A Short History of Marriage. By Edward Westennarck. (Macmillan. 10s.
0d.) PROFESSOR WESTERMARCK is the greatest living authority on marriage ; his authority, of course, being that of the historian. His History of Human Marriage is a classic which has run into five editions. The present book is based upon the last edition of the larger work, but it is far from being a mere rehash of its contents. It is a complete and com- pletely authorftative work in itself, and if one did not know of the existence of the earlier three volumes, one might very well take it as a compendium of human knowledge on the subject with which it deals. Professor: WestermarcK's work is remarkable for two things, knowledge and detachment. The information which is contained in this book is in point of quantity alone amazing ; and the skill in presentation is such that instead of suffering from factual indigestion, the reader absorbs the customs of all - the countries in the world, and all the people known to history, without realizing the substantial nature of the fare. The book then is primarily a mine of curious and unexpected knowledge. We learn, for example, that in Shetland the best man must sleep with the bridegroom before marriage ; that at Cranbrook, in Kent, when the wedded pair leave the church the path is strewn with emblems of the bridegroom's calling, carpenters walking on shavings, butchers on sheepskins, blacksmiths on scraps of old iron ; that in Scotland the bridegroom stands "with the latchet of his shoe loose and a coin under his foot" to intercept the influence of evil spirits dwelling in the earth ; that at Klovborg, in Denmark, on the first day of the wedding the bride and bridegroom dress themselves in old clothes, she in the man's and he in the woman's, and then hide them- selves from each other, and so on, and so on.
This mass of information is given with an air of impartial detachment which becomes even more marked when we come to the discussion of controversial questions such as exogamy and polygamy. Take, for example, the vexed question of polygamy versus monogamy, a question which provokes emotional reactions so violent that those who subscribe to either practice regard the other with feelings of repulsion bordering on horror ; as witness, for example, the lady on the Zambes. i who could not imagine how English ladies could abide being the only wife of a husband, since it is only by the number of his wives that a man's moral respectability and wealth can be as:sessed. This thorny subject is canvassed by Professor Westennarek with a detached impartiality which puts the normal discussion of the merits of rival golf clubs or motor cars to shame. Thus he notes that modern civilized races are the only instances on record of peoples with a surplus of women practising monogamy. He tabulates the arguments for polygamy, as, for example, that it enables a man to continue to enjoy female youth and beauty, that it eaters for his taste for variety, that it ensures offspring, that it provides against the low birth-rate and high infant mortality among savages, that it increases a man's wealth and comfort ; "a woman on the Congo," says Mr. Weeks, "is the best gilt-edged security in which a . man can invest his surplus wealth," and that women like it because it facilitates the division of labour.
On the other hand, it is expensive, it leads to jealousy, quarrelling, and makes. on the whole for a low condition of womanhood. When a missionary asked a woman in Fiji how it was that she and so many other. women were without noses, the answer was, "It is due to plurality of wives ; jealousy causes hatred, and then the stronger tries to cut or bite off the nose of the one she hates " ; while in Hebrew the popular term for a second wife is identical with the word for " female enemy."
On the whole, Professor Westermarek concludes that a people's marriage practice tends in this matter to vary with the state of its cultural and economic development. The lowest and poorest tribes practise monogamy ; with an increase in wealth and an increased complexity of social stratification, you get inequality of status resulting in the maintenance by the powerful and well-to-do of troops of wives to emphasize their superiority and gratify their desire for ostentation. A further development, brings monogamy again us a result of an evolving conception of the position of woman, involving a new attitude of tenderness. and esteem on the part of men. Whether this new attitude is part, of a general growth in sensitiveness and refinement, or is itself the product of material and economic causes, is another of the questions which Professor Westerniarck discusses in this fascinating book.
C. E. M. loan,
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