ing the mother-age. It has done just the
opposite, and has given me the clue to many difficulties that
I was before unable to clear up. This is why I am following
this book rather than other authorities in my examination of
the patriarchal theory. I take this opportunity of recording
my debt to the authors, and of expressing my thanks to Mr.
Wells, who recommended me to read the book.

Whether Mr. Atkinson is right I shall not attempt to say; the point is
one on which I hesitate a decided opinion; but as this view affords
support to my own theory I shall accept it.

Now, to consider the bearing of this on our present inquiry. So far I
have followed very closely the family group gathered around the
patriarchal tyrant, under the conditions given by Mr. Atkinson and Mr.
Lang, in _Social Origins and Primal Law_. It will not, I think, have
escaped the notice of the reader that very little has been said about
the women and their children. There is no hint at all that the women
must have lived a life of their own, different in its conditions from
that of the men. The female members, it would seem, have been taken
for granted and not considered, except in so far as their presence is
necessary to excite the jealous sexual combats of the males. This
seems to be very instructive. The idea of the subjection of all
females to the solitary male has been accepted without question. But
the group consisted of _many women and only one adult man_. Yet in
spite of this, the man is held to be the essential member; all the
family obey him. His wife (or wives) and his daughters, though
necessary to his pleasure as also to continue the group, are regarded
as otherwise unimportant, in fact, mere property possessions to him.
Now, I am very sure the rights these group-women must have held have
been greatly underrated, and the neglect to recognise this has led, I
think, to many mistakes. I am willing to accept the authority of the
polygamous patriarch--within limits. But it seems probable, as I shall
shortly indicate, that a predominant influence in the domestic life is
to be ascribed to the women, and, therefore, "the movement towards
peace within the group circle" must be looked for as a result from the
feminine side of the family, rather than from the male side. There is
still another point: I maintain that precisely through the
concentration of the male ruler on the sexual subjection of his
females, conditions must ha