[580] Loc. cit., p. lxiii. (of the Introduction).
[581] "L'indépendance réciproque du point de vue biologique et du point de vue social chez les Australiens." (Ibid., p. lxv.)
[582] H.H.M., p. 89.
[583] Loc. cit., pp. 232, 233; compare also above p. 182, [footnote]. Apart from the naturally somewhat loose terminology (the passage about kinship is intended as an example only, and does not aim at a full treatment of the subject)—the passages quoted express the same ideas which served as a starting-point for this chapter.
I came across the paragraph in question unfortunately only after the MS. of the present chapter had been finished and the foregoing chapters had been printed. The opinion of Sir Laurence Gomme would also have been of value in support of the views expressed in the Introduction, [pp. 6], [7], where I try to show that it is meaningless to use the word "family" as a rigidly determined concept of universal application. "The family as seen in savage society, and the family as it appears among the antiquities of the Indo-European people, are totally distinct in origin, in compass and in force" (Sir Laurence Gomme, loc. cit., pp. 236, 237). And the author applies his criticism to the same two writers who have been the objects of my attacks (Mr. A. Lang and Mr. N. W. Thomas, see op. cit., p. 236, footnote 1). And, again, Sir Laurence Gomme argues that the unqualified use of the term "family" is very harmful, "because of the universal application of this term to the smallest social unit of the civilized world, and because of the fundamental difference of structure of the units which roughly answer to the definition of family in various parts of the world" (op. cit., p. 235). Certainly there is also a fundamental analogy of structure between all forms of human family; but the problem must be set forth and it must be acknowledged that this social unit undergoes deep changes as other elements of social structure change.
[585] Here in the first place must be mentioned the works of Spencer and Gillen, Nat. Tr., pp. 123-127, 255; Nor. Tr., pp. 144, 163 sqq., 169 sqq., 174-176, 150, 330, 331; Mrs. Parker, pp. 50 sqq., 61, 98.
Strehlow, loc. cit., i., on the second and third pages of the Preface by Frhr. von Leonhardi (there is no pagination), ii. pp. 51 sqq., iii. pp. x.-xi. of the Preface by Frhr. von Leonhardi. A short notice on totemic conception and on local distribution of spirit-children is communicated by Rev. L. Schultze, Trans. and Proc. R.S.S.A., xiv. p. 237 (1891). R. H. Mathews communicated in several places beliefs in reincarnation and totemic conception. See Jour. and Proc. R.S.N.S.W., xl. pp. 108 sqq., ibid., xli. p. 147. And Queensland Geographical Journal, xx. p. 73, and xxii. pp. 75, 76. Am. Anthr., xxviii. p. 144. Bull. Soc. of Anthr., Paris, vii. serie v. p. 171. Herbert Basedow, Trans. R.S.S.A., xxxi. (1907), p. 4. (Short communication concerning the Larrekiya tribe of the Northern territory, South Australia.) Amongst the sources must be quoted the communications given by Prof. Frazer on the authority of Dr. Frodsham, Bishop of North Queensland, and the Rev. C. W. Morrison, which refer to the Northern and North-Eastern tribes in general. Frazer, Tot. and Exog., i., p. 577.
In fact, the theory of totemic conception is so closely connected with the whole of the aboriginal totemic beliefs that it is necessary to be acquainted with the latter in order to understand the former; and for this the perusal of both the works of Messrs. Spencer and Gillen and of Strehlow is necessary.
Among the theoretical works dealing with primitive views of conception and paternity (in Australia and in general), we must place first the treatise of Mr. E. S. Hartland, Primitive Paternity, which is the most extensive and thorough examination of all beliefs, referring to a supernatural cause of birth and all its social consequences. The beliefs in question play an important rôle in Prof. Frazer's work on Totemism and Exogamy. See especially vol. iv., on origins of Totemism.