when the degree of skill is relatively high, we
sometimes see periods of sudden advance often initiated almost at a
definite date, and brought to a climax within a few—perhaps even in
one—generations. There often follows a period of stagnation or even of
decline. Professor Flinders Petrie has set out in a small book some
striking facts regarding this tendency based largely on the history of
Egypt. He shows how, taking what is left from various periods of
artistic production, this tendency may be illustrated, and it would not
be difficult to find many further illustrations in the history of any
art in the last few hundred years in Europe, and in a less degree in the
history of the various sciences.[1691] Sir Francis Galton, whose life
work has done so much to illuminate the nature and importance of
germinal characters, wrote as follows: ‘I have studied the causes of
civic prosperity in various directions and from many points of view, and
the conclusion at which I have arrived is emphatic, namely, that chief
among these causes are a large capacity of labour—mental, bodily, or
both—combined with eagerness for work.’[1692] Now the periods of advance
are marked by the exhibition of these characteristics, and we may ask
how far they are traditional in nature. Let us take as an example of a
period of advance the Renaissance in England. ‘Englishmen of the
sixteenth century’, says Sir Sidney Lee, ‘breathed a new atmosphere
intellectually and spiritually. They came under a new stimulus,
compounded of many elements, each of them new and inspiring. To that
stimulus must be attributed the sudden upward growth of distinctive
achievement among them, the increase of the opportunities of famous
exploits, and the consequent preservation from oblivion of more names of
Englishmen than in any other century before. The stimulus under which
Englishmen came in the sixteenth century may be summed up in the
familiar word Renaissance. The main factor of the European Renaissance,
of the New Birth of the intellect, was a passion for extending the
limits of human knowledge, and for employing men’s capabilities to new
and better advantage than of old. New curiosity was generated in regard
to the dimensions of the material world. There was a boundless
enthusiasm for the newly discovered art and literature of ancient
Greece. Men were fired by a new resolve to make the best and not the
worst of life upon earth. They were ambitious to cultivate as the
highest good the idea of beauty.’[1693]
Let us look at the other side of the picture when energy is lacking.
There was a widely held opinion that the world would end in the year A.
D. 1000. All classes shared this opinion and prepared for the end, and
it can easily be understood how under these circumstances, whatever the
innate capacities may have been, little capacity for labour or eagerness
for work would be manifested. Again, in the later days of the Roman
Empire there was abroad a spirit of lethargy and apathy. The great
Empire was like a clock that had run down; the machinery was all intact,
but there was no force to set it in movement. It is said that there was
abroad in the minds of men prescience of some coming catastrophe, a
feeling that the inevitable end was approaching. If such a mental
horizon is contrasted with that set before an Englishman of the
sixteenth century or a Greek in the age of Pericles, we can understand
how eagerness for work as outwardly manifested is profoundly influenced
by tradition.
When our knowledge of the circumstances is sufficiently precise, we can
always detect the influence of a powerful stimulus in periods of
progress. It often takes the form of a national purpose. ‘A national
purpose’, it has been said, ‘is the most unconquerable and victorious of
all things upon earth. It can raise up Babylon from the sands of the
desert, and make imperial civilizations spring from a score of huts, and
after it has wrought its will can leave monuments that seem as
everlasting a portion of nature as the rocks.’[1694] At times the
stimulus may arise from an invention of great import, such as the
discovery of the use of metals. More often, however, the stimulus takes
the form not directly of invention but of friction between different
ideas—the coming into the mental horizon not merely of new skilled
methods but of strange and foreign ideas of all kinds. Thus contact of
cultures is followed by more than the transfer of the elements of one
culture to another; it is in itself a stimulus so powerful as to be of
the greatest import in history.
In the past when there was little or no contact at a distance, stimuli
were most often due to the physical contact of races whose tradition was
not too dissimilar. ‘Just as in the mental development of the individual
a conflict of impressions invites selective attention, so in the
spiritual development of society a clash of cultures awakes latent
energies of a constructive kind.’[1695] This fact has led to the error
of attributing to war a more direct importance in stimulating energy
than there is evidence for.[1696] Contact usually implied war, but
contact is equally effective without war, as can be seen in the example
of the Italian Renaissance. The stimulus in this case was largely
derived from the rediscovery of the ideals and learning of ancient
society, and can only be attributed to war in the far-fetched sense that
Greek scholars were disseminated over Europe by the capture of
Constantinople. And in more modern times stimulus is often derived from
indirect contact in which war plays no part at all—as can be seen often
enough in the history of art, in the influence, for example, of Chinese
and Japanese art upon European painting.
The effect of a sudden stimulus may be to break down habit, and the
importance of habit has been dwelt upon as the characteristic which
enables tradition once acquired to be maintained. Such breakings down
can be observed in the lives of men and women around us under the
influence of sudden stress, and something similar may happen to a nation
as a whole. Professor Graham Wallas has, for instance, dwelt upon the
importance of the breaking down of habit as accounting for the excesses
of the French Revolution.[1697]
Though a stimulus may always be detected at work during periods of
advance, it is by no means always possible to find evidence of
favourable germinal change. There is frequently no evidence at all of
germinal change at such periods. In the past no doubt contact often
implied racial intermingling, and, though in the present state of
biological knowledge we are justified in supposing that crosses between
two races not too distinct would usually have favourable results, there
is no sufficient foundation for attributing favourable results to all
such intermingling as has been done by some authors—von Luschan, for
instance. The conclusion would seem to be that germinal change is never
more than a contributory cause of advance, and that traditional change
is the whole explanation of some of such periods.
Periods of decline are, as we have seen, sometimes associated with
unfavourable traditional changes. Tradition may be of such a nature as
to sap rather than to encourage vigour. But directly unfavourable
turnings of tradition, such as the belief that the world would come to
an end at a certain date, are only occasional causes of decline. There
is in the course which the development of tradition takes an almost
inevitable tendency for periods of advance to be succeeded by periods of
repletion and apathy. What appears to happen so often in the history of
art after a time of advance may lead to an understanding of the tendency
of events in general. If we watch the flowering of any school of art we
reach a period, exemplified in the work of the followers of Raphael for
instance, and perhaps, as some would say, in the work of Raphael
himself, when the artists appear to be lost in the practice of the
technical side of artistic production. The ideal, in order to express
which the technique has been called into existence, has been lost. The
original stimulus has in fact lost its power, and the means to the
expression of the ideal have been mistaken for ends in themselves. The
technique becomes a plaything, and, there being nothing to express, art
takes the form of variations in technique, and becomes, in a word,
conventional. This is what would appear to happen as regards progress in
general—due allowance being made in the case of skilled processes for
the fact that, since they are designed to achieve practical ends, there
is less chance of decadence. But in general we see the fading of the
power of the stimulus, the coming of a time of repletion, when men are
lost in the mass of what has under the influence of the stimulus been
accumulated, and in the case of the arts tend to use the skill achieved
as an end in itself. We may trace such a course of events in the history
of Greek thought. The course of events may be profoundly modified in a
multitude of ways by the appearance of a new stimulus and so on. But we
may say that such is the inevitable working of the factors upon the
formation of tradition, that periods of stagnation, of repletion, and
sometimes of decadence tend to occur after periods of sudden advance.
It appears that we should attribute differential fertility, with its
possibly serious effect upon the direction of germinal change which
marks these periods, rather to the prevalence of apathy than, as Mr.
McDougall and others would do, attribute to differential fertility the
evidence of decline. For it is the upper classes upon whom the sense of
apathy weighs, and it is they who contribute least to future
generations. Further, we may remark that decline is not so mysterious a
matter as is sometimes suggested. Such complex organizations are
vigorous civilizations that, as has been said, ‘the wonderful thing is
that they exist at all; what needs explanation is not so much the decay
of some, but rather the long persistence of others.’[1698]
In concluding our reference to this matter, we may notice that in recent
times, when the working of tradition is known to us in detail, changes
can be traced as due to tradition to which the cyclical changes are
similar though of greater magnitude. Attention has been drawn to the
moulding of tradition in Germany in a particular direction which so
powerfully affected the achievement of that race. These events cannot be
explained as due in the main to germinal change, though possibly, as
observed, the German régime initiated about 1850 may have resulted in
the emigration of a certain type of German, and thus in this way
germinal change may have played a minor part. So too England during the
Boer War was very different to England at the election of 1906, and the
difference which was obviously traditional was enough to affect the
achievement of the race. In such examples, which could be multiplied
indefinitely, we see how the current of tradition may set in one way or
another quite apart from germinal changes, and such changes of current
may lead, when they hold good over generations, to periods of advance or
of decay.
15. There remains to be discussed the importance of tradition in modern
differential fertility. It is first necessary to examine rather more
closely than has yet been done the manner in which mental characters as
manifested are due to tradition, and then to ask how far the particular
traditions, to which the upper and lower classes are respectively
subject, account for the mental characteristics manifested by them.
As pointed out, it is obvious that the direction in which the intellect
works and the degree to which it works are very largely determined by
tradition. Thought will be in the primitive or common-sense stage
according to the nature of tradition. It is not so obvious that the
manifestation of the disposition is equally governed by tradition. The
negroes are innately placid, good tempered, and un-self-assertive as
compared with white men. Yet Americans constantly complain of the
‘sauciness’ and truculence of the negro. These characters are evidently
attributable to the surroundings to which the negroes in America are
subject; the manner in which they are looked down upon and the
irritating minor restrictions to which they are subject evoke in the
negroes a reaction which results in their being called ‘saucy’ and
truculent. In other words their disposition is so modified by tradition
that, as manifested, it belies their innate characteristics. In an
earlier chapter reference was made to the subservience of the Egyptian
fellah. In the production of this characteristic a centuries-old
tradition of oppression plays a large part, though the elimination of
the more self-assertive individuals may have produced a low average
level of self-assertiveness. If we compare an English public-school boy
with an Egyptian fellah in respect to self-assertiveness and
self-reliance, those characters as manifested form no guide to the
underlying innate differences. Among the former self-reliance is
strongly encouraged, among the latter it is inhibited. But if we compare
English public-school boys one with another, and Egyptian fellaheen one
with another, then the differences disclosed are to some considerable
degree a measure of innate differences, because tradition is more or
less equalized. Again, let any one observe the attitude of the British
private soldier towards our coloured subjects, or for that matter what
he can make of the attitude of the latter towards the English soldier,
and he will not be in doubt as to the importance of tradition in
producing the attitude of command and its opposite—the tendency to
submission.
There is no doubt therefore as to the possibility of tradition affecting
profoundly the manifestation of all mental characters. When we compare
white with black races in their original home, we have to discount the
whole tradition. European races, however, have a considerable amount in
common, and when we compare them we have less to discount. When classes
within the same race are compared, there is still less to be discounted;
they have both European and racial tradition in common; the differences
come in at a higher level. Finally, when we compare individuals in the
same class, we have only to discount family and individual differences
in tradition. It is therefore clear that we have to gain some idea as to
the nature of the differences in tradition to which the classes in
England at the present day are subject.
16. We have already remarked upon the curious fact that, although the
organization of society on organic lines greatly favoured the
transmission of tradition, there have come to be large differences in
tradition as between the different component elements of society. This
we attribute to the fact that in the first place the different component
elements specialize in different kinds of skill; the vastness of the
mass of tradition makes it impossible for every man to absorb all of it;
so far as skill is concerned, each man absorbs that development of it,
the specialization in which characterizes his function in society. This
may account for differences as between classes with regard to skill, but
why, it may be said, should it account for differences in manners,
customs, and mode of life? Whatever functions may be performed by the
different elements of society, do not the members of all alike now, in
any case, enjoy the same privileges, have they not all homes, have they
not access to the same interests apart from their professions? Manners
and customs differ, and differ so much that a public-school boy finds
himself out of his element as a private in a line regiment, and a
university man finds it difficult to establish ordinary human relations
with the men he meets in a working men’s club such as he establishes
without effort when in company of men of his class.
These differences are attributable to the fact that ownership of
property has become a function in society. Further, there has come about
the reservation to the property-owning class of certain
professions—notably the military and the clerical—which, though they do
not afford a high rate of remuneration, do afford, as property-owning
affords, ample opportunities for leisure. Property owners as a class
have had thus both the time and the means to cultivate the art of
living. Some of the results are, as all will admit, of value. Some of
the results are harmful; but for the most part cultivation of the art of
living results in the multiplication of conventions which are neither
useful nor harmful, being mere matters of form. The wage-earning class,
on the other hand, has neither the time nor the means to elaborate any
code of manners. Working long hours for what amounts to little more than
a bare subsistence, they could not have evolved such a code of manners
nor have they absorbed any considerable part of it. There was no room
for it as their lives were lived. Other consequences follow from
property-owning. Property-owning is power; in the property-owning class
there arises a tradition of self-assertion, a habit of command, whereas
in the wage-earning class there arises a tradition of self-abasement and
a habit of subservience, traditions and habits so strong as largely to
obscure natively given characters. We may note with interest, therefore,
that it is on these lines, and not on a theory of germinal differences,
that an eminent historian answers the question why military history
shows that men of greater age and wider experience will on the field of
battle follow to the death a boy of the upper class when they will not
follow one of their own class. It may be objected that what has been
said scarcely applies to the conditions of the present day and that
subservience of the wage-earning class is not very marked at the moment.
This is true, but it is a recent change. The reason why the change has
come about is surely that the wage-earning class has obtained power and
knows it. The change is an illustration of the power of tradition to
dominate the outward expression of such important characteristics as
assertion or subservience. No one can attribute the difference to
germinal change. The wage-earning class has not absorbed the manners and
customs of the property-owning class at the same time for a variety of
reasons; for one thing they have still little place for such conventions
in their lives, and for another thing they tend to regard everything
connected with the property-owning class as hostile, while we may also
remember that many elements in the upper-class tradition depend for
their existence upon the presence of servants.
An insight into the nature of these traditional differences may be
gained in rather a different way. Many members of the upper class have
attempted to interest themselves in the conditions of life among the
less fortunate classes. It is doubtful how far the experience gained in
the majority of cases is of value in throwing light upon the problems
under consideration. But let any unprejudiced person go and live in the
working-class quarter of any large town without any object in view other
than to experience the conditions. Under such circumstances the
conclusions which grow up in his mind will probably be something of the
following nature. To all seeming the innate qualities of the boys and
girls, in temperament, disposition, and intellect, are very much what
they were in the boys and girls he was at school with or formerly
associated with himself. The more intimate his acquaintance becomes with
the conditions among which these boys and girls grow up, the more
striking seem the peculiarities and limitations of the mental horizon
outside of which they have little chance of penetrating compared with
that which confronts children of his own class. The dullness and
drabness, if there is nothing worse, of a home life in two or three
rooms, relieved by what excitement can be found in the smaller streets
of a large town, or later by picture palaces or an occasional football
match, followed by marriage and the struggle to keep up a home under
discouraging circumstances—all these features, which are not appreciated
in their full weight until they are, as it were, felt by individual
experience, seem adequately to explain the differences between the
adults of one class and those of another. Any one who has had such an
experience will, on the whole, be rather surprised that more sordidness
does not exist, than be inclined to summon the hypothesis of innate
inferiority to explain the sordidness that does exist.
17. Profound differences in tradition as between the social classes do
therefore exist and, as far as we have gone, they might appear to
account for all mental differences manifested; they must in any case
account for a considerable part of them. But though we could prolong the
discussion on the same lines and produce much evidence tending to the
same conclusion, we could reach no precise result. We may go on
therefore and ask whether there is any evidence of the existence of
innate differences between the classes.
Mere observation of the boys and girls of the different classes does not
indicate any differences. But mere observation is not enough. The
problem may be approached in two ways. We may notice the results of
inquiries made regarding the intelligence of children by modern methods,
and we may also ask by what characters those who rise to a higher social
status are distinguished, and further what innate differences may be
supposed to underlie these apparent differences. The results of
inquiries made to test the relative intelligence of children of parents
of different social status are fairly uniform. Bridges and Coles, for
example, found as the result of such an investigation that ‘there was
very considerable dependence of intelligence upon “sociological
conditions”’; they go on to say that ‘when children are classified
according to the occupations of their fathers, a striking correlation is
shown between intelligence quotient and occupation group. Hence if
mental age rather than chronological age were used to determine the time
for beginning school, the children of the professional group, for
example, would begin school two years earlier than the children of the
unskilled labour group; for the former mature intellectually much
earlier than the latter.’[1699] The interpretation of such observations
bristles with difficulties. It is not clear what relation earlier
maturity bears to adult intelligence. Though the direct effect of the
environment is probably negligible, the possibility that tradition may
influence the results is certainly not shut out. Indeed, the fact that
the correlation is higher for boys than for girls suggests that
tradition does come in. Nevertheless, a consideration of these results
suggests that the whole explanation cannot be found in tradition and
that we have here a sign of some superiority of intelligence in the
children of parents of a higher social status. More than that cannot be
said.
18. Let us approach the question in another way. Can we discover any
characteristics distinctive of those who succeed in modern society, who
rise, as it is called, from the ranks of the wage-earning classes, and,
if we can, what these characters are and how far we must assume the
existence of innate differences to account for them? We may think of the
upper social classes in England to-day as falling roughly into three
divisions—the professional and the business classes and those whose
fathers, grandfathers, or more remote ancestors came into possession of
property by one means or another. In the case of a small proportion of
the latter class, the position was won under conditions which differ
more or less profoundly from these ruling to-day. This section is a
small section, and we need not further consider it here. A large
proportion of the so-called upper classes have attained their position
under the conditions which now exist, or their forefathers have attained
it under conditions which did not greatly differ from them. What
characteristics are they, which, when manifested under these conditions,
lead to success?
It has often been assumed that intellect is the chief factor in success.
This assumption is not only made in ordinary conversation when a
reference to the career of a successful man in any line is almost
certain to be followed by the comment that ‘he must be a very clever
fellow’ but in serious contributions to the problem. This assumption is
certainly wrong. There are many elements in character which contribute
more largely to success than the intellectual, such as capacity for
work, energy, ambition, desire to dominate, tact, and so on.
Furthermore, success in a profession is, to an almost as great an extent
as success in business, attributable to such characteristics. Few more
remarkable things—remarkable in being in conflict with ideas as commonly
preconceived—are learnt from observation and experience than the length
to which such characteristics in favourable association can carry a man
even in the strictly learned professions where it might be supposed that
intellect alone would carry off the prizes. There can be no doubt that
those elements in character which are most important as regards success
are such as we must attribute to differences in disposition and
temperament rather than in intellect so far as we can attribute them at
all to innate differences.
This is essentially what we want to know—what innate differences do
exist. We have, when trying in the first place to fix upon the outwardly
existing characteristics, to remember that tradition may give powerful
twists and turns—sometimes of a desirable and sometimes of an
undesirable nature—to the simpler characteristics mentioned above, such
as ambition. In the business world, for example, the successful man is
from many points of view the man who gets his head above the heads of
other people, who gets more out of other people than they get out of
him. But are we to imagine that there is something in him which impels
him so to act with regard to his fellow men, or are we to imagine that
the simpler characteristics of ambition and love of power lead to such
conduct under the guidance of a particular tradition without any
definite desire on his part or even perhaps without any clear
realization as to what it is precisely that he is doing? The second
explanation is that which best fits the facts. It seems clear that, as
tradition changes in the course of years, the activities of the
energetic ambitious men are led this way and that. At present no doubt
to a certain degree they are led in the direction of ‘pushfulness’—by
what M. Faguet has called ‘le goût d’arrivisme’. It is always dangerous
to read into the activities of men the working of particular innate
characteristics. Few things in history perhaps have been as harsh as the
conduct of the generation which devised the game laws, and yet these
very men did not merely quote the classics with unbounded enthusiasm but
were also moved by genuine sympathy and altruism to abolish slavery, the
horrors of which were known to them only by report. We should refrain,
therefore, from deducing from the activities of the successful men and
of the upper classes more than the presence of those simpler
characteristics mentioned above as leading to positions of pre-eminence
over other men.
These simpler characteristics are in themselves very complex
manifestations of many elements, of which tradition is one. But in the
case of this particular problem, as we are considering rise from a lower
to a higher social status, tradition cannot be held to be the cause of
the differences. There are, in fact, unquestionably innate differences
in temperament and disposition which underlie the characteristics
leading to success, and the temperamental differences which have been
curiously neglected are probably the most important and form perhaps
half the secret of success. Among the temperamental characteristics
leading to success we may note low degree of fatiguability, high power
of recuperation, rapidity of response, hopeful nature, vigour, energy,
and healthy nervous tone. Among the characteristics of disposition we
may note similarly the instincts of self-assertion, of emulation, and of
acquisition. The power of forming habits is probably also a considerable
aid to success under modern conditions.
What part does intellect play? Judging from the fact that it is
certainly an aid to success, though not so powerful a factor as is
usually thought, we may conclude that there is some, probably a slight,
difference in intellectual capacity between the classes. Intellect, when
it accompanies success, is rather more in the nature of an incidentally
favourable factor than of a primary cause of success. The powerful
instinct of self-assertion will make itself felt; its possessor will
probably arrive somewhere; a powerful intellect may, in the absence of,
or rather with the inadequate development of, other innate qualities,
not advance its possessor’s position in the world.
But though considerations based upon a testing of intelligence on the
one hand and upon an analysis of qualities leading to success on the
other do without question lead to the conclusion that there are
differences in innate qualities as between the successful and the
unsuccessful, there are grounds for thinking, for the reasons mentioned
above, that the differences between the classes are not large. For we
must remember that, so far from the lower classes being drained of men
of certain qualities, a very small proportion of the men of these
classes is ever enabled to set out on the path leading to success in
business or in a profession. Also we must not forget, when considering
success, the part played by fortunate accidents under complex modern
conditions—mere chance happenings which, altering the whole course of a
man’s life, may determine whether he is successful or unsuccessful.
Again, there is little or no relapse worth speaking of into the lower
classes when once a status is gained. Such is the influence of place and
status that for the most part, whatever may be the innate qualities, the
descendants of men who won their way upwards maintain their position.
Therefore the regression to the mean which is always at work must tend
to lessen such innate differences as exist between the classes.
19. Lastly, there is a very difficult problem the existence of which
must not be forgotten inasmuch as it affects in the most fundamental
manner the judgement to be passed on the meaning of these differences.
We have to ask what is the value of the differences which exist. Success
alone cannot be taken as an indication of the value of the characters
exhibited by the successful. There can indeed be no doubt that, other
things being equal, a decrease in the average intellect would be an
unfortunate thing. Similarly we may regard those temperamental qualities
which were indicated as leading to success as on the whole of value. But
it cannot be affirmed without more consideration that all temperamental
qualities which distinguish the successful are desirable, and more
particularly that a further development of the instincts of
self-assertion, acquisition, and emulation would be desirable under
present circumstances; it may even be that we might view a diminution in
the average strength of some of the qualities which mark the successful
at least with equanimity. The instincts of acquisition and
self-assertion were of great value in the past, highly indeed as mankind
has paid for the careers of men markedly endowed with these qualities.
But, with the present stage of social evolution in Europe in mind,
should it not be said that the instinct of acquisition when developed
above the average is on the whole harmful, and may it not be that
self-assertion is likely to be a source of difficulty in any form of
co-operative commonwealth, and to some form of co-operation as replacing
or modifying competition we seem to be tending.
We may see this whole problem of value in another light if we ask what
it is that we value in the men of our race. Latterly we have had reason
to dwell upon the qualities which we feel to characterize the men of our
race at their best. Are they not self-respect together with modesty,
tenacity together with tenderness? Any one who has served in the ranks
of the army is not likely to allow that these qualities are on the whole
less developed in the classes from which the ranks of the army are
usually filled than in the rest of the nation. In this connexion we
should perhaps remember that a sense of comradeship in facing the
elemental facts of existence without material wealth may provide an
impetus to the expression of these qualities, whereas an absorption in
the less immediate necessities of life may militate against their
expression. To the degree to which this is so, we should, when trying to
estimate the innate capacities in the different classes, make the
necessary allowances—in the case of the so-called upper classes for the
circumstances adverse to the expression of these qualities and in the
case of the so-called lower classes for circumstances which on the whole
perhaps favour their expression. However this may be, we feel that these
qualities are the most valuable which our race has produced and that
upon their preservation and upon greater opportunities for their
expression depends our best hope for the future. He would be a bold man,
however, who suggested that the possession of these qualities in more
than average amount was a characteristic of the successful. The same may
be said of good taste, good manners, and of other qualities which, to
say the least of them, contribute to the amenities of life.
It is at least apparent how difficult a problem is the judgement to be
passed on the effects of modern differential fertility. There are
grounds for thinking that those who see in differential fertility the
cause of the cyclical course of civilization both over-estimate the
results and neglect certain aspects of the changes involved.
Differential fertility is not a factor to be disregarded; the results
which it is now producing demand the most careful investigation.
Nevertheless, so far as our knowledge extends, we should view it rather
as the result than as the cause of the cyclical course of history—the
course which historical changes take being due primarily to changes in
tradition. This conclusion is in harmony with all that has been said in
this chapter as to the relative importance of change in tradition and of
change in the germinal constitution. From the first period in history
changes in tradition have come to override changes in the germinal
constitution; the latter form of change is far from being negligible,
but it is a contributory rather than a fundamental cause of the events
of history.
XXII
CONCLUSION
1. An attempt has been made to trace the origin of problems of
population from their source and to indicate their nature and
interdependence. They have been traced back to man’s place in nature.
The ancestors of man must at one time have been subject to the same
conditions as those to which all species in a state of nature are
subject. These conditions were investigated, and it was shown that
fecundity is in the main determined by the sum of all the dangers to
which the young of any species are exposed—allowance being made for the
fact that a certain proportion of ova will not be fertilized. It was
also shown that change or history—if history can be spoken of in this
connexion—is due to germinal change alone, and it was further indicated
how it may be supposed that germinal change comes about. The early
stages in the moving away of the pre-human ancestor from these
conditions elude our inquiry, though certain deductions may be made as
to the main outline of what happened. For evidence as to the latter
stages, until we reach historical times, we are chiefly dependent upon
the method of using our knowledge of existing primitive races as
throwing light upon prehistoric races.
2. Problems of population fall under two main headings, problems of
quantity and problems of quality. But all problems of population are
interwoven one with another and the method of solving any quantitative
problem bears upon the quality of population. Thus the methods of
regulating quantity affect quality by influencing germinal change, and
in the later periods of history growth in quantity affects quality by
its influence upon tradition. No one problem should be considered
without reference to its bearing both upon quantity and quality. At the
present day, for instance, differential fertility is almost always
considered solely from the point of view of quality; it is forgotten
that the reduction in the birth-rate may be that which economic
conditions demand and that it may of necessity have to begin among the
upper classes. Though, therefore, differential fertility by producing
unfavourable germinal changes is to be to that degree deplored, yet we
have to remember that, so far as quantity is concerned, failure to meet
economic requirements might be a much greater misfortune.
3. As regards quantitative problems we saw that from the first period of
history onwards—from the time, that is to say, that it began to be
possible for man to reap the benefits of co-operation—it was of the
utmost importance for every group to approximate to the optimum number.
This is the number which—taking into consideration the nature of the
environment, the degree of skill employed, the habits and customs of the
people concerned, and all other relevant facts—gives the highest average
return per head. This number is not fixed once and for all. On the
contrary it is constantly varying as the conditions referred to vary,
and, as skill has tended to increase throughout history, so has the
number economically desirable tended to increase. The errors underlying
the wholly different exposition given by Malthus have been indicated;
for him there was no such thing as over-population. In his view
population had at any one time increased up to the possible limit and
was in process of being checked. In the modern view numbers may
approximate to the desirable level, may not reach it, or they may exceed
it, and if either of two latter positions arise, the return per head
will not be as high as it might be.
The quantitative problem presents itself to all races at all times.
There is no escaping it. The common notion that it only presents itself
at certain times and in certain places is based upon a failure to grasp
the strength of fecundity. Almost without exception those factors, which
incidentally restrict increase and produce elimination, are insufficient
so to reduce fertility as to keep numbers down to the optimum level.
There thus arises the need for factors which directly restrict fertility
and cause elimination; among primitive races these factors take the form
of abortion, infanticide, and prolonged abstention from intercourse.
There is no correlation between these factors and the economic stage
reached, and therefore we have no grounds for assuming any one factor to
have been prevalent at any one stage in pre-history, though we must
assume that one or more of these factors was always at work. This
assumption is confirmed by the fact that, whenever we can catch sight of
the emergence of prehistoric races into the light of history, we find
one or other of these factors to have been present. Further there is
every reason to suppose that normally such of these factors as are in
use are effective and that therefore in the first and second periods of
history some approximation to the optimum number was normally attained.
The third period is in many respects different from those that preceded
it. In the first place the number desirable has been constantly
increasing, so much so that increasing numbers are taken as being a
normal feature of human society whereas, in fact, numbers throughout
human history as a whole have been stationary. It may be that we are
nearing a time when numbers will be again normally stationary, for
though increase may remain economically desirable, it may cease to be so
from a wider point of view of human welfare, when, that is to say, facts
other than income per head are taken into account. In the second place
there have been frequent failures to attain to the optimum number owing
to the many disturbing influences at work. Chief among them are the
fluctuations in the number desirable, the erratic action of certain
causes of elimination, such as war and disease, and migrations.
Regarding the quantitative problem as a whole, it is evident that the
necessity of solving it has had the most profound effect upon all
societies at all times. It bears directly upon the relation between the
sexes—around which so largely centres human welfare—and upon the most
intimate and most valued aspects of the life of every adult—those
connected with the family. In the past the solution has been
unconsciously or semi-consciously achieved; it has now come within the
power of mankind after a due consideration of the position deliberately
to decide what the best solution may be.
4. Turning now to the problems of quality, we found that change among
species in a state of nature, and therefore among our pre-human
ancestors, was due to germinal change alone. Just as man has moved away
from the position in which all species in a state of nature are situated
as regards quantity, so he has moved away from the position in which
they are placed as regards quality. Human history, in other words, is
not explicable as due to germinal change alone. Tradition becomes a
factor of ever-increasing importance; the direct influence of the
environment also assumes a greater importance than among species in a
state of nature, though it remains relatively insignificant compared
with changes in tradition and changes in the germinal constitution.
Germinal change, however, retains almost its full importance so far as
permanent changes in physical characters are concerned.
We have seen that physical characters as presented to us are the
expression of the interaction between certain germinal predispositions
and a certain environment, and that, disease apart, such variations as
usually occur in the environment do not in any notable manner affect
these characters. Tradition does not enter directly into the expression
of physical character; it alters the environment, it is true, but that
is another matter. Nevertheless when we come to investigate the smaller
differences, such as those which are found as between members of
different classes in a modern community, the greatest caution is
necessary before the differences in the environment are ruled out as
contributory factors in producing these differences. Broadly speaking,
we may say that differences in stature, eye colour, eyesight, muscular
power, and so on, are all, though in varying degrees, because different
organs vary in their susceptibility to environmental differences,
expressions of germinal differences. It follows that, so far at least as
physical characters are concerned, the germinal constitution is of
primary importance. Disease due to parasites is a question apart. The
parasites might be eliminated, or conceivably preventive medicine might
render susceptibility to disease of little account. Disease due to
structural defects must be classed with other physical characters and,
whether it be that we are considering health (immunity from parasitic
disease excepted), stature, eye colour, or any other physical character,
it is to the germinal constitution that we must look as the factor of
chief importance.
It is not, however, of changes in physical characters but of changes in
mental characters of which we think when we ask what it is that has
caused those events the recording of which is the province of
historians. There are three factors to be considered, germinal change,
traditional change, and the direct effect of the environment, which
latter factor we may pass over, merely recalling that it can at times—as
in the case of chronic disease affecting at one time a large proportion
of the inhabitants of a country—appreciably retard progress. It is never
in the true sense a cause of progress. In thus relegating the direct
effect of the environment to a very subsidiary place among the factors,
we are not dismissing the environment as of little account in human
history or in the lives of individual men and women. Though the direct
effect of the environment on the germinal constitution is seldom clearly
distinguished from its effect in moulding tradition, yet it is wholly
distinct; and in fact, while attributing to the former little
importance, we have found the latter to be of increasing importance
until it comes altogether to dominate germinal change.
Nevertheless when this distinction is realized and an unbiased effort
made to estimate the relative importance of these factors, it seems that
the position is often curiously misunderstood. It is frequently
suggested that the achievement of our race in the future and of mankind
in general will somehow depend principally upon the course of germinal
change, and that it is in the lives of men at the present day or at any
given time that environment in its bearing upon tradition is of
importance. But this is a misconception of the position. Bearing in mind
the discussions in former chapters as to what is inherited and as to the
direct influence of the environment, let us ask wherein the importance
of germinal differences is to be sought, first as between men at the
present day and afterwards in history as a whole. With regard to
physical characteristics it is clear that, disease apart, men are what
they are owing principally to their native endowment. Whether a man is
tall or short, dark or fair, has blue or brown eyes, or what is, apart
from the possibility of a correlation between these and more valuable
characters, of more importance, whether he is healthy, vigorous, strong,
endowed with good eyesight and hearing, in short with a sound
constitution—this is a matter principally of native endowment, supposing
the differences in the environment not to exceed those which now on the
average occur. And the same applies to mental characters with an
allowance made for the marked degree of susceptibility which temperament
exhibits to changes in the environment. Whether a man has more than the
average degree of intellect, is markedly assertive, pugnacious, or
inquisitive, is capable of withstanding or recovering from fatigue,
depends upon his native endowment. But it is at the same time true that
achievement is in very large degree governed by tradition. This is true
if the criterion of achievement is an historical criterion, as, for
instance, when a man of one race is compared with another man of the
same race belonging to a different epoch or when a man of one race is
compared with a man of another race. It is not true when the comparison
is made between two men of the same class within the same race because
within classes in a race tradition is more or less equalized. And where
tradition is equalized, there achievement is a measure of innate
endowment, and it is within a class usually so equalized that at any
given time the outward manifestation of mental characters is nearly as
much a measure of native endowment as are those of physical characters.
Therefore not what a man achieves as judged by historical standards, not
whether his thought will follow primitive or common-sense lines, is
dependent upon his endowment, but what he will make of the tradition of
his time—his performance, in other words, compared with that of men
around him.
Achievement, therefore, as judged historically, is in very large measure
to be explained as due to the influence of the environment upon the
origin and transmission of tradition. Up to a certain stage, however,
and, when the whole of human history is taken into account, up to a late
stage, achievement was in the main dependent upon germinal change. But
this late stage is anterior by many thousands of years to the beginning
of history in the usual meaning of that term. Beginning not later than
the last period of the Palaeolithic, the explanation of the course of
events is in the main to be sought not in germinal change but in the
influence of environment upon tradition. The importance of germinal
change in the later stages is by no means negligible. Germinal change,
however, was not so much the cause of the course which events followed
as a consequence of these events. The effect reacted upon the cause and
accelerated the process. Finally when considering the latest phase of
history—the latest phase, that is to say, when taking a broad view—we
reach the following conclusion. We find that the great acceleration of
the rate of progress which characterizes the history of the period is to
be explained, not by a change in quality, but by the growth in quantity
of the population which, though it does not of necessity lead to, is the
indispensable condition precedent to, the breakdown of the segmentary
organization of society and to the rise of the organic type of social
organization. This is the paradox of the population problem. Change
among species in a state of nature is based upon germinal change alone;
change among our pre-human ancestors was equally a matter of change in
the quality of population; but the explanation of the most outstanding
fact in recent history broadly viewed is to be sought in a change in
quantity rather than in quality of population.
The explanation of the course of events since late Palaeolithic times as
due to tradition on the lines indicated in the last chapter is in
general satisfactory, provided that on the one hand allowance is made
for the fact that differences in race do imply differences in mental and
moral qualities, which arising on the whole together with changes in
tradition, reinforce the tendency to change along certain lines, and
that on the other hand apparently chance happenings do give turns and
twists to the course of events. The reconciliation of this latter
phenomenon with the general trend of the argument is not difficult.
Under certain conditions the death or even the indisposition of some
prominent man or the whim of a powerful minister may appear to divert
the course of events. Nevertheless in reality such events have only a
passing effect and do not obscure the broad workings of the factors we
have indicated.
The relation of the innate qualities to tradition may be illustrated by
the use of a metaphor. Tradition may be likened to some vast structure
which mankind is building. Each generation adds a few bricks to the
structure. The part of the building to which any one man contributes,
whether it is to the ground floor or to one of the upper stories, wholly
depends upon the race and epoch to which he belongs; so too does for the
most part the kind of brick he will lay and the methods he will employ
in laying it. His contribution to the structure is governed by the plan
of the building as elaborated by previous generations and by the bricks
they have prepared and the methods of laying them they have introduced.
But in any generation whether a man will lay a brick at all or whether
he will do it energetically and intelligently as compared with his
fellow-workers will depend upon the innate qualities with which he is
endowed.
Our conclusion therefore must be something after this kind. Those who
base upon germinal change their hopes for the physical condition of the
human race in the future are building upon sound foundations. However
much our power to control and regulate vital processes may increase—and
it is clearly upon the verge of a very great increase—in the end a
satisfactory physical condition can only be the product of a certain
germinal constitution. On the other hand, those who think that germinal
change in mental characters will effect the evolution of society and
mould the course of history are upon the whole mistaken. The course of
history is in the main dependent upon changes in tradition which are for
the most part independent of germinal change. Just as the outstanding
happenings in the last century—the turning of thought and conduct in
Germany, for example, along certain lines, which ended in so great a
catastrophe—were due to changes in tradition and not to changes in the
germinal constitution, so whether the problems now pressing upon
European society are to be solved or whether some greater catastrophe,
reaching a climax in a long course of years or bursting suddenly upon
us, is to be the outcome, will depend upon changes in tradition and not
upon germinal change. The reason for this lies in the fact that the vast
accumulation of tradition overlays the outward expression of mental
character, determines the direction of intellectual activity and moulds
the expression of the instinctive faculties. But as far as tradition is
equalized, so far do innate mental differences manifest themselves as
between man and man, and since tradition is more or less equalized, if
not within races, at least within classes in the same race, to that
degree is mental endowment of pre-eminent importance to the individual.
APPENDIX I
There is presented below a summary of the evidence that in all parts of
the world there existed among primitive races, before they had been
subjected to European or other outside influence, customs the primary
function of which was the restriction of increase. An ideal review of
the matter would require a preliminary selection of certain areas where
the conditions referred to could be thoroughly studied. After a mapping
out of the races and tribes, in order that some idea might be obtained
of the relative numerical importance of each, an exhaustive examination
of the literature might be undertaken and the date of the observations
noted. The credibility of the authors would have to be considered and
some method of allowing for negative evidence elaborated. Nothing of the
kind has been attempted here. It may be suggested that the problem
should have been pursued at least somewhat further. Various attempts
were made to analyse the evidence in other ways, but the difficulties
met with were such that it seemed best to present the evidence as
follows. Evidence of a reasonably credible nature as to the existence of
these customs has been noted. In many of these cases other authors are
silent as to these practices; in one or two cases the practices have
been denied; but when the denial is either not apparently founded on
careful observation or is of a distinctly later date, these instances
have not been omitted. Where the weight of the evidence is against the
existence of the practice, as in the case of the existence of
infanticide among the Veddahs, any positive evidence is omitted. One
author does record infanticide among the Veddahs, and it may be that it
formerly existed.
It is submitted that the evidence as given below does show customs
restrictive of increase to have been so widespread, in the form either
of abortion, infanticide, or prolonged abstention from intercourse, as
to have been practically universal. It is in fact submitted that,
although for the many reasons set out in the text the evidence must be
very incomplete, there is ample support for the theory which has been
advanced.
In the following summary the letter ‘R’ stands for prolonged restriction
of intercourse, ‘A’ for abortion, and ‘I’ for infanticide. Where the
evidence records the practice to be rare, but there are reasons for
thinking that the rarity may be recent, the reference has been included
with the word ‘rare’ given in brackets.
AUSTRALIA
Group I.
[Sidenote: I.]
General References. Parker, _Aborigines_, p. 23; Lumholtz, _Among
Cannibals_, p. 134.
Victoria. Curr, _Recollections_, p. 252.
Victoria and Riverina. Beveridge, _Aborigines_, p. 26.
New South Wales and Victoria. Mathews, _Ethnological Notes_, p. 17.
Port Lincoln. Wilhelmi, _Transactions of the Royal Society of
Victoria_, vol. v, p. 180; Schürmann, _Aboriginal Tribes_, p. 223.
River Darling. Bonney, _J. A. I._, vol. xiii, p. 125.
Southern Australia. Palmer, _J. A. I._, vol. xiii, p. 280; Fison and
Howitt, _Kamilaroi and Kurnai_, p. 190; Eylmann, _Kolonie
Südaustralien_, p. 261; Smyth, _Aborigines_, vol. i, p. 52.
Mining Tribe. Howitt, _Native Tribes_, p. 748.
Tongeranka. Ibid., p. 749.
Mukjarawaint. Ibid.
Wotjos. Ibid.
Tatuthi. Ibid.
Wadthaurung. Ibid.
Narrinyeri. Taplin, _Native Tribes_, p. 13.
Queensland. Mathew, _Two Tribes_, p. 165.
Port Darwin. Foelsche, _J. A. I._, vol. xxiv, p. 192.
Central Australia. Eyre, _Journals_, vol. ii, p. 376; Spencer and
Gillen, _Native Tribes_, p. 269.
Northern Tribes. Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes_, p. 608.
Western Australia. Grey, _Journals_, vol. ii, p. 251.
[Sidenote: A.]
North-west and Central Queensland. Roth, _Ethnological Studies_, p.
183.
Mythuggadi. Palmer, _J. A. I._, vol. xiii, p. 280.
Port Jackson. Collins, _Edinburgh Review_, vol. ii, p. 34.
TASMANIA
Group I.
[Sidenote: A.]
Bonwick, _Tasmanians_, p. 76.
[Sidenote: I.]
Ibid., pp. 79 and 85; Ling Roth, _Tasmania_, p. 167.
BUSHMEN
Group I.
[Sidenote: I.]
Moffat, _Missionary Labours_, p. 58; Stow, _Native Races_, p. 51.
AMERICA
Group I.
[Sidenote: R.]
General References. Weld, _Travels_, p. 373; Heriot, _Travels_, p.
339.
Yguazas. Cabeça da Vaca, _Narrative_, p. 62.
Abipones. Dobrizhoffer, _Abipones_, vol. ii, p. 97.
[Sidenote: A.]
General References. Weld. loc. cit., p. 373; Robertson, _History_,
vol. i, p. 297.
Eskimos. Wells and Kelly, _U.S.A. Bur. of Education_, 1890, p. 19;
Bessels, _Arch. für Anth._, vol. viii, p. 112.
Hudson Bay. Ellis, _Voyage_, p. 198.
Knisteneaux. Mackenzie, _Voyages_, vol. i, p. 148.
Haidahs. Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 169.
Puget Sound. Lord, _Naturalist_, vol. ii, p. 231.
Vancouver Island (Nootkas). Sproat, _Savage Life_, p. 94; Bancroft,
vol. i, p. 197.
Thompson Indians. (Rare.) Teit, _Jesup North Pacific Expedition_,
vol. i, p. 305, and vol. ii, p. 584.
Shushwap. (Rare.) Ibid.
Western Washington and North-western Oregon. Gibbs, _U.S. Geog. and
Geol. Survey_, vol. i, p. 199.
Chinooks. Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 242.
Inland Tribes Pacific Coast. Ibid.
Omahas. (Rare.) Dorsey, 3rd _A. R. B. E._, p. 263.
Californians. Powers, loc. cit., p. 207.
New Mexico. Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 590.
Guaycurus. Castelnau, _Expedition_, vol. ii, p. 450; Azara,
_Voyages_, p. 146.
Payaguas. Rengger, _Reise_, p. 329.
Fuegians. Cooper, _S. I. B. E._, No. 63, p. 171.
[Sidenote: I.]
Eskimos. Behring Straits. Nelson, 18th _A. R. B. E._, p. 289.
Central. (Rare.) Boas, 6th _A. R. B. E._, p. 580.
Smith Sound. Murdoch, 9th _A. R. B. E._, p. 417; Bessels, _Arch. für
Anth._, vol. viii, p. 112.
King William Land. Murdoch, loc. cit., p. 417.
Greenland. Nansen, _Greenland_, p. 330.
Aleuts. (Rare.) Dall, _Alaska_, p. 399.
Malemutes. Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 81.
Kutchins. Kirkby, _Church Missionary Intelligencer_, vol. xiv, p.
115; Hardisty, 21st _A. R. B. E._, p. 312; Mackenzie, _Voyages_,
vol. i, p. 148.
Copper River District. Woldt, _Reise_, p. 393.
Chinooks. Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 242; Lord, loc. cit., vol.
ii, p. 231.
Koniagas. Bancroft, vol. i, p. 81.
Nootkas. Bancroft, vol. i, p. 197.
Haidahs. Gibbs, loc. cit., p. 198; Bancroft, vol. i, p. 169.
Kwakiutl. Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 169.
Chepewayans. Keating, _Narrative_, p. 160.
Californians. Powers, loc. cit., p. 416; Bancroft, loc. cit., vol.
i, pp. 390 and 413.
Yguazas. Cabeça da Vaca, _Narrative_, p. 62.
Abipones. Dobrizhoffer, _Abipones_, vol. ii, p. 97; Charlevoix, loc.
cit., vol. i, p. 405.
Guaycurus. Church, _South America_, p. 248.
Puelches. Guinnard, _Patagonians_, p. 143.
Fuegians. (Rare.) Westermarck, _Human Marriage_, p. 313.
Group II.
[Sidenote: R.]
Iroquois. Le Beau, _Aventures_, vol. ii, p. 200.
Illinois. Charlevoix, loc. cit., vol. vi, p. 5.
Crows. Holder, _Am. Journ. Obstet._, vol. xxv, p. 44.
Mexico. Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 281.
Moxos and Chiquitos. D’Orbigny, _L’Homme Américain_, vol. i, p. 47.
[Sidenote: A.]
Sioux. Keating, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 394; Schoolcraft, loc. cit.,
vol. i, p. 204.
Crows. Holder, loc. cit., p. 44.
Apaches, Navahos, Pueblos, Pimas, Nahua, Otommi, and Aztec.
Hrdlicka, _S. I. B. E._, Bull. 34, p. 163.
Menomini. Stevenson, 23rd _A. R. B. E._, p. 296.
Zuni. (Rare.) Ibid.
Mexico. Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. ii, pp. 183 and 269.
Brazil and the Chaco. Ehrenreich, _Königliches Museum zu Berlin_,
vol. i, Heft 2, p. 27; Azara, vol. ii, p. 116.
Bakairi. Von den Steinen, _Brazilien_, p. 123.
[Sidenote: I.]
Pimas. Yarrow, _A. R. B. E._, vol. i, p. 99.
Sioux. Schoolcraft, loc. cit., vol. iii, p. 243.
Creeks. Schoolcraft, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 272.
Guanas. Azara, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 93.
Mbayas. Ibid., p. 116.
Lenguas. Hawtrey, _J. A. I._, vol. xxi, p. 295.
Guaranis. Rengger, _Reise_, p. 329.
AFRICA
[Sidenote: R.]
Yoruba-speaking. Ellis, _Yoruba-Speaking Peoples_, p. 185.
Ewe-speaking. Ellis, _Ewe-Speaking Peoples_, p. 206.
Kagero. Tremearne, _J. A. I._, vol. xlii, p. 174.
Hausa. Ibid., vol. xxxvi, p. 93.
Benin. Ling Roth, _Benin_, p. 39.
Niger District. Mungo Park, _Travels_, p. 402.
Warri District. Granville, _J. A. I._, vol. xxvii, p. 106.
Moioa. Tremearne, _Nigeria_, p. 239.
Gallinas. Harris, _Darkest Africa_, p. 36.
Hobbés. Desplagnes, _Plateau Nigérien_, p. 227.
Cameroon. Nassau, _West Africa_, p. 11.
Ashanti. Reade, _South Africa_, p. 45.
Congo District. Cureau, _Sociétés primitives_, p. 378; Johnston,
_George Grenfell_, p. 671; Ward, _J. A. I._, vol. xxiv, p. 289.
Bangala. Weeks, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxix, p. 418; Overbergh and
Jonghe, _Coll. Mon. Eth._, No. 1, p. 199.
Mayombe. Overbergh and Jonghe, _Coll. Mon. Eth._, No. 2, p. 219.
Ababua. Halkin, _Coll. Mon. Eth._, No. 7, p. 260.
Bayaka. Torday and Joyce, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxvi, p. 51.
Mandja. Gaud, _Coll. Mon. Eth._, No. 8, p. 154.
Warega. Delhaise, ibid., No. 5, p. 154.
Uganda. Wilson and Felkin, _Uganda_, vol. i, p. 187.
Baganda. Roscoe, _Baganda_, p. 55.
Rovuma River. Thomson, _Geog. Journ._, vol. iv, p. 73.
Swaheli. Velten, _Suaheli_, p. 73.
Baringo District. Dundas, _J. A. I._, vol. xl, p. 60.
Wanjamuesi. Reichard, _Z. G. E._, vol. xxiv, p. 257.
British Central Africa. Stannus, _J. A. I._, vol. xl, p. 311.
Miri District. Felkin, _Trans. Edin. Obstet. Soc._, vol. ix, p. 31.
Atonga. Johnston, _British Central Africa_, p. 415.
South Africa. Junod, _Baronga_, p. 490; Kidd, _Essential Kaffir_, p.
19.
Baronga. Junod, _Baronga_, p. 490.
Loango. Pechuel-Loesche, _Loango-Expedition_, p. 31.
[Sidenote: A.]
Tenda. Delacour, _Rev. d’Eth._, 1912, p. 45.
Nigeria. Tremearne, _J. A. I._, vol. xlii, p. 171.
Congo District. Johnston, _George Grenfell_, p. 671.
Bangala. Weeks, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxix, p. 449; Overbergh and
Jonghe, _Coll. Mon. Eth._, No. 1, p. 201.
Bahuana. Torday and Joyce, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxvi, p. 228.
Warega. Delhaise, loc. cit., p. 147.
Ababua. Halkin, loc. cit., p. 259.
Onolove. de Rochebrune, _Rev. d’Anth._, vol. iv, p. 283.
Mangbetu. (Rare.) Van Overbergh, _Coll. Mon. Eth._, No. 4, p. 298.
Bushongo. (Rare.) Torday and Joyce, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxvi, p. 111.
Akamba. Hobley, _Akamba_, p. 58.
Swaheli. Velten, loc. cit., p. 29.
Nyassa District. Fülleborn, _Nyassa-Gebiet_, p. 352.
British Central Africa. Johnston, _British Central Africa_, p. 417;
Angus, _Azimba and Chipitaland_, p. 324.
Zambezi Valley. Maugham, _Zambezia_, p. 339.
South Africa. Maclean, _Kaffir Laws_, p. 62.
Wadschagga. Gutmann, _Wadschagga_, p. 3.
Madagascar. Ellis, _Madagascar_, vol. i, p. 55.
[Sidenote: I.]
Hottentots. Kolben, _Cape of Good Hope_, vol. i, p. 144.
Madagascar. Ellis, _Madagascar_, vol. i, p. 155; Little,
_Madagascar_, p. 60.
OCEANIA
[Sidenote: R.]
New Zealand. Tregear, _J. A. I._, vol. xix, p. 103.
Torres Straits. _Cambridge Expedition_, vol. v, p. 199.
Savage Island (Niue). Thomson, _Savage Island_, p. 141.
Pelew Islands. Kubary, _Journal des Museum Godeffroy_, vol. i, p.
54.
Samoa. Krämer, _Samoa-Inseln_, vol. i, p. 38.
New Guinea. Seligman, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxii, p. 302 (Sinaugola);
Schellong, _Zeit. für Eth._, vol. xxviii, p. 19 (Finschafen).
Solomon Islands. Ribbe, _Zwei Jahre_, p. 144; Glaumond, _Rev.
d’Eth._, vol. vii, p. 80.
Bismarck Archipelago (New Britain Group). Brown, _Melanesians_, p.
37.
New Caledonia. Glaumond, loc. cit., p. 80; Lambert,
_Néo-Calédoniens_, p. 104.
Fiji. Thomson, _Fijians_, p. 176; Seeman, _Viti_, p. 191.
Tonga. Thomson, loc. cit., p. 178.
Gilbert Islands (Kingsmill or Line Islands). Thomson, loc. cit., p.
178.
[Sidenote: A.]
New Zealand. Dieffenbach, _New Zealand_, vol. ii, p. 12; Goldie,
_Trans. and Proc. N. Z. Inst._, vol. xxxvii, p. 110; Tuke, _Edin.
Med. Journ._, vol. ix, p. 735.
Torres Straits. Hunt, _J. A. I._, vol. xxviii, p. 9; Haddon, _J. A.
I._, vol. xix, p. 359; _Cambridge Expedition_, vol. vi, p. 197.
Hawaii. Dumas, _Îles Hawaï_, p. 18.
Gilbert Islands. Jenkins, _Voyage_, p. 404; Krämer, loc. cit., vol.
ii, p. 53; Thomson, _Fijians_, p. 211.
Samoa. Krämer, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 53; Turner, _Samoa_, p. 79.
Rotuma. Gardiner, _J. A. I._, vol. xxvii, p. 480.
Savage Island. Thomson, loc. cit., p. 141.
Fiji. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, p. 423; Waterhouse,
_Fiji_, p. 327.
New Hebrides. Hagen and Pineau, _Rev. d’Eth._, vol. vii, p. 332;
Jamieson, _Aust. Med. Journ._, vol. vii, p. 53.
New Caledonia. Codrington, _Melanesians_, p. 33; Ribbe, loc. cit.,
p. 144; Parkinson, _Int. Arch. Eth._, vol. xiii, p. 8; Elton, _J. A.
I._, vol. xvii, p. 93.
Solomon Islands. Ribbe, loc. cit., p. 144.
Bismarck Archipelego. Brown, _Melanesians_, p. 33; Danks, _J. A.
I._, vol. xviii, p. 291; Pfeil, _Studien_, p. 313; Stephan and
Graebner, _Neu-Mecklenburg_, p. 18.
New Britain. Danks, _J. A. I._, vol. xviii, p. 291.
Aru Islands. Ribbe, loc. cit., p. 194.
Flores. Riedel, _Rev. Col. Inter._, vol. ii, p. 71.
New Guinea. Krieger, _Neu-Guinea_, pp. 165, 292, 390, and 392;
Murray, _Papua_, p. 194; Rosenberg, _Malayische Archipel_, p. 454;
Williamson, _Mafulu People_, p. 176; Seligman, _Melanesians_, pp.
135 and 568; Neuhaus, _Deutsch Neu-Guinea_, vol. ii, p. 150.
Nias. Modigliani, _Viaggio_, p. 554.
Celebes. Kreutz, _Zeit. Soc. Wiss._, Heft 11, p. 21.
Luzon. Jenks, _Ethnological Survey Publications_, vol. i, p. 60.
Mitchell Group. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 280.
[Sidenote: I.]
New Zealand. Angas, _Savage Life_, vol. i, p. 312; Taylor, _Te Ika a
Maui_, p. 338; Tuke, loc. cit., p. 312.
Torres Straits. Haddon, _J. A. I._, vol. xix, p. 359; _Cambridge
Expedition_, vol. vi, p. 107.
Gilbert Islands. Tuituila, _Journ. Pol. Soc._, vol. i, p. 267.
Savage Island. Thomson, _Fijians_, p. 141.
Rarotonga. Gill, _Coral Islands_, vol. ii, p. 13.
Tahiti. Lutteroth, _Insel Tahiti_, p. 12; Ellis, _Polynesian
Researches_, vol. i, p. 249.
Pelew Islands. Kotzebue, _Histoire_, vol. xvii, p. 211.
Sandwich Islands. Ellis, _Narrative_, p. 324; Angas, _Polynesia_, p.
144; Dumas, loc. cit., p. 19.
Fiji. Waterhouse, _Fiji_, p. 328.
New Caledonia. Glaumond, loc. cit., p. 79; Bernard,
_Nouvelle-Calédonie_, p. 288; Moncelin, _Bull. Soc. Anth._, vol. ix,
p. 357.
New Hebrides. Somerville, _J. A. I._, vol. xxiii, p. 4; Paton, _New
Hebrides_, p. 452.
Banks Island. Codrington, _Melanesians_, p. 229.
Solomon Islands (Ugi). Elton, _J. A. I._, vol. xvii, p. 93; Guppy,
_Solomon Islands_, p. 42.
Bismarck Archipelago. Brown, _Melanesians_, p. 36; Pfeil, loc. cit.,
p. 18.
New Guinea. Seligman, _Melanesians_, pp. 568 and 705; Williamson,
_Mafulu People_, p. 176; Newton, _New Guinea_, p. 189.
Funafuti. Edgeworth David, _Funafuti_, p. 195.
Tikopia (Barwell Island). Rivers, _Melanesian Society_, vol. i, p.
313.
Nissau. Thurmwald, _Zeit. für Eth._, vol. xl, 1908, p. 111.
Radeck. Kotzebue, _Voyages_, p. 173.
Vaitapu (Ellice Archipelago). Turner, _Samoa_, p. 284.
Marquesas. Hale, _U.S. Exploring Expedition_, vol. vi, p. 15.
Maupiti. Montgomery, _Journal_, vol. ii, p. 12.
Murray Islands. Hunt, _J. A. I._, vol. xxviii, p. 9.
APPENDIX II
Since the chapter on Human Fecundity was set up in type my attention has
been called to a paper by Siegel (_Münchener Medizinische
Wochenschrift_, 1916, p. 748). Though much has been said as to the
supposed influence of the time of copulation with reference to the
sexual cycle upon fertility, no definite information has been
forthcoming. This paper, however, contains important data which bear
upon this point. Owing to the fact that married soldiers only had
occasional leave from the army during the war and then only for two or
three days at a time, it has been possible to obtain information as to
the period in the sexual cycle in which between two and three hundred
children were conceived. Siegel finds that the likelihood of
fertilization increases from the beginning of menstruation, reaches the
highest point six days later, remains almost at the same height until
the twelfth or thirteenth day, and then declines to the twenty-second
day, after which there is absolute sterility.
If these data are confirmed, then those customs which encouraged
copulation immediately after menstruation (as among the ancient Jews) or
discourage it (as among the Hindus) must have an important bearing upon
fertility.
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INDEX
Ababua, restriction of intercourse, 175;
abortion, 179;
infanticide, 180;
property, 210.
Abipones, lactation, 138;
age at marriage, 140;
abstention from intercourse, 140;
infanticide, 149, 219;
feuds, 152;
health, 159;
treatment of children, 160;
age at marriage, 226.
Abortion, among hunting and fishing races, 145;
among agricultural races, 168, 178, 189, 196;
extent of, 215;
origin of, 216;
as regulating numbers, 222;
among historical races, 256, 268, 314.
Acheulean period, 121.
Acquired characters, not inherited, 74;
contrasted with inherited characters, 68.
Adio, restriction of intercourse, 176.
Africa, evolution of tradition in, 442.
Aged, treatment of, among hunting and fishing races, 154.
Ahts, lactation, 138;
war, 151;
treatment of aged, 155;
food, 233;
property, 296.
Ainu, lactation, 185;
fertility, 189;
war, 194.
Akamba, abortion, 179;
property, 209;
marriage customs, 228.
Akikuyu, fertility, 178;
war, 181;
property, 210;
age at marriage, 228;
health, 235.
Aleuts, fertility, 143;
infanticide, 148.
Amazon tribes, war, 171.
America, evolution of tradition in, 439;
racial characteristics, 451.
American Indians, fertility, 99.
_See also under various tribes._
Andamanese, lactation, 138;
fertility, 144;
infant mortality, 160;
intellect, 390.
Animal behaviour, evolution of, 45 ff.
Annam, abortion, 256.
Anthropoid apes, evolution of, 109;
mode of life, 110.
Apaches, contraceptive methods, 167;
abortion, 168.
Arabs, celibacy, 252;
lactation, 254;
restriction of intercourse, 254;
contraceptive methods, 255;
abortion, 256;
infanticide, 259;
over-population, 275;
migration, 302.
Aru Islands, fertility, 186;
abortion, 189.
Ashanti, restriction of intercourse, 175;
sacrifices, 180.
Asia, evolution of tradition in, 441.
Assiniens, fertility, 177.
Atonga, restriction of intercourse, 176.
Attakapas, age at marriage, 229.
Aurignacian period, 122.
Australians, fertility, 99;
early intercourse, 135;
lactation, 137;
initiation ceremonies, 138;
age at marriage, 139;
abortion, 145;
infanticide, 147, 216;
war, 149;
feuds, 152;
treatment of sick, 154;
disease, 157;
health, 158, 231;
property, 203;
division of food, 211;
marriage customs, 224;
storing of food, 232;
intellect, 389.
Awa-Wanga, restriction of intercourse, 176.
Aymaras, lactation, 165;
fertility, 168.
Azilian-Tardenoisian, 123.
Aztecs, contraceptive methods, 167;
abortion, 168.
Baganda, lactation, 174;
restriction of intercourse, 176;
war, 181;
witchcraft, 182;
health, 183;
property, 210;
marriage customs, 228;
food, 233.
Bahamas, 396.
Bahima, war, 181.
Baholoholo, fertility, 178.
Bahuana, war, 171;
early intercourse, 173;
abortion, 179.
Bakairi, abortion, 169.
Bakalai, war, 181.
Bakene, fertility, 178.
Bambala, war, 171;
early intercourse, 173;
fertility, 178;
intellect, 391.
Bangala, early intercourse, 173;
age at marriage, 174;
restriction of intercourse, 175;
fertility, 178;
abortion, 179;
property, 209;
marriage customs, 228;
intellect, 391.
Banks Island, early intercourse, 185;
infanticide, 191.
Bantu Races, polygamy, 102;
age at marriage, 174;
restriction of intercourse, 176;
health, 183;
intellect, 390.
Banyala, war, 181.
Baringo District, early intercourse, 173;
restriction of intercourse, 176;
war, 181.
Baronga, lactation, 174;
restriction of intercourse, 176;
age at marriage, 227.
Basonge, infanticide, 180.
Basuto, health, 183;
infant mortality, 184.
Bayaka, restriction of intercourse, 175;
fertility, 178;
war, 181;
witchcraft, 182.
Bechuanaland, property, 210.
Behaviour, evolution of, 45.
Benin, restriction of intercourse, 175;
war, 180.
Binet-Simon methods, 393.
Biometric methods, 358.
Bismarck Archipelago, lactation, 185;
restriction of intercourse, 186;
fertility, 188;
abortion, 189;
infanticide, 191.
Black Death, 248.
Blackfeet, war, 152, 170.
Boers, 450.
Bontoc Igorot, lactation, 185;
abortion, 190;
head hunting, 194;
infant mortality, 195;
marriage customs, 226.
Borneo, fertility, 191;
war, 194;
head hunting, 194, 227.
Bornu, age at marriage, 174.
Botocudos, fertility, 144;
infanticide, 149;
health, 159.
Brazilians, early intercourse, 164;
fertility, 168;
abortion, 169, 221;
health, 172, 236;
infant mortality, 172;
property, 208;
marriage customs, 230.
Bronze Age, 125.
Buddhism, celibacy, 252.
Burma, marriage, 253.
Bushmen, early intercourse, 136;
fertility, 143;
infanticide, 148;
war, 150;
treatment of aged, 154;
health, 158, 232;
property, 205;
division of food, 212.
Bushongo, early intercourse, 173;
lactation, 174;
abortion, 179;
infanticide, 180;
property, 209.
Californians, early intercourse, 126;
lactation, 138;
age at marriage, 140;
fertility, 140;
infanticide, 149;
war, 152;
treatment of aged, 155;
health, 159;
infant mortality, 160.
Cameroon district, restriction of intercourse, 175.
Caroline Islands, infanticide, 190;
marriage customs, 224.
Carrier tribes, property, 206.
Casual Labour, over-population and, 290.
Catholic Church, contraceptive practices and, 294.
Celebes, early intercourse, 185;
fertility, 189;
abortion, 190.
Celibacy, primitive races, 226;
historical races, 251, 263, 278.
Cells, nature of, 39.
Chaco Indians, abortion, 169;
infanticide, 169;
war, 171.
Chaldea, celibacy, 251.
Charruas, war, 152;
health, 236.
Chellean period, 121.
Chepewayans, lactation, 138;
fertility, 144;
infanticide, 149;
war, 152;
treatment of aged, 155.
Cheyennes, abortion, 169, 220.
Chichmics, lactation, 165.
Children, death-rate among hunting and fishing races, 159;
among agricultural races, 172, 183, 196;
among historical races, 249.
—— number of, _see_ Fertility.
Chinese, fecundity, 100;
celibacy, 252;
marriage, 253;
restriction of intercourse, 254;
contraceptive methods, 255;
fertility, 256;
abortion, 256;
infanticide, 259, 276;
over-population, 276;
organization of society, 432.
Chinooks, fertility, 99;
lactation, 138;
abortion, 146;
infanticide, 149;
war, 151.
Chiquitos, fertility, 168.
Christianity, war and, 249;
marriage and, 263;
infanticide and abortion and, 268.
Chromosomes, as physical basis of heredity, 65.
Civilization, cyclical course of, 459.
Climate, famine and, 249, 274;
migration and, 301;
head form and, 341;
tropical effects of, 342;
selection and, 371.
Comanches, early intercourse, 137;
fertility, 144;
war, 152.
Confucianism, marriage and, 253.
Congo tribes, early intercourse, 173;
lactation, 174;
restriction of intercourse, 175;
contraceptive methods, 177;
fertility, 178;
abortion, 179;
infanticide, 180;
war, 180;
witchcraft, 182;
infant mortality, 184;
marriage customs, 229;
food, 234.
Contact, influence upon tradition, 424;
geography and, 427.
Contraceptive methods, agricultural races, 177, 186;
historical races, 255, 266, 287, 315;
Catholic Church and, 294.
Co-operation, in search for food, 211.
Copper Age, 125.
Copper River tribes, infanticide, 148.
Copulation, external, 42;
internal, 43.
Corea, celibacy, 252.
Creeks, infanticide, 169, 220.
Crees, war, 211.
Cro-Magnon man, 117.
Cross River tribes, early intercourse, 172.
Crow tribe, fertility, 99;
restriction of intercourse, 166;
abortion, 168;
war, 170.
Cytoplasm, nature of, 39;
relation to nucleus, 66.
Dacotahs, war, 170.
Dahomey, war, 170.
Damaras, health, 175.
Death, origin of, 38;
causes of, among animals, 57;
among plants, 58;
ignorance of cause among hunting and fishing races, 153.
Decreasing returns, 199.
Development of organisms, 41, 66, 325.
Disease, evolution of, 155;
among hunting and fishing races, 158;
among agricultural races, 171, 183, 195;
among historical races, 244;
tropical, 348;
twins and, 352;
inheritance of, 359;
selection and, 377.
Ductless glands, 347, 372.
Dyaks, use of metal, 163;
food, 233.
Egbas, fertility, 177.
Egypt, disease, 245, 247;
treatment of children, 250;
celibacy, 251;
lactation, 254;
restriction of intercourse, 254;
infanticide, 272;
over-population, 277.
Ekoi, fertility, 177;
property, 209;
marriage customs, 229.
Elimination, causes of among animals, 58;
among plants, 59;
under natural conditions, 75.
Enclosures, population and, 284.
Environment, influence of upon animals and plants, 325;
upon men, 336;
influence upon progress, 458.
Eoanthropus, 115.
Eoliths, 118, 130.
Eskimos, fertility, 99, 143;
early intercourse, 136;
lactation, 137;
age at marriage, 140;
abortion, 145;
infanticide, 148;
war, 150;
feuds, 153;
treatment of aged, 154;
health, 158;
infant mortality, 159;
property, 205;
division of food, 212;
marriage customs, 225;
celibacy, 226;
storing of food, 232.
Eugenics, attitude of Romans, 18;
term due to Galton, 35;
modern problems, 308.
Evolution, theory of, 17, 18, 34;
of animal behaviour, 45;
among species in a state of nature, 77;
of Primates, 109;
of man, 110, 128;
of culture, 129;
of disease, 155;
of tradition, 438.
Ewe-speaking people, lactation, 174;
restriction of intercourse, 175;
war, 180;
property, 209;
marriage, 229.
Exercise, influence of, 329, 339.
Factory Acts, 290, 340.
Famine, climate and, 249.
Fecundity, early references to human, 25;
definition of, 51;
distinguished from fertility, 52;
among species in nature, 63;
how determined, 60;
not influenced by the male, 88;
relation to length of mature period, 90;
to interval between births, 92;
effect of captivity upon, 95;
relation to number at a birth, 95;
increase of human, 97;
of primitive races, 99;
in India and China, 100;
opinion of Darwin regarding, 101;
relation to polygamy, 102;
to lactation, 102;
to age at marriage, 103;
to early intercourse, 103;
to development of fat, 104;
among men, 105;
of pre-human ancestor, 241.
Fertility, distinguished from fecundity, 52;
among hunting and fishing races, 141;
among agricultural races, 167, 177, 183, 196;
among historical races, 255;
Indian and European compared, 256;
calculations regarding, 291;
differential, 316;
differential between classes, 316, 457;
between races, 320.
Fertilization, 40.
Feuds, among hunting and fishing races, 152;
among agricultural races, 171.
Fiji, lactation, 185;
restriction of intercourse, 186;
fertility, 188;
abortion, 189, 221;
infanticide, 191, 219;
war, 193;
obligation to work, 212;
age at marriage, 226;
food, 233.
Flores, abortion, 190.
Food, co-operation in search for, 211.
Franks, contraceptive methods, 255.
Fuegians, early intercourse, 137;
lactation, 138;
fertility, 144;
abortion, 146;
infanticide, 149;
war, 152;
treatment of aged, 155;
infant mortality, 160;
restriction of intercourse, 166;
property, 207;
marriage customs, 225.
Funafuti, infanticide, 190, 219.
Gallinomero, infanticide, 149.
Gallinas, restriction of intercourse, 175;
war, 180.
Gametes, nature of, 40.
Geological strata, time occupied by deposition of, 107.
Ghiliaks, lactation, 138;
infant mortality, 160.
Glacial epoch, duration of, 108;
subdivisions of, 109.
Gonorrhoea, effect upon fecundity, 89.
Greece, discussion regarding population in, 19;
celibacy, 251;
contraceptive methods, 255;
abortion, 256;
infanticide, 258;
malaria, 349.
Grimaldi man, 117.
Guanas, fertility, 168;
infanticide, 169;
age at marriage, 230.
Guaranis, fertility, 168;
war, 171;
abortion, 220.
Guatemala, early intercourse, 164.
Guaycurus, abortion, 146;
infanticide, 149;
war, 152.
Guiana, lactation, 165;
infanticide, 169;
feuds, 171;
marriage customs, 229;
food, 234.
Habit, inheritance of, 362;
tradition and, 414, 462.
Haidahs, abortion, 146;
infanticide, 149;
war, 151;
feuds, 154;
property, 206;
marriage customs, 225.
Hausa, lactation, 174;
restriction of intercourse, 175;
infanticide, 180.
Hawaii, early intercourse, 185;
abortion, 189.
Head, shape of, and environment, 341.
Head hunting, 194.
Health, of primitive races, 158, 196, 231;
of historical races, 245.
Heidelberg man, 114.
Hobbés, restriction of intercourse, 175.
Hottentots, fertility, 178;
infanticide, 179, 180;
war, 182;
health, 183;
property, 208.
Housing accommodation, population and, 280.
Hualaga tribes, fertility, 168.
Hudson Bay tribes, fertility, 143;
abortion, 145.
Hungary, lactation, 263.
Hurons, early intercourse, 165.
Ibo-speaking people, early intercourse, 173.
Ice Age, _see_ Glacial epoch.
Illinois, early intercourse, 165;
restriction of intercourse, 166.
Imitation, inheritance of, 364;
tradition and, 413.
Income, average per head, 310.
Increase, possible among animals and plants, 54;
actual, 55.
India, fecundity, 100;
early intercourse, 104;
infant mortality, 250;
celibacy, 251;
early intercourse, 253;
contraceptive methods, 255;
fertility, 255;
abortion, 256;
infanticide, 260;
climate, 274;
over-population, 275;
caste system, 432.
Infant mortality, _see_ Children.
Infanticide, hunting and fishing races, 146;
agricultural races, 169, 179, 190, 196;
extent of under-estimated, 215;
origin of, 216;
importance of, in regulating numbers, 228;
among historical races, 257, 268.
Ingaliks, lactation, 138.
Inheritance, relation of, to social problems, 18;
physical basis of, 64;
biparental, 71;
environment and, 326;
in man, 356;
of physical characters, 359;
of disease, 359;
of mental characters, 361.
Initiation ceremonies, 138.
Instinct, nature of, 47;
inheritance of, 363.
Intellect, inheritance of, 364;
among prehistoric races, 387, 398;
primitive races, 389;
negroes, 393;
in the Bahamas, 396;
evolution of, 399, 409, 438;
influence upon progress, 447.
Intelligence, nature of, 47;
development among animals, 50.
Interdependence of organisms, 56.
Ireland, over-population, 284, 294.
Iron Age, 127.
Iroquois, restriction of intercourse, 166;
fertility, 167;
health, 172.
Jakun, marriage customs, 225.
Japan, rise of, 82.
Java, early intercourse, 185;
fertility, 189;
health, 343.
Jews, contraceptive methods, 255;
infanticide, 256;
civilization, 452.
Kabinapek, abortion, 146;
infanticide, 149.
Kaffirs, _see_ South Africa.
Kagero, lactation, 174;
restriction of intercourse, 175;
infanticide, 180;
food, 234.
Kalabar, witchcraft, 182.
Kalmucks, marriage customs, 253.
Kamtchatka, age at marriage, 196;
abortion, 196;
infanticide, 196.
Kenai, marriage customs, 225.
Kingsmill Islands, restriction of intercourse, 186;
fertility, 188;
abortion, 189;
infanticide, 190, 219;
war, 192.
Kirghiz, early intercourse, 254.
Knisteneaux, abortion, 146.
Konde-land, restriction of intercourse, 176.
Koniagas, infanticide, 149.
Koryak, lactation, 196.
Kuku, lactation, 174;
restriction of intercourse, 176;
fertility, 178;
marriage customs, 228.
Kutchins, infanticide, 148;
celibacy, 226;
health, 233.
Kwakiutl, war, 151.
Lactation, influence upon fecundity, 102;
among hunting and fishing races, 137;
among agricultural races, 165, 174, 185, 196;
among historical races, 254.
Land, claims of groups to areas of, 203;
property in, 279.
Language, tradition and, 408, 412.
Laws, encouraging population, 22.
Lenda district, infanticide, 180.
Lenguas, lactation, 165;
infanticide, 169, 220.
Liberia, lactation, 174;
fertility, 177.
Lillooets, age at marriage, 140, 226;
war, 151;
division of food, 212.
Limitation of families, views of Mill, 202.
Limitation of the surface of the world, theories of population and, 20;
influence upon evolution, 59.
Lind hinterland, 180.
Loango, restriction of intercourse, 176.
Loucheux, food, 233.
Macusis, fertility, 168.
Madagascar, fertility, 178;
abortion, 179;
witchcraft, 182.
Madi district, lactation, 174.
Magdalenian period, 123.
Makalaka, fertility, 178.
Makonde, early intercourse, 173.
Malaria, 349.
Malays, 163.
Maldive Islands, marriage customs, 226.
Malemutes, infanticide, 148;
war, 151.
Malthusian theory, anticipations of, 19, 25;
nature of, 28;
reception of, 29;
debt of Darwin and Wallace to, 34;
summary of, 197;
criticism of, 199.
Mandans, fertility, 167;
health, 172;
food, 234.
Mandingoes, fertility, 177.
Mandja, restriction of intercourse, 175;
infanticide, 180;
food, 234.
Mandrucos, war, 171;
health, 236.
Mangbetu, early intercourse, 173;
lactation, 174;
fertility, 178;
abortion, 179;
infant mortality, 184;
property, 209.
Manu, Laws of, 253.
Marquesas, fertility, 187;
infanticide, 191.
Marriage, among animals, 62;
influence of age at, 103;
among primitive races, 139;
postponement of, among hunting and fishing races, 139, 226;
disparity in age at, 140;
postponement of, among agricultural races, 165, 174, 185, 196;
customs regarding, 224, 275;
postponement of, among historical races, 251, 264, 279, 306;
prohibition of, 281, 282.
Marshall Islands, war, 193.
Masai, early intercourse, 173;
war, 181;
marriage customs, 228.
Mayombe, lactation, 174;
restriction of intercourse, 175.
Mbayas, infanticide, 169;
health, 236.
Memory among animals, 50.
Mendelian inheritance, nature of, 71;
in man, 356.
Menstruation, relation to ovulation, 90.
Mental evolution, among animals, 45;
connexion with reproduction, 51;
among men, 50;
influence upon population problem, 80.
Mercantile theory of trade, 22.
Mexico, lactation, 165;
restriction of intercourse, 166;
abortion, 169;
war, 170;
property, 208;
age at marriage, 220.
Migration, over-population and, 297;
selection and, 381.
Minnetanes, war, 170.
Minoan civilization, 244.
Miri district, restriction of intercourse, 176.
Mitchell Islands, abortion, 190.
Mittelschmerz, 94.
Modifications, nature of, 68.
Mohammedanism, celibacy, 253;
lactation, 254.
Mohaves, infanticide, 169.
Moioa, restriction of intercourse, 175.
Monasticism, celibacy and, 279.
Mongols, marriage, 253.
Montagnais, health, 233.
Mousterian period, 121.
Moxos, restriction of intercourse, 166;
fertility, 168.
Mundas, marriage customs, 275.
Murray Islands, war, 192;
infanticide, 220.
Mutations, nature of, 68;
origin of, 73;
among men, 81, 383.
Nagas, war, 248.
Nahuas, contraceptive methods, 167;
abortion, 168.
Nandi, early intercourse, 173;
lactation, 174;
restriction of intercourse, 176.
Nandowensis, marriage customs, 229.
Natchez, marriage customs, 229;
health, 236.
Natural Selection, among species in nature, 75;
lethal and reproductive, 367;
strength of, 369;
in intermediate period, 370;
in first and second periods, 371;
of tradition, 417.
Navahos, early intercourse, 164;
contraceptive methods, 167;
abortion, 168;
infanticide, 169;
property, 208.
Neanderthal man, 116.
Neolithic period, 118, 123.
Neomalthusianism, early history of, 31;
Bradlaugh-Besant trial, 33;
in foreign countries, 33.
New Britain, early intercourse, 185;
abortion, 222;
celibacy, 226.
New Caledonia, early intercourse, 185;
lactation, 185;
restriction of intercourse, 186;
fertility, 188;
abortion, 189;
infanticide, 191;
war, 193.
New Guinea, early intercourse, 185;
lactation, 185;
restriction of intercourse, 186;
contraceptive practices, 186;
fertility, 188;
abortion, 190;
infanticide, 191;
war, 193;
head hunting, 194;
witchcraft, 195.
New Hebrides, abortion, 189;
infanticide, 191, 221;
war, 193.
New Zealand, early intercourse, 184;
restriction of intercourse, 186;
fertility, 187;
abortion, 189;
infanticide, 190;
war, 192;
property, 211.
Nias, fertility, 189;
abortion, 190.
Nigeria, fertility, 177;
abortion, 178;
war, 180;
property, 209.
Nishinan, infanticide, 149.
Nissau, 190.
Nitrogen in the sea, 59.
Nootkas, fertility, 99;
lactation, 138;
abortion, 146;
health, 159;
infant mortality, 160.
Nucleus, nature of, 39;
function of, 66.
Oestrous cycle, 44.
Ojebway Indians, war, 170;
marriage customs, 229.
Omahas, fertility, 144;
property, 208;
age at marriage, 229.
Onolove, early intercourse, 173;
abortion, 179.
Optimum density of population, 200, 213;
approximation to, among primitive races, 230, 236, 292;
among historical races, 239, 270, 293, 309;
military needs and, 310.
Orthogenesis, 79.
Ostyaks, health, 196.
Otommi, abortion, 168.
Ovaherero, property, 210.
Over-population, fear of, in England, 23;
among historical races, 275, 283, 284, 290, 304;
migration and, 297;
war and, 304;
in the future, 308;
unemployment and, 312.
Ovulation, _see_ Menstruation.
Ovum, 40.
Palaeolithic period, 118
Patagonians, health, 159.
Pawumwa Indians, obligation to work, 213.
Payaguas, abortion, 146;
health, 236.
Pelew Islands, early intercourse, 185;
restriction of intercourse, 186;
fertility, 187;
war, 192;
property, 211.
Persia, celibacy, 251;
marriage, 253;
lactation, 254;
restriction of intercourse, 254;
abortion, 265.
Peruvian tribes, fertility, 167;
infanticide, 169;
war, 170;
age at marriage, 230.
Pimas, contraceptive methods, 167;
abortion, 168, 221;
infanticide, 169.
Pithecanthropus, 112.
Plough, invention of, 127;
use of, 162.
Polygamy, influence upon fecundity, 102;
among primitive races, 132.
Poor law, marriage and, 282.
Port Herald, contraceptive methods, 177.
Primates, evolution of, 109.
Primitive races, value of evidence regarding, 85, 131;
intellect and, 447.
Progress, definition of, 85;
rate of, 130;
in different regions, 438.
Protista, reproduction among, 39.
Pueblos, contraceptive methods, 167;
abortion, 168;
war, 170.
Puelches, lactation, 138;
fertility, 144;
infanticide, 149, 218;
war, 152;
infant mortality, 160.
Puget Sound Indians, lactation, 138;
abortion, 146.
Pure Line inheritance, 69.
Queka Indians, treatment of aged, 155.
Racial crosses, 380, 453.
Radeck, infanticide, 191, 221;
health, 235.
Rarotonga, infanticide, 190;
war, 192.
Ratios of increase of food and of population, 26, 198;
of human population, 105.
Reflex action, 45.
Religious writers, attitude to Malthus, 30.
Reproduction, necessity for, 38;
nature of, 39;
methods of, 41;
among species in nature and men, 52.
Reproductive organs, size among primitive races, 97.
Rome, discussion of population problem in, 18, 49;
expectation of life in, 246;
age at marriage in, 251;
early intercourse, 254;
contraceptive methods, 255;
abortion, 256, 272;
infanticide, 258.
Rotuma, abortion, 189;
war, 192.
Rovuma River, restriction of intercourse, 176.
Salish, lactation, 138;
age at marriage, 140;
health, 159;
property, 206.
Samoa, lactation, 185;
restriction of intercourse, 186;
fertility, 187;
abortion, 189;
infanticide, 190;
war, 192;
infant mortality, 195.
Samoyeds, fertility, 196;
infanticide, 196;
health, 196.
Sandwich Islands, infanticide, 101, 219;
fertility, 187;
war, 192;
health, 235.
Sarawak, lactation, 185;
fertility, 188;
property, 211.
Savage Island, restriction of intercourse, 186;
abortion, 189;
infanticide, 190.
Selection, _see_ Natural Selection.
Seri Indians, war, 152;
treatment of aged, 155;
division of food, 212;
marriage customs, 225;
elimination among, 375.
Sexual cycle in Mammals, 44;
former condition in man, 92;
effect of captivity upon, 94;
peculiarity of, in man, 98.
Sexual instinct, 42, 43, 51;
among primitive races, 97.
Sexual intercourse, before maturity, influence upon fecundity, 103;
among hunting and fishing races, 135;
taboo upon, among hunting and fishing races, 141;
among agricultural races, 164, 172, 184;
taboo upon, among agricultural races, 165, 175, 186;
before maturity among historical races, 253, 263;
taboo upon, among historical races, 267;
restrictions upon, 315.
Shawnees, contraceptive methods, 167;
health, 172.
Shekiani, feuds, 181.
Shoshones, war, 170.
Shushwap, lactation, 138;
age at marriage, 144;
war, 151;
health, 159.
Siam, marriage, 253;
lactation, 254.
Sierra Leone, property, 209.
Sioux, lactation, 165;
fertility, 167;
abortion, 168, 221;
infanticide, 169;
war, 170;
infant mortality, 172.
Sitkins Indians, property, 207.
Social organization, origin of, 132;
mental evolution and, 401;
organic, 401;
segmentary, 429.
Socialists, attitude to Malthus, 31.
Society Islands, age at marriage, 185.
Solomon Islands, lactation, 185;
restriction of intercourse, 186;
abortion, 189;
infanticide, 191;
war, 193.
Sound Indians, fertility, 144.
South Africa, lactation, 174;
abortion, 179;
infanticide, 180;
witchcraft, 182;
infant mortality, 184;
property, 210;
marriage customs, 227;
intellect, 392.
Spermatozoa, 40, 41.
Starvation, no evidence for, among primitive races, 231;
among animals, 58, 61;
among plants, 59.
Stature, increase of, 340.
Sterility, in males, 89;
among Australians, 99;
fat and, 104.
Suggestion, inheritance of, 364;
tradition and, 413.
Sumatra, fertility, 188;
marriage customs, 227.
Swaheli, early intercourse, 173;
restriction of intercourse, 176;
fertility, 178.
Sympathy, inheritance of, 364;
tradition and, 413.
Tahiti, infanticide, 190;
war, 192.
Tasmanians, early intercourse, 135;
lactation, 137;
fertility, 141;
abortion, 145;
infanticide, 146;
war, 149;
treatment of sick, 154;
health, 158;
infant mortality, 159;
property, 203.
Tehuelches, age at marriage, 140.
Temperament, disease and, 347;
environment and, 353, 438;
inheritance of, 361.
Tendas, lactation, 171;
abortion, 178.
Tepecanos, infanticide, 169.
Texas tribes, fertility, 167.
Thirty Years’ War, 247.
Thlinkeet, lactation, 138;
war, 151;
health, 159;
infant mortality, 160;
property, 207.
Thompson tribes, age at marriage, 140, 226;
abortion, 146;
infanticide, 149;
war, 151;
infant mortality, 160.
Thonga, restriction of intercourse, 177;
property, 210;
age at marriage, 227.
Tibet, celibacy, 251.
Tikopia, infanticide, 190, 219.
Timor Laut, health, 235.
Tinneh, early intercourse, 136;
lactation, 138;
age at marriage, 140;
fertility, 143;
war, 150;
infant mortality, 150;
property, 206.
Todas, infanticide, 222;
early intercourse, 254.
Tonga, restriction of intercourse, 186;
infanticide, 190.
Topebatos, age at marriage, 224.
Torres Straits, age at marriage, 185, 227;
restriction of intercourse, 186;
fertility, 187;
abortion, 189;
infanticide, 190, 220;
war, 192;
food, 234.
Trent, Council of, celibacy and, 264.
Tunguses, lactation, 196;
property, 211.
Turkomans, war, 248.
Turkey, lactation, 254;
restriction of intercourse, 255;
abortion, 256.
Uaupes, feuds, 171.
Uganda, lactation, 174;
restriction of intercourse, 176;
war, 181.
Under-population, 294, 295, 297.
Unemployment, over-population and, 312.
Unit-factors, 71.
Utilitarian school, attitude to Malthus, 29, 32.
Utis, contraceptive methods, 167.
Vaitapu, infanticide, 191, 221.
Vancouver Island, fertility, 99;
age at marriage, 140;
abortion, 146.
Veddahs, early intercourse, 137;
age at marriage, 140;
fertility, 145;
infanticide, 149;
infant mortality, 160;
property, 207.
Venereal disease, 269.
_See also_ Gonorrhoea.
Wadschagga, lactation, 174;
infant mortality, 184;
abortion, 221.
Wagogo, restriction of intercourse, 176.
Wakamba, infanticide, 180.
Wamakonde, lactation, 174.
Wanika, infanticide, 180.
Wanjamuesi, early intercourse, 173;
lactation, 174;
restriction of intercourse, 176;
fertility, 178.
Wapagoro, early intercourse, 173;
restriction of intercourse, 176;
marriage customs, 228.
War, among hunting and fishing races, 149;
among agricultural races, 169, 180, 192;
among historical races, 247;
Christian Church and, 249;
over-population and, 304;
origin of, 305;
selection and, 379.
Warega, early intercourse, 173;
restriction of intercourse, 175;
fertility, 178;
abortion, 179;
infant mortality, 184.
Warri district, restriction of intercourse, 175.
Wazaramo, lactation, 174.
Wealth, of different areas, 419;
influence upon tradition, 421;
shifting of centres of greatest, 423.
Welle district, war, 181.
West African tribes, lactation, 174.
Wheel, invention of, 127.
Witchcraft, as cause of death, 182.
Work among primitive races, obligation to, 212.
Workers’ Education Association, 239.
Woruk, infanticide, 149.
Writing, invention of, 127.
Yakuts, lactation, 196;
property, 211.
Yguazas, abstention from intercourse, 141;
infanticide, 149;
war, 152.
Yoruba-speaking people, lactation, 174;
restriction of intercourse, 175;
property, 209.
Yuchi, war, 170;
health, 172.
Zambala, marriage customs, 227.
Zaporos, treatment of aged, 155.
Zoroastrianism, marriage and, 253.
Zulus, war, 181;
infant mortality, 184;
marriage customs, 227.
Zuni, abortion, 169;
infanticide, 169;
property, 208.
PRINTED IN ENGLAND
AT THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
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Footnote 1:
On this subject see Roper, _Ancient Eugenics_.
Footnote 2:
Roper (loc. cit., p. 12) quotes Seneca as follows: ‘We drown the
weakling and the monstrosity. It is not passion, but reason, to
separate the useless from the fit.’
Footnote 3:
Campanella, _Civitas Solis_.
Footnote 4:
Mr. Roper in his book quoted above exaggerates the attention paid in
early times to quality. He says, for instance, when speaking of
infanticide and similar practices, that ‘these barbaric eugenics ...
were concerned with questions both of quantity and of quality’ (p.
11). As will be pointed out later, these practices were in fact
primarily concerned with quantity; such bearing as they had upon
quality was incidental.
Footnote 5:
See, for instance, Mill, _Principles of Political Economy_, vol. i, p.
389. Darwin commented upon this aspect of Mill’s work (_Descent of
Man_, p. 98).
Footnote 6:
Malthus, _Essay on the Principle of Population_, vol. i, p. 5.
Footnote 7:
Plato, _Laws_, v. 737.
Footnote 8:
Plato, _Republic_, v. 460.
Footnote 9:
Plato, _Laws_, v. 740.
Footnote 10:
This is apparently a reference to a work by Varro.
Footnote 11:
Tertullian, _De Anima_ (Ante-Nicene Christian Library), p. 481.
Footnote 12:
The realization of the limitation of the surface of the
globe—following upon the circumnavigation of the world—had no doubt an
influence. The fact that the earth is spherical—or at least that it is
not flat—(as a matter of fact it is somewhat tetrahedral) was of
course known to Aristotle (_De Caelo_, ii. 14). It has been remarked
that this conception was always present to the minds of the authors of
all those speculations which have come down from antiquity (Bosanquet,
_Philosophical Theory of the State_, p. 330). But it was not forced
upon men’s notice until it was practically demonstrated.
Footnote 13:
Prov. xiv. 28.
Footnote 14:
Thus Montesquieu wrote: ‘Il n’y a que les grandes nations qui aient
des armées’ (_Grandeur et Décadence des Romains_, p. 130).
Footnote 15:
The literature has been several times reviewed. I am chiefly indebted
to Stangeland, ‘Pre-Malthusian Doctrines of Population’, _Studies in
History, Economics and Public Law_—Columbia University; vol. xxi, No.
3, 1901.
Footnote 16:
Thomas Aquinas, _De Regimine Principum_, Bk. IV, ch. ix. (The fourth
book is supposititious; nevertheless it probably represents the views
of St. Thomas.)
Footnote 17:
Bodin, _Six Books of a Commonweale_, Bk. V, ch. ii, p. 575.
Footnote 18:
Botero, _Delle Cause della Grandezza della Città_, p. 5.
Footnote 19:
Quoted by Stangeland, loc. cit., p. 103, from the _Nouveau
Dictionnaire d’Économie Politique_, article ‘Population’. According to
Vauban (_La Dîme Royale_, p. 18) ‘La grandeur des rois se mesure par
le nombre de leurs sujets’.
Footnote 20:
Petty, ‘Treatise of Taxes and Contributions’ in _Economic Writings_,
vol. i, p. 34.
Footnote 21:
Graunt, _National and Political Observations upon the Bills of
Mortality_, ch. viii, section 14.
Footnote 22:
Davenant, _Political and Commercial Works_, vol. i, p. 16.
Footnote 23:
Child, _New Discourse upon Trade_, ch. x, p. 181.
Footnote 24:
Child, loc. cit., p. 179.
Footnote 25:
Temple, _Observations upon the United Provinces_, p. 164.
Footnote 26:
Quoted by Ferdy, _Die künstliche Beschränkung der Kinderzahl_, p. 85.
Footnote 27:
Quoted by Cannan, _History of the Theories of Production and
Distribution_, p. 124.
Footnote 28:
Quoted by Stangeland, loc. cit., p. 110.
Footnote 29:
Quoted by Stangeland, loc. cit., p. 234. Brückner’s work was published
in 1769.
Footnote 30:
Young, _Travels in France_, vol. i, p. 481.
Footnote 31:
Quoted by Leroy-Beaulieu, _La Question de la Population_, p. 31.
Footnote 32:
Wallace, _Dissertation on the Numbers of Mankind_, p. 12.
Footnote 33:
Steuart, _Principles of Political Economy_, vol. i, p. 20.
Footnote 34:
Malthus, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 3.
Footnote 35:
Mirabeau, _L’Ami des Hommes_, ch ii, p. 14.
Footnote 36:
‘There is a principle in human society by which population is
perpetually kept down to the level of the means of subsistence,’ said
Godwin in 1798 (_Political Justice_, Bk. VIII, p. 518). Many similar
remarks are to be found in the writings of the Physiocrats. See, for
instance, Turgot, _Sur le Commerce_, section 7, and Quesnay, _Analyse
du Tableau Économique_, chs. xxv and xxvi.
Footnote 37:
Raleigh, _History of the World_, in collected Works, vol. ii, p. 25.
Footnote 38:
Machiavelli, _History of Florence_, Bk. I, p. 5.
Footnote 39:
Botero, loc. cit., p. 73.
Footnote 40:
Botero, loc. cit., p. 75.
Footnote 41:
Hale, _Primitive Origination of Mankind_, ch. viii, section 2.
Footnote 42:
Petty, _Essay concerning the Increase of Mankind_, p. 21.
Footnote 43:
See Stangeland, loc. cit., p. 230. There are two valuable and
important books which appeared in the eighteenth century dealing with
population. They do not lend themselves to quotation, but deserve
mention here. Benjamin Franklin, in his _Observations concerning the
Increase of Mankind and the Peopling of Countries_, pointed out the
differences in the marriage-rate as between Europe and the more
recently colonized countries and analysed the causes. It is
interesting to note that he was led to a more or less clear
recognition of the presence of the struggle for existence among all
living organisms (p. 21). The second book referred to above is Adam
Ferguson’s _Essay on the History of Civil Society_. The name of Ortes
should perhaps be mentioned. His book _Riflessioni sulla Popolazione_,
published in 1792, anticipated Malthus in almost every respect and yet
aroused practically no attention.
Footnote 44:
According to Leslie Stephen’s article in the _Dictionary of National
Biography_, the chief authorities for the life of Malthus are (1) a
notice by Otter, afterwards Bishop of Chichester, prefixed to the
second edition of the _Political Economy_ published in 1836 and (2) an
article by Empsen in the _Edinburgh Review_. Jan. 1837, p. 469 to p.
506. See also Bonar’s _Malthus and his Work_, to which in this and the
following sections I am indebted. For some personal reminiscences see
Martineau’s _Autobiography_, vol. i, p. 211. He is described as
possessing the ‘most pleasing manners and the most benevolent heart’
(Manning, _History and Antiquities of Surrey_, p. 578).
Footnote 45:
In the eighteenth century it was commonly supposed that the population
of England was decreasing. Arthur Young was one of the few who did not
share this view. (Mirabeau indeed thought that the population of the
whole of Europe was increasing.) All kinds of reasons were brought
forward to explain the supposed decrease. Price thought that it was
due to the enclosures; Horace Walpole suggested excessive drinking as
the cause.
Footnote 46:
It is not correct to say that ‘the essay attracted comparatively
little attention until 1803’ (_Political History of England_, vol. xi,
p. 421).
Footnote 47:
Bonar, loc. cit., p. 43.
Footnote 48:
Bonar, loc. cit., p. 363.
Footnote 49:
Mill, _Autobiography_, p. 105. It is interesting to note that one of
the reasons why Coleridge left the Utilitarians was the popularity of
the Essay among them. See Benn, _History of Rationalism_, vol. i, p.
238.
Footnote 50:
Shelley, Preface to the _Revolt of Islam_, p. xi.
Footnote 51:
It is thus curious to find that the Essay was highly praised by Joseph
de Maistre—one of the greatest of conservatives of this or of any age:
see _Du Pape_, Bk. III, ch. iii, section 3, where the Essay is called
‘un profond ouvrage’ ... ‘un des livres rares après lesquels tout le
monde est dispensé de traiter le même sujet’. Yet in 1856 the
_Dictionnaire de l’Économie Politique_ was put upon the Index because
it supported the conclusions of the Essay.
Footnote 52:
See, for instance, _Aitken’s Annual Review_, vol. ii, 1803, p. 292.
Footnote 53:
Quoted by Leslie Stephen, _English Utilitarians_, vol. ii, p. 255.
Footnote 54:
Bonar, loc. cit., p. 1.
Footnote 55:
Luden, _Handbuch der Staatsweisheit oder Politik_. Von Mohl gives a
useful review of the literature following upon the publication of the
Essay (_Die Geschichte und Literatur der Staatswissenschaften_, vol.
iii, p. 480, and _Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenschaften_, vol. ii,
p. 955).
Footnote 56:
Sumner, _A Treatise on the Records of Creation and the Moral
Attributes of the Creator_; Chalmers, _On Political Economy in
connexion with the Moral State and Moral Prospects of Society_.
Footnote 57:
Leslie Stephen, loc. cit., vol. iii, p. 180.
Footnote 58:
Greg, _Enigmas of Life_, ch. ii.
Footnote 59:
On this subject see Soetbeer, _Die Stellung der Sozialisten zur
Malthusischen Bevölkerungslehre_. Soetbeer includes in his review the
writings of Godwin, Henry George, and others who cannot properly be
regarded as socialists.
Footnote 60:
Soetbeer, loc. cit., p. 20.
Footnote 61:
Marx, _Capital_, vol. ii, p. 629.
Footnote 62:
There does not seem to be any foundation whatever for the statement
made by Place to the effect that Malthus recognized the advocacy of
Neomalthusian methods to be the logical outcome of his position but
that he shrank from their advocacy for fear of prejudice. Place,
_Illustrations and Proofs of the Principle of Population_, p. 173.
Footnote 63:
Harriet Martineau, _Illustrations to Political Economy_, No. VI, _Weal
and Woe in Graveloch_.
Footnote 64:
On this subject see Field, ‘The Early History of the Population
Movement’, _American Economic Review_, April, 1911. I am indebted to
this valuable article in what follows.
Footnote 65:
Graham Wallas, _Life of Francis Place_, p. 169.
Footnote 66:
For the later history of this movement see Hans Ferdy, loc. cit.;
Garnier, _Du Principe de la Population_; and Leroy-Beaulieu, loc. cit.
Footnote 67:
Still more recently prosecutions have taken place in the United
States. The publications of the eminent Danish economist Pierson may
be consulted for an able advocacy of Neomalthusian methods put forward
at a time when birth-control received little scientific support. See
_Principles of Economics_, vol. ii, p. 107.
Footnote 68:
_Life and Letters of Charles Darwin_, vol. i, p. 83.
Footnote 69:
Haeckel, _History of Creation_, vol. i, p. 134.
Footnote 70:
Marchant, _A. R. Wallace, Letters and Reminiscences_, vol. i, p. 136.
Footnote 71:
Darwin, _Origin of Species_, p. 50.
Footnote 72:
Marchant, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 116.
Footnote 73:
See _Sociological Papers_, p. 45. Galton first proposed to use the
word ‘stirpiculture’.
Footnote 74:
Among many plants and not infrequently among lower animals the sexes
are not separate—both male and female generative organs being found on
the same individual. This condition occurs in some fish, though
examples of hermaphroditism are rare in the Vertebrates. As a general
rule in such cases the two generative organs found in the same
individual ripen at different times and cross-fertilization is
effected. In such cases the description given above applies. Where
self-fertilization occurs, the above account does not apply in detail;
the occurrence of self-fertilization, however, in no way invalidates
the general conclusions that will be drawn in what follows.
Footnote 75:
‘The nucleus [of the spermatozoon] is probably enclosed within sheaths
of cytoplasm, although this is not usually readily visible’
(Doncaster, _Cytology_, p. 92).
Footnote 76:
A few bony fish, e. g. Anableps, copulate internally.
Footnote 77:
Internal copulation among the flat worms is of a very primitive
type—the penis apparently, at least at times, penetrating the female
at any point.
Footnote 78:
Letourneau, _Evolution of Marriage_, p. 8.
Footnote 79:
Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 384.
Footnote 80:
Letourneau, loc. cit., p. 28.
Footnote 81:
Except in man—the importance of which fact is dealt with in Chapter
IV.
Footnote 82:
Jennings, _Behaviour of the Lower Organisms_, p. 277.
Footnote 83:
Hobhouse, _Development and Purpose_, p. 62. In this and the following
sections I am indebted to Professor Hobhouse’s review of the evolution
of animal behaviour.
Footnote 84:
McDougall, _Social Psychology_, p. 29.
Footnote 85:
McDougall, loc. cit., p. 25.
Footnote 86:
Lloyd Morgan, _Animal Behaviour_, p. 84.
Footnote 87:
Hobhouse, loc. cit., p. 76.
Footnote 88:
Thomson, _Darwinism and Human Life_, p. 81.
Footnote 89:
Bridge, _Cambridge Natural History_, vol. _Fishes_, p. 412.
Footnote 90:
Thomson, loc. cit., p. 82.
Footnote 91:
Darwin, _Origin of Species_, p. 51.
Footnote 92:
Darwin, _Origin of Species_, p. 49.
Footnote 93:
Darwin, _Origin of Species_, p. 49.
Footnote 94:
Johnstone, _Conditions of Life in the Sea_, p. 235.
Footnote 95:
For the sake of simplicity fecundity has been spoken of as though it
was fixed at a certain strength for each species. As a matter of fact
it varies within fairly wide limits—increasing with better conditions.
In this fact lies the explanation of the increase of species under
favourable conditions which has often been observed, although, when
conditions are less favourable, there is little or no evidence of
starvation among such species.
Footnote 96:
Westermarck, _History of Human Marriage_, p. 19.
Footnote 97:
Brehm, _Bird Life_, p. 285.
Footnote 98:
That the basis of the inherited qualities is wholly situated in the
chromatin cannot be considered as established beyond doubt. The
element of doubt, however, has no bearing upon the argument.
Footnote 99:
In this and the following sections I am indebted to Professor
Goodrich’s admirable treatment of these problems in his book. _The
Evolution of Living Organisms._
Footnote 100:
There is probably no actual loss—no gap in a chromosome. It may be
supposed that owing to a ‘negative variation’ a factor ceases to be
functional.
Footnote 101:
A certain amount of confusion has been introduced into the whole
question of evolution by the manner in which in recent biological
writings the function of selection has been depreciated. The followers
of Darwin undoubtedly at times exaggerated the importance of
selection. In particular selection has even been spoken of as though
it caused variation and, as it were, drew organisms along certain
paths. It is essential to remember, as has been emphasized above, that
it can only act upon what is given. But without doubt there has been
recently a tendency to under-estimate the importance of selection.
Though the process of selection is nothing more than a process of
sifting, that process is of fundamental importance; unless due weight
is given to it, evolution cannot be rendered comprehensible.
Footnote 102:
Osborn, _Evolution of Mammalian Molar Teeth_, p. 228. One of the most
valuable contributions to the discussion of orthogenesis has been made
by Plate, _Über die Bedeutung des Darwinischen Selectionsprinzips_.
Plate concludes that the evidence points to some kind of orthogenesis.
Footnote 103:
Except where otherwise stated, increase of skill—of power, that is to
say, to control the environment—is taken as the criterion of
‘progress’. Except, therefore, where otherwise stated, the terms
‘civilized’ and ‘higher’ races are merely intended to convey that
races so denominated have a greater power of controlling the
environment than ‘uncivilized’ and ‘lower’ races. The terms ‘higher’
and ‘lower’ are thus in this book merely convenient labels used in a
special sense. In a fuller sense the terms ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ would
take account of innate faculties, social organization, and moral
tradition, as well as of the tradition of skilled methods. It is
worthy of note, so far as the argument in this book is concerned, that
there is a correlation between the tradition of skilled methods and
the tradition of social organization and between both of these
traditions and the innate faculties. The result, therefore, of a
classification of races according to the special sense of the terms
‘higher’ and ‘lower’ as given above, does not conflict so directly as
might be thought with a classification according to the fuller meaning
of these terms. Further reference is made to the subject in the later
part of this book.
Footnote 104:
Marshall, _Phil. Trans._ B, cxcvi, 1904, p. 77.
Footnote 105:
Heape, _Q. J. M. S._, vol. xliv, p. 12.
Footnote 106:
Mayer, _Über Sterilität_, p. 401.
Footnote 107:
Kelly, _Medical Gynecology_, p. 354. See also Matthews Duncan,
_Sterility in Women_, p. 3.
Footnote 108:
See Mosnier-Clauzel, _De quelques Causes de Stérilité chez la Femme_,
for a summary of this question.
Footnote 109:
Except in the case of ‘identical’ twins.
Footnote 110:
Engelmann, _Trans. Amer. Gyn. Soc._, vol. xxvi, p. 87.
Footnote 111:
Krieger. _Die Menstruation_, p. 52. See also Ploss and Bartels, _Das
Weib_, vol. i, p. 421.
Footnote 112:
Engelmann, loc. cit., p. 98.
Footnote 113:
Krieger, loc. cit., p. 17.
Footnote 114:
It is a remarkable fact that the Eskimo begin to menstruate at about
thirteen years of age—at an earlier age, that is to say, than the
average for the United States (Kelly, loc. cit., p. 83).
Footnote 115:
Marshall, _Physiology of Reproduction_, p. 672.
Footnote 116:
Krieger, loc. cit., p. 21.
Footnote 117:
Ibid., p. 24.
Footnote 118:
Marshall, _Physiology of Reproduction_, p. 63. There are considerable
variations in the conditions among monkeys; the above is only
generally true.
Footnote 119:
Westermarck, _History of Human Marriage_, p. 25; Ploss and Bartels,
loc. cit., vol. i, ch. xxi; Havelock Ellis, _Studies in the Psychology
of Sex_, vol. i, p. 85.
Footnote 120:
Westermarck, loc. cit., p. 28.
Footnote 121:
See Frazer, _Golden Bough_, vol. iii, pp. 230 ff., where this subject
is discussed at length.
Footnote 122:
Heape, loc. cit., p. 34.
Footnote 123:
It may also be observed that among certain primitive races the
menstrual flow is said only to occur at long intervals (Heape, loc.
cit., p. 30). Among Eskimo women there is said to be no menstruation
in winter (ibid., p. 29).
Footnote 124:
For further details see Croom, _Trans. Edin. Obstet. Soc._, vol. xxi,
1896; Havelock Ellis, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 90; Marshall, loc. cit.,
p. 65; and Kelly, loc. cit., ch. v.
Footnote 125:
Heape, loc. cit., p. 15.
Footnote 126:
Marshall, loc. cit., p. 57.
Footnote 127:
Ibid., p. 59.
Footnote 128:
Heape, loc. cit., p. 15.
Footnote 129:
Ibid., p. 15.
Footnote 130:
This and the following examples are taken from Darwin, _Variations of
Animals and Plants under Domestication_, vol. ii, p. 90.
Footnote 131:
Marshall, loc. cit., p. 596.
Footnote 132:
Ibid., p. 597.
Footnote 133:
Heape, _Jour. Roy. Agric. Soc._, vol. x, p. 236.
Footnote 134:
The evidence is summarized by Ploss and Bartels, loc. cit., vol. i,
ch. vi.
Footnote 135:
See Ploss and Bartels, loc. cit., vol. i, ch. xix, and Havelock Ellis,
‘Studies in the Psychology of Sex’, _Analysis of the Sexual Impulse_,
p. 209. The fact is commented upon by Ratzel, _History of Mankind_,
vol. ii, p. 17. As examples of the evidence for particular races see,
for the Malays, Stevens, _Zeit. für Eth._, Bd. xxviii, 1896, p. 180;
for the Fuegians, Hyades et Deniker, _Mission scientifique du Cap
Horn_, Tome vii, p. 187; for the Andamanese, Portman, _J. A. I._, vol.
xxv, p. 369.
Footnote 136:
Mayer, loc. cit., p. 409.
Footnote 137:
Stopes, _Married Love_, p. 68.
Footnote 138:
Curr, _The Australian Race_, p. 70.
Footnote 139:
Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, p. 52.
Footnote 140:
Ibid., p. 264.
Footnote 141:
Murdoch, _Ethnological Results of the Port Barrow Expedition_, 9th _A.
R. B. E._, p. 38.
Footnote 142:
Nansen, _Eskimo Life_, p. 150.
Footnote 143:
Holder, _Am. Jour. Obstet._, vol. xxv, 1891, p. 44.
Footnote 144:
Sproat, _Scenes and Studies of Savage Life_, p. 94.
Footnote 145:
Bancroft, _Native Races of the Pacific States_, vol. i, p. 197.
Footnote 146:
Ibid., p. 242.
Footnote 147:
Catlin, _North American Indians_, vol. ii, p. 228.
Footnote 148:
Matthews Duncan, _Fecundity, Fertility, and Sterility_, p. 112.
Footnote 149:
Wattal, _Population Problem in India_, p. 7.
Footnote 150:
See, for instance, Eucken, _Currents of Modern Thought_, p. 264. When
Herbert Spencer says (_Principles of Biology_, vol. ii, p. 431) that
‘advancing evolution must be accompanied by declining fertility’, he
is apparently using the term fertility as equivalent to fecundity and
is therefore misrepresenting the position. The Dean of St. Paul’s is
doubtless aware of the true state of the case: nevertheless his
reference to the subject is likely to be misleading. After remarking
upon the fact that fecundity (which he calls fertility) decreases
among animals with increasing care for the offspring, he goes on to
say that ‘man is no exception to these laws’ (_Outspoken Essays_, p.
60). As a matter of fact, man is a remarkable exception to this ‘law’;
if anything, his fecundity has increased. His position has become
assimilated to that of the animals because his fertility has
decreased—quite another matter.
Footnote 151:
Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 132.
Footnote 152:
Heape, loc. cit., p. 39. This is also the opinion of Havelock Ellis,
see ‘Studies in the Psychology of Sex’, _Analysis of the Sexual
Impulse_, p. 220.
Footnote 153:
Newsholme and Stevenson, _J. R. S. S._, vol. lix, p. 64.
Footnote 154:
Theal, _Yellow- and Dark-Skinned People of Africa_, p. 348.
Footnote 155:
Heape, loc. cit., p. 43.
Footnote 156:
Marshall, loc. cit., p. 400.
Footnote 157:
Marshall, loc. cit., p. 74. See also Heape, loc. cit., p. 43, and
Matthews Duncan, _Sterility in Women_, p. 85.
Footnote 158:
Dunlop, _J. R. S. S._, vol. lxxvi, p. 266.
Footnote 159:
Ibid., p. 267.
Footnote 160:
Quoted by Wattal, loc. cit., p. 23.
Footnote 161:
Ibid., p. 15. See also Matthews Duncan, _Fecundity, Fertility, and
Sterility_, pp. 277 ff.
Footnote 162:
Marshall, loc. cit., p. 595. The corpus luteum persists in the ovary
of fat animals and to this fact Fraenkel (_Archiv für Gynaekologie_,
Bd. lxviii, 1903) ascribes the barrenness that so often accompanies
fatness.
Footnote 163:
Jolly, _Science Progress_, 1914, No. 33, p. 41, states that there are
four methods of estimating the duration of the whole period, by
considering (1) the thickness of the sediment, (2) the mass of the
sediment, (3) the sodium contained in the sea, and (4) radioactive
transformation. (1) gives about 100 to 134 million years, (2) about 87
million years, (3) about 80 to 90 million years, and (4) a much longer
period.
Footnote 164:
Osborn, _Old Stone Age_, p. 22.
Footnote 165:
Ibid., p. 23. It is well to lay stress on the fact that all these
figures are little more than guesses founded on various observations
such as the rate of deposition of sediment by rivers. No conclusions
with regard to evolution can be drawn from the supposed length of the
whole period or from the supposed length of the subdivisions.
Nevertheless the relative length of the different subdivisions as
estimated has in all probability some approximation to fact, and thus,
whatever may be the real length of the period, the time which elapsed
between, say, the beginning of the Pleistocene and the middle of the
third genial epoch was at least twice and perhaps three times longer
than that which has elapsed since the beginning of the latter epoch to
the present day.
Footnote 166:
The extinct Lemurs of the Lower Eocene were, it may be noticed, of a
very generalized type and can only with difficulty be distinguished
from Insectivores. At this time the chief features now characteristic
of the various Mammalian classes had not yet appeared.
Footnote 167:
Sollas, ‘Presidential Address to the Geological Society’, 1910, p. 48
(_Quart Journ. Geol. Soc._, vol. lxvi).
Footnote 168:
The table is based on those given by Osborn (_Old Stone Age_, pp. 18
and 41).
Footnote 169:
To show how the estimates vary it may be mentioned that Sollas
(_Ancient Hunters_, ch. xiv) only allows 27,000 years since the close
of the Chellean period.
Footnote 170:
Dubois, _Pithecanthropus erectus: eine menschenähnliche Übergangsform
aus Java_. Dubois has published several other papers and the
literature is very large. The earlier literature has been summarized
by Klaatsch (_Zoologisches Centralblatt_, vol. vi, 1899, p. 217), and
by Schwalbe (_Zeit. für Morph. und Anth._, Bd. I, 1899, p. 16). For a
concise account see Duckworth, _Morphology and Anthropology_, pp. 510
ff. The remains consist of the upper portion of a skull, a left femur,
a second left upper molar, a third right upper molar and a second left
lower pre-molar. The last tooth was not found by Dubois but by
subsequent excavators. The skull and the femur were not found together
but some fifty feet apart. The attribution of all the remains to one
individual is, however, probably justified.
Footnote 171:
Elbert (_Cent. für Min., Geol. und Pal._, Bd. 17, 1909, p. 513) holds
that the beds are on the border between the Pliocene and the
Pleistocene. Volz (_Neues Jahr. für Min., Geol. und Pal.; Festband zur
Feier des 100-jährigen Bestehens_, 1907, p. 256) places the beds in
the Middle Pleistocene. The whole problem is discussed by Selenka and
Blanckenhorn. See _Die Pithecanthropus-Schichten auf Java_.
Footnote 172:
Osborn, _Old Stone Age_, p. 83.
Footnote 173:
Schoetensack, _Der Unterkiefer des H. heidelbergensis_.
Footnote 174:
Dawson and Woodward, _Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc._, vol. lxix, 1913, p.
117.
Footnote 175:
The Gibraltar skull may have been discovered before the specimen from
Neanderthal; it aroused no interest, however, until after the
discovery of the latter.
Footnote 176:
Boule, _Ann. de Pal._, vol. vi, 1911, vol. vii, 1912, vol. viii, 1913.
Footnote 177:
In some cases the origin has not been clearly identified (e. g. the
Gibraltar skull). It is said that remains of Neanderthal man are
sometimes found associated with Acheulean instruments (in the case of
the Krapina remains, for example). See Boule, loc. cit., vol. vi, p.
120, and vol. vii, p. 227, and also Anthony, _Bull. et Mém. Soc.
d’Anth._, 1913, p. 189.
Footnote 178:
The remains found at the station of Raymonden, Chancelade, and
described by Testut (_Bull. Soc. d’Anth. de Lyon_, vol. viii, 1889),
are now generally classed with Cro-Magnon man. As Testut says,
Chancelade man possesses ‘tous les caractères propres aux races
supérieures’. The cranial capacity was 1,710 c.c. But there are
certain features in which it departs from the ordinary Cro-Magnon type
and certain features in which it resembles the modern Eskimo
type—particularly in the shape of the cranium, the sides of which tend
to slope up and meet at an angle. The possible significance of this
will be referred to later.
Footnote 179:
Thus Boule (loc. cit., vol. viii, p. 111), speaking of the Upper
Palaeolithic types in general, says: ‘Tous ces hommes fossiles ne sont
pas plus différents des hommes actuels que ceux-ci ne diffèrent entre
eux.’
Footnote 180:
Pottery stated to be Palaeolithic has been found in Belgium. There is
nothing surprising in the fact, if it is a fact, that Palaeolithic man
should have possessed this art, so far as his abilities are concerned.
In general, however, nomadic races (and the Palaeolithic races were,
of course, nomadic) have little use for pottery. See Déchelette,
_Manuel d’Archéologie_, vol. i, pp. 169 ff.
Footnote 181:
Reid Moir, _Pre-Palaeolithic Man_. Rostro-carinates are found in the
Red Crag which is a Pliocene formation. Mr. Reid Moir holds that they
were evolved from eoliths (p. 66).
Footnote 182:
Sollas, _Ancient Hunters_, ch. iii.
Footnote 183:
Breuil, _L’Anthropologie_, vol. xx, 1910.
Footnote 184:
Professor Wood Jones, basing his conclusions on comparative anatomy,
has lately put forward a view of the course of human evolution
somewhat at variance with that outlined above. He sums up his view by
saying that ‘Homo is not descended from the anthropoid apes preceded
by a series of Primate forms represented by Old World Monkeys, New
World Monkeys, and Lemurs. For we have seen that the anatomical
characters of man demand rather a recognition of the finding that his
stock branched off from the very root of the Primates; that man has
evolved entirely by generalized development of the brain, and that he
retains the bodily simplicity only found in some such far distant
progenitor as the Tarsius stock; that no matter what may be the
relation of the New World and Old World Monkeys, the human race
combines, in some instances, a blend of their characters; that the
anthropoid apes retain a certain, and a varying, amount of the basal
simplicity that belongs to man, but that the Old World Monkeys have
specialized far away from this simplicity. Regarded in this way we may
say that the line of Homo springs from the base of the (non-Lemurine)
Primate stem and not from its systematic apex’ (‘Origin of Man’, p.
126, in _Animal Life and Human Progress_, edited by Dendy). In this
view therefore the human stock has been separate from the rest of the
primate stock since early in the Tertiary period. If this conclusion
is well founded, the argument derived from the course of evolution as
outlined above is certainly weakened.
Footnote 185:
Sollas, loc. cit., p. 72.
Footnote 186:
With reference to this subject Breuil says with great force that ‘si
la nature, _exceptionnellement_ sans doute, peut produire des objets
aussi semblables à des types industriels _parfaitement définis et
connus comme tels dans leurs milieux normaux en dehors de toute
possibilité d’erreur_, à combien plus forte raison doit-on se montrer
circonspect à l’égard des manifestations les plus élémentaires de
l’activité humaine, et se montrer exigeant avant de fonder sur leur
constatation si problématique des théories dépassant si formidablement
ce qui est acquis d’une manière définitive et en toute évidence!’
(_L’Anthropologie_, vol. xxi, p. 407). For examples of the expression
of similar views see Obermaier, _Der Mensch der Vorzeit_, p. 412, and
Déchelette, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 22. The weight of expert opinion is
against the acceptance of eoliths as genuine. Among the more
distinguished supporters of the theory may be mentioned Rutot in
Belgium, Ray Lankester and Reid Moir in England, Verworn in Germany,
and de Mortillet in France. Among those who are sceptical are Boule,
Breuil, and Déchelette in France, Schmidt and Obermaier in Germany,
and Sollas in England.
Footnote 187:
Rutot, _Revue, de l’Université de Bruxelles_, 1911, p. 258.
Footnote 188:
Remains of Chellean industry are widespread and are found outside
Europe—in Africa, for example, from the Cape to the Sahara. See
Déchelette, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 88.
Footnote 189:
The admiration, justly enough aroused, for these works of art has
undoubtedly led to an exaggeration of the level of social and
intellectual development reached by Upper Palaeolithic man, whose
times are sometimes referred to as though they were a kind of Golden
Age.
Footnote 190:
Azilian remains are confined to the south of Europe; Tardenoisian
remains are widely distributed in Europe. To this period also belongs
the Maglemose culture from Zeeland. Some grain found in the cave of
Mas d’Azil has been interpreted as showing that agriculture was
practised; in all probability, however, the grain has been introduced
recently—perhaps by rats. Certain curiously marked pebbles are known
from Azilian times and have been taken by some authors to be evidence
of the use of an alphabet. This interpretation cannot be accepted,
though possibly these markings may have been signs intended to assist
the memory—such as were in use in Peru, for example.
Footnote 191:
Palaeolithic man may have kept animals as pets. Many primitive races
have a passion for keeping pets though they derive no economic
advantage from so doing.
Footnote 192:
That agriculture is an art learnt but recently is not yet appreciated
by some men of science. Thus Sir A. D. Hall in a book published in
1919 says that ‘agriculture must be almost coeval with the human race’
(_Fertilizers and Manures_, p. 2).
Footnote 193:
Montelius, _C. I. A._, 1906, vol. ii, p. 32.
Footnote 194:
Pottery from the earliest Neolithic at Cnossus was well made, and
therefore this culture must have originated considerably more than
14,000 years ago.
Footnote 195:
On this subject see Déchelette, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 336.
Footnote 196:
Jade was found in the first city of Hissarlik, which must have come
from the Kuen-lun (Gowland, _J. A. I._, vol. xlii, 1912, p. 260).
Footnote 197:
On this subject see Gowland, loc. cit., p. 236.
Footnote 198:
_Handbook of American Indians_: articles on _Copper_ and _Iron_.
Footnote 199:
Reisner, ‘Early Dynastic Cemeteries of Naga-ed-Dêr’, _University of
California Publications_, 1908, p. 117.
Footnote 200:
Reisner, loc. cit., p. 127.
Footnote 201:
Ibid., p. 134.
Footnote 202:
Iron weapons are found in late Mycenean graves (Ridgeway, _Early Age
of Greece_, p. 294).
Footnote 203:
Ridgeway, _Beginnings of Iron_, p. 644.
Footnote 204:
Von Luschan supports this view (_Zeit. für Eth._, vol. xli, 1909, p.
52).
Footnote 205:
Hall, _Ancient History of the Near East_, p. 254.
Footnote 206:
See on this point Breuil, ‘Les Subdivisions du Paléolithique
Supérieur,’ _C. I. A._, 1912. With regard to the Neolithic period
Déchelette says: ‘Il est permis de placer en Orient le principal
centre de diffusion des accroissements successifs de la civilisation
occidentale’ (loc. cit., vol. i, p. 313).
Footnote 207:
See Hrdlicka, ‘Early Man in South America’ (_S. I. B. E._, No. 52,
1912), ‘Skeletal Remains suggesting or attributed to Early Man in
North America’ (ibid., No. 33, 1907), and ‘Recent Discoveries
attributed to Early Man in America’ (ibid., No. 66, 1917).
Footnote 208:
It is interesting to note the cranial capacity of these races and to
compare them with the figures given above for prehistoric races:
Tasmanians, 1,225 c.c.; Australians, 1,320 c.c.; Bushmen, 1,244 c.c.;
Veddahs, 1,201 to 1,336 c.c.; American Indians, 1,300 to 1,450 c.c.
See Hoernes, _Natur und Urgeschichte der Menschen_, vol. i, p. 60.
Footnote 209:
See J. J. Atkinson, _Primal Law_ (in _Social Origins_, by Lang and
Atkinson).
Footnote 210:
Lumholtz, _Among Cannibals_, p. 164.
Footnote 211:
See, for example, Parker, _Euahlayi Tribe_, p. 56, and, for the tribes
of Western Victoria, Brown, _J. A. I._, vol. xliii, p. 158.
Footnote 212:
Early betrothal is also common among other races of this group; but,
unless otherwise stated, this should not be taken as meaning that
cohabitation follows until after puberty. The more careful accounts
usually state that it does not; for the Thompson Indians, for
instance, see Teit, _Jesup North Pacific Expedition_, vol. i, p. 321.
Footnote 213:
Hartland, _Primitive Paternity_, vol. i, p. 267. This author has dealt
at some length with the prevalence of this habit.
Footnote 214:
Nansen, _First Crossing of Greenland_, p. 320.
Footnote 215:
Murdoch, 9th _A. R. B. E._, p. 419.
Footnote 216:
Turner, 11th _A. R. B. E._, p. 188. See, for Behring Strait Eskimos,
Nelson, 18th _A. R. B. E._, p. 292.
Footnote 217:
Ross, _A. R. S. I._, 1860, p. 305.
Footnote 218:
Gibbs, _U.S. Geog. and Geol. Survey_, vol. i, p. 199.
Footnote 219:
Powers, ibid., vol. iii, p. 413.
Footnote 220:
Ibid., p. 157.
Footnote 221:
Ten Kate, _Rev. d’Eth._, vol. iv, p. 129.
Footnote 222:
Hyades and Deniker, _Mission Scientifique_, p. 188.
Footnote 223:
Ibid., p. 187.
Footnote 224:
Seligman, _Veddahs_, p. 95. It is possible that this may have been
formerly forbidden (ibid., p. 96).
Footnote 225:
Ling Roth, _Aborigines of Tasmania_, p. 168, note.
Footnote 226:
Bonwick, _Daily Life and Origin of the Tasmanians_, p. 85.
Footnote 227:
Eyre, _Journals_, vol. ii, p. 250. See also Spencer and Gillen,
_Native Tribes of Central Australia_, p. 51.
Footnote 228:
Grey, _Journals_, vol. ii, p. 250.
Footnote 229:
Eylmann, _Die Eingeborenen der Kolonie Südaustralien_, p. 261.
Footnote 230:
Taplin, _Native Tribes of South Australia_, p. 15.
Footnote 231:
Meyer, _Aborigines of the Encounter Bay Tribe_, p. 187.
Footnote 232:
Curr, _Recollections_, p. 263. See also Smyth, _Aborigines of
Victoria_, vol. i, p. 48.
Footnote 233:
R. Brown, _Geog. Journ._, vol. i, p. 39.
Footnote 234:
Murdoch, loc. cit., p. 415.
Footnote 235:
Nansen, _Eskimo Life_, p. 151.
Footnote 236:
Crantz, _History of Greenland_, vol. i, p. 162.
Footnote 237:
Bessels, _Arch, für Anth._, vol. viii, p. 113.
Footnote 238:
Heriot, _Travels_, p. 339. See also Weld, _Travels_, p. 373.
Footnote 239:
J. Long, _Voyages_, p. 60.
Footnote 240:
Dall, _Alaska_, p. 196.
Footnote 241:
Ross, loc. cit., p. 305.
Footnote 242:
Krause, _Die Thinklit-Indianer_, p. 216. See also Bancroft, _Native
Races_, vol. i, p. 111.
Footnote 243:
Lord, _Naturalist in Vancouver_, vol. ii, p. 233.
Footnote 244:
Sproat, loc. cit., p. 94.
Footnote 245:
Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes_, vol. iii, p. 212.
Footnote 246:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 197.
Footnote 247:
Ibid., p. 242.
Footnote 248:
Ibid.
Footnote 249:
Gibbs, loc. cit., p. 209.
Footnote 250:
Long, loc. cit., p. 60.
Footnote 251:
Guinnard, _Three Years’ Slavery among the Patagonians_, p. 146.
Footnote 252:
Dobrizhoffer, _Abipones_, vol. ii, p. 195.
Footnote 253:
Hyades and Deniker, loc. cit., vol. vii, p. 195.
Footnote 254:
Man, _J. A. I._, vol. xii, p. 81.
Footnote 255:
Deniker, _Rev. d’Eth._, vol. ii, p. 303.
Footnote 256:
For races of North-east Africa see King, _Journal Anthropological
Society of Bombay_, vol. ii, 1890.
Footnote 257:
Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, p. 52.
Footnote 258:
W. E. Roth, _Ethnological Studies_, p. 179.
Footnote 259:
R. H. Mathews, _Ethnological Notes_, p. 177.
Footnote 260:
Curr, _Australian Race_, vol. ii, p. 19.
Footnote 261:
W. E. Roth, loc. cit., p. 179; Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of
Central Australia_, p. 264.
Footnote 262:
Semon, _Australian Bush_, p. 234.
Footnote 263:
Westermarck, _Human Marriage_, p. 134.
Footnote 264:
Malinowski, _Family among Australian Aborigines_, p. 134.
Footnote 265:
Smyth, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 77.
Footnote 266:
Taplin, loc. cit., p. 10.
Footnote 267:
Sproat, loc. cit., p. 94.
Footnote 268:
Powers, loc. cit., p. 413.
Footnote 269:
Hill Tout, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxiv, p. 319.
Footnote 270:
Sarasin, _Forschungen aus Ceylon_, vol. iii, p. 469.
Footnote 271:
Crantz, loc. cit., p. 158.
Footnote 272:
Hill Tout, _British North America_, p. 182.
Footnote 273:
Hill Tout, loc. cit., p. 190.
Footnote 274:
Teit, _Jesup North Pacific Expedition_, vol. i, p. 190.
Footnote 275:
Ibid., vol. ii, p. 591.
Footnote 276:
Ibid., p. 255.
Footnote 277:
Musters, _Patagonians_, p. 186.
Footnote 278:
Dobrizhoffer, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 42.
Footnote 279:
See, for instance, as regards the Australians, Malinowski, loc. cit.,
p. 48; Tasmanians, Bonwick, loc. cit., p. 85; Bushmen, Theal, _Yellow-
and Dark-Skinned People_, p. 46; and Chinooks, Bancroft, loc. cit.,
vol. i, p. 241.
Footnote 280:
It is rare that the prohibition for such reasons extends over so long
a period as a year. This is the period of abstinence sometimes
enjoined upon the Thlinkeet Indians (Swanton, 26th _A. R. B. E._, p.
449). On this subject see Crawley, _Mystic Rose_, pp. 187, 215, and
342; Hubert and Mauss, _Histoire des Religions_; Frazer, _Golden
Bough_, vol. i, p. 29; and Westermarck, loc. cit., pp. 150 ff.
Footnote 281:
Cabeça de Vaca, _Narrative_, p. 62.
Footnote 282:
Dobrizhoffer, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 97.
Footnote 283:
This has, of course, often been remarked upon. See, for instance,
Darwin, _Descent of Man_, vol. i, p. 132.
Footnote 284:
Bonwick, loc. cit., p. 79.
Footnote 285:
Ibid., p. 85.
Footnote 286:
Bonwick, loc. cit., p. 76.
Footnote 287:
Ibid., p. 85. See also Smyth, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 387.
Footnote 288:
Dawson, _Australian Aborigines_, p. 39. The interesting estimate of
Curr has been given on p. 99. In another place he says: ‘The number of
children born, on the average, by Bangerang women I estimate at six or
perhaps eight’ (_Recollections_, p. 252).
Footnote 289:
Lumholtz, loc. cit., p. 134.
Footnote 290:
J. Mathew, _Eaglehawk and Crow_, p. 165.
Footnote 291:
Grey, _Journals_, vol. ii, p. 250. He also remarks that, although
girls are mature at twelve, ‘child-bearing does not often commence
before the age of sixteen’ (ibid., p. 323).
Footnote 292:
Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, p. 264.
Footnote 293:
Ibid., p. 52.
Footnote 294:
Eyre, _Journals_, vol. ii, p. 376.
Footnote 295:
Schürmann, _Aboriginal Tribes_, p. 223.
Footnote 296:
Wilhelmi, _Transactions of the Royal Society of Victoria_, vol. v, p.
180.
Footnote 297:
Stow, _Native Races_, p. 50.
Footnote 298:
Theal, loc. cit., p. 44.
Footnote 299:
Crantz, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 161.
Footnote 300:
p. 99. Hutton, however, gives a high figure for the birth-rate
(_Eskimos of Labrador_, p. 80).
Footnote 301:
p. 99.
Footnote 302:
Murdoch, loc. cit., p. 39. This author says further that ‘all authors
who have described Eskimos of unmixed descent agree in regard to the
generally small number of their offspring’ (ibid., p. 419).
Footnote 303:
Bessels, loc. cit., p. 112.
Footnote 304:
Turner, loc. cit., p. 189.
Footnote 305:
Armstrong, _Personal Narrative_, p. 195.
Footnote 306:
Ritter, _Zeit, für all. Erd._, vol. xiii, p. 265.
Footnote 307:
Hearne, _Journey_, p. 312.
Footnote 308:
Ross, loc. cit., p. 305.
Footnote 309:
Petroff, ‘Report of the Population of Alaska’, _10th Census of the
U.S.A._, p. 127.
Footnote 310:
p. 99.
Footnote 311:
S. H. Long, loc. cit., p. 19. See also Dorsey, 3rd _A. R. B. E._, p.
264.
Footnote 312:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 218.
Footnote 313:
Ibid., p. 156.
Footnote 314:
Keating, _Narrative_, p. 156.
Footnote 315:
Schoolcraft, loc. cit., vol. iii, p. 211.
Footnote 316:
Baegert, _A. R. B. E._, 1863, p. 368.
Footnote 317:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 513.
Footnote 318:
Guinnard, loc. cit., p. 143.
Footnote 319:
Bridges, _A Voice from South America_, vol. xiii, p. 202.
Footnote 320:
Hyades and Deniker, loc. cit., vol. vii, p. 189.
Footnote 321:
Ibid., p. 188.
Footnote 322:
It may be observed that according to Keane the Botocudos form an
exception. ‘Families’, he says, ‘are said to be comparatively large,
four or five children being common enough’ (_J. A. I._, vol. xiii).
This is, however, contradicted by von Tschudi, _Reisen durch
Südamerika_, vol. ii, p. 284.
Footnote 323:
Man, loc. cit., p. 81.
Footnote 324:
Portman, _J. A. I._, vol. xxv, p. 369.
Footnote 325:
Sarasins, loc. cit., vol. iii, p. 169.
Footnote 326:
Dall, loc. cit., p. 381.
Footnote 327:
Deniker, _Rev. d’Eth._, vol. ii, p. 302.
Footnote 328:
Bonwick, loc. cit., p. 76.
Footnote 329:
See, for example, Klemm, _Allgemeine Kultur-Geschichte der
Menschheit_, vol. i, p. 291.
Footnote 330:
Curr, _Australian Race_, vol. i, p. 76.
Footnote 331:
Quoted by a reviewer in the _Edinburgh Review_, vol. ii, 1803, p. 34.
Footnote 332:
Palmer, _J. A. I._, vol. xiii, p. 280.
Footnote 333:
Roth, loc. cit., p. 183.
Footnote 334:
Wells and Kelly, _U.S.A. Bureau of Education_, 1890, p. 19; Bessels,
loc. cit., p. 112.
Footnote 335:
See Weld, loc. cit., p. 373, and Robertson, _History of America_, vol.
i, p. 297
Footnote 336:
H. Ellis, _Voyage_, p. 198.
Footnote 337:
Mackenzie, _Voyages_, vol. i, p. 148.
Footnote 338:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 169.
Footnote 339:
Ibid., p. 197.
Footnote 340:
Lord, _Naturalist in Vancouver_, vol. ii, p. 231.
Footnote 341:
Sproat, loc. cit., p. 94.
Footnote 342:
Teit, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 305.
Footnote 343:
Ibid., vol. ii, p. 584.
Footnote 344:
Gibbs, loc. cit., p. 199.
Footnote 345:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 242. It also occurred among the Omahas
but was not common (Dorsey, loc. cit., p. 263, and Long, loc. cit., p.
20).
Footnote 346:
Powers, loc. cit., p. 207. For New Mexico see Bancroft, loc. cit.,
vol. i, p. 590.
Footnote 347:
Castelnau, _Expedition_, vol. ii, p. 450. See also Azara, _Voyages_,
p. 146.
Footnote 348:
Rengger, _Reise_, p. 329.
Footnote 349:
Cooper, _S. I. B. E._, Bull. No. 63, 1917, p. 171.
Footnote 350:
Female infanticide was brought into great prominence by MacLennan.
Although he asserted that female infanticide was ‘common among savages
everywhere’ (_Studies in Ancient History_, p. 111), he did not bring
forward any considerable body of evidence.
Footnote 351:
Bonwick, loc. cit., pp. 79 and 85. See also Smyth, loc. cit., vol. ii,
p. 386.
Footnote 352:
Ling Roth, loc. cit., p. 167. This author suggests that infanticide
may have increased owing to the disturbances due to the arrival of the
Europeans. There is no evidence that this was so, and for the reasons
given later it is most improbable that this is ever the result of
European influence.
Footnote 353:
K. L. Parker, loc. cit., p. 23.
Footnote 354:
Lumholtz, loc. cit., p. 134.
Footnote 355:
Dawson, loc. cit., p. 39.
Footnote 356:
Curr, _Recollections_, p. 252.
Footnote 357:
Ibid., p. 263.
Footnote 358:
Wilhelmi, loc. cit., p. 180.
Footnote 359:
P. Beveridge, _Aborigines of Victoria_, p. 26.
Footnote 360:
R. H. Mathews, _Ethnological Notes_, p. 17.
Footnote 361:
Bonney, _J. A. I._, vol. xiii, p. 125.
Footnote 362:
Palmer, loc. cit., p. 280; Fison and Howitt, _Kamilaroi and Kurnai_,
p. 190; Eylmann, loc. cit., p. 261; and Smyth, loc. cit., vol. i, p.
52.
Footnote 363:
Howitt, _Native Tribes_, p. 748.
Footnote 364:
Howitt, loc. cit., p. 749.
Footnote 365:
Ibid., p. 749.
Footnote 366:
Ibid., p. 750.
Footnote 367:
Ibid., p. 750.
Footnote 368:
Taplin, loc. cit., p. 13.
Footnote 369:
Ibid., p. 14.
Footnote 370:
Meyer, loc. cit., p. 186.
Footnote 371:
Schürmann, loc. cit., p. 223.
Footnote 372:
Gason, _Manners and Customs_, p. 258.
Footnote 373:
Mathew, _Two Representative Tribes_, p. 165.
Footnote 374:
Foelsche, _J. A. I._, vol. xxiv, p. 192.
Footnote 375:
Eyre, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 376. See also Spencer and Gillen, _Native
Tribes_, p. 264.
Footnote 376:
Ibid., _Northern Tribes_, p. 608.
Footnote 377:
Grey, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 251.
Footnote 378:
Moffat, _Missionary Labours_, p. 58. See also Stow, _Native Races_, p.
51.
Footnote 379:
Reclus, _Primitive Folk_, p. 34.
Footnote 380:
Nelson, loc. cit., p. 289.
Footnote 381:
Boas, 6th _A. R. B. E._, p. 580.
Footnote 382:
Murdoch, loc. cit., p. 416.
Footnote 383:
Ibid., p. 417.
Footnote 384:
Bessels, loc. cit., p. 112.
Footnote 385:
Nansen, _Greenland_, p. 330. See also Nansen, _Eskimo Life_, p. 151.
Footnote 386:
C. E. Smith, _Edinburgh Medical Journal_, vol. xiii, p. 859.
Footnote 387:
Rink, loc. cit., p. 35.
Footnote 388:
Dall, loc. cit., p. 399.
Footnote 389:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 81.
Footnote 390:
Kirkby, _Church Missionary Intelligencer_, vol. xiv, p. 115; Hardisty,
_A. R. S. I._, 1866, p. 312; S. Jones, ibid., p. 327; MacKenzie,
_Voyages_, vol. i, p. 148.
Footnote 391:
Woldt, _Kapitän Jacobsen’s Reise_, p. 393.
Footnote 392:
Lord, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 231.
Footnote 393:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 242.
Footnote 394:
Teit, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 305.
Footnote 395:
Gibbs, loc. cit., p. 198; Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 169.
Footnote 396:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 169.
Footnote 397:
Keating, loc. cit., p. 160.
Footnote 398:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 81.
Footnote 399:
Powers, loc. cit., p. 416; Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, pp. 390 and
413.
Footnote 400:
Ibid., p. 177.
Footnote 401:
Ibid., p. 222.
Footnote 402:
Ibid., p. 328.
Footnote 403:
Ibid., p. 382.
Footnote 404:
Cabeça de Vaca, loc. cit., p. 62. According to Ten Kate (_Rev.
d’Eth._, vol. iv) the Comanches kill one of two twins. This is not an
uncommon custom; in itself, however, it can have very little effect
upon the quantity of the population. For the Californians see
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, pp. 390 and 413.
Footnote 405:
Dobrizhoffer, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 97.
Footnote 406:
Charlevoix, _Histoire_, vol. i, p. 405.
Footnote 407:
Keane, loc. cit., p. 206.
Footnote 408:
Church, loc. cit., p. 248.
Footnote 409:
Guinnard, loc. cit., p. 143.
Footnote 410:
Westermarck, loc. cit., p. 313, quoting a letter from Mr. Bridges who
in another place (loc. cit., p. 181) says that deformed children are
especially likely to be killed.
Footnote 411:
Sarasins, loc. cit., vol. iii, p. 469.
Footnote 412:
It should be remembered that elimination through war tells more upon
males than females. Out of sixty-six cases in which there was the
relevant information investigated by Professor Hobhouse and his
collaborators, men only were slain in twenty cases (Hobhouse, Wheeler,
and Ginsberg, _Simpler Peoples_, p. 232).
Footnote 413:
Ling Roth, loc. cit., p. 83.
Footnote 414:
Wheeler, _Tribe in Australia_.
Footnote 415:
Ibid., pp. 116 ff.
Footnote 416:
Curr (_Recollections_, p. 309) says that he never heard of any one
being killed in a regular battle.
Footnote 417:
Wheeler, loc. cit., p. 151.
Footnote 418:
Ibid., p. 154.
Footnote 419:
Stow, loc. cit., p. 38. Letourneau, however, says that war was common
(_La Guerre_, p. 54).
Footnote 420:
Nelson, loc. cit., p. 327.
Footnote 421:
Nansen, _Eskimo Life_, p. 162.
Footnote 422:
Boas, loc. cit., p. 465.
Footnote 423:
Nelson, loc. cit., p. 237.
Footnote 424:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 120.
Footnote 425:
Hall, loc. cit., p. 598.
Footnote 426:
Ellis, loc. cit., p. 182.
Footnote 427:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 91.
Footnote 428:
Schoolcraft, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 57. See also ibid., vol. iii, p.
64.
Footnote 429:
Carver, _Travels_, p. 229. For accounts of early military training see
Domenech, _Seven Years’ Residence_, vol. ii, p. 229, and Dodge,
_Hunting Grounds of the Great West_, p. 256.
Footnote 430:
Harmon, _Journal_, p. 306. He is speaking in particular of the Carrier
tribe; a good account of the methods of fighting is given.
Footnote 431:
Krause, loc. cit., p. 248; Swanton, 26th _A. R. B. E._, p. 449.
Footnote 432:
Niblack, _A. R. S. I._, 1888, p. 340; Swanton, _Jesup North Pacific
Expedition_, vol. v, pp. 55 ff.
Footnote 433:
Sproat, loc. cit., p. 59.
Footnote 434:
Boas, _A. R. B. E._, 1895, p. 425.
Footnote 435:
MacKenzie, loc. cit., vol. ii, pp. 123–30.
Footnote 436:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 236.
Footnote 437:
Ibid., vol. i, p. 268.
Footnote 438:
Teit, loc. cit., vol. ii, pp. 540 ff.
Footnote 439:
Ibid., p. 234.
Footnote 440:
Ibid., vol. i, p. 263.
Footnote 441:
Catlin, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 53.
Footnote 442:
MacKenzie, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 171.
Footnote 443:
Gibbs, loc. cit., p. 190.
Footnote 444:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 379.
Footnote 445:
Ibid., vol. i, p. 562.
Footnote 446:
Baegert, loc. cit., p. 359.
Footnote 447:
MacGee, 17th _A. R. B. E._, pp. 157 and 273. He speaks of a ‘frequent
decimation of the warriors’ (p. 273).
Footnote 448:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 499.
Footnote 449:
Cabeça de Vaca, loc. cit., p. 54.
Footnote 450:
Guinnard, loc. cit., p. 125.
Footnote 451:
Azara, vol. ii, p. 146.
Footnote 452:
Ibid., p. 7.
Footnote 453:
King and Fitzroy, _Narrative_, vol. ii, p. 183. See also Featherman,
_Social History_, vol. iii, p. 508.
Footnote 454:
Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes_, p. 45. To show the length to
which this belief is carried, the following story may be quoted. ‘A
woman, while clearing out a well, was bitten in the thumb by a black
snake. It began to swell immediately, and in the short space of
twenty-four hours the woman was a corpse. Still it was asserted that
it was not an accident, but that the deceased had pointed out a
certain aborigine as her murderer’ (Wilhelmi, loc. cit., p. 191). In
this case no killing actually followed, though it nearly did so.
Footnote 455:
Dobrizhoffer, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 84.
Footnote 456:
Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes_, vol. ii, p. 45.
Footnote 457:
Curr, _Australian Race_, vol. i, p. 86.
Footnote 458:
Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes_, p. 477. Wheeler (loc. cit., p.
149) says that ‘warfare only arises as a result of a blood feud, due
to the killing of a member of one local group by a member of another
local group, nearly always by magical means. But even this ground of
offence is most generally settled by one of the methods of regular
procedure above described.’ Since, as we have seen, the regular
procedure seldom ends in the shedding of blood, many deaths thus pass
unavenged.
Footnote 459:
Thomas, _Natives of Australia_, p. 47; Eyre, loc. cit., vol. ii, p.
379.
Footnote 460:
Curr, _Recollections_, p. 317.
Footnote 461:
Boas, 6th _A. R. B. E._, p. 582. Similar accounts are given by other
authors: see Nelson, loc. cit., p. 293; Rink, loc. cit., p. 35;
Klutschak, _Als Eskimo unter den Eskimos_, p. 228.
Footnote 462:
For instance, the Lillooet (Teit, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 236) and the
Shastika (Powers, loc. cit., p. 29).
Footnote 463:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 348.
Footnote 464:
Niblack, loc. cit., p. 348. A somewhat similar account is given of the
Zaporos (Simson, _J. A. I._, vol. vii, p. 506).
Footnote 465:
It is not only among these races that the aged are thought to be in
the way. Bonnard, in an article in the _Figaro_ on the Prince de
Beauvais’ travels in Canada, mentions that the latter saw an
enterprising Canadian township recommended by the announcement that
there were ‘no old inhabitants to hinder progress’ (_Figaro_, March
28, 1914). The evidence for the existence of this custom has been
reviewed by Westermarck, _Moral Ideas_, vol. ii, pp. 386 ff.
Footnote 466:
Ling Roth, loc. cit., p. 73.
Footnote 467:
Sartori, _Globus_, vol. lxvii, p. 108.
Footnote 468:
See, for instance, Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes_, p. 32, and
_Natives Tribes_, p. 51.
Footnote 469:
Theal, loc. cit., p. 19.
Footnote 470:
Turner, loc. cit., p. 186.
Footnote 471:
Boas, 6th _A. R. B. E._, p. 165.
Footnote 472:
Nansen, _Eskimo Life_, p. 151.
Footnote 473:
Woldt, loc. cit., p. 57.
Footnote 474:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 205.
Footnote 475:
Willoughby, _A. R. S. I._, 1886, p. 274.
Footnote 476:
Long, loc. cit., p. 74.
Footnote 477:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 390.
Footnote 478:
MacGee, loc. cit., p. 157. Conditions are similar among the Yguazas:
see Cabeça de Vaca, loc. cit., p. 80.
Footnote 479:
Featherman, loc. cit., vol. iii, p. 503.
Footnote 480:
Simson, loc. cit., p. 507.
Footnote 481:
It is impossible to estimate the amount of elimination from this
source. It is, as a rule, no doubt small. In India, although a higher
degree of skill has been reached, elimination from this source is not
inconsiderable owing to the prevalence of poisonous snakes. ‘In 1910,
55 persons were killed by elephants, 25 by hyenas, 109 by bears, 319
by wolves, 853 by tigers, and 688 by other animals, including wild
pigs. No less than 22,478 died from the bite of poisonous snakes. The
grand total of mortality is 24,878’ (Lull, _Organic Evolution_, p.
105). The amount of elimination will vary according to the nature of
the fauna, the geographical surroundings, habits, and other factors.
Thus among the Eskimo the use of the ‘kayak’ is responsible for a
considerable number of deaths. See Crantz, loc. cit., p. 166; Nansen,
loc. cit., p. 55; Boas, 6th _A. R. B. E._, p. 433.
Footnote 482:
Cohen, _Physiological Therapeutics_, vol. v, p. 158.
Footnote 483:
Davidson, _Geographical Pathology_, vol. ii, p. 565.
Footnote 484:
Hrdlicka, _S. I. B. E._, Bull. 42.
Footnote 485:
Hrdlicka, _S. I. B. E._, Bull. 34. See also Adami, _Medical
Contributions_, pp. 15–22.
Footnote 486:
Among many races in this group—especially in tropical
countries—certain non-lethal diseases are prevalent which are of great
importance from another point of view. They will be referred to again
in Chapter XV.
Footnote 487:
Bonwick, loc. cit., p. 87.
Footnote 488:
Curr, _Recollections_, p. 282.
Footnote 489:
Mathew, loc. cit., p. 92. See also Eyre, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 377,
and Curr, _Recollections_, p. 297.
Footnote 490:
Burchell, _Travels_, vol. ii, p. 57.
Footnote 491:
Smith, loc. cit., p. 859.
Footnote 492:
Murdoch, loc. cit., p. 39.
Footnote 493:
Crantz, loc. cit., p. 166.
Footnote 494:
Heriot, loc. cit., p. 350.
Footnote 495:
Harmon, loc. cit., p. 271.
Footnote 496:
Krause, loc. cit., p. 148.
Footnote 497:
Teit, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 618.
Footnote 498:
Hill Tout, _British North America_, p. 252.
Footnote 499:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 284.
Footnote 500:
Powers, loc. cit., p. 416.
Footnote 501:
Baegert, loc. cit., p. 385.
Footnote 502:
Dobrizhoffer, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 219.
Footnote 503:
Hardt, _Geography of Brazil_, p. 598.
Footnote 504:
King and Fitzroy, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 155.
Footnote 505:
Bonwick, loc. cit., pp. 78 and 85.
Footnote 506:
Turner, loc. cit., p. 189. See also Armstrong, loc. cit., p. 197, and
Hutton, loc. cit., p. 80.
Footnote 507:
Crantz, loc. cit., p. 162; Murdoch, loc. cit., p. 415.
Footnote 508:
_Handbook of American Indians_: Article, _Child Life_.
Footnote 509:
The absence of care and the resulting mortality is emphasized by
Gerland (_Über das Aussterben der Naturvölker_, p. 24 to p. 39).
Footnote 510:
_Handbook of American Indians_: Article, _Child Life_. It may be
noticed that, among the older authors, Robertson (loc. cit., vol. 1,
p. 297) has very similar remarks on the same subject.
Footnote 511:
Heriot, loc. cit. p. 344.
Footnote 512:
Domenech, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 295.
Footnote 513:
Krause, loc. cit., p. 217. Of these people Bancroft (loc. cit., vol.
i, p. 111) says that ‘when the child is able to leave its cradle, it
is bathed in the ocean every day without regard to season’.
Footnote 514:
Ross, loc. cit., p. 305.
Footnote 515:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 121.
Footnote 516:
Ibid., p. 201.
Footnote 517:
Teit, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 178.
Footnote 518:
Baegert, loc. cit., p. 368.
Footnote 519:
Dobrizhoffer, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 43.
Footnote 520:
Guinnard, loc. cit., p. 147.
Footnote 521:
Bridges, loc. cit., p. 202.
Footnote 522:
Man, loc. cit., p. 79.
Footnote 523:
Ibid., p. 81.
Footnote 524:
Sarasins, loc. cit., vol. iii, p. 469.
Footnote 525:
Deniker, loc. cit., p. 303.
Footnote 526:
Czaplicka, _Aboriginal Siberia_, p. 137. For a general sketch of the
treatment of children by parents see Steinmetz, _Entwicklung der
Strafe_, vol. i, pp. 179 ff.
Footnote 527:
Reference has been made in Chapter V to the use of metals in America.
Mr. Joyce, however, says that in spite of progress in this direction
the Central American races ‘were living at the discovery practically
in an age of stone’ (_Mexican Archaeology_, p. 304).
Footnote 528:
The importance of the plough in agriculture has been emphasized by
many authors. See, for instance, Hahn, _Die Entstehung der
Pflugkultur_.
Footnote 529:
The influence of different phases of Eur-Asiatic culture upon the
races of Africa must be borne in mind. Early Egyptian civilization
exerted great influence and so at a later date did the
Semitic—especially on the east coast; since the time of Mohammed the
influence of Eur-Asiatic culture has been marked among the more
northern of the negroid races. The inhabitants of Bornu were, for
instance, converted to Islam in the eleventh century.
Footnote 530:
They may have had a knowledge of iron before the migration (see
Thomson, _Fijians_, p. 11).
Footnote 531:
The Samoyeds formerly worked iron but have now lost the art—obtaining
what they want from the Russians.
Footnote 532:
Hartland, _Primitive Paternity_, vol. i, p. 272.
Footnote 533:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 702.
Footnote 534:
Stephen, _Am. Anth._, vol. vi, p. 356.
Footnote 535:
Charlevoix, loc. cit., vol. v, pp. 5 and 38. For the Creeks see
Schoolcraft, loc. cit., vol. v, p. 272.
Footnote 536:
Pöppig, _Reise in Chile_, vol. ii, p. 128; von Martius, _Ethnographie
Amerikas_, vol. i, p. 112; Azara, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 104.
Footnote 537:
_Handbook of American Indians_, vol. i, p. 265. Heriot (loc. cit., p.
344) mentions six to seven years as not uncommon. Schoolcraft (loc.
cit., vol. v, p. 655) gives eighteen months to two years for the
Oregon Indians.
Footnote 538:
Keating, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 417.
Footnote 539:
Hawtrey, _J. A. I._, vol. xxi, p. 295. Grubb gives three to four years
(_An Unknown People_, p. 142).
Footnote 540:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 633.
Footnote 541:
Ibid., vol. ii, p. 281.
Footnote 542:
im Thurn, _Savages of Guiana_, p. 219; Joest, _Int. Arch. Eth._, vol.
v, p. 94.
Footnote 543:
D’Orbigny, _L’Homme Américain_, vol. i, p. 47.
Footnote 544:
Forbes, _Journ. Eth. Soc._, vol. ii (new series), p. 224.
Footnote 545:
Joyce, loc. cit., p. 162.
Footnote 546:
Weld, loc. cit., p. 373.
Footnote 547:
Heriot, loc. cit., p. 339.
Footnote 548:
Le Beau, _Aventures, ou Voyage curieux et nouveau_, vol. ii, p. 200.
Footnote 549:
Charlevoix, loc. cit., vol. vi, p. 5. Ashe (_Travels_, p. 276) says
that the Shawnees abstain for nine weeks after birth.
Footnote 550:
Holder, _Am. Journ. Obstet._, vol. xxv, p. 44.
Footnote 551:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 281.
Footnote 552:
D’Orbigny, _L’Homme Américain_, vol. i, p. 47.
Footnote 553:
Hyades and Deniker, loc. cit., vol. vii, p. 195.
Footnote 554:
Ashe, loc. cit., p. 272.
Footnote 555:
Hrdlicka, _S. I. B. E._, Bull. 34, p. 163.
Footnote 556:
Weld, loc. cit., p. 373.
Footnote 557:
Le Beau, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 199.
Footnote 558:
Charlevoix, loc. cit., vol. vi, p. 5.
Footnote 559:
p. 99.
Footnote 560:
p. 99.
Footnote 561:
Keating, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 415.
Footnote 562:
Schoolcraft, loc. cit., vol. v, p. 684.
Footnote 563:
Nordenskiöld, _Zeit. für Eth._, vol. xxxviii, p. 98.
Footnote 564:
Forbes, _Journ. Eth. Soc._, vol. ii, p. 224.
Footnote 565:
Spix and Martius, _Travels_, vol. ii, p. 246.
Footnote 566:
Azara, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 59.
Footnote 567:
Ibid., p. 179.
Footnote 568:
Rengger, loc. cit., p. 133.
Footnote 569:
Ibid., p. 335.
Footnote 570:
von Martius, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 642.
Footnote 571:
D’Orbigny, loc. cit., vol. i, pp. 46 and 47.
Footnote 572:
Pöppig, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 323.
Footnote 573:
Keating, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 394.
Footnote 574:
Schoolcraft, loc. cit., vol. iii, p. 243.
Footnote 575:
Holder, loc. cit., p. 44.
Footnote 576:
Hrdlicka, loc. cit., p. 163.
Footnote 577:
Russell, 26th _A. R. B. E._, p. 186.
Footnote 578:
Stevenson, 23rd _A. R. B. E._, p. 296.
Footnote 579:
Grinnell, _Am. Anth._, vol. iv, p. 15.
Footnote 580:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. ii, pp. 183 and 269.
Footnote 581:
Von den Steinen, _Durch Central-Brazilien_, p. 123.
Footnote 582:
Ehrenreich, _Königliches Museum zu Berlin_, vol. i, Heft 2, p. 27;
Azara, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 116.
Footnote 583:
Schoolcraft, loc. cit., vol. iii, p. 243.
Footnote 584:
Ibid., vol. ii, p. 272.
Footnote 585:
Yarrow, _A. R. B. E._, vol. i, p. 99.
Footnote 586:
Hrdlicka, loc. cit., p. 165.
Footnote 587:
Azara, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 93.
Footnote 588:
Ibid., p. 116.
Footnote 589:
Hawtrey, _J. A. I._, vol. xxi, p. 295.
Footnote 590:
Grubb, loc. cit., p. 223.
Footnote 591:
Bonaparte, _Suriname_, p. 48.
Footnote 592:
Smythe and Lowe, _Narrative_, p. 240.
Footnote 593:
Catlin, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 119.
Footnote 594:
Jones, _Ojebway Indians_, p. 64.
Footnote 595:
Neill, _History of Minnesota_, p. 68.
Footnote 596:
Catlin, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 42.
Footnote 597:
Neill, loc. cit., p. 70.
Footnote 598:
Matthews, _U.S. Geog. and Geol. Survey_, Misc. Publications, No. 7, p.
61. For the wars of the Iroquois see Perrot, _Mémoires_, pp. 9 ff. and
pp. 78 ff.
Footnote 599:
Long, loc. cit., p. 29.
Footnote 600:
Speck, _Univ. of Pennsylvania Publications_, vol. i. No. 1, p. 84.
Footnote 601:
Russell, loc. cit., p. 200.
Footnote 602:
Wallace, _Travels on the Amazon_, p. 516. See also Church, loc. cit.,
p. 77.
Footnote 603:
Church, _South America_, pp. 78, 99, and 137. See also Von Martius,
loc. cit., vol. i, p. 129.
Footnote 604:
White, _J. A. I._, vol. xiii, p. 244.
Footnote 605:
Grubb, loc. cit., p. 105.
Footnote 606:
Brett, _Indian Tribes_, p. 357.
Footnote 607:
Wallace, loc. cit., p. 500.
Footnote 608:
Catlin, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 228.
Footnote 609:
Le Beau, loc. cit., vol. ii, pp. 93 and 98.
Footnote 610:
Speck, loc. cit., p. 14.
Footnote 611:
Ashe, loc. cit., p. 270.
Footnote 612:
Spix and Martius, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 249.
Footnote 613:
For the North American Indians see _Handbook of American Indians_, p.
238.
Footnote 614:
Schoolcraft, loc. cit., vol. iii, p. 238.
Footnote 615:
Domenech, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 295.
Footnote 616:
Lumholtz, _Unknown Mexico_, vol. ii, p. 90.
Footnote 617:
Heriot, _Travels_, p. 343. Dumarest, speaking of the Cochiti, says
that ‘sometimes, in the midst of winter, the child’s father will take
him out and, after breaking the ice, ... will immerse him in the
river. Formerly when, in winter, children came from bathing in the
river, they were not allowed to approach the fire until their hair was
thawed out’ (_Mem. Am. Anth. Ass._, vol. vi, No. 3, p. 144).
Koch-Grünberg states the mortality is heavy among the children of the
Amazon tribes and that they are dipped in cold water (_Zwei Jahre_,
vol. ii, pp. 59 and 150).
Footnote 618:
Partridge, _Cross River Natives_, p. 254.
Footnote 619:
Thomas, _Ibo-speaking Peoples_, p. 62.
Footnote 620:
Hutereau, _Ann. Mus. Congo Belge_, sér. 3, tome i, p. 4; Cureau,
_Sociétés Primitives_, p. 109.
Footnote 621:
Torday and Joyce, _Ann. Mus. Congo Belge_, sér. 3, tome ii, p. 110.
Footnote 622:
Van Overbergh, _Coll. Mon. Eth._, No. 4, p. 309.
Footnote 623:
Delhaise, ibid., No. 5, p. 157. He thinks, however, that the practice
was introduced by the Arabs.
Footnote 624:
Rochebrune, _Rev. d’Anth._, vol. iv, sér. 2, p. 281.
Footnote 625:
Weeks, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxix, p. 442.
Footnote 626:
Torday and Joyce, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxvi, p. 288.
Footnote 627:
Ibid., vol. xxxv, p. 420.
Footnote 628:
du Chaillu, _Explorations and Adventures_, p. 162.
Footnote 629:
Johnston, _Uganda Protectorate_, vol. ii, pp. 824 and 878.
Footnote 630:
Dundas, K. R., _J. A. I._, vol. xliii, p. 60.
Footnote 631:
Velten, _Sitten und Gebräuche der Swaheli_, p. 28.
Footnote 632:
Fabry, _Globus_, vol. xci, p. 221.
Footnote 633:
Weule, _East Africa_, p. 305.
Footnote 634:
Reichard, _Z. G. E._, vol. xxiv, p. 253.
Footnote 635:
Johnston, _British Central Africa_, p. 409, note.
Footnote 636:
Stannus, _J. A. I._, vol. xl, p. 309.
Footnote 637:
Maugham, _Zambezia_, p. 333.
Footnote 638:
Ellis, _Ewe-Speaking Peoples_, p. 206.
Footnote 639:
Ellis, _Yoruba-Speaking Peoples_, p. 185.
Footnote 640:
Delacour, _Rev. d’Eth._, 1912, p. 45.
Footnote 641:
Buttikoffer, _Inter. Arch. Eth._, vol. i, p. 82.
Footnote 642:
Tremearne, _J. A. I._, vol. xlii, p. 174.
Footnote 643:
Tremearne, _Hausa Superstitions and Customs_, p. 93.
Footnote 644:
Torday and Joyce, _Ann. Mus. Congo Belge_, sér. 3, vol. ii, p. 112.
Footnote 645:
Cureau, loc. cit., p. 180.
Footnote 646:
Overbergh, _Coll. Mon. Eth._, No. 3, p. 296.
Footnote 647:
Harris, _Mem. Anth. Soc._, vol. ii, p. 68.
Footnote 648:
Overbergh and Jonghe, _Coll. Mon. Eth._, No. 2, p. 217.
Footnote 649:
Wilson and Felkin, _Uganda_, vol. i, p. 187.
Footnote 650:
Hollis, _Nandi_, p. 65.
Footnote 651:
Plas, _Coll. Mon. Eth._, No. 6, p. 205.
Footnote 652:
Fülleborn, _Nyassa- und Rowuma-Gebiet_, p. 61.
Footnote 653:
Roscoe, _Baganda_, p. 55.
Footnote 654:
Gutmann, _Globus_, vol. xcii.
Footnote 655:
Reichard, loc. cit., p. 257.
Footnote 656:
Burton, _Central Africa_, vol. i, p. 117.
Footnote 657:
Junod, _Ba-Ronga_, p. 19.
Footnote 658:
Felkin, _Trans. Edin. Obstet. Soc._, vol. ix, p. 19.
Footnote 659:
Lichtenstein, _Travels_, vol. i, p. 260.
Footnote 660:
Kidd, _Essential Kaffir_, p. 19.
Footnote 661:
Denham and Clapperton, _Narrative_, p. 319.
Footnote 662:
Weeks, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxix, p. 417.
Footnote 663:
Junod, _South African Tribe_, p. 183.
Footnote 664:
Stannus, loc. cit., p. 310.
Footnote 665:
Theal, _Yellow- and Dark-Skinned People_, p. 347.
Footnote 666:
Ellis, _Ewe-Speaking Peoples_, p. 206.
Footnote 667:
Ellis, _Yoruba-Speaking Peoples_, p. 185.
Footnote 668:
Tremearne, _J. A. I._, vol. xlii, p. 174.
Footnote 669:
Ibid., vol. xxxvi, p. 93.
Footnote 670:
Ling Roth, _Great Benin_, p. 39.
Footnote 671:
Granville, _J. A. I._, vol. xxvii, p. 106.
Footnote 672:
Mungo Park, _Travels_, p. 402.
Footnote 673:
Tremearne, _Head Hunters of Nigeria_, p. 239.
Footnote 674:
Harris, loc. cit., p. 36.
Footnote 675:
Desplagnes, _Plateau Central Nigerien_, p. 227.
Footnote 676:
Nassau, _Fetichism in West Africa_, p. 11.
Footnote 677:
Reade, _South Africa_, p. 45.
Footnote 678:
Cureau, loc. cit., p. 378.
Footnote 679:
Johnston, _George Grenfell and the Congo_, p. 671.
Footnote 680:
Ward, _J. A. I._, vol. xxiv, p. 289.
Footnote 681:
Weeks, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxix, p. 418.
Footnote 682:
Overbergh and Jonghe, _Coll. Mon. Eth._, No. 1, p. 199.
Footnote 683:
Ibid., No. 2, p. 219.
Footnote 684:
Halkin, ibid., No. 7, p. 260.
Footnote 685:
Torday and Joyce, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxvi, p. 51.
Footnote 686:
Gaud, _Coll. Mon. Eth._, No. 8, p. 154.
Footnote 687:
Delhaise, loc. cit., p. 154.
Footnote 688:
Hutereau, loc. cit., p. 46.
Footnote 689:
Plas, loc. cit., p. 203.
Footnote 690:
Ibid., p. 205.
Footnote 691:
Hollis, _Nandi_, p. 66.
Footnote 692:
Ibid., p. 65.
Footnote 693:
Hobley, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxiii, p. 358.
Footnote 694:
Wilson and Felkin, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 187.
Footnote 695:
Roscoe, _Baganda_, p. 55. Ratzel (_History_, vol. iii, p. 16) gives
three years.
Footnote 696:
Thomson, _Geog. Journ._, vol. iv, p. 73.
Footnote 697:
Velten, loc. cit., p. 73.
Footnote 698:
Dundas, _J. A. I._, vol. xl, p. 60.
Footnote 699:
Reichard, loc. cit., p. 257.
Footnote 700:
Fülleborn, loc. cit., p. 352.
Footnote 701:
Fabry, loc. cit., p. 223.
Footnote 702:
Cole, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxii, p. 312.
Footnote 703:
Stannus, loc. cit., p. 311.
Footnote 704:
Felkin, loc. cit., p. 31.
Footnote 705:
Johnston, _British Central Africa_, p. 415.
Footnote 706:
Junod, _Ba-Ronga_, p. 490.
Footnote 707:
Kidd, _Essential Kaffir_, p. 19.
Footnote 708:
Pechuel-Loesche, _Loango-Expedition_, p. 31.
Footnote 709:
Junod, _South African Tribe_, vol. i, p. 488.
Footnote 710:
Junod, ibid. See Macdonald, _J. A. I._, vol. xix, p. 117.
Footnote 711:
Cureau, loc. cit., p. 189.
Footnote 712:
Fülleborn, loc. cit., p. 552, note.
Footnote 713:
Junod, loc. cit., p. 55.
Footnote 714:
Fülleborn, loc. cit., p. 550.
Footnote 715:
Mungo Park, loc. cit., p. 403.
Footnote 716:
Tremearne, _J. A. I._, vol. xlii, p. 174.
Footnote 717:
Talbot, _Shadow of the Bush_, p. 12.
Footnote 718:
Burton, _Abeokuta_, vol. i, p. 207.
Footnote 719:
Mondière, _Rev. d’Anth._, vol. iv, p. 75.
Footnote 720:
Buttikoffer, loc. cit., p. 82.
Footnote 721:
Overbergh and Jonghe, loc. cit., No. 1, p. 201.
Footnote 722:
Weeks, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxix, p. 420.
Footnote 723:
Cureau, loc. cit., p. 138.
Footnote 724:
Plas, loc. cit., p. 208.
Footnote 725:
Schmitz, _Coll. Mon. Eth._, No. 9, p. 595.
Footnote 726:
Torday and Joyce, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxv, p. 51.
Footnote 727:
Delhaise, loc. cit., p. 157.
Footnote 728:
Van Overbergh, loc. cit., No. 4, p. 297.
Footnote 729:
Torday and Joyce, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxvi, p. 51.
Footnote 730:
Velten, loc. cit., p. 28.
Footnote 731:
Routledge, _Prehistoric People_, p. 136. Owing to the fact that the
families are incomplete, there is some uncertainty about these
figures.
Footnote 732:
Roscoe, _Man_, vol. ix, p. 118. See also same author’s _Northern
Bantu_, p. 151.
Footnote 733:
Reichard, loc. cit., p. 255.
Footnote 734:
Stannus, loc. cit., p. 310.
Footnote 735:
Elton, _Journal_, p. 6.
Footnote 736:
Barrow, _Travels_, vol. i, p. 97. See also Theal, _Yellow- and
Dark-Skinned People_, p. 86.
Footnote 737:
Little, _Madagascar_, p. 64.
Footnote 738:
Delacour, loc. cit., p. 45.
Footnote 739:
Tremearne, _J. A. I._, vol. xlii, p. 171.
Footnote 740:
Johnston, _George Grenfell and the Congo_, p. 671.
Footnote 741:
Weeks, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxix, p. 449; Overbergh and Jonghe, loc.
cit., No. 1, p. 201.
Footnote 742:
Torday and Joyce, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxvi, p. 228.
Footnote 743:
Delhaise, loc. cit., p. 147.
Footnote 744:
Halkin, loc. cit., p. 259. Hutereau (loc. cit., p. 101) says that it
is not often employed.
Footnote 745:
Rochebrune, loc. cit., p. 283.
Footnote 746:
Van Overbergh, loc. cit., No. 4, p. 298.
Footnote 747:
Torday and Joyce, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxvi, p. 111.
Footnote 748:
Lübbert, _Mitth. der Forschungsreisenden_, vol. xiv, p. 88.
Footnote 749:
Hobley, _Akamba_, p. 58.
Footnote 750:
Velten, loc. cit., p. 29.
Footnote 751:
Fülleborn, loc. cit., p. 352.
Footnote 752:
Johnston, _British Central Africa_, p. 417; Angus, _Azimba and
Chipitaland_, p. 324.
Footnote 753:
Maugham, _Zambezia_, p. 339.
Footnote 754:
Maclean, _Kaffir Laws and Customs_, p. 62.
Footnote 755:
Ellis, _History of Madagascar_, vol. i, p. 55.
Footnote 756:
Kolben, _Cape of Good Hope_, vol. i, p. 144.
Footnote 757:
Ellis, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 155; Little, loc. cit., p. 60.
Footnote 758:
Tremearne, _Hausa Superstitions_, p. 93.
Footnote 759:
Ibid., _Head Hunters of Nigeria_, p. 239.
Footnote 760:
Cureau, loc. cit., p. 177; Ward, _J. A. I._, vol. xxiv, p. 291. Torday
(_Camp and Tramp_, p. 142), when speaking of the Bayaka, mentions them
as an exception to the general rule that Congo tribes kill misshapen
children.
Footnote 761:
Gaud, loc. cit., p. 257.
Footnote 762:
Van Overbergh, loc. cit., No. 3, p. 241.
Footnote 763:
Halkin, loc. cit., p. 260.
Footnote 764:
Torday and Joyce, _Ann. Mus. Congo Belge_, sér. 3, tome ii, p. 113.
Footnote 765:
Krapf, _Travels_, p. 193.
Footnote 766:
Hildebrand, _Recht und Sitte_, p. 293.
Footnote 767:
Livingstone, _Labours and Travels_, p. 577.
Footnote 768:
Fülleborn, loc. cit., p. 62.
Footnote 769:
Johnston, _British Central Africa_, p. 417.
Footnote 770:
Maugham, _Portuguese East Africa_, p. 270.
Footnote 771:
Barrow, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 157; Kidd, _Essential Kaffir_, p. 202;
Shooter, _Kaffirs of Natal_, p. 88.
Footnote 772:
Theal, _History and Ethnography_, vol. i, p. 48.
Footnote 773:
Harris, loc. cit., p. 27.
Footnote 774:
Ellis, _Ewe-Speaking Peoples_, p. 190; Maclean, _Compendium_, p. 62.
Footnote 775:
F. E. Forbes, _Dahomey_, p. 15.
Footnote 776:
Ling Roth, _Great Benin_, p. 125.
Footnote 777:
See Forbes, loc. cit., p. 23.
Footnote 778:
Tremearne, _Head Hunters of Nigeria_, _passim_.
Footnote 779:
Beecham, _Ashantee_, p. 207.
Footnote 780:
See Ellis, _Ewe-Speaking Peoples_, pp. 117 ff.
Footnote 781:
Cureau, loc. cit., p. 348.
Footnote 782:
Weeks, _Congo Cannibals_, p. 222.
Footnote 783:
Du Chaillu, loc. cit., p. 161.
Footnote 784:
Ibid., p. 386.
Footnote 785:
Burrows, loc. cit., p. 38. For the Azanda and Abandia see Hutereau,
loc. cit., p. 36 and p. 44.
Footnote 786:
Coquilhat, _Haut-Congo_, p. 287; Overbergh and Jonghe, loc. cit., No.
1, p. 413.
Footnote 787:
Torday, loc. cit., pp. 97 ff.; Torday and Joyce, _J. A. I._, vol.
xxxv, p. 416.
Footnote 788:
Torday and Joyce, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxvi, p. 289.
Footnote 789:
Ibid., vol. xxxv, p. 49.
Footnote 790:
Roscoe, _Baganda_, p. 346.
Footnote 791:
Hollis, _Masai_, _passim_.
Footnote 792:
Hobley, _Akamba_, p. 45. See also Dundas, _J. A. I._, vol. xliii, p.
505.
Footnote 793:
Routledge, _Prehistoric People_, p. 13.
Footnote 794:
Dundas, _J. A. I._, vol. xl, p. 51.
Footnote 795:
Roscoe, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxvii, p. 108.
Footnote 796:
Johnston, _British Central Africa_, p. 470.
Footnote 797:
Theal, _Yellow- and Dark-Skinned People_, p. 344.
Footnote 798:
Same author, _History_, vol. i, p. 38.
Footnote 799:
Kolben, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 282.
Footnote 800:
Hutchinson, _Western Africa_, p. 150. See also same author’s _Ten
Years’ Wanderings_, p. 54.
Footnote 801:
Roscoe, _Baganda_, p. 98.
Footnote 802:
Torday, loc. cit., p. 137.
Footnote 803:
Maugham, _British Central Africa_, p. 276.
Footnote 804:
Theal, _Yellow- and Dark-Skinned People_, p. 205.
Footnote 805:
Wilson, _Western Africa_, pp. 115 and 179; Beecham, loc. cit., p. 227.
Footnote 806:
Burrows, loc. cit., p. 43.
Footnote 807:
Du Chaillu, loc. cit., p. 271.
Footnote 808:
Werner, _Native Races_, p. 168.
Footnote 809:
Macdonald, loc. cit., p. 106.
Footnote 810:
Junod, _South African Tribe_, vol. i, p. 417.
Footnote 811:
Parker, G. W., _J. A. I._, vol. xii, p. 478.
Footnote 812:
Weeks, _Congo Cannibals_, p. 341.
Footnote 813:
On this subject see Davidson, _Geographical Pathology_; Clemow,
_Geography of Disease_; Hirsch, _Geographical and Historical
Pathology_; and Johnston, _Negro in the New World_, pp. 15 ff.
Footnote 814:
Theal, _Yellow- and Dark-Skinned People_, p. 174.
Footnote 815:
Roscoe, _Baganda_, p. 174.
Footnote 816:
Ellenberger, _Basuto_, p. 295.
Footnote 817:
Barrow, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 109.
Footnote 818:
Harris, loc. cit., p. 68.
Footnote 819:
Talbot, loc. cit., p. 12.
Footnote 820:
Mungo Park, loc. cit., p. 403.
Footnote 821:
Du Chaillu, loc. cit., p. 163.
Footnote 822:
Johnston, _George Grenfell and the Congo_, vol. ii, p. 672.
Footnote 823:
Van Overbergh, loc. cit., No. 4, p. 297.
Footnote 824:
Weeks, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxix, p. 418.
Footnote 825:
Van Overbergh, loc. cit., No. 3, p. 244.
Footnote 826:
Delhaise, loc. cit., p. 157.
Footnote 827:
Gutmann, loc. cit., p. 3.
Footnote 828:
Leslie, _Zulus and Amatongas_, p. 198.
Footnote 829:
Casalis, _Basutos_, p. 193.
Footnote 830:
Holden, loc. cit., p. 172.
Footnote 831:
Best, _Man_, vol. xiv, p. 32.
Footnote 832:
Dieffenbach, _Travels_, vol. ii, p. 16; Angas, _Australia and New
Zealand_, vol. i, p. 314; Tuke, _Edinburgh Medical Journal_, vol. ix,
part 1, p. 224; Tregear, _J. A. I._, vol. xix, p. 101.
Footnote 833:
Dumas, _Collection des Thèses_, p. 18.
Footnote 834:
Kubary, _Journal des Museum Godeffroy_, vol. i, p. 53. See also same
author, _Ethnographische Beiträge_, p. 148.
Footnote 835:
Brainne, _Nouvelle-Calédonie_, p. 250.
Footnote 836:
Codrington, _Melanesians_, p. 235.
Footnote 837:
Danks, _J. A. I._, vol. xviii, p. 288.
Footnote 838:
Krieger, _Neu-Guinea_, p. 297.
Footnote 839:
Murray, _Papua_, p. 195.
Footnote 840:
Seligman, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxii, p. 302.
Footnote 841:
Epp, _Holländisch-Ostindien_, p. 393.
Footnote 842:
Kreutz, _Zeit. Soc. Wiss._, vol. ii, p. 201.
Footnote 843:
Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, p. 141.
Footnote 844:
Ribbe, _Zwei Jahre_, p. 144.
Footnote 845:
Bernard, _Nouvelle-Calédonie_, p. 288. See also Glaumont, _Rev.
d’Eth._, vol. vii, p. 80; Lortsch, _Globus_, 1885, p. 107; and
Moncelon, _Bull. Soc. Anth._, vol. ix, p. 361.
Footnote 846:
Thomson, _Fijians_, p. 176.
Footnote 847:
Thurmwald, _Forschungen_, p. 123.
Footnote 848:
Hagen, _Unter den Papuas_, p. 233.
Footnote 849:
Ling Roth, _Sarawak_, p. 100.
Footnote 850:
Jenks, _Ethnological Survey Publications_, vol. i, p. 61.
Footnote 851:
Hitchcock, _A. R. B. E._, 1890, p. 465.
Footnote 852:
Moerenhaut, _Voyages_, p. 62.
Footnote 853:
_Cambridge Anthropological Expedition_, vol. v, p. 247.
Footnote 854:
Tregear, loc. cit., p. 103.
Footnote 855:
_Cambridge Anthropological Expedition_, vol. v, p. 199.
Footnote 856:
Thomson, _Savage Island_, p. 141.
Footnote 857:
Kubary, _Journal des Museum Godeffroy_, vol. i, p. 54.
Footnote 858:
Krämer, _Samoa-Inseln_, vol. i, p. 38.
Footnote 859:
Seligman, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxii, p. 302. See also Seligman,
_Melanesians_, p. 86.
Footnote 860:
Schellong, _Zeit. für Eth._, vol. xxviii, p. 19.
Footnote 861:
Ribbe, loc. cit., p. 144.
Footnote 862:
Glaumont, loc. cit., p. 80.
Footnote 863:
Lambert, _Néo-Calédoniens_, p. 104.
Footnote 864:
Brown, _Melanesians_, p. 37.
Footnote 865:
Thomson, _Fijians_, p. 176.
Footnote 866:
Ibid., p. 178.
Footnote 867:
Seeman, _Viti_, p. 191.
Footnote 868:
Seligman, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxii, p. 303.
Footnote 869:
Krieger, _Neu-Guinea_, p. 165.
Footnote 870:
Pfeil, _Studien und Beobachtungen_, p. 31.
Footnote 871:
Angas, loc. cit., p. 314.
Footnote 872:
Dieffenbach, loc. cit., p. 33.
Footnote 873:
Brown, _New Zealand_, p. 40.
Footnote 874:
Haddon, _J. A. I._, vol. xix. p. 359.
Footnote 875:
_Cambridge Anthropological Expedition_, vol. iii, p. 108.
Footnote 876:
Krämer, _Die Samoa-Inseln_, p. 335.
Footnote 877:
Turner, _Samoa_, p. 83.
Footnote 878:
Ribbe, loc. cit., p. 194.
Footnote 879:
Kubary, _Journal des Museum Godeffroy_, vol. i, p. 54.
Footnote 880:
Melville, _Narrative_, p. 213.
Footnote 881:
Tautain, _L’Anthropologie_, vol. ix, p. 418.
Footnote 882:
Jenkins, _Voyage_, p. 404.
Footnote 883:
Seligman, _Melanesians_, p. 80.
Footnote 884:
Stone, _New Guinea_, p. 93.
Footnote 885:
Krieger, loc. cit., pp. 165, 293, and 390. Neuhaus confirms this
(_Deutsch Neu-Guinea_, vol. i, p. 150).
Footnote 886:
Brown, _Melanesians_, p. 37.
Footnote 887:
Pfeil, loc. cit., p. 32. See also Stephan and Graebner,
_Neu-Mecklenberg_, p. 16.
Footnote 888:
Lortsch, loc. cit., p. 107; De Vaux, ‘Les Canaques’, _Rev. d’Eth._,
vol. ii, p. 330.
Footnote 889:
Blyth, _Glasgow Medical Journal_, vol. xxviii, p. 178.
Footnote 890:
Ling Roth, _Sarawak_, vol. i, p. 106.
Footnote 891:
Brooke, _Sarawak_, vol. ii, p. 335.
Footnote 892:
Wallace, _Malay Archipelago_, vol. i, p. 141.
Footnote 893:
Bock, _Head Hunters_, p. 211.
Footnote 894:
Hagen, _Unter den Papuas_, p. 27.
Footnote 895:
Marsden, _History of Sumatra_, p. 219.
Footnote 896:
Modigliani, _Viaggio_, p. 554.
Footnote 897:
Bickman, _Travels_, p. 278.
Footnote 898:
Kreutz, loc. cit., p. 40.
Footnote 899:
Batchelor, _Ainu_, p. 19.
Footnote 900:
Hitchcock, loc. cit., p. 465.
Footnote 901:
Dieffenbach, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 12; Goldie, _Trans. and Proc. N.
Z. Inst._, vol. xxxvii, p. 110; Tuke, loc. cit., p. 735.
Footnote 902:
Hunt, _J. A. I._, vol. xxviii, p. 9.
Footnote 903:
Haddon, _J. A. I._, vol. xix, p. 359.
Footnote 904:
_Cambridge Anthropological Expedition_, vol. vi, p. 197.
Footnote 905:
Dumas, loc. cit., p. 18.
Footnote 906:
Jenkins, loc. cit., p. 404; Krämer, loc. cit., p. 335; Thomson,
_Fijians_, p. 211.
Footnote 907:
Krämer, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 53; Turner, _Samoa_, p. 79.
Footnote 908:
Gardiner, _J. A. I._, vol. xxvii, p. 480.
Footnote 909:
Thomson, _Savage Island_, p. 141.
Footnote 910:
Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, p. 423; Waterhouse, _King and
People of Fiji_, p. 327; Thomson (_Fijians_, p. 180) thinks that it
has been introduced lately. On the other hand Blyth says that it was
formerly more prevalent than it is now (loc. cit., p. 181).
Footnote 911:
Hagen and Pineau, _Rev. d’Eth._, vol. vii, p. 332.
Footnote 912:
Jamieson, _Aust. Med. Journ._, new series, vol. vii, p. 53.
Footnote 913:
Bernard, _Nouvelle-Calédonie_, p. 288; Rochas, _Nouvelle-Calédonie_,
p. 200.
Footnote 914:
Codrington, _Melanesians_, p. 229; Ribbe, loc. cit., p. 144;
Parkinson, _Int. Arch. Eth._, vol. xiii, p. 8; Elton, _J. A. I._, vol.
xvii, p. 93.
Footnote 915:
Brown, _Melanesians_, p. 33; Danks, _J. A. I._, vol. xviii, p. 291;
Pfeil, loc. cit., p. 313; Stephan and Graebner, loc. cit., p. 18.
Footnote 916:
Ribbe, loc. cit., p. 194.
Footnote 917:
Riedel, _Rev. Col. Inter._, vol. ii, p. 71.
Footnote 918:
Krieger, loc. cit., p. 165 (German New Guinea), p. 292 (British New
Guinea), and p. 390 (Dutch New Guinea).
Footnote 919:
Ibid., p. 392.
Footnote 920:
Murray, _Papua_, p. 194.
Footnote 921:
Rosenberg, _Malayische Archipel_, p. 454.
Footnote 922:
Williamson, _Mafulu People_, p. 176.
Footnote 923:
Seligman, _Melanesians_, p. 135.
Footnote 924:
Ibid., p. 568.
Footnote 925:
Modigliani, loc. cit., p. 554.
Footnote 926:
Kreutz, loc. cit., p. 201.
Footnote 927:
Jenks, loc. cit., p. 60.
Footnote 928:
Turner, _Samoa_, p. 280.
Footnote 929:
Angas, _Australia and New Zealand_, vol. i, p. 312.
Footnote 930:
Taylor, _Te Ika a Maui_, p. 338.
Footnote 931:
Tuke, loc. cit., p. 221.
Footnote 932:
Polack, _Manners and Customs_, vol. ii, p. 92. See also Meade, _Ride_,
p. 163, and Dieffenbach, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 16.
Footnote 933:
Brown, _New Zealand_, p. 41; Earle, _Narrative_, p. 243.
Footnote 934:
Haddon, _J. A. I._, vol. xix, p. 359; _Cambridge Anthropological
Expedition_, vol. vi, p. 107.
Footnote 935:
_Cambridge Anthropological Expedition_, vol. vi, p. 107.
Footnote 936:
Tuituila, _Journ. Pol. Soc._, vol. i, p. 267.
Footnote 937:
West, _Ten Years_, p. 270.
Footnote 938:
Turner, _Samoa_, p. 79; Brown, _Melanesians_, p. 47.
Footnote 939:
Krämer, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 53.
Footnote 940:
Thomson, _Fijians_, p. 141.
Footnote 941:
Rivers, _Melanesian Society_, vol. i, p. 313.
Footnote 942:
Thurmwald, _Zeit. für Eth._, vol. xlii, p. 111.
Footnote 943:
Gill, _Coral Islands_, vol. ii, p. 13.
Footnote 944:
Edgeworth David, _Funafuti_, p. 195.
Footnote 945:
Lutteroth, _Insel Tahiti_, p. 12.
Footnote 946:
Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, vol. i, pp. 249 ff.; same author,
_Tour through Hawaii_, p. 325.
Footnote 947:
Kotzebue, _Voyage_, p. 211.
Footnote 948:
Ellis, _Narrative_, pp. 324 ff.; Angas, _Polynesia_, p. 144; Dumas,
loc. cit., p. 19. The last-named author says that it was undoubtedly
more prevalent before the arrival of Europeans than later.
Footnote 949:
Waterhouse, loc. cit., p. 328.
Footnote 950:
Glaumond, loc. cit., p. 79.
Footnote 951:
Bernard, loc. cit., p. 288.
Footnote 952:
Moncelin, loc. cit., p. 357.
Footnote 953:
Somerville, _J. A. I._, vol. xxiii, p. 4. According to Paton,
‘Infanticide is systematically practised’ (_New Hebrides_, p. 452).
Footnote 954:
Meinecke, _Z. G. E._, vol. ix, p. 340.
Footnote 955:
Codrington, _Melanesians_, p. 229.
Footnote 956:
Kotzebue, loc. cit., p. 173.
Footnote 957:
Turner, _Samoa_, p. 284.
Footnote 958:
Hale, _U.S. Exploring Expedition_, vol. vi, p. 15.
Footnote 959:
Elton, _J. A. I._, vol. xvii, p. 93.
Footnote 960:
Guppy, _Solomon Islands_, p. 42.
Footnote 961:
Elton, loc. cit., p. 93; Somerville, _J. A. I._, vol. xxvi, p. 393;
Parkinson, loc. cit., p. 8; Ribbe, loc. cit., p. 144.
Footnote 962:
Verguet, _Rev. d’Eth._, vol. iv, p. 206.
Footnote 963:
Brown, _Melanesians_, p. 36; Pfeil, loc. cit., p. 18.
Footnote 964:
Seligman, _Melanesians_, p. 568.
Footnote 965:
Ibid., p. 705.
Footnote 966:
Williamson, _Mafulu People_, p. 176.
Footnote 967:
Murray, loc. cit., p. 194.
Footnote 968:
Erdweg, _Mittheilungen der anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien_,
vol. xxxii, p. 281.
Footnote 969:
Newton, _New Guinea_, p. 189.
Footnote 970:
St. John, _Forests of the Far East_, vol. i, p. 48; Brooke, loc. cit.,
vol. ii, p. 337.
Footnote 971:
Ratzel, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 268; Romilly, _Western Pacific_, p. 68.
Footnote 972:
Moerenhaut, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 30, says that ‘Tous ces peuples
étaient très fréquemment en guerre’.
Footnote 973:
Dieffenbach, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 16; Tregear, _J. A. I._, vol. xix,
p. 110.
Footnote 974:
Hunt, loc. cit., p. 10.
Footnote 975:
_Cambridge Anthropological Expedition_, vol. iv, p. 6; vol. v, p. 229;
and vol. vi, p. 189.
Footnote 976:
Ibid., vol. v, p. 298.
Footnote 977:
Ellis, _Narrative_, p. 4; Dumas, loc. cit., p. 19.
Footnote 978:
Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, p. 293; Lutteroth, loc. cit., p. 17.
Footnote 979:
Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, p. 294.
Footnote 980:
Turner, _Samoa_, p. 189; Pritchard, loc. cit., p. 55; Angas,
_Polynesia_, p. 270.
Footnote 981:
Brown, _Melanesians_, p. 173.
Footnote 982:
Gardiner, _J. A. I._, vol. xxvii, p. 470.
Footnote 983:
Ibid., p. 474.
Footnote 984:
Gill, _Coral Islands_, vol. ii, p. 12.
Footnote 985:
Jenkins, loc. cit., p. 407.
Footnote 986:
Kubary, _Journal des Museum Godeffroy_, vol. i, p. 62; Wilson, _Pelew
Islands_, p. 334.
Footnote 987:
Seligman, _Melanesians_, p. 671.
Footnote 988:
Williams, _Fiji_, p. 43.
Footnote 989:
Ibid., p. 203. He calculates the annual loss as from 1,500 to 2,000,
and adds that this should be increased in order to include widows
strangled on the death of their husbands (p. 53).
Footnote 990:
Thomson, _Fijians_, p. 86.
Footnote 991:
Hagen and Pineau, loc. cit., p. 336.
Footnote 992:
Lambert, loc. cit., pp. 173 ff.; Moncelon, loc. cit., p. 358; de
Rochas, p. 304; Brainne, loc. cit., pp. 244 ff.
Footnote 993:
Guppy, loc. cit., p. 33; Verguet, loc. cit., p. 215.
Footnote 994:
Romilly, _Western Pacific_, p. 69.
Footnote 995:
Seligman, _Melanesians_, p. 121.
Footnote 996:
Abel, _New Guinea_, pp. 129 ff.; Williamson, _Mafulu People_, p. 180;
Reche, _Südsee-Expedition_, 1908–10, p. 289.
Footnote 997:
Ling Roth, _Sarawak_, vol. ii, p. 117; Hose and McDougall, _Pagan
Tribes_, pp. 158 ff.
Footnote 998:
Ling Roth, _Sarawak_, vol. ii, p. 120.
Footnote 999:
Batchelor, loc. cit., p. 15.
Footnote 1000:
Chalmers, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxiii, p. 123.
Footnote 1001:
Thomson, _British New Guinea_, p. 23.
Footnote 1002:
Woodford, _Head Hunters_, p. 154; Guppy, loc. cit., p. 16; Romilly,
_Western Pacific_, p. 73.
Footnote 1003:
Hickson, _New Hebrides_, p. 275.
Footnote 1004:
Hose and McDougall, loc. cit., p. 187.
Footnote 1005:
Ibid., p. 187.
Footnote 1006:
Gomes, _Sea Dyaks_, p. 5.
Footnote 1007:
Brooke, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 121; Ling Roth, _Sarawak_, vol. ii, p.
143.
Footnote 1008:
Brooke, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 121; St. John, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 68.
Footnote 1009:
Jenks, loc. cit., p. 172.
Footnote 1010:
Ibid., p. 182.
Footnote 1011:
Romilly, _From my Verandah_, p. 52.
Footnote 1012:
Von der Sande, _Nova Guinea_, vol. iii, p. 270. Neuhaus, loc. cit.,
vol. i, p. 131, attributes considerable importance to this factor.
Footnote 1013:
It is again noticeable that in the accounts of the older observers the
general good health of these races is remarked upon. See, for
instance, Kotzebue, loc. cit., p. 129 (for the Sandwich Islands) and
p. 170 (for Radeck); Cheyne, _Western Pacific Ocean_, p. 9 (for Island
of Pines).
Footnote 1014:
Newton, loc. cit., p. 189. For New Ireland see Stephan and Graebner,
loc. cit., p. 18, where the high child mortality is attributed to
exposure.
Footnote 1015:
Kreutz, loc. cit., p. 202.
Footnote 1016:
Turner, _Samoa_, p. 135.
Footnote 1017:
Jenks, loc. cit., p. 61. For the whole question of child mortality
among primitive races see Gerland, _Über das Aussterben der
Naturvölker_, p. 24 to p. 39.
Footnote 1018:
Bogoras, _Jesup North Pacific Expedition_, p. 690.
Footnote 1019:
Jochelson, ibid., vol. ix, p. 110.
Footnote 1020:
Ibid., vol. vi, p. 413.
Footnote 1021:
Ibid., vol. ix, p. 104.
Footnote 1022:
Sumner, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxi, p. 79.
Footnote 1023:
For instance, by Sumner, loc. cit., p. 79, for the Yakuts; by Jackson,
_Great Frozen Land_, p. 82, for the Samoyeds; and by Georgi,
_Bemerkungen_, vol. i, p. 265, for the Tunguses.
Footnote 1024:
Krasheninicoff, _History of Kamtchatka_, p. 216. De Lesseps
(_Travels_, vol. i, p. 133) puts the average at four to five children.
It may be noticed that according to Pallas (_Reise_, vol. iii, p. 77)
the Samoyeds do not cohabit for two months after the birth of a child.
Footnote 1025:
Sograff, _Arch. für Anth._, vol. xiv, p. 293.
Footnote 1026:
Jochelson, loc. cit., vol. vi, p. 414.
Footnote 1027:
Krasheninicoff, loc. cit., p. 217.
Footnote 1028:
Stellers, _Kamtchatka_, p. 349.
Footnote 1029:
Sarytschev, _Collection of Voyages_, vol. vi, p. 50; Bogoras, loc.
cit., p. 513.
Footnote 1030:
Finsch, _Reise_, p. 538. See Georgi, loc. cit., p. 263, for the
Tunguses and Bogoras, loc. cit., p. 33, for the Chuckee.
Footnote 1031:
See Finsch, loc. cit., p. 538, for the Ostyaks and Samoyeds;
Jochelson, loc. cit., vol. vi, p. 423, for the Koryak; and Sumner,
loc. cit., p. 79, for the Yakuts.
Footnote 1032:
On this subject see Cannan, _Theories of Production and Distribution_,
ch. v. Professor Cannan’s work has been used in this and in the two
following sections.
Footnote 1033:
Nicholson, _Political Economy_, vol. i, p. 182, note.
Footnote 1034:
Cannan, loc. cit., p. 143.
Footnote 1035:
Cannan, loc. cit., p. 144.
Footnote 1036:
Nicholson, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 163.
Footnote 1037:
Cannan, _Wealth_, p. 68. This is frequently misunderstood. Thus we
read that ‘occasionally, from accidental circumstances, England was
for a short time under-populated, and these were the periods when ...
the labourer was well off’ (Inge, loc. cit., p. 90). The evidence
alluded to would tend to show that there was previously a condition of
over-population. In any case a people as a whole is not better off
when under-population arises.
Footnote 1038:
Cannan, _Theories of Production and Distribution_, p. 181.
Footnote 1039:
See Leroy-Beaulieu, _Question de la Population_, ch. iii.
Footnote 1040:
Quoted by Nicholson, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 180.
Footnote 1041:
Ling Roth, _Tasmania_, p. 116.
Footnote 1042:
Bonwick, loc. cit., p. 83.
Footnote 1043:
Wheeler, _Tribe in Australia_, p. 35.
Footnote 1044:
Wheeler, loc. cit., p. 45. Malinowski (loc. cit., p. 152) comments on
this tribal over-right, which, he says, is shadowy.
Footnote 1045:
See, for instance, Brown, _J. A. I._, vol. xliii, p. 144, for Western
Australia; Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes_, p. 7, for Central
Australia; and Stanbridge, _Trans. Eth. Soc._, new series, vol. i, p.
286, for Victoria.
Footnote 1046:
Malinowski, loc. cit., p. 156.
Footnote 1047:
Brown, _J. A. I._, vol. xliii, p. 145. Spencer and Gillen describe the
ownership by local groups of quarries where stone suitable for making
instruments is found (_Native Tribes_, p. 590).
Footnote 1048:
Ibid., p. 146. See, too, Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes_, p. 27.
Footnote 1049:
Stanbridge, loc. cit., p. 286. See also Parker, _Aborigines_, p. 12.
Footnote 1050:
Brown, _Geog. Journ._, vol. i, p. 12.
Footnote 1051:
Eyre, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 297.
Footnote 1052:
Smyth, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 145.
Footnote 1053:
Lumholtz, _Among Cannibals_, p. 147.
Footnote 1054:
See Grosse, _Die Formen der Familie_, p. 35.
Footnote 1055:
Stow, loc. cit., p. 35.
Footnote 1056:
Ibid., p. 86.
Footnote 1057:
Klutschak, loc. cit., p. 227.
Footnote 1058:
Rink, loc. cit., p. 31.
Footnote 1059:
‘Captain Cook found among the Ahts “very strict notions of their
having a right to the exclusive property of everything that their
country produces”, so that they claimed pay for even wood, water, and
grass. The limits of their tribal property are very clearly defined,
but individuals rarely claim any property in land’ (Bancroft, loc.
cit., vol. i, p. 191). See also Dellenbaugh, _North Americans_, pp.
410 ff.
Footnote 1060:
_Handbook of American Indians_, Article ‘Land Tenure’.
Footnote 1061:
Harmon, loc. cit., p. 255.
Footnote 1062:
Hill Tout, _British North America_, p. 147. See also Bancroft, loc.
cit., vol. i, p. 118.
Footnote 1063:
Ibid., p. 157.
Footnote 1064:
Ibid., p. 159.
Footnote 1065:
_Handbook of American Indians_, Article ‘Property’. See Teit, loc.
cit., vol. ii, p. 255, for a description of this among the Lillooet
Indians; also Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 230, and Niblack, loc.
cit., pp. 298 and 337.
Footnote 1066:
Swanton, _Jesup North Pacific Expedition_, vol. v, p. 71.
Footnote 1067:
Elliot, _Arctic Province_, p. 54.
Footnote 1068:
Krause, loc. cit., p. 167. Before leaving the Indians it is worth
noticing that each family had, as a rule, its own store of food. Many
different methods of storing food are known; the more migratory tribes
of the Salish and the Tinneh stored food either in detached sheds
elevated on posts several feet from the ground, or where the soil was
unusually dry in well-like holes. See Hill Tout, _British North
America_, p. 108.
Footnote 1069:
Sarasins, loc. cit., vol. iii, pp. 475 ff. See also Seligman, loc.
cit., p. 106.
Footnote 1070:
Cooper, loc. cit., p. 178.
Footnote 1071:
Hobhouse, Wheeler, and Ginsberg, _Institutions of the Simpler
Peoples_, pp. 243 ff.
Footnote 1072:
_Handbook of American Indians_, Article ‘Property’.
Footnote 1073:
Ibid., Article ‘Land Tenure’.
Footnote 1074:
Fletcher and La Flesche, 27th _A. R. B. E._, p. 269. Dorsey (loc.
cit., p. 366) gives further details.
Footnote 1075:
Joyce, _Mexican Archaeology_, p. 116.
Footnote 1076:
Spix and Martius, vol. i, p. 83.
Footnote 1077:
Bartle Frere, _J. A. I._, vol. xii, p. 260.
Footnote 1078:
Ellis, _Ewe-Speaking People_, p. 217.
Footnote 1079:
Ibid., _Yoruba-Speaking People_, p. 188.
Footnote 1080:
Talbot, loc. cit., p. 262.
Footnote 1081:
Scott Elliot, _J. A. I._, vol. xxiii, p. 82.
Footnote 1082:
Tremearne, _J. A. I._, vol. xlii, p. 187.
Footnote 1083:
Weeks, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxix, p. 123.
Footnote 1084:
Ibid., p. 129.
Footnote 1085:
Torday and Joyce, _Ann. Mus. Congo Belge_, sér. 3, tome ii, p. 91.
Footnote 1086:
Van Overbergh, loc. cit., No. 2, p. 465.
Footnote 1087:
Hobley, _Akamba_, pp. 82 and 136 ff.
Footnote 1088:
Halkin, loc. cit., p. 493.
Footnote 1089:
Roscoe, _Baganda_, p. 15.
Footnote 1090:
Routledge, _Prehistoric People_, p. 39.
Footnote 1091:
Werner, loc. cit., p. 179.
Footnote 1092:
Johnston, _British Central Africa_, p. 471.
Footnote 1093:
Junod, _South African Tribe_, vol. i, p. 307.
Footnote 1094:
Theal, _Yellow- and Dark-Skinned People_, p. 230.
Footnote 1095:
Conder, _J. A. I._, vol. xvi, p. 86.
Footnote 1096:
Hahn, _Z. G. E._, vol. iii, p. 255. For Madagascar, where conditions
are much the same, see Parker, _J. A. I._, vol. xii.
Footnote 1097:
Wilson, _Pelew Islands_, p. 297.
Footnote 1098:
Tregear, loc. cit., p. 106.
Footnote 1099:
Ling Roth, loc. cit., p. 419.
Footnote 1100:
Thomson, _British New Guinea_, p. 194.
Footnote 1101:
Müller, _Unter Tungusen_, p. 46.
Footnote 1102:
Howitt, _Native Tribes_, p. 759.
Footnote 1103:
Howitt, _Native Tribes_, p. 765.
Footnote 1104:
Ibid., p. 767.
Footnote 1105:
Stow, loc. cit., p. 41. See also Theal, _Yellow- and Dark-Skinned
People_, p. 48.
Footnote 1106:
Nansen, _Eskimo Life_, p. 113.
Footnote 1107:
See, for instance, Klutschak, pp. 231 ff., and Whymper, _Voyages et
Aventures_, p. 346.
Footnote 1108:
Rink, loc. cit., p. 31.
Footnote 1109:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 121.
Footnote 1110:
Teit, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 256.
Footnote 1111:
MacGee, 17th _A. R. B. E._, p. 273.
Footnote 1112:
Hill Tout (_British North America_, p. 159) describes an exceptional
case of a Salish tribe in which ‘even the food was held and the meals
taken in common, the presiding elder or headsman calling a certain
family each day to provide the meals for all the rest, every one
taking it in turn to discharge this social duty’.
Footnote 1113:
Thomson, _Fijians_, p. 229.
Footnote 1114:
Angas, loc. cit., p. 373.
Footnote 1115:
Haseman, _Am. Anth._, vol. xiv, p. 338.
Footnote 1116:
Some authors have assumed without producing any evidence that these
practices—especially infanticide—have increased, if they have not been
initiated, after contact with Europeans. It is, therefore, of interest
to note that according to Rivers there is definite genealogical
evidence from Tikopia of the disappearance of infanticide (_Melanesian
Society_, vol. i, p. 352).
Footnote 1117:
According to Neuhauss for instance, both abortion and infanticide were
formerly prevalent in parts of New Guinea where they are now rare
owing to missionary teaching. No accurate account has been given of
these tribes in their former state, and thus quite possibly a modern
observer might well merely record the practices as being ‘rare’—a
statement which would be misleading for our present purpose but which
is of the kind likely to be relied on by those who do not admit the
wide prevalence of these customs (_Deutsch Neu-Guinea_, vol. i, p.
31).
Footnote 1118:
As will be pointed out later, this statement of Tacitus is undoubtedly
incorrect.
Footnote 1119:
Curr, _Recollections_, p. 252.
Footnote 1120:
Curr, _Recollections_, p. 263.
Footnote 1121:
Taplin, loc. cit., p. 14.
Footnote 1122:
Howitt, _Native Tribes_, p. 748.
Footnote 1123:
Howitt, _Native Tribes_, p. 749.
Footnote 1124:
Bonney, _J. A. I._, vol. xiii, p. 125.
Footnote 1125:
Beveridge, loc. cit., p. 26.
Footnote 1126:
Wilhelmi, loc. cit., p. 181. See also Eylmann, loc. cit., p. 261.
Footnote 1127:
Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes_, p. 608.
Footnote 1128:
Foelsche, loc. cit., p. 192.
Footnote 1129:
Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes_, p. 264.
Footnote 1130:
Curr, _Australian Race_, vol. i, p. 76. In another work, however, the
same author says that he often spoke to the natives on this subject,
and is ‘sure that the idea of over-population never entered their
heads’ (_Recollections_, p. 263). Smyth (loc. cit., vol. i, p. 52)
thinks that there may be some fear of over-population.
Footnote 1131:
Schürmann, loc. cit., p. 223.
Footnote 1132:
Gason, loc. cit., p. 8.
Footnote 1133:
Foelsche, loc. cit., p. 192.
Footnote 1134:
Eyre, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 376.
Footnote 1135:
Mathew, _Two Representative Tribes_, p. 165.
Footnote 1136:
Guinnard, loc. cit., p. 143.
Footnote 1137:
Charlevoix, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 405.
Footnote 1138:
Edgeworth David, _Funafuti_, p. 195.
Footnote 1139:
Rivers, _Melanesian Society_, vol. i, p. 313.
Footnote 1140:
Neuhaus, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 150.
Footnote 1141:
Jenkins, loc. cit., p. 404. See also Krämer, loc. cit., p. 335.
Footnote 1142:
Ellis, _Narrative_, p. 324.
Footnote 1143:
Ibid., p. 327.
Footnote 1144:
Tuituila, loc. cit., p. 267.
Footnote 1145:
Waterhouse, loc. cit., p. 327.
Footnote 1146:
Hunt, _J. A. I._, vol. xxviii, p. 9.
Footnote 1147:
Codrington, loc. cit., p. 229.
Footnote 1148:
Williamson, _Mafulu People_, p. 177.
Footnote 1149:
_Cambridge Anthropological Expedition_, vol. v, p. 198.
Footnote 1150:
Ibid., vol. vi, p. 107.
Footnote 1151:
Rengger, loc. cit., p. 329.
Footnote 1152:
Hawtrey, loc. cit., p. 295.
Footnote 1153:
Schoolcraft, loc. cit., vol. v, p. 272.
Footnote 1154:
Grinnell, loc. cit., p. 15.
Footnote 1155:
Keating, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 394.
Footnote 1156:
Ehrenreich, loc. cit., p. 27.
Footnote 1157:
Russell, 26th _A. R. B. E._, p. 186.
Footnote 1158:
Blyth, loc. cit., p. 181.
Footnote 1159:
Seeman, _Viti_, p. 191.
Footnote 1160:
Gutmann, loc. cit., p. 3.
Footnote 1161:
Krieger, loc. cit., p. 165. See also Parkinson, loc. cit., p. 22.
Footnote 1162:
Kotzebue, loc. cit., vol. iii, p. 173.
Footnote 1163:
Turner, _Samoa_, p. 284.
Footnote 1164:
Seligman, _Melanesians_, p. 270.
Footnote 1165:
Turner, _Samoa_, p. 333. According to Paton, loc. cit., p. 452,
infanticide was ‘systematically practised’.
Footnote 1166:
Danks, loc. cit., p. 291.
Footnote 1167:
Rivers, _Todas_, p. 401.
Footnote 1168:
Malinowski, loc. cit., p. 48.
Footnote 1169:
Curr, _Australian Race_, vol. i, p. 110; Dawson, loc. cit., p. 35;
Smyth, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 291; Malinowski, loc. cit., p. 259;
Lumholtz, _Among Cannibals_, p. 184.
Footnote 1170:
Crantz, loc. cit., p. 158; Boas, 6th _A. R. B. E._, p. 579.
Footnote 1171:
Crantz, loc. cit., p. 158; Boas, 6th _A. R. B. E._, p. 579; Klutschak,
loc. cit., p. 233; Nansen, _Greenland_, vol. ii, p. 230; id., _Eskimo
Life_, p. 139; Murdoch, 9th _A. R. B. E._, p. 104. ‘There is a
superstition’, says Dall, speaking of the Eskimos of Alaska, ‘that a
youth must not marry until he has killed a deer, otherwise he will
have no children’ (loc. cit., p. 196).
Footnote 1172:
_Handbook of American Indians_, Article ‘Marriage’.
Footnote 1173:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 134. For the Kutchins see Richardson,
_Arctic Searching Expedition_, vol. i, p. 407, and for the inhabitants
of Cadiack, Lisiansky, _Voyage_, p. 198.
Footnote 1174:
Swanton, _Jesup North Pacific Expedition_, vol. v, p. 50.
Footnote 1175:
MacGee, 17th _A. R. B. E._, p. 280. For further details of marriage by
service among the Indians see Carver, loc. cit., p. 373, and Domenech,
loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 300.
Footnote 1176:
Skeat and Blagden, _Malays_, vol. ii, p. 70.
Footnote 1177:
King and Fitzroy, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 182. See also Bridges, loc.
cit., p. 201.
Footnote 1178:
See Carpenter, _Intermediate Types_, _passim_.
Footnote 1179:
Richardson, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 383.
Footnote 1180:
Crantz, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 163.
Footnote 1181:
Teit, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 321.
Footnote 1182:
Ibid., vol. ii, p. 265.
Footnote 1183:
Ratzel, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 124. According to Man (loc. cit., p.
81) men among the Andamanese marry at from eighteen to twenty-three
years of age; Portman (loc. cit., p. 369) says twenty-six. Deniker
(_Rev. d’Eth._, p. 301) says that the Ghiliaks do not marry until
between twenty and twenty-five years old. The Aetas of the province of
Cagayan have to pass a bow and arrow shooting test before marriage
(Blumentritt, _Z. G. E._, vol. xxvii, p. 65). The custom of wrestling
for wives has been recorded for various races (Lubbock, _Primitive
Man_, p. 106).
Footnote 1184:
Kreutz, loc. cit., p. 202.
Footnote 1185:
Jenks, loc. cit., p. 68.
Footnote 1186:
Thomson, _Fijians_, p. 172.
Footnote 1187:
Ibid., p. 202.
Footnote 1188:
Rosset, _J. A. I._, vol. xvi, p. 168.
Footnote 1189:
Christian, _Geog. Journ._, vol. xiii, p. 114.
Footnote 1190:
Krieger, loc. cit., pp. 172, 297.
Footnote 1191:
Danks, loc. cit., p. 288.
Footnote 1192:
Marsden, _Sumatra_, pp. 218, 219; Brenner, _Besuch bei den
Kannibalen_, p. 247.
Footnote 1193:
Reed, loc. cit., p. 56.
Footnote 1194:
_Cambridge Anthropological Expedition_, vol. v, p. 247.
Footnote 1195:
Ibid., p. 230.
Footnote 1196:
Hickson, loc. cit., p. 275 (of the New Hebrides).
Footnote 1197:
Bock, _Head Hunters_, p. 216.
Footnote 1198:
Junod, _South African Tribe_, p. 100.
Footnote 1199:
Ibid., p. 102.
Footnote 1200:
Ibid., p. 101.
Footnote 1201:
Ibid., p. 125.
Footnote 1202:
Theal, _Yellow- and Dark-Skinned People_, p. 220.
Footnote 1203:
Junod, _Ba-Ronga_, p. 30.
Footnote 1204:
Werner, loc. cit., p. 129.
Footnote 1205:
Werner, loc. cit., p. 128.
Footnote 1206:
Routledge, _Prehistoric People_, p. 124.
Footnote 1207:
Roscoe, _Baganda_, p. 88. The price of course varies with varying
economic conditions, as Dundas notes for the Wawanga (_J. A. I._, vol.
xliii).
Footnote 1208:
Fabry, loc. cit., p. 221.
Footnote 1209:
Plas, loc. cit., pp. 215, 219.
Footnote 1210:
Dundas, _J. A. I._, vol. xliii, p. 516.
Footnote 1211:
Johnston, _Uganda_, vol. ii, p. 822.
Footnote 1212:
Weeks, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxix, p. 440.
Footnote 1213:
Ibid., p. 441.
Footnote 1214:
Weeks, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxix, p. 417.
Footnote 1215:
Cureau, loc. cit., p. 417.
Footnote 1216:
Talbot, loc. cit., p. 105. It will also be remembered that
contraceptive practices are of importance in Africa, and that there is
evidence that in the neighbourhood of Port Herald a young couple must
not have children until they have built a house for themselves. See p.
177.
Footnote 1217:
Carver, loc. cit., p. 373.
Footnote 1218:
Jones, _Ojebway Indians_, p. 79.
Footnote 1219:
Du Pratz, loc. cit., p. 199.
Footnote 1220:
Dorsey, loc. cit., p. 259.
Footnote 1221:
Bossu, _Voyages_, p. 247.
Footnote 1222:
Joyce, _Mexican Archaeology_, p. 162. See also Bancroft, loc. cit.,
vol. ii, p. 251.
Footnote 1223:
Schomburgk, _Reisen_, vol. ii, p. 251.
Footnote 1224:
im Thurm, loc. cit., p. 221.
Footnote 1225:
Rivero and von Tschudi, _Peruvian Antiquities_, p. 185.
Footnote 1226:
Von Martius, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 109.
Footnote 1227:
Azara, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 93.
Footnote 1228:
See Herbert Spencer, _Principles of Biology_, vol. ii, p. 515.
Footnote 1229:
Morgulis, _American Naturalist_, vol. xlvii, p. 477.
Footnote 1230:
Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes_, p. 44.
Footnote 1231:
Same authors, _Across Australia_, vol. i, p. 191.
Footnote 1232:
Ibid., vol. i, p. 197.
Footnote 1233:
Schürmann, loc. cit., p. 209.
Footnote 1234:
Curr, _Recollections_, p. 259.
Footnote 1235:
Semon, loc. cit., p. 217. See also Smyth, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 122.
Footnote 1236:
Thomas, _Natives of Australia_, p. 88. See also Eylmann, loc. cit., p.
293.
Footnote 1237:
See, for instance, Palmer, _J. A. I._, vol. xiii, p. 281.
Footnote 1238:
Burchell, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 422.
Footnote 1239:
Stow, loc. cit., p. 91.
Footnote 1240:
Ibid., p. 180.
Footnote 1241:
Theal, loc. cit., p. 36. See also Moffat, loc. cit., p. 57, and
Campbell, _Personal Narrative_, p. 88.
Footnote 1242:
Thomas (loc. cit., p. 117) speaks of storing up of food. The Kurnai do
not store up food, but the Dieri, who are closely allied to them, do
so on a small scale (Fison and Howitt, loc. cit., p. 108).
Footnote 1243:
The beginnings of this custom are found among the Fuegians. Darwin
says that ‘when they find a stranded whale, they bury large portions
in the sand, and during the often recurrent famines travel from great
distances for the remnants of the half putrid mass’ (_Voyage_, vol. i,
p. 327).
Footnote 1244:
Boas, 6th _A. R. B. E._, p. 427. See also Rink, loc. cit., p. 186.
Footnote 1245:
Crantz, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 134.
Footnote 1246:
Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 127. In the spring, when the winter
stores are exhausted, they usually experience a lean season (ibid., p.
129).
Footnote 1247:
Swan, _North-west Coast_, p. 154.
Footnote 1248:
Le Jeune, _Jesuit Relations_, vol. vi, p. 229.
Footnote 1249:
Ibid., pp. 233, 277, and 285.
Footnote 1250:
Hardisty, loc. cit., p. 311. Other accounts describe lean periods
among the northern tribes as fairly common, during which ‘they often
subsist for a great length of time upon a very little food’ (Harmon,
loc. cit., p. 284). See also Morgan, _Houses and House Life_, p. 56.
Footnote 1251:
Sproat, loc. cit., p. 53.
Footnote 1252:
Ibid., p. 22.
Footnote 1253:
Baegert, loc. cit., p. 366.
Footnote 1254:
Ibid.
Footnote 1255:
Cabeça de Vaca, p. 63.
Footnote 1256:
Similar evidence is forthcoming for many other races. For the
Andamanese see Man, loc. cit., pp. 342 ff.; for the Payaguas, Azara,
loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 142; for the Ghiliaks, Deniker, _Rev. d’Eth._,
vol. ii, p. 295; and for the Fuegians, Hyades and Deniker, loc. cit.,
pp. 122, 339.
Footnote 1257:
_Cambridge Anthropological Expedition_, vol. iv, p. 180.
Footnote 1258:
Ling Roth, _Sarawak_, vol. i, p. 422.
Footnote 1259:
Thomson, _Fijians_, p. 332.
Footnote 1260:
Ibid., p. 335.
Footnote 1261:
Roscoe, _Baganda_, p. 12.
Footnote 1262:
Ibid., p. 6.
Footnote 1263:
Cureau, loc. cit., p. 252.
Footnote 1264:
Werner, loc. cit., p. 181.
Footnote 1265:
Tremearne, _J. A. I._, vol. xlii, p. 180.
Footnote 1266:
Gaud, loc. cit., p. 21.
Footnote 1267:
Catlin, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 124.
Footnote 1268:
im Thurm, loc. cit., p. 253.
Footnote 1269:
Forbes, _Timor Laut_, p. 9.
Footnote 1270:
Kotzebue, loc. cit., p. 129.
Footnote 1271:
Ibid., p. 170.
Footnote 1272:
Routledge, _Prehistoric People_, p. 19.
Footnote 1273:
Anderson, _Lake Ngami_, p. 49.
Footnote 1274:
Theal, _Yellow- and Dark-Skinned People_, p. 175. See also
Ellenberger, loc. cit., p. 295.
Footnote 1275:
Catlin, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 228.
Footnote 1276:
Heriot, loc. cit., p. 350.
Footnote 1277:
Du Pratz, vol. ii, p. 161.
Footnote 1278:
Azara, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 142.
Footnote 1279:
Ibid., p. 107.
Footnote 1280:
Ibid., p. 8.
Footnote 1281:
Wallace, _Narrative_, p. 478.
Footnote 1282:
Humboldt, _Personal Narrative_, vol. iii, p. 233.
Footnote 1283:
Spix and Martius, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 249.
Footnote 1284:
There is evidence of an Australian tribe asking for an extension of
territory. So rare, however, is evidence of this kind that it only
serves to emphasize that the strict maintenance of territories was the
normal condition.
Footnote 1285:
Knibbs, _Census of Australia_, Appendix A, vol. i, p. 31.
Footnote 1286:
There is some evidence that miscarriages are not uncommon among these
races (for Australia see Grey, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 249, and for the
Loucheux Indians see Hardisty, loc. cit., p. 312). If this is so, it
would appear also to be due to changed conditions to which primitive
races had not learnt to adapt themselves—there being no advantages in
their so doing.
Footnote 1287:
Hall,_ Ancient History of the Near East_, p. 110. So, too, Memphis was
apparently a very cramped city.
Footnote 1288:
Rogers, _Six Centuries_, vol. i, p. 336.
Footnote 1289:
On this subject see Hirsch, _Handbook of Geographical and Historical
Pathology_; Hecker, _Epidemics of the Middle Ages_; Clemow, _Geography
of Disease_.
Footnote 1290:
The famous ‘plague’ of Athens, 430 to 428 B. C., was not plague in the
technical sense; it was probably typhoid or small-pox.
Footnote 1291:
Macdonell, _Biometrika_, vol. ix, p. 369.
Footnote 1292:
Rogers, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 118.
Footnote 1293:
Ibid., p. 336.
Footnote 1294:
Theilhaber, _Das sterile Berlin_, p. 27.
Footnote 1295:
Henderson, _Mortality Laws and Statistics_, p. 3.
Footnote 1296:
Ibid., pp. 4, 110.
Footnote 1297:
_Annual Report of the Registrar-General for 1917._
Footnote 1298:
Rogers, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 332.
Footnote 1299:
Niebuhr, _Lectures in Ancient History_, vol. ii, p. 234.
Footnote 1300:
Hecker, loc. cit., p. 30. The proportion of the population which
perished is often said to have been greater. Rogers (loc. cit., vol.
ii, p. 223) puts it at one-third of the population of England.
Footnote 1301:
Vambéry, _Travels_, p. 313.
Footnote 1302:
Hodson, _Naga Tribes_, p. 113.
Footnote 1303:
Crooke, _Northern India_, p. 41.
Footnote 1304:
Ibid., p. 47.
Footnote 1305:
Thus in irrigated countries, if the system of irrigation is allowed to
fall into decay or if it is damaged directly or indirectly by war,
famine may result. See Creswell, _Man_, vol. xv, p. 68.
Footnote 1306:
Lecky, _European Morals_, vol. ii, p. 248.
Footnote 1307:
Wattal, _Population Problem_, p. 20.
Footnote 1308:
Ibid., p. 21.
Footnote 1309:
Balls, _Egypt_, p. 224. For Chinese Tibet see Wilson, _Abode of Snow_,
p. 193.
Footnote 1310:
See Rubin, _J. R. S. S._, vol. lxiii, p. 610.
Footnote 1311:
Wattal, loc. cit., p. 20.
Footnote 1312:
Westermarck, _Moral Ideas_, vol. ii, p. 403. See on this subject
Schömann, _Griechische Alterthümer_, vol. i, p. 271, and Plutarch,
_Lycurgus_, p. 15.
Footnote 1313:
Macdonell, loc. cit., p. 369.
Footnote 1314:
Müller, _Das Sexuelle Leben_, p. 7.
Footnote 1315:
Ibid., p. 14.
Footnote 1316:
Westermarck, _Moral Ideas_, vol. ii, p. 407. In China there is a
Golden Orchid Society, the girl members of which swear never to marry
(Giles, _China_, p. 69).
Footnote 1317:
Monier-Williams, _Buddhism_, p. 269.
Footnote 1318:
Polak, _Persien_, vol. i, p. 205.
Footnote 1319:
Fustel de Coulanges, _Cité antique_, p. 50.
Footnote 1320:
Doughty, _Travels_, vol. i, p. 321. See also Bertherand, _Médecine et
Hygiène des Arabes_.
Footnote 1321:
Gardner, _Journ. Eth. Soc._, new series, vol. ii, p. 19.
Footnote 1322:
Ross, _Corea_, p. 313.
Footnote 1323:
Kerr, _Natives of India_, p. 202.
Footnote 1324:
Wattal, loc. cit., p. 3.
Footnote 1325:
Westermarck, _Moral Ideals_, vol. ii, p. 400.
Footnote 1326:
Ibid., p. 400.
Footnote 1327:
Monier-Williams, _Buddhism_, pp. 363, 364.
Footnote 1328:
Dubois, _Hindu Manners_, p. 214.
Footnote 1329:
Gray, _China_, vol. i, p. 186. See also Douglas, _China_, p. 85, and
Giles, _China_, p. 189.
Footnote 1330:
Leong and Tao, _Life in China_, p. 10.
Footnote 1331:
Crawford, _Journal_, vol. ii, p. 240.
Footnote 1332:
Bock, _Temples and Elephants_, p. 186.
Footnote 1333:
Polak, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 201.
Footnote 1334:
Hue, _Souvenirs_, vol. i, p. 297.
Footnote 1335:
Pallas, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 305.
Footnote 1336:
Crooke, _North-Western Provinces_, p. 228.
Footnote 1337:
Risley, _People of India_, p. 185.
Footnote 1338:
Leopold and Weise, _Sexual-Ordnung_, p. 347. In the Vedic Age,
however, child marriages were apparently unknown (see Bennet,
_Antiquities of India_, p. 114).
Footnote 1339:
Eram, _Accouchements en Orient_, p. 69.
Footnote 1340:
Wassilief, _Zentralblatt für Anthropologie_, vol. x.
Footnote 1341:
Mondière, _Mém. Soc. Anth._, vol. ii, p. 465.
Footnote 1342:
Rivers, _Todas_, p. 503.
Footnote 1343:
Lenormant, _Histoire ancienne_, vol. iii, p. 142.
Footnote 1344:
Doughty, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 237; Burckhardt, _Notes on the
Bedouins_, p. 96.
Footnote 1345:
Koran, ch. ii.
Footnote 1346:
Faulds, _Nine Years_, p. 285. See also Warnick, _Archiv für
Gynaekologie_, vol. x, p. 574. For China see Matignon, _Dix Ans_, p.
318.
Footnote 1347:
Polak, loc. cit., p. 216.
Footnote 1348:
Bock, _Temples and Elephants_, p. 260.
Footnote 1349:
Rigler, _Die Türkei_, vol. i, p. 212.
Footnote 1350:
Müller, _Das Sexuelle Leben_, p. 6.
Footnote 1351:
Ibid., p. 29.
Footnote 1352:
Ibid., p. 37.
Footnote 1353:
Gray, _China_, vol. i, p. 185.
Footnote 1354:
Smith, _Kinship_, p. 283.
Footnote 1355:
Rigler, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 212.
Footnote 1356:
It is possible that there are traces of this custom in Persia (see
Polak, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 216).
Footnote 1357:
Theilhaber, _Das sterile Berlin_, p. 10. See also Theilhaber, ‘Die
Geburten-Beschränkung’, _Neue Generation_, 1913.
Footnote 1358:
Collineau, _Revue Mensuelle de l’ École d’ Anthropologie_, 1899.
Footnote 1359:
Webb, _Pathologia Indica_, p. 258.
Footnote 1360:
Wattal, loc. cit., p. 28.
Footnote 1361:
Aristotle, _Politics_, ii. 9.
Footnote 1362:
Wattal, loc. cit., p. 7.
Footnote 1363:
Lecky, _European Morals_, vol. ii, p. 21.
Footnote 1364:
Ibid., p. 21.
Footnote 1365:
Westermarck, _Moral Ideals_, vol. i, p. 415.
Footnote 1366:
Theilhaber, _Das sterile Berlin_, p. 11. See also von Siebold,
_Versuch einer Geschichte der Geburtshilfe_.
Footnote 1367:
Eram, loc. cit., p. 45. It was forbidden by the Laws of Manu (viii.
37).
Footnote 1368:
Wilkins, _Hinduism_, p. 429. See also Shortt, _Transactions
Obstetrical Society_, vol. ix; Webb, loc. cit., p. 259; and
Jellinghaus, _Zeit. für Eth._, vol. iii, p. 365.
Footnote 1369:
Matignon, _Dix Ans au Pays du Dragon_, p. 318. See also the same
author’s _La Superstition, le Crime et la Misère en Chine_, and
Collineau, loc. cit., p. 352.
Footnote 1370:
Mondière, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 487.
Footnote 1371:
Warnick, loc. cit., p. 574. See also MacLennan’s quotations from Miss
Bird, loc. cit., p. 105.
Footnote 1372:
Polak, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 217.
Footnote 1373:
Ploss and Bartels, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 846.
Footnote 1374:
Rique, _Gaz. Méd._, vol. xviii, p. 161. For the Tartars see
Niemojowski, _Siberian Pictures_, vol. i, p. 161.
Footnote 1375:
Rigler, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 206, and vol. ii, p. 229.
Footnote 1376:
Polak, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 218.
Footnote 1377:
Sutherland, _Moral Instinct_, vol. i, p. 139.
Footnote 1378:
Buckle, _Miscellaneous Works_, vol. ii, p. 240.
Footnote 1379:
Sutherland, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 132.
Footnote 1380:
Glotz, _Études sociales_, p. 187.
Footnote 1381:
Ibid., p. 188.
Footnote 1382:
Ibid., p. 191. Possibly, however, there was no public ceremony unless
the father had decided to keep the child.
Footnote 1383:
Ibid., p. 212.
Footnote 1384:
Ibid., p. 224.
Footnote 1385:
Lecky, _European Morals_, vol. ii, p. 26.
Footnote 1386:
Sutherland, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 136.
Footnote 1387:
Ibid., p. 137.
Footnote 1388:
Smith, _Kinship_, p. 279. See also Doughty, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 239,
and Wilken, _Das Matriarchat_, p. 53.
Footnote 1389:
Smith, _Kinship_, p. 129. For evidence of infanticide in Mingrelia see
Chardin, _Travels_, p. 144. The Gagas put all children to death and
stole others (Battel, _Strange Adventures_, p. 326).
Footnote 1390:
Norman, _Peoples and Politics_, p. 290.
Footnote 1391:
Gray, _China_, vol. ii, p. 50.
Footnote 1392:
Douglas, _China_, p. 106.
Footnote 1393:
Abeel, _Journal_, p. 108.
Footnote 1394:
Ibid., p. 109. Douglas, however, says that infanticide scarcely exists
in Pekin (_Society in China_, p. 353).
Footnote 1395:
Moule, _New China_, p. 179.
Footnote 1396:
Sutherland, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 142.
Footnote 1397:
Giles, _China_, p. 97.
Footnote 1398:
Leong and Tao, loc. cit., p. 91.
Footnote 1399:
Faulds, loc. cit., p. 285. For Tonquin see Richard, _History of
Tonquin_, p. 757.
Footnote 1400:
Wilkins, _Hinduism_, p. 431.
Footnote 1401:
Risley, loc. cit., pp. 166 and 168; Dubois, _Hindu Manners_, vol. ii,
p. 612; Crooke, loc. cit., p. 136; Browne, _Indian Infanticide_, p.
612; Wilkins, loc. cit., p. 431; Russell, _Central Provinces_, vol.
iv, p. 419.
Footnote 1402:
Wilkins, loc. cit., p. 432.
Footnote 1403:
Godden, _J. A. I._, vol. xxvi, p. 179; Risley, loc. cit., p. 165.
Footnote 1404:
Hodson, _Man_, vol. xiv, p. 98.
Footnote 1405:
Thurston, _Ethnographic Notes_, p. 504.
Footnote 1406:
Macpherson, _Memorials of Service_, p. 132; Campbell, _Personal
Narrative_, p. 139.
Footnote 1407:
Macpherson, _Religion of the Khonds_, p. 65.
Footnote 1408:
Rivers, _Todas_, p. 478.
Footnote 1409:
Sutherland, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 144.
Footnote 1410:
Wilkins, loc. cit., p. 431.
Footnote 1411:
Dubois, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 612. Infanticide was sometimes
committed by the Kandyans (Bailey, _Trans. Eth. Soc._, vol. ii, p.
296), by the Koulous (Ujfalvy, _Bull. Soc. Anth._, vol. v, p. 227), by
the Belochis (Barton, _Sindh_, p. 244), and in Svanetia
(Phillipps-Wolley, _Savage Svanetia_, vol. ii, p. 92).
Footnote 1412:
Stricker, _Arch. für Anth._, vol. v, p. 451. It was practised in the
Vedic age (Kaegi, _Rigveda_, p. 16).
Footnote 1413:
Sutherland, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 138. See Grimm, _Deutsche
Rechtsalterthümer_, pp. 455 ff.
Footnote 1414:
Ibid., p. 138.
Footnote 1415:
Lubbock, _Prehistoric Times_, p. 176.
Footnote 1416:
Infanticide was practised by the extinct Guanches of the Canary
Islands (Ploss, _Das Kind_, vol. ii, p. 259). Dasent says of the
Norsemen that it was the father’s right to rear his children or not at
his will. ‘As soon as it was born the child was laid upon the bare
ground; and until the father came and looked at it ... its fate hung
in the balance’ (_Story of Burnt Njal_, vol. i, p. xxv).
Footnote 1417:
Gönezi, ‘Die auf die Geburt und das Säugen der Kinder bezughabenden
Gebräuche’, _Zentralblatt für Anthropologie_, vol. xii.
Footnote 1418:
Tertullian, _First Book to His Wife_, p. 414.
Footnote 1419:
Augustine, _On the Good of Marriage_, p. 285.
Footnote 1420:
Lea, _Sacerdotal Celibacy_, vol. i, p. 62.
Footnote 1421:
Ibid., pp. 260 and 301.
Footnote 1422:
Ibid., p. 105.
Footnote 1423:
Schönberg, _Volkswirtschaftslehre_, p. 868.
Footnote 1424:
Lea, loc. cit., p. 107.
Footnote 1425:
_Concilium Tridentinum_, Sessio 24, Can. 10. ‘Si quis dixerit statum
coniugalem anteponendum esse statui virginitatis vel coelibatus, et
non esse melius ac beatus manere in virginitate aut coelibatu, quam
iungi matrimonio, anathema sit’ (quoted by Lea, loc. cit., vol. ii, p
204).
Footnote 1426:
Rubin, loc. cit., p. 598.
Footnote 1427:
Ibid., p. 606.
Footnote 1428:
Ibid., p. 608.
Footnote 1429:
Ibid., p. 609.
Footnote 1430:
Westermarck, _Human Marriage_, p. 145.
Footnote 1431:
Popenoe and Johnson, _Applied Eugenics_, p. 136.
Footnote 1432:
See, for instance, Albertus Magnus, _De Secretis Mulierum_, p. 233.
Footnote 1433:
Rubin, loc. cit., p. 614.
Footnote 1434:
_The Declining Birth-rate_, p. 20.
Footnote 1435:
Lecky, _European Morals_, vol. ii, p. 21.
Footnote 1436:
_The Declining Birth-rate_, p. 58. Leroy-Beaulieu gives a very high
estimate of the number of abortions which occur yearly in France
(_Question de la Population_, p. 330).
Footnote 1437:
Glotz, loc. cit., p. 223.
Footnote 1438:
Lecky, _European Morals_, vol. ii, p. 27.
Footnote 1439:
The fact that penance was imposed upon the mother who killed her child
by the Council of Mentz in 852 suggests that the practice was not
uncommon at that time (Westermarck, _Moral Ideas_, vol. i, p. 411).
Footnote 1440:
See _The Declining Birth-rate_, pp. 58–62.
Footnote 1441:
Among these races the evolution of the capitalist system had begun and
in Babylonia had gone a considerable distance (Sayce, _Babylonians and
Assyrians_, p. 127).
Footnote 1442:
Myres, _Eug. Rev._, vol. vii, p. 30.
Footnote 1443:
There are often a limited number of families in each village (Barnett,
_Antiquities of India_, p. 105).
Footnote 1444:
For particulars see Gray, _China_, vol. ii, p. 108.
Footnote 1445:
Leong and Tao, loc. cit., p. 10.
Footnote 1446:
Giles, loc. cit., p. 189.
Footnote 1447:
Robertson Smith, _Kinship and Early Marriage_, p. 36.
Footnote 1448:
For Tartar tribes see William de Rubruck, _Journey_, pp. 53 and 188.
Footnote 1449:
Dickson, _Climate and Weather_, p. 148. For a study of somewhat
similar conditions in Australia see Taylor, _The Australian
Environment_.
Footnote 1450:
Roy, _Mundas_, p. 346.
Footnote 1451:
Wattal, loc. cit., ch. v.
Footnote 1452:
Moule, _New China and Old_, p. 179. See also Bland, _Recent Events and
Present Policies in China_.
Footnote 1453:
See p. 260.
Footnote 1454:
See Marshall, _Principles of Economics_, p. 186.
Footnote 1455:
Rogers, _Six Centuries_, vol. i, p. 47.
Footnote 1456:
Ibid., p. 45.
Footnote 1457:
Vinogradoff, _Villeinage in England_, p. 246.
Footnote 1458:
Pollard, _Factors in Modern History_, p. 135.
Footnote 1459:
Marshall, _Principles of Economics_, p. 186.
Footnote 1460:
Froude, _Henry VIII_, p. 3, note.
Footnote 1461:
Davies, _Life in an English Village_, p. 31.
Footnote 1462:
Rogers, _Six Centuries_, vol. i, p. 106.
Footnote 1463:
Tawney, _Agrarian Problem_, p. 105, note.
Footnote 1464:
Rubin, loc. cit., p. 598.
Footnote 1465:
Rubin, loc. cit., p. 597.
Footnote 1466:
_Report for Inquiry into the Administration and Practical Operation of
the Poor Laws_, Appendix F, p. 283.
Footnote 1467:
Ibid., p. 520. For further information on this subject see the
_Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenschaften_, Article ‘Eheschliessung’.
The Danish Poor Law Act of 1891 prohibits the marriage of the poor
under certain circumstances.
Footnote 1468:
Cunningham, _Growth of English Industry and Commerce_, vol. i, p. 442.
Footnote 1469:
Pollard, loc. cit., p. 144.
Footnote 1470:
_Two Centuries of Irish History_, edited by Bryce, p. 21. Sir Horace
Plunkett estimates that Ireland can now support about 2,500,000
agriculturalists or 500,000 families (_Ireland in the New Century_, p.
30). The population in 1790 was estimated at over 4,000,000. In the
sixteenth century it was probably less than 1,000,000.
Footnote 1471:
Quoted by J. A. Hobson in evidence before the National Birth-Rate
Commission, _The Declining Birth-rate_, p. 285.
Footnote 1472:
Bowley, _Distribution of National Income_, p. 18.
Footnote 1473:
The decline in Austria dates from 1883, in Germany, Hungary, and
Italy, from 1885, in Norway from 1900.
Footnote 1474:
Thus the mean age for marriage of all husbands in England only
increased from 28·43 years in 1896 to 28·88 years in 1909, while the
mean age for all wives only increased from 26·21 in 1896 to 26·69 in
1909.
Footnote 1475:
For evidence that the decrease in fertility is due to artificial
restraint see Stevenson, _J. R. S. S._, vol. lxxxiii, p. 431. There
are reasons for thinking that contraceptive methods play a smaller,
and restraint from intercourse a larger, part than is generally
supposed (see Dr. Greenwood’s remarks on the paper quoted above, p.
440, and also Dudfield, _J. R. S. S._, vol. lxxi, 1908, p. 25).
Footnote 1476:
Rubin, loc. cit., p. 606.
Footnote 1477:
Hammond, _Village Labourer_, ch. vii.
Footnote 1478:
See Pigou, _Wealth and Welfare_, p. 28.
Footnote 1479:
Hobson, ‘Evidence before the National Birth-Rate Commission’, _The
Declining Birth-rate_, p. 289.
Footnote 1480:
Myres, _Eugenics Review_, vol. vii, p. 21.
Footnote 1481:
Also abortion, as we have seen, is not uncommon.
Footnote 1482:
The excessive practice of infanticide in Tahiti and elsewhere in
Oceania may be regarded as an example of selfish indulgence. See p.
190. So, too, the Gagas put all children to death and stole others
(Battel, _Strange Adventures_, p. 326).
Footnote 1483:
Keynes, _Economic Consequences of the Peace_, p. 215.
Footnote 1484:
Ibid., loc. cit., p. 12.
Footnote 1485:
Haddon, _Wanderings of Peoples_, p. 1.
Footnote 1486:
_The Declining Birth-rate_, p. 43.
Footnote 1487:
Myres, _Eugenics Review_, vol. vii, p. 31. These authors are only
repeating what has often been said in former times, as, for instance,
by Bacon in the following passage: ‘Look when the world has fewest
barbarous people but such as commonly will not marry, or generate,
except they know means to live (as is almost everywhere at this day
except Tartary) there is no danger of inundations of people. But when
there be great shoals of people which go on to populate, without
foreseeing means of life and sustentation, it is of necessity that
once in an age or two they discharge a portion of their people upon
other nations’ (_Essay on the Vicissitude of Things_).
Footnote 1488:
These remarks also apply to those cases in which countries at times
appear to be empty. Attention is, for example, sometimes drawn to the
fact that England appears to have been an ‘empty’ country in the
Middle Ages. The emptiness is only apparent. Relative to the available
skill and all other relevant circumstances England was fully populated
in the Middle Ages; the tendency was rather towards over- than
under-population.
Footnote 1489:
Except perhaps in the case of the so-called Irish migration to America
after the famine in the middle of the last century. Without doubt,
however, there was in this migration a large political element—the
nature of which is referred to below. Further there were many peculiar
features in the position, and the migration was scarcely a migration
in the broad historical sense.
Footnote 1490:
Haddon, _Wanderings of Peoples_, p. 3.
Footnote 1491:
See especially his _Pulse of Asia_, and _Civilization and Climate_,
ch. xi.
Footnote 1492:
See Gregory, _Geographical Journal_, vol. xliii.
Footnote 1493:
Peisker, _Cambridge Mediaeval History_, vol. i, p. 328.
Footnote 1494:
Frequently, no doubt, such driftings were directed towards regions
previously uninhabited and uninhabitable.
Footnote 1495:
Hogarth, _Ancient East_, p. 78.
Footnote 1496:
Quoted by Mitchell, _Evolution and the War_, p. 3.
Footnote 1497:
It is only fair to say that at least one German author has recently
demonstrated the falsity of this view (see Nicolai, _Biology of War_,
p. 34).
Footnote 1498:
Mitchell, loc. cit., ch. i.
Footnote 1499:
Comte, _Philosophie positive_, vol. iv, p. 506.
Footnote 1500:
Nicolai, loc. cit., p. 34.
Footnote 1501:
Holland Rose, _Origins of the War_, p. 47.
Footnote 1502:
Evidence has lately been brought forward to show that not only is war
a custom but also that it is a custom of relatively late origin
(Perry, ‘Ethnological Study of Warfare’, _Mem. and Proc. Man. Lit. and
Phil. Soc._, vol. lxi). It is suggested that it is bound up with
organization under kings and chiefs, and that it was introduced at a
more or less definite time by a certain race. The evidence adduced
would seem not to be adequate. The theory belongs to a series of
attempts to show that very many customs and social institutions now
widespread evolved in some one centre and spread thence. Though
Professor Elliot Smith and his school may with justice insist on the
fact that the multiple origin of similar customs has been too lightly
assumed, it is equally unreasonable to insist upon tracing all similar
customs and institutions to the same source. Those who are acquainted
with the numerous and wonderful examples of convergence in the animal
kingdom—the independent evolution of tracheae in the Arachnids and in
the Insects, to take only one example—will have little difficulty in
accepting the view that, in response to similar environmental
conditions, similar customs may from time to time have been
independently evolved. Other authors have urged that the apparent
absence of weapons among the cultural remains of early races is
evidence that they did not practise warfare (Havelock Ellis,
_Philosophy of Conflict_, p. 49). But when so much doubt surrounds the
question as to how the most common implements were used, it is
dangerous to attribute much weight to this argument.
Footnote 1503:
It has been remarked that those countries which began the war were on
the whole the countries with the highest birth-rate. The conclusion
has been drawn that pressure of population brings about war. On the
same lines as above, this conclusion may be shown to be unacceptable.
Footnote 1504:
Voltaire, _Candide_—the opinion of the Anabaptist Jacques.
Footnote 1505:
As an example of this increase in skill it may be noted that between
1840 and 1895 the quantity of product of various crops in America per
unit of labour increased fivefold (Quaintance, _American Economic
Association Publications_, 3rd Series, vol. v, 1904, p. 21).
Footnote 1506:
Knibbs, _Scientia_, vol. xii, p. 495.
Footnote 1507:
Mr. J. A. Hobson’s opinion, which is in conformity with that of the
great majority of economists, may be noted: ‘there is’, he says, ‘no
evidence that the world’s population is outrunning the natural
resources; but on the contrary the presumption is that for their
fuller utilization a larger population is necessary and thereby could
be maintained with a higher standard of living’ (_The Declining
Birth-rate_, p. 75).
Footnote 1508:
Bowley, _Division of the Product of Industry_, p. 49.
Footnote 1509:
Harrison, _Description of England_, Bk. II, ch. x, p. 215.
Footnote 1510:
Nicolai, loc. cit., p. 48.
Footnote 1511:
_Problems of Population and Parenthood_, p. 73. A French historian
says that ‘la densité de la population fait la force des nations’ (de
Morgan, _Premières Civilisations_, p. 111).
Footnote 1512:
Holdich, _Political Frontiers_, p. 256. It is interesting to note that
the wheat-eating population of the world increased less rapidly in the
twenty-five years preceding 1906 than the wheat area of the world. At
the beginning of this period there were 283 people (more or less
wheat-eaters) for every hundred acres of wheat, whereas in 1906 there
were 264 such people for the same area (_Agricultural Statistics_, Cd.
3832, vol. xvi, part 4).
Footnote 1513:
Beveridge, _Unemployment_, ch. i.
Footnote 1514:
The average income per head in 1914 is given by Stamp as follows (_J.
R. S. S._, vol. lxxxii, p. 491):
£
United States 72
United Kingdom 50
Germany 30
France 38
Italy 23
Austria-Hungary 21
Spain 11
Australia 54
Canada 40
Japan 6
The figures are only approximate. The most accurate—those for the
United Kingdom and for Australia—are not likely to be inaccurate to a
greater extent than 10 per cent., while the least accurate—those for
Japan—may be inaccurate to a greater extent than 40 per cent.
Rowntree, commenting upon the low wages in Belgium as compared with
England, attributes them, not to over-population, but to a low
standard of education, low degree of efficiency and productivity, to
the fact that only a small proportion of workers are engaged in the
production of high-class goods, and to the feebleness of the trade
unions (_Land and Labour_, pp. 75 ff.).
Footnote 1515:
Newsholme and Stevenson, loc. cit., p. 55.
Footnote 1516:
Leroy-Beaulieu, _Question de la Population_, p. 55.
Footnote 1517:
The high birth-rate in certain parts of Ireland—said to be due to the
influence of the Roman Catholic Church in discouraging the use of
contraceptive methods—may be leading to over-population.
Footnote 1518:
Thus Marro found that children of older parents were more melancholy
than those of younger parents (_La Pubertà studiata nell’ uomo e nella
donna_).
Footnote 1519:
_The Declining Birth-rate_, p. 63.
Footnote 1520:
The arguments for and against are fully and fairly set out in
_Problems of Population and Parenthood_, pp. 44–8.
Footnote 1521:
Personally I agree with the views of the Dean of St. Paul’s on this
matter. Speaking of the use of these methods, ‘it seems’, he says, ‘a
_pis aller_ which high-minded persons should avoid if they can
practise self-restraint. Whatever injures the feeling of
“sanctification and honour” with which St. Paul bids us regard these
intimacies of life, whatever tends to profane or degrade the
sacraments of wedded love, is so far an evil. But this is emphatically
a matter in which every man and woman must judge for themselves, and
must refrain from judging others’ (_Outspoken Essays_, p. 74).
Footnote 1522:
Heron, _Drapers’ Company Research Memoirs_, No. 1, 1906. See also
Stevenson, loc. cit.
Footnote 1523:
_The Declining Birth-rate_, p. 9.
Footnote 1524:
It is also noticeable in India (Wattal, loc. cit., p. 24). It will be
remembered that in Denmark in the latter part of the mediaeval period
there was some slight tendency according to Rubin for marriage to be
postponed among the very highest social class; among the independent
class generally marriage in those days, however, not only took place
earlier than now but earlier than in the lower grades of society.
Footnote 1525:
Among the industrial classes conception before marriage is not
uncommon. It is said that many men are not desirous of legal marriage
until it is probable that they will have children. This is not to be
regarded as evidence of loose sexual morality so much as evidence of
foresight and of thought for old age when, if they have children, they
will be more or less secure against extreme poverty.
Footnote 1526:
Hill, _Am. Stat. Ass._, vol. xiii, p. 590. An allied problem is that
connected with the proportion of various racial elements among the
immigrants into a new country. Thus between 1900 and 1913 Great
Britain contributed roughly one-third and the United States and
continental Europe two-thirds of the immigrants into Canada.
Footnote 1527:
Tucker, _Progress of the U.S.A._, p. 98.
Footnote 1528:
Leroy-Beaulieu estimates that, if the degree of skill in production
now found in Western Europe was extended throughout the world, the
population economically desirable would be from two to three times
that of the present population of the world (_Question de la
Population_, p. 174).
Footnote 1529:
These experiments have been summarized by Jenkinson (_Experimental
Embryology_, pp. 141 ff.).
Footnote 1530:
Jenkinson, loc. cit., p. 151.
Footnote 1531:
Ibid., p. 157.
Footnote 1532:
Klebs, ‘Influence of the Environment’, in _Darwinism and Modern
Science_, p. 227.
Footnote 1533:
MacLeod, _Quantitative Method_, p. 12.
Footnote 1534:
Vernon, _Variation in Animals and Plants_, p. 312.
Footnote 1535:
Quoted from Henslow by Vernon, ibid.
Footnote 1536:
Thomson, _Animal Life_, p. 407.
Footnote 1537:
Morgan, _Mechanism of Mendelian Heredity_, p. 38.
Footnote 1538:
Stockard, _Journal of Experimental Zoology_, vol. vi, p. 334.
Footnote 1539:
Jenkinson, loc. cit., p. 132.
Footnote 1540:
Agar, _Phil. Trans._, Series B, vol. cciii, p. 319.
Footnote 1541:
Tower, _Investigation of Evolution_, pp. 168 ff.
Footnote 1542:
Morgan, loc. cit., p. 39.
Footnote 1543:
Vernon, loc. cit., p. 219.
Footnote 1544:
Thomson, _Animal Life_, p. 383.
Footnote 1545:
Vernon, loc. cit., p. 294.
Footnote 1546:
Thomson, _Animal Life_, p. 391. In the case of the Porto Santo rabbit
examined by Darwin the change in colour was found to be due to the
environment.
Footnote 1547:
Ibid., p. 383.
Footnote 1548:
Lock, _Recent Progress_, p. 317.
Footnote 1549:
Shinji, ‘Wing Development in Aphids’, _Biol. Bull._, vol. xxxv.
Footnote 1550:
Quoted by Vernon, loc. cit., p. 242.
Footnote 1551:
Gemmill, _Teratology of Fishes_, p. 44. The cyclopia found was
attributed by Gemmill only partly to environmental causes.
Footnote 1552:
Vernon, loc. cit., p. 213.
Footnote 1553:
Ibid., p. 215. Similarly the snail, _Helix aspersa_, has a variety
(_tenuis_) with a thin shell which is found where calcareous material
is scarce.
Footnote 1554:
Vernon, loc. cit., p. 261.
Footnote 1555:
Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 33.
Footnote 1556:
Mitchell, loc. cit., p. 47.
Footnote 1557:
Hansen, ‘Increase in Stature’, p. 23, in _Problems in Eugenics_.
Footnote 1558:
Ewart, ‘The Influence of Parental Age on Offspring’, _Eugenics
Review_, vol. iii.
Footnote 1559:
Boas, _Changes in Immigrants_, p. 5.
Footnote 1560:
Sergi, ‘Variation and Heredity’, p. 18 (in _Problems in Eugenics_).
Few anthropologists, it may be added, accept Boas’s conclusions.
Footnote 1561:
See Ammon, _Natürliche Auslese beim Menschen_ and _Zur Anthropologie
der Badener_.
Footnote 1562:
Levi, _Anthropometria Militare_.
Footnote 1563:
Huntington, _World Power and Evolution_, p. 173.
Footnote 1564:
Fishberg, _Mem. Am. Anth. Ass._, vol. i, 1905.
Footnote 1565:
Nystrom has elaborated a theory according to which the habits and
customs of races profoundly affect the shape of the head, but it
cannot be said that he brings forward any convincing evidence (‘Über
die Formenveränderungen des menschlichen Schädels’, _Arch. für Anth._,
Bd. 27).
Footnote 1566:
Boas, loc. cit., p. 76.
Footnote 1567:
_System of Medicine_, edited by Allbutt and Rolleston, vol. ii, part
ii, p. 2.
Footnote 1568:
See Kohlbrugge, ‘Influence of a Tropical Climate on Europeans’, _Eug.
Rev._, vol. iii.
Footnote 1569:
Huntingdon, _Civilization and Climate_. See also the same author’s
‘Climate and Evolution of Civilization’, in _Evolution of the Earth
and its Inhabitants_, edited by Lull.
Footnote 1570:
Thus Montesquieu remarked upon the fact that greatest vigour is found
in the colder climates (_Esprit des Lois_, Part III, Bk. XIV, ch. ii).
Footnote 1571:
Gregory, _Geog. Journ._, vol. xliii. There have been many studies of
the influence of climate upon temperament. See, for instance, Dexter,
_Weather Influences_.
Footnote 1572:
Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 35.
Footnote 1573:
Acton and Harvey, ‘Increase in the Number of Erythrocytes’,
_Biometrika_, vol. viii. See also the results of the Monte Rosa and
Pike’s Peaks Expeditions, _Phil. Trans._, vols. cciii and ccvi.
Footnote 1574:
Barrington and Pearson, _Eug. Lab. Mem._, No. 5, 1909.
Footnote 1575:
The results of these investigations have been summed up by Miss
Elderton in a pamphlet entitled _The Relative Strength of Nature and
Nurture_.
Footnote 1576:
See, for instance, Bridges and Coles, ‘Relation of Intelligence to
Social Status’, _Psychological Review_, vol. xxiv.
Footnote 1577:
Galton, _Inquiries into Human Faculty_, p. 236.
Footnote 1578:
McDougall, _Social Psychology_, p. 118.
Footnote 1579:
Here environment clearly means social or traditional environment.
Footnote 1580:
Leiper, ‘Some Inhabitants of Man’, p. 151 (in _Animal Life and Human
Progress_, edited by Dendy).
Footnote 1581:
See Jones, _Malaria and Greek History_.
Footnote 1582:
See Fisher, ‘Genesis of Twins’, _Genetics_, vol. iv.
Footnote 1583:
Galton, _Inquiries into Human Faculty_, p. 219. Curiously enough there
was no similarity to be detected in handwriting—an interesting
commentary on the value to be attributed to deductions drawn from
handwriting as to character.
Footnote 1584:
Galton, loc. cit,. p. 226.
Footnote 1585:
Ibid., p. 231.
Footnote 1586:
Ibid.
Footnote 1587:
Ibid., p. 232.
Footnote 1588:
Ibid., p. 233.
Footnote 1589:
Galton, _Inquiries into Human Faculty_, p. 233.
Footnote 1590:
Ibid., p. 235.
Footnote 1591:
Ibid., p. 237. The general results of Galton’s work have been
confirmed in all important respects by Thorndike’s elaborate
investigations (‘Measurements of Twins’ _Archives of Philosophy,
Psychology, and Scientific Methods_, vol. i, 1905).
Footnote 1592:
Ridgeway, _J. A. I._, vol. xl, p. 13.
Footnote 1593:
The ‘Ancestral Law of Heredity’, which attributes on the average half
the germinal constitution to the parents, a quarter to the
grandparents, an eighth to the great-grandparents, and so on, is not
incompatible with Mendelian inheritance as a general statistical
result. The conception of the nature of inheritance involved in this
theory is, however, incompatible with the Mendelian conception of
unit-characters, which conception, it may be said, is the only one
which fits the facts.
Footnote 1594:
The fact that the germinal constitution of any one individual
belonging to a species, in which biparental reproduction is taking
place, differs almost always from that of any other member of the
species is due on the Mendelian hypothesis to the chance mixture of
factors in the zygote.
Footnote 1595:
Adami, ‘Inheritance and Disease’, p. 26 (in _A System of Medicine_,
edited by Osler and McCrae).
Footnote 1596:
Adami, loc. cit., p. 26.
Footnote 1597:
Ibid.
Footnote 1598:
Quoted by Thomson, _Heredity_, p. 275.
Footnote 1599:
Tredgold found that 80 per cent. of the mentally deficient had a bad
nervous inheritance (_Mental Deficiency_, p. 40).
Footnote 1600:
McDougall, _Social Psychology_, ch. iii.
Footnote 1601:
McDougall, _Social Psychology_, ch. iv.
Footnote 1602:
Ibid., ch. iii.
Footnote 1603:
Pearson, ‘Groundwork of Eugenics’, _Eugenics Laboratory Lecture
Series_, 1909, p. 25.
Footnote 1604:
Snow, _Studies in National Deterioration_, No. 7, p. 34. See also
Beeton and Pearson, ‘Inheritance of the Duration of Life’,
_Biometrika_, vol. i, 1901, and Elderton and Pearson, ‘Further
Evidence of Natural Selection in Man’, _Biometrika_, vol. x, 1915.
Footnote 1605:
Pruner-Bey (‘Mémoire sur les Nègres’, _Mém. Soc. Anth._, vol. i, p.
334) has shown in detail how the peculiarities of negro structure are
to be regarded as adaptations to the surrounding conditions.
Footnote 1606:
Keith, _Nature_, vol. civ, p. 302.
Footnote 1607:
Ibid., p. 303.
Footnote 1608:
Keith, _Nature_, vol. civ, p. 303.
Footnote 1609:
Ibid., p. 404.
Footnote 1610:
McGee, loc. cit., p. 157.
Footnote 1611:
For evidence that disease leads to a selective death-rate see Popenoe
and Johnson, loc. cit., pp. 124 ff.
Footnote 1612:
See Popenoe and Johnson, loc. cit., ch. xi.
Footnote 1613:
There has been much discussion as to the effect upon the population of
France owing to the Napoleonic wars. The facts have been summed up by
Havelock Ellis (_Essays in War Time_, pp. 33 ff.), and it appears that
without any question the average physical constitution of the French
was lowered; most kinds of infirmities, for instance, became more
frequent.
Footnote 1614:
Recent research bearing on this problem has been summed up by East and
Jones in their book _Inbreeding and Outbreeding_.
Footnote 1615:
Dublin and Baker, _Amer. Stat. Soc._, vol. xvii, 1920. Nevertheless,
as shown by an important memoir by Hrdlicka, a new variety is not
being produced, at least with any rapidity, under the influence of the
American environment. Hrdlicka studied representatives of the old
white American stock, whose ancestors had been for four generations in
the United States, and concluded that no new sub-type has yet emerged.
In fact the faithful preservation of the traits of the original
immigrants is the outstanding result of the study.
Footnote 1616:
An admirable summing up of what is known as to the effect of alcohol
on the germinal constitution will be found in Popenoe and Johnson,
loc. cit., ch. ii.
Footnote 1617:
Pearson, ‘Problem of Practical Eugenics’, _Eugenics Laboratory Lecture
Series_, No. 5.
Footnote 1618:
Greenwood and Yule, _J. R. S. S._, vol. lxxii, 1914. See Pearson’s
reply ‘On the Handicapping of the First-born’, _Eugenics Laboratory
Lecture Series_, No. 10.
Footnote 1619:
Ridgeway, loc. cit., p. 18.
Footnote 1620:
Punnett, _Mendelism_, p. 208.
Footnote 1621:
Thomas, _Natives of Australia_, p. 25.
Footnote 1622:
Smyth, _Aborigines_, vol. i, p. 22.
Footnote 1623:
Spiller, ‘Mentality of Australian Aborigines’, _Soc. Rev._, vol. vi.
Footnote 1624:
Semon, _Australian Bush_, p. 78.
Footnote 1625:
Smyth, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 22
Footnote 1626:
Mathew, _Eaglehawk and Crow_, p. 78.
Footnote 1627:
Man, _J. A. I._, vol. xii, p. 95.
Footnote 1628:
Baegert, loc. cit., p. 378.
Footnote 1629:
Theal, _Yellow- and Dark-Skinned People_, p. 264.
Footnote 1630:
Theal, loc. cit., p. 265.
Footnote 1631:
Weeks, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxix, p. 131.
Footnote 1632:
Johnston, _British Central Africa_, p. 408.
Footnote 1633:
Junod, _South African Tribe_, p. 100.
Footnote 1634:
Ellis, _Ewe-Speaking Peoples_, p. 9.
Footnote 1635:
Torday and Joyce, _J. A. I._, vol. xxxv, p. 268.
Footnote 1636:
Maugham, _Portuguese East Africa_, p. 268.
Footnote 1637:
Weeks, _Among Congo Cannibals_, p. 76.
Footnote 1638:
Bryant, _Eug. Rev._, vol. ix., pp. 47–9.
Footnote 1639:
Olivier, _White Capital and Coloured Labour_, p. 59.
Footnote 1640:
Strong, _Pedagogical Seminary_, vol. xx, p. 501.
Footnote 1641:
Strong, loc. cit., p. 503.
Footnote 1642:
Ibid., p. 501. With regard to the disabilities under which the Negro
labours in America see Booker T. Washington, _Story of the Negro_,
vol. ii, pp. 114 ff.
Footnote 1643:
Popenoe and Johnson, loc. cit., p. 288.
Footnote 1644:
Huntington, _Civilization and Climate_, p. 12.
Footnote 1645:
Huntington, loc. cit., p. 14.
Footnote 1646:
McDougall, _Social Psychology_, p. 284.
Footnote 1647:
Ibid., p. 286.
Footnote 1648:
See McDougall, _Psychology_, p. 171.
Footnote 1649:
Stout, _Manual of Psychology_, p. 597.
Footnote 1650:
Hobhouse, _Development and Purpose_, p. 91.
Footnote 1651:
Hobhouse, _Development and Purpose_, chs. vi, vii, viii, and ix.
Footnote 1652:
Ibid., p. 96.
Footnote 1653:
Frazer, _Golden Bough_, London, 1911, part i, vol. i, p. 175.
Footnote 1654:
Frazer, loc. cit., part i, vol. i, p. 53. Taboo, it may be observed,
is merely a kind of negative magic.
Footnote 1655:
The beginning of writing—for instance the Maya script—dates from the
second period.
Footnote 1656:
McDougall, _Social Psychology_, p. 111.
Footnote 1657:
See on this subject, Rivers, ‘Disappearance of Useful Arts’,
_Festskrift tilleguad Edward Westermarck_, 1912.
Footnote 1658:
There is a tendency to exaggerate the importance of tradition among
animals. Thus it has been said that nest building is ‘largely’
traditional among birds. But the Curator of Birds in the New York
Zoological Park raised a number of wild birds from incubated eggs, and
found that these birds, although they had never had parental care or
example, nevertheless learnt to fly, to build nests, and to perform
all these activities—though they were sometimes slower in so doing
than they would otherwise have been—that are at times said to be
‘largely’ traditional (see Lull, _Organic Evolution_, p. 170).
Footnote 1659:
Joubert, _Pensées_, p. 217.
Footnote 1660:
Marshall, _Principles of Economics_, p. 160.
Footnote 1661:
See Cureau, loc. cit., p. 253.
Footnote 1662:
Statements such as the following are commonplaces of anthropological
literature. ‘These [Brazilians] have found life too easy, as the
latter [Australians] have found it too difficult’ (Herbertson, _Man
and His Work_, p. 3).
Footnote 1663:
Quoted by Fisher, _Soc. Rev._, vol. i, p. 61.
Footnote 1664:
Rivers, ‘Contact of Peoples’, _Essays and Studies presented to W.
Ridgeway_, p. 478.
Footnote 1665:
Boas, _J. A. I._, vol. xl, p. 536.
Footnote 1666:
Semple, _Geographic Environment_, p. 357.
Footnote 1667:
See Durkheim, _Travail Social_, chs. vi and vii.
Footnote 1668:
Sherring, _Hindu Castes and Tribes_, vol. iii, p. 218.
Footnote 1669:
Hobhouse, Wheeler, and Ginsberg, loc. cit., p. 254.
Footnote 1670:
According to Delvaille (_Histoire de l’Idée de Progrès_, p. 405)
Terrasson, writing in the eighteenth century, was the first author to
emphasize the importance of tradition in the modern sense—particularly
in his work _La Philosophie applicable à tous les objets de la
raison_.
Footnote 1671:
See _Am. Anth._, vol. xiv, 1912, for a symposium of the views of
American authorities on this point.
Footnote 1672:
Payne, _History of the New World_, vol. i, p. 311.
Footnote 1673:
Payne, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 289.
Footnote 1674:
The single-humped Arabian camel has never been found wild, but it is
said that the double-humped Bactrian camel has been found wild in
Turkestan. See Flower and Lydekker, _Mammals_, p. 297.
Footnote 1675:
Wild oxen were abundant in Europe in the time of Julius Caesar, and of
them the Chillingham herd may be a remnant. Horses were abundant in
Europe in Neolithic times. But it is probable that both oxen and
horses were first domesticated in Asia. The ovine group was originally
situated in the mountain region of Central Asia, though _Ovis
savigni_, apparently allied to the Argoli, has been found fossil in
the Forest Bed of Norfolk (Flower and Lydekker, loc. cit., pp. 355,
357, 367, and 382).
Footnote 1676:
Johnston, _British Central Africa_, p. 429.
Footnote 1677:
Elliot Smith, _Presidential Address to the British Association_,
Section H, 1912, p. 577.
Footnote 1678:
Rhys Davids, _Buddhism_, p. 40.
Footnote 1679:
Olivier, _White Capital and Coloured Labour_, p. 57.
Footnote 1680:
McDougall, _Group Mind_, p. 119.
Footnote 1681:
McDougall, _Group Mind_, p. 112.
Footnote 1682:
See McDougall, _Group Mind_, ch. xvii.
Footnote 1683:
Leroy-Beaulieu, _Israël chez les Nations_, p. 77.
Footnote 1684:
Pollard, _Factors in Modern History_, p. 15.
Footnote 1685:
Vacher de Lapouge, _Sélections sociales_, pp. 293 ff.
Footnote 1686:
For a discussion of this problem see Hoernes, _Naturund Urgeschichte
des Menschen_, vol. i, pp. 119 ff.
Footnote 1687:
Smith, _Church and State in the Middle Ages_, p. 83.
Footnote 1688:
Where, as in America, different racial stocks exist, differential
fertility assumes greater importance. See p. 320.
Footnote 1689:
McDougall, _Group Mind_, p. 260.
Footnote 1690:
McDougall, _Group Mind_, p. 247.
Footnote 1691:
Flinders Petrie, _Revolutions of Civilization_.
Footnote 1692:
Galton, _Eug. Rev._, vol. i, p. 75.
Footnote 1693:
Lee, _Great Englishmen of the Sixteenth Century_, p. 28.
Footnote 1694:
A. E., _Imagination and Reveries_, p. 107.
Footnote 1695:
Marett, _Psychology and Folk-Lore_, p. 73.
Footnote 1696:
As, for instance, by Renan in the following passage which contains
nevertheless an element of truth: ‘La guerre est, de la sorte, une des
conditions du progrès, le coup de fouet qui empêche un pays de
s’endormir, en forçant la médiocrité satisfaite d’elle-même à sortir
de son apathie. L’homme n’est soutenu que par l’effort et la lutte....
Le jour où l’humanité deviendrait un grand empire romain pacifié et
n’ayant plus d’ennemis extérieurs serait le jour où la moralité et
l’intelligence courraient les plus grands dangers’ (_Réforme
intellectuelle et morale_, p. 111).
Footnote 1697:
Wallas, _Great Society_, p. 80. ‘In a settled and traditional society
custom is of such overwhelming weight that a law can only act in
accordance with it; a sudden change in the machinery of government
would break down of itself—nay, in such a society laws can hardly be
passed save those that the development of tradition demands’ (Belloc,
_Life of Danton_, p. 142).
Footnote 1698:
McDougall, _Group Mind_, p. 146.
Footnote 1699:
Bridges and Coles, _Psychological Review_, vol. xxiv, p. 29. These
authors do not commit themselves to any view with regard to the
interpretation of their results—a fact which commends the
investigation to students of these matters as indicating that the
investigation was not undertaken with any bias (a condition of things
unfortunately not common in studies of this problem).
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