[411] Starcke, op. cit., 135, 139, 128-70.
[412] Westermarck, op. cit., chap. xxi, in connection with chaps. xx and xxii.
[413] Thus Lord Kames, Sketches of the History of Man, I, 277 ff., declares "polygyny to be an infringement of the law of nature, basing his opinion on the false assumption that, 'in all countries and at all times,' males and females are equal in number, and supporting it by the consideration that the 'God of nature has enforced conjugal society, not only by making it agreeable, but by the principle of chastity inherent in our nature.'"—Wake, op. cit., 198 ff., who shows this assumption to be unfounded.
[414] The facts are collected by Westermarck, with elaborate reference to authorities: op. cit., 460-66.
[415] Marshall, A Phrenologist amongst the Todas, 100; Westermarck, op. cit., 467.
[416] Bruce, Travels to Discover the Sources of the Nile, I, 284 ff.; Westermarck, op. cit., 467, 468.
[417] Oettingen, Moralstatistik in ihrer Bedeutung für eine Socialethik, 55; Westermarck, op. cit., 469. Darwin, Descent of Man, chap, viii, discusses the numerical proportion of the sexes, showing their inequality. Cf. Ploss, Das Weib, I, 244-46, giving a table of the number of male and female births for European countries and for several of the commonwealths of the United States, the male predominating.
[418] Thus, according to Sadler, The Law of Population, II, 333 ff., and Hofacker and Notter, Ueber die Eigenschaften welche sich bei Menschen und Thieren von den Eltern auf die Nachkommen vererben, "more boys are born if the husband is older than the wife, more girls if the wife is older than the husband." But Noirot and Breslau have reached the opposite result; and Berner, from Norwegian statistics, has shown that "the law is untenable." From the registers of births in Alsace-Lorraine, Stieda, Das Sexualverhältniss der Geborenen, proves "that neither the relative nor the absolute ages of the parents exercise this sort of influence." Platter "concludes from the examination of thirty million births that the less the difference in the age of the parents the greater is the probability of boys being born." For these authorities and others see Westermarck, op. cit., 469, 470; and compare Thompson and Geddes, Evolution of Sex, 32 ff., for a review of theories, particularly the comparative table, p. 35, and the bibliography, p. 40.
[419] The authorities are compared by Westermarck, op. cit., 470; and there is an interesting discussion of this point by Wake, Marriage and Kinship, 223 ff. Cf. Darwin, Descent of Man, chap. viii, 215 ff. Ploss, Das Weib, I, 239-44, gives a comparative view of the notions of various peoples as to the knowledge of sex before the birth of the child.
[420] Düsing, Die Regulierung des Geschlechtsverhältnisses bei der Vermehrung der Menschen, Tiere, und Pflanzen (Jena, 1884), 121-237.