Note 413 — Chapter III · THEORY OF THE ORIGINAL PAIRING OR MONOGAMOUS FAMILY

Thus Lord Kames, Sketches of the History of Man, I, 277 ff., declares "polygyny to be an infringement of the law of nature, basing his opinion on the false assumption that, 'in all countries and at all times,' males and females are equal in number, and supporting it by the consideration that the 'God of nature has enforced conjugal society, not only by making it agreeable, but by the principle of chastity inherent in our nature.'"—Wake, op. cit., 198 ff., who shows this assumption to be unfounded.