ard to the scope of his generalisations should read for himself the
chapter in the later work entitled "Theories of Primitive Society."
His theory of the patriarchal power had been criticised by two able
and industrious anthropologists, M'Lennan and Morgan, who, by their
investigation of "survivals" among barbarous tribes in our own day,
had arrived at the conclusion that, broadly speaking, the normal
process through which society had passed was not patriarchal but
"matriarchal," _i.e._ understanding by that term a system in which
descent is traced through females. It would take up far too much space
to enter into this controversy in detail. It is sufficient to say that
the counter-theory rested on the assumption that society originated
not in families, based on the authority of the father and relationship
through him, but in promiscuous hordes among whom the only certain
fact, and, consequently, the only recognised basis of relationship,
was maternity. Maine's answer to this was that his generalisations as
to the prevalence of the patriarchal power were confined to
Indo-European races, and that he did not pretend to dogmatise about
other races, also that he was dealing not with all societies but all
that had any permanence. He argues that the promiscuous horde, where
and when it is found, is to be explained as an abnormal case of
retrogression due to a fortuitous scarcity of females resulting in
polyandry, and he opposes to the theory of its predominance the
potency of sexual jealousy which might serve as only another name for
the patriarchal power. On the whole the better opinion is certainly
with Maine. His theory, at any rate, alone accords with a view of
society so soon as it is seen to possess any degree of civilisation
and social cohesion.

It will be seen that Maine's work, like that of most great thinkers,
presents a singular coherence and intellectual elegance. It is
distinguished also by an extraordinary wide range of vision. He lays
under contribution with equal felicity and suggestiveness the Old
Testament, the Homeric poems, the Latin dramatists, the laws of the
Barbarians, the sacerdotal laws of the Hindus, the oracles of the
Brehon caste, and the writings of the Roman jurists. In other words,
he was a master of the Comparative Method. Few writers have thrown so
much light on the development of the human mind in its social
relations. We know now--a hundred disciples have followed in Maine's
footsteps and