The time during which marriage lasts varies, p. [517].—Peoples among whom separation is said to be unknown, ibid.—Human marriage, as a general rule, not necessarily contracted for life, pp. [518]-520.—Divorce dependent upon the husband’s decision, pp. [520], et seq.—Divorce among a great many peoples exceptional, pp. [521]-523.—A man permitted to divorce his wife only under certain conditions, pp. [523]-526.—Marriage dissolved by the wife, pp. [526]-529.—The causes by which the duration of human marriage is influenced, pp. [529]-535.—The duration of marriage among primitive men, p. [535].—The development of the duration of human marriage, pp. [535], et seq.
SUMMARY
PP. 537-550.
| [Authorities Quoted] | pp. 551-580 |
| [Index] | pp. 581-644 |
THE
HISTORY OF HUMAN MARRIAGE
[INTRODUCTION]
ON THE METHOD OF INVESTIGATION
It is in the firm conviction that the history of human civilization should be made an object of as scientific a treatment as the history of organic nature that I write this book. Like the phenomena of physical and psychical life those of social life should be classified into certain groups, and each group investigated with regard to its origin and development. Only when treated in this way can history lay claim to the rank and honour of a science in the highest sense of the term, as forming an important part of Sociology the youngest of the principal branches of learning.
Descriptive historiography has no higher object than that of offering materials to this science. It can, however, but very inadequately fulfil this task. The written evidences of history do not reach far into antiquity. They give us information about times when the scale of civilization was already comparatively high—but scarcely anything more. As to the origin and early development of social institutions, they leave us entirely in the dark. The sociologist cannot rest content with this. But the information which historical documents are unable to afford him, may be, to a great extent, obtained from ethnography.