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On Sir Henry Maine's system, then, the gens rather proves the constant existence of recognised male descents among the peoples where it exists. The opposite theory of the gens is that to which Mr. M'Lennan inclined.
Morgan's suggestion as to the origin of exogamy. Mr. M'Lennan did not live to publish a subtle theory of the origin of exogamy, which he had elaborated. In 'Studies in Ancient History, he hazarded a conjecture based on female infanticide:
Williams on the Fiji Islanders, as quoted by Lubbock, 'Origin of Civilisation, 1870, p. 79. On the Fuegians, King and Fitzroy, 'Voyages of the "Adventure" and "Beagle," vol. ii. 1839, p. 182. On the Kalmucks, quoted by M'Lennan, 'Primitive Marriage, 1865, p. 32. On the Malays, Lubbock, ibid. p. 76. The Rev. J. Shooter, 'On the Kafirs of Natal, 1857, pp. 52-60. Mr.
M'Lennan collected a very large mass of testimony to prove the wide existence of this cause of paucity of women. Till that evidence is published, I can only say that it was sufficient, in Mr. M'Pherson, and other English authorities. Mr. Fison's 'Kamilaroi and Kurnai' contains some notable, though not to my mind convincing, arguments on the other side.
The scarcity of women, consequent on female infanticide, leads, also, to another practice, that of polyandry, still common in several parts of the world, and which formerly, as Mr. M'Lennan believes, prevailed almost universally: but this latter conclusion is doubted by Mr. Morgan and Sir J. Lubbock. 'Primitive Marriage, p. 208; Sir J. Lubbock, 'Origin of Civilisation, p. 100. See also Mr.
There was more fun than fashion in the cult, which was later revived, developed, and gossiped about more than enough. To a writer now dead, and then first met, I am specially bound in gratitude the late Mr. J. F. M'Lennan. Mr. M'Lennan had the most acute and ingenious of minds which I have encountered. His writings on early marriage and early religion were revelations which led on to others.
M'Lennan, and others, that I need here give only the briefest summary of their results. Many nations, no doubt, have fallen away in civilisation, and some may have lapsed into utter barbarism, though on this latter head I have met with no evidence.
Bachofen, M'Lennan, and Morgan, all started from a hypothetical state of more or less modified sexual promiscuity. He discovered Hetarismus, as he called it, or promiscuity, among Lydians, Etruscans, Persians, Thracians, Cyrenian nomads, Egyptians, Scythians, Troglodytes, Nasamones, and so forth. Mr. M'Lennan's view is, perhaps, less absolutely stated than Sir Henry Maine supposes.
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.
M'Lennan observes, "Some explanation of the phenomena of life a man must feign for himself; and to judge from the universality of it, the simplest hypothesis, and the first to occur to men, seems to have been that natural phenomena are ascribable to the presence in animals, plants, and things, and in the forces of nature, of such spirits prompting to action as men are conscious they themselves possess."
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