Note 567 — Chapter VI · [168] DISCUSSION OF KINSHIP
Reading edition
Compare especially Systems, etc., chap. ii. pp. 10 sqq. "The family relationships are as ancient as the family. They exist in virtue of the law of derivation, which is expressed by the perpetuation of the species through the marriage relations. A system of consanguinity, which is founded upon a community of blood, is but the formal expression and recognition of these relationships." (The italics are mine.) This is in other words the assumption that kinship was always conceived as consanguinity, or community of blood through procreation. Compare also Ancient Society, pp. 393, 395.