production for profit, the fundamental form of human society, in a
manner savoring of Fourier, but he also speaks of a future
reorganization of society in language that Karl Marx might have used.
Consequently, he receives his just deserts, when McLennan indignantly
charges him with a profound antipathy against historical methods, and
when Professor Giraud-Teulon of Geneva endorses the same view in 1884.
For was not the same Professor Giraud-Teulon still wandering about
aimlessly in the maze of McLennan's exogamy in 1874 (Origines de la
famille)? And was it not Morgan who finally had to set him free?

It is not necessary to dwell in this preface on the other forms of
progress which primeval history owes to Morgan. Reference to them will
be found in the course of my work. During the fourteen years that have
elapsed since the publication of his main work, the material
contributing to the history of primeval society has been considerably
enriched. Anthropologists, travelers and professional historians were
joined by comparative jurists who added new matter and opened up new
points of view. Here and there, some special hypothesis of Morgan has
been shaken or even become obsolete. But in no instance has the new
material led to a weakening of his leading propositions. The order he
established in primeval history still holds good in its main outlines to
this day. We may even say that this order receives recognition in the
exact degree, in which the authorship of this great progress is
concealed.

London, June 16th, 1891.

FREDERICK ENGELS.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Ancient Society or Researches in the Lines of Human Progress from
Savagery, through Barbarism, to Civilization. By Lewis H. Morgan. Henry
Holt & Co. 1877. The book, printed in America, was singularly difficult
to obtain in London. The author died a few years ago.

[2] McLennan, Studies in Ancient History, 1886. Primitive Marriage, p.
124.

[3] Latham, Descriptive Ethnology, 1859.

[4] McLennan, Studies In Ancient History, 1886. Primitive Marriage, p.
140.

[5] Ibidem, p. 146.

THE ORIGIN OF THE FAMILY

CHAPTER I.

PREHISTORIC STAGES.

Morgan was the first to make an attempt at introducing a logical order
into the history of primeval society. Until considerably more material
is obtained, no further changes will be necessary and his arrangement
will surely remain in force.

Of the three main epochs--savagery, barbarism and
civilization--natura