Note 451 — Chapter XX

Sir J. Lubbock, ‘The Origin of Civilisation,’ 1870, chap. iii. especially p. 60-67. Mr. M’Lennan, in his extremely valuable work on 'Primitive Marriage,’ 1865, p. 163, speaks of the union of the sexes “in the earliest times as loose, transitory, and in some degree promiscuous.” Mr. M’Lennan and Sir J. Lubbock have collected much evidence on the extreme licentiousness of savages at the present time. Mr. L. H. Morgan, in his interesting memoir on the classificatory system of relationship (‘Proc. American Acad. of Sciences,’ vol. vii. Feb. 1868, p. 475) concludes that polygamy and all forms of marriage during primeval times were essentially unknown. It appears, also, from Sir J. Lubbock’s work, that Bachofen likewise believes that communal intercourse originally prevailed.