The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-11

Prof. Pearson returns TO this subject in ne
essay entitled "Mother-Aso Civilization" and
inquiries what evidence there IL for supposina
the Ayran words denotirR relationship and sex
to have taken their origin In q matriarchal
rather than q patriarchal system Of primitive
life. 1t is. Of course, to be borne in mind that
what is compendiously spoken of as the mother
age covered several successive phases OF civil
~ization, and Of such phases those Of group
marriage were among tho earliest 1t IN In
q period Of kindred group-marriage that our
author finds himself forced TO seek for
an explanation OF the words denotine relation
ship and sex. Without dogmatizinE, he suF-
gests tentatively that tho lair or den originally
provided by the mother fer child bearing and
rearing developed in comfort to such an extent
that the sons eventually preferred staying BY
the mother and taking q part in the elementary
agriculture OF the women to hunting on their
own account This led to complete promiscuity,
or at least seasonal pairing. which was succeed.
ed by normal conditions, nrst 0y brother-sis-
ter marriage and afterward by kindred group
marriage. Be the causes of these condi-
tions. however. what they may. the earliest
mythologies and folk customs distinctly point TO
the first permanent relations of sex being those
between kindred, and this view Is confirmed also
by the Teutonic words Of relationship. The
uoSt pilLntllFe IneoBOly Is tnet OF Mother Earth
and her Son. The latter is usually depicted as an
agriculturist. and not infrequently as killing
or emasculatinS his father, who. il he can DO
identified, is of the wild. barharic, hunting or
giant type. Nearly as old Is the mythology
which supplements the mother goddess with
q brother as spouse. Much later than
either comes as deity the patriarchal ALI
father ruling q kindred group. Prof. Pear
son does not enter on the causes which led
to the termination OF the oro,her-sister sexual
relation. but he finds considerable evidence 10
show that there was. first, a differentiation Of
the elder sister, and that the social prohibition
was only gradually extended to the younger sis
tiers. sthe social unit is enlarged. We encounter
a group OF men. brothers or cousins In blood,
having sexual relations with q like group Of
women who may or may not DO blood relations
OF the men. This is the system referred to as thao
of kindred group-marriage. Evidences OF its ex.
istence are still TO DC met with In several Aus
tralian races. In these cases, the men OF one
tribe take wives from the women OF a second,
or. in some cases, they arc co-husbands Of all the
women OF a second tribe Yet. although this
particular form OF groug-marriage IL exc
gamous, nevertheless, at certain great tribal
festivals, the men and women of tho same tribe
indulge promiscuously in what at another
period would be prohibited intercourse. This in
t~eresting fossil proof OF the transition Of group
marriage from the en~doGamous to the exogamous
type is Of special value. for It illustrates q feature
common TO all kindred group marriaEOe. the
custom of periodical gatherings which were at
the same time sex festivals. In Prof. PeArSon'O
opinion. these meetings for the purpose Of 70
production indicate that. in the far distant past
the sex instinct among human beings was not
chemically active. but either periodic, or only
periodically exercised. Such festivals would
naturally result in the occurrence Of q majority
of births at q stated period Of the year. and
there is. it seems, some evidence to corroborAts
the inference.
1t is. VIC are told. surprising how many Cattle
and Teutonic genealogies end, as they arc traced
upward. in a female nAme; It Is suggested THAI
many moro will probably be found to do %
when the pedigrees are studied with this possi-
bility in view. In the mother-age the represen-
tative of the tribal mother, the female head Of
the group, was the depository Of tribal custom
and religion, and through her the property OF the
group descended. Without realizing this law Of
descent, the tragedy OF A~gamemnon and Exts-
thus and certain German fairy tales become
alike unintelligible. To kill the King and marry
his wife was to win the kingdom; to marry the
Kings daughter was to obtain the right Of suo-
cession. The earliest and most bloody incidents
OF legend and primitive history turn on the
contest between this law OF descent In the
chiaio huo anu tnht OF pAtornA inheritance
The latter law survives in tho struggle.
but Titanic female figures calamity fighting fog
the former usage. and sadly misrepresented By
the bards and chroniclers OF patriaroAal dAya
loom In shadowy greatness out OF tho prehistory
of every Aryan race.
II, now, we turn to tho status Of men In the
kindred marriage group and wish to measure
Its significance, we must keep In view. nrst. that
Its evolution was spread over very many centu-
ries, and then that, as We near the transition to
the patriarchal civilization, the power and infu-
cnce OF men increase. at first gradually, and
then rapidly. In the FIRST bloom OF tho group
marriage period, tho influence OF men on custom
and tradition must have been comparatively
small, cvon death and disease being repre-
sented by female doities; tho wind. tho sea.
the earth, and all the powers Of nature arc,
in the earliest folk traditions, goddessea. The
gods, so far as they had any existence, Seem
to obtain merely in the form OF temporary
human lovers OF the goddesses; they Furnished
the transitory male element needful for fertility.
but then destined to disappear. Mankind. al.
ways a~nthropomorphic. imagines, first, . god.
dess as a tribal mother; later, her son az q god.
and only as human institutions develop 10 the
wandering lover. the hero. raised TO tho position
and authority OF All-father. II tho reader
object that this scheme OF q primitive
mother'age civilization is moro elaborate
than anything the philologists have attempted
to spin out Of Aryan roots. the authors
answer is that 1t is not drawn from such .
source. 1t is reconstructed from the fossils 70
be found in folklore. fairy tales, hero legends,
primitive law. and other strata OF human pro-
history. And 1t appears to the writer OF these
essays to be the one system which makes them
selfconsistent and ineligible. The problem 10
not to deduce the mOther-ago from philoloEy.
DnI IN nacidc XhalhaR Nha raaalta ~ Fha laNNaH
arc not really compatible with tho existence OF
such a civilization az may DO deduced from the
fossils not only Of Teutonlc, but Of 0rian1Al
MYTHOLOGY and folk austam-