Evening star., 1928-11-18
ORIGINS OF FAMILY ARE SOUGHT
I'M LIFE OF ANTT1ROPOID GROUPS
Smithsonian Scientist Fails to
Find Distinctive Instinct
Among Humans.
Points Out Growth of Affec-
tive Love and Rigid Taboo
System in Society.

Is the family, which admittedly is
the fundamental association in the
structure of human society, an exclu-
sively human institution which differ
cntiateS man from all other mammals?
Is the family association in its var
ious forms instructive in the human
species?
DR.. Gerrit S. Miller. jr., curator Of
mammals at the National Museum, has
been engaged in a comparative study of
the behavior Of man and his closest
relatives in the animal world, the an
tfropoid apes AMI the monkeys. in an
effort to throw light on this complex
problem.
Family Instinct Theory Challenged.
He has found much evidence which
tends to diSprove the existence of a
family instinct" varying greatly from
the grcgarious behavior Of the simians
DR.. Miller sought out reports of OBJ
servation3 which bore on the assertion
OF sociology that the family group came
into the world as an instructive as3oci
alton only with the emergence of man;
that It replaced the loose group aSsoci-
alton OF the other primates. and that it
vas the natural method of association
of primitive man. In the literature of
sociology and anthropology, he had
found, it was a premise that the gre
gariouS instinct in man, which had led
human beings to establish themselves in
communities instead OF being solitary
animals, Wts a quite different thing
from the instinct which brings about
the herd association in other mammals,
Built I'm Step by Step.
The human communal life, accord
ing to this theory, IS built up step by
step. 1t starts with close bonds of
union between two persons OF different
sexes and their children and proceeds
outward with ever looscr association
bonds to the tribe, made up of groups
of related families, and the nation,
made up CT groups CT related tribes.
This is obviously quite different from
a herd of wild cattle or horses, where
there ale no close, lasting individual
associations. but merely a great number
of individuals living together.
DR.. Milleris researches have uncovered
much evidence that there is little fun
damental difference between the sex
associations Of man and the higher
primates, although both seem to be
distinct in this respect from other man.
NAL groups. He holds that the human
family is held together not by an in
stinctive urge of one man to main-
tain lie partnership with one woman,
but by an elaborate system of taboos,
religious and social It is the various
taboos, which developed very early in
human relationships, which have been
passed down from one generation to
another, DR.. Miller's researches show,
and not an instinct.
Man, however, apparently has di-
verged from the apes in developing "a
socially effective sentiment of love-" DR..
Miller finds, although there are occa-
Sional instances reported among the
anthropoioS of an intense, lasting affec-
lion between male and female. A strik-
ing case of this is described in the
quarterly journal Of the American So
ciety of Mammelogists. in which DR..
Mlller's observations appear. by DR.. Otto
L. Tlnkiepaugh Of Yale University.
Subject Open TO Doubt.
ut is well known" DR.. Miller says,
that highly developed type of sex
love Is often attributed to mammals
other than primateS, especially to some
Of the carnivores. but the absence of
carefully conducted experiments and of
convincing field observations leaves the
subject open to legitimate doubt. The
conclusion is, therefore, justified that,
although the complex sentiment of sex
love may exist in other mammals, in
man alone Is it known to be sufficiently
strong and sufficiently general to re-
quire consideration as one of the fac
tors that have greatly influenced social
behavior.
'Humanlike association of male and
female" he observes, together with the
psychological conditions which accom-
pany 1t, seem to occur mostly in NAM
mails whose young are born in a state
which places difficulties IN the wav of
theil care By the female alone-n1ere
helplessness of the young is probably
not the determining factor. A litter of
Young wolves needs the attention OF
both parents, litter OF young opossums
Goes. not. A young monkey clings to
the female and can be adequately reared
bv her sole min!strations. The help of
the male IS not required, and I have
been unable to obtain convincing evi-
dence that true family bond is es-
tablished. The absence of this abi,/,
or the infant to cling tn ifs roo+har