XIII. Chastity

Among men, as among inferior creatures, the needs of the species determine the rightn~ss. or wrongness of these or those sexual relations; for sexual relations unfavourable to the rearing of offspring, in resl?ect either of number or quality, must tend towards degradation and extinction. . The fact that sonle anitnals are polygamous "while others are monogamous is thus to be explained. In Part III of The Principle8 ifSooiology,treating of "Domestic Institutions," it was shown that the relation between· the sexes is liable to be determined into this or that form by environing conditions; and that certain inferior forms of the relation appear, under sonle conditions, to beCOllle necessary: non adoption of thenl being fatal to the society. A natural connexion was found to exist bet\veen polygamy and a life of perpetual hostilities, entailing great destruction of men; since of tribes which ITlutually slaughter their men, the one which, being monogamous, leaves many women unmarried and childless, must fail to maintain its population in face of the one which, being polygalllous, utilizes ~ll its women . CHASTITY. - 449 as motllers.(§ -307). We saw, too, ~that· in .·some cases~ especially in Thihet, polyandry appears~ more conducive to social \velfare than any other relation of the sexes. It receives approval from travellers, and even a Mo~avian plissionary defends it: the missionary' hold.jng that "su per~ abundant population, in an unfertile country, nlust be a great calamity, and produce' eternal warfare or eternal want.' "

(§ 301.) These inferior forms of ..'marriage are' not consistent with thatcon,ception of chastity ~hichaccon;lpanies thee settleq lnonogamy of advanced societies. As we understand it;' the word connotes either the' absence of any sexual relation, or the permanent· .sexual .relation of one nlanwith one woman. But we must not extend this higher conception of chastity to these lower societies. We must not aSSUlnethat there exists in them any snch ethical reprobation of these less-restricted relations as they excite in us. To see this clearly. we nlnst glance at the facts. § 182. Already in § 120 I have given sundry illustrations of the truth, startling to those, whose education has left them ignorant of multiform humanity, that the institution of poly~amy is in various places morally approved, while the opposite institution is condemned. This truth,' however; should-not cause surprise, considering that from childhood all have been familiar with the tacit approval of the usage in the book they regard as divine. The polygarny.of the patriarchs is spoken of as a matter of course, and there is hnp1ied approval of it by a wife who prompts herhllsband to take a concubine. But beyond' this we see, in the case of David,both the religious and the social sanction for a harem: the one being implied by the statement that David, to whom God had given his" master's wives," was a man "after his own heart," and the other by 'the fact that ",~hen Nathan reproached hirn, the. reproach was that he had taken the solitary wite o£Uriah, not that he 450 THE INDUCTIONS OF ETHICS.

had already many wives (1 SaJn. xiii, 14; 2 Sa1n. xii). His many wives we may reasonably suppose constituted a mark of dignity, as do those of kings among savage and serni-civil ized peoples now.. Olearly, then, under certain social condi tions there is a pro-ethical sentiment supporting polygamy, and that species of unchastity implied by it. So, too, is it with polyandry. Various passages in the .Mahabharata inlply that it 'was a recognized institution among the early Indians, regarded by them as perfectly proper: practised, indeed, by those ,vho are upheld as lnodels of virtue. The heroine of the poem, Draupadi, is the wife of five husbands. Each of them had a house and garden of his own, and Draupadi dwelt with them" in turn for two days at a tiIne." }Ieanwhile, as we have already seen (§ 117), one of the husbands, Yudhishthira, unfortu nate notwithstanding his goodness, enunciates the doctrine that right is to be done regardless of consequences; while elsewhere Draupadi describes the virtues ,vhich ,she holds proper for a wife, and represents herself as acting up to them. }{indred evidence is yielded at the present tilne by some of the tribes in the valleys of the' Himalayas-the Ladakhis, and the Cham pas. Telling us that they practise polyandry, Drew says of the Ladakhis that they are "cheerful, willing, and good-tempered;" "they are not quarrelsome;" are "much given to truth-telling;" and he adds that the" social liberty of the women . . . I think it may be said, is as great as that of worknlen's ,vives in Eng land."

Rightly to interpret these facts, however, it should be added that the social state in which polyandry originally existed among the Indian peoples, had emerged from a social state still 10'wer in respect of the sexual relations . .Bad as were the gods of the Greeks, the gods of the ancient Indians were worse. In the Puranas as well as in the Hahabharata there are stories about the "adulterous amours" of Indra,V aruna, and other gods; at the sanle CHASTITY. 451 time that the "celestiaf nymphs are expressly declared to be courtezans," and are" sent by the gods froin time to time to seduce austere sages." A society having a theology of such a kind, cannot "veIl have been other than licentious. With the ascription even of incest to some of their gods, there. naturally went an utter disregard of restraints among thenlselves. In the JJfahabharata we read :-" Women were formerly unconfined, and roved about at their pleasure, independent. Though in their youthful innocence, they abandoned their husbands, they were guilty of no offence; for such was the rule in' early times."

And according to a tradition embodied in that poemThis condition of things was "abolished by Svetakehi" son of the ri8hi Uddalaka, who was incensed at seeing his mother led away by a strange .Brahman. His father told him there was no reason to he .aug-ry,as : ' The women of all castes on -earth are unconfined: just as cattle are situated, so are human beings, too, within their respective castes.' " Hence it may possibly be that polyandry arose as a limita tion of promiscuity; and that .therefore the ethical :sentiment existing in support of it, was really in support ~f:a relative chastity. § 183. Returning now fronl this half-parenthetical discus sion of those types of undeveloped chastity;which are implied by low types of marriage, and resuming the discussion of chastity and unchastity considered in their simple forms, let us first look at ~he evidence presented by various uncivilized peoples. And here, in pursuance of the course followed in . preceding chapters dealing ,vith other divisions of conduct, I am obliged to nalne facts which in the absence of a strong reason should be passed over. They are not, however, rnore objectionable than many 'which are reported in our daily papers with no better motive than ministering to a prurient curiosity.

The absolute or relative deficiency of chastity may be con veniently exemplified by a string of extracts fronl books of travel. We Inay begin with North Alnerica. The testimony 452 THE INDUCTIONS OF ETHICS. of Lewis and Olarke respecting the Chinooks, agreeing with that of Ross, as follows :" Among these people, as indeed among all Indians, the prostitution of unmarried women is so far from be.ing considered criminal or improper, that the females themselves solicit the favours of the other sex, with the entire approbation of their friends and connexions." Concerning the Sioux, these saIne travellers give us a fact equally significant:"The Sioux had offered us squaws, but while we remained there having declined, they followed us with offers of females for two days." Coming further south the Creeks may be nalned as, accord ing to Schoolcraft, no better than the Chinooks. Like evi dence is furnished by South Anlerican races, as the Tupis and Caribs:" Bands [of chastity] were broken without fear, and incontinence was not regarded as an offence."

Caribs" put no value on the chastity of unmarried women." These instances yielded by America, are associated with some in which the unchastity is of a qualified kind. To the fact that "among the Esquimaux it is considered a.. great mark of friendship for two TIlen to exchange wives for a day or two," may be added a like fact presented by the Chippewayans :"It is a very common custom among the men of this country to ex change a night's lodging with each other's wives. But this is so far from being considered as an act which is criminal, that it is esteemed by them as one of the strongest ties of friendship between two families." The Dakotas supply an example, like many found elsewhere, of the coexistence of laxity before marriage with strictness after it. "There are few nations in the world amongst whom this practice, origi nating in a natural desire not to ~ make a leap in the dark,' cannot be traced. Yet after marriage they will live like the Spartan matrons a life of austerity in relation to the other sex."

In ancient Nicaragua, as in various countries, there was another kind of compromise between chastity and un chastity. "On the occasion of a certain annual festival, it was permitted that all the women, of whatever condition, might abandon themselves to the arms CHASTITY. 453 of whomsoever they pleased.- Rigid fidelity, however; was exacted at· all other times." But there seems to have been no restraint at other times 'on the unmarried, as witness Herrera's statement:"Many of the women were beautiful, and their parents used, when the maidens were marriageable, to send them to earn their portions, and accordingly they ranged 'about the country in a shameful manner, till they had got enough to marry them off." Asia furnishes illustrations of another usage common among the uncivilized. The' Kamtschada]es . and .Aleuts lend their wives to guests; and sundry others of the Northern Asiatic races do the like. Pallas tells us that the Kalmucks are little jealous of their wives, and freely give them up to acquaintances. And then of an adjacent people we read" The relation between the sexes, among the Kirghizes, is altogether on a very primitive footing; mothers, fathers, and brothers regard any breach of morality with great leniency, and husbands even encourage their friends to close intimacy with their wives. • • . Like the Kirghizes, the Buruts are strangers to jealousy." .

So, too, of the ~longols Prjevalsky tells us that "adul teryis not even concealed, and is not regarded as a vice." From peoples further south, two inst~nces may be Gited" Among the Red Karens, chastity, both with married and unmarried, is reported as remarkably loose. The commerce of the sexes among young people is defended as nothing wrong, because' it is our custom.' " ." Prostitution is exceedingly common,while chastity is a rare virtue among Toda' women; and the ties of marriage and consanguinity are merely nominal." To all these instances from other regions nlay be added some froln Africa. In his Highland8 oj EtliJiop1~a, Harris writes :"The jewel chastity is here [in Shoa] in no repute; and the utmost extent of reparatjon to be' recovered in a court of justice for the most aggravated case of seduction is but fiye-pence sterling!" The nature of the sentiment prevailing near the Upper Congo is shown by this extract from Tuckey :--"Before marri~,g~, the father or brothers of a girl prostitute her to 454 THE INDUCTIONS OF ETHICS.

every man that will pay two fathoms of cloth; nor does this derogate in any way from her character, or prevent her being afterwards married." And so is it with some unlike people further south. Among the Bushmen, H infidelity to the marriage compact is ..• not considered as a crime; it is scarcely regarded by the offended person ...• They seem to have no idea of the distinction of girl, maiden, and wife; they are all expressed by one word alone." In Polynesia "Te have the well-known evidence yielded by the Arreoi society of Tahiti; and from the same region, or rather from lilicronesia, conles yet other evidence. In his account of the inhabitants of the Ladrone Islands, Freycinet writes :" Souvent onavoit vu les peres vendre sans rougir les premices de leurs filIes ... les meres elles-memes engager leurs enfants a suivre l'impul~ sion de leurs sens... On possede encore une des chansons qu'elles chan toient aleurs filles en pareille circonstance.': The Pelevv Islanders furnish a like case: the universal prac tice being for the mother to instruct her newly-initiated daughter always to exact payment, and the explanation of the usage being" the avarice of parents as recognized by custorD."

Of the opposite trait a good many examples are furnished by primitive or uncultured peoples. Two of them come froln amid these generally lax tribes of North America. Catlin says of the Mandans :-" Their women are beautiful and modest,-and amongst the respectable families, virtue is as highly cherished and as inapproachable, as in any society whatever." And of the Chippewas Keating vvrites :" Ohastity is a virtue in high repute among the Ohippewas, and without which no woman could expect to be taken as a wife by a warrior." But he goes on to admit that there is a good deal of concealed irregularity. Africa, too, yields some instances. " A K.affer ,voman is both chaste and modest:" "instances of infidelity are said to be very rare;" and the like is said of the Bachassins. The Inost numerous examples of chas tity come froln the island races. Mariner tells us that in Tonga adultery is very rare. "Chastity prevails more CHASTITY. 455 perhaps among these [the Sumatrans] than' any other people," says Marsden. Similar is the statement of Low about the inland people of Borneo: "adultery is a crime unknown, and no Dyak (Land) ever recollected an instance of its occurrence." So in Dory, New Guinea, according to Rops, "chastity is held in high regard. . . . Adultery is un known." And Erskine testifies that the ,vornen of Uea, Loyalty Islands, "are strictl,Y chaste before marrjage, and faithful wives afterwards." Some peoples who are in other respects among the lowest are in this respect among the highest. Snow says that the Fuegian women at Picton Island are remarkably modest; and a fact worthy of special note is that among the rudest of the ~Iusheras of India, w~o have no formal marriage, " unchastity, or a change of lovers on either side, when once mutual appropriation has been lnade; is a thing of rare occurrence;" and when it does occur causes excollllnunication. The remaining two most marked instances are found among other peaceful tribes of the In dian hills. Says Hodgson of the Bodo and Dhhnal "Chastity is prized in man and woman, lnarried and unmar ried." And according to Dalton" The Santa! women are represented by all who have written about them as exceedingly chaste, yet the young people of the different sexes are greatly devoted to each other's society and pass much time together."

With these cases of indigenous chastity may be named cases of peoples who are being degraded by foreign influences. In a paper on the Veddahs, whose neighbours the Singhalese are extrelnely lax, Virchow quotes Gillings to the effect that adultery and polygamy are only heard of arnong thern where atternpts have been Inade to civilize them. And then, little as we should expect to meet with such a testitnony from a clergynlanconcerning a race so low as the Australians, yet of one tribe we are told by the Rev. R. W. Holden, as quoted by Taplin, that"The advent of the whites has made the aborigines much more degraded, more helpless, more-yea, much more-susceptible to all diseases. Before our coming amongst them their laws were ~trict, especially those regarding 456 THE INDUCTIONS OF ETHICS. young men and young women. It was almost death to a young lad or man who had sexual intercourse till married." .

But the like cannot be said of other Australian tribes. As thus presented by the uncivilized races, the facts do not fall into clear generalizations: they do not shoV\T distinct relations between chastity or unchastity and social forms or types of race. The evidence does, indeed, preponderate in favour of the relatively peaceful or wholly peaceful tribes, but this relation is not without exception; and conversely, though the standard of chastity is low in most of the fighting societies it is not low in .all. N or, when we con teIllplate special antitheses, do we get clear proof. Of the atrocious Fijians, exceeding in their cannibalisnl all other peoples, and who glory in lying, theft, and lllurder, we read in Erskine that the women are modest and that "female virtue may be rated at a high standard," while according to Seenlann, "adultery is one of the crimes generally pun ished with death." On the other hand, Cook describes the Tahitians as utterly devoid of the sentiment of chastity.

He says:They are" people who have not even the idea of indecency, and who gratify every appetite and passion before witnesses, with no more sense of impropriety than we feel w~en we satisfy our hunger at a social board with our family or friends." At the same time he speaks very favourably of their dis positions :"They seemed to be brave, open, and candid, without either suspicion or treachery, cruelty or revenge; so that we placed the same confidence in them as in our best friends." I-Iere are incongruities which appear quite irreconcilable with the ideas current alnong civilized peoples. § 184. Throughout the foregoing sections the ailll has been .. to ascertain by examination of the facts, what re lations, if any, exist between chastity and social type, as well as between this virtue and other virtues; but we must now consider specifically the prevailing ethical sentirnent~ CHASTITY:" 457 which go along with observance and nOli-observance of it. Already, in many of the quotations abov'e given, these sentirnents have been expressed or inlplied; but to complete the general argulnent it seems needful to observe definitely, the extreme deviation~ from what ,ve may consider normal, wh~ch they sometimes undergo. I will give three instances ..,,--oone from the uncivilized, another fronl a semi-civilized people now extinct, and a third from an existing civilized' people.

, Of the Wotyaks, a Finnish race, the German traveller Buch says:" Indeed it is even disgraceful for a girl if she is little sought after by the young men ... It is therefore only a logical result that it is honourable for a girl to have children. She then gets a wealthier husband, and her father is paid a higher kalym for her." Ooncerning the ancient Ohibchas, of Oentral America, we read:"Some 'Indians . . . did not much care that their wives. should be virgins. . •.. On the contrary, some, if they discovered that they had had no intercourse with men, thought them unfortunate and without luck, as they had not inspired affection in men: accordingly they disliked them as miserable women.", The civilized nation referred to as showing, in some cases, a feeling almost the reverse of that, so strongly pronounced among' .Western nations" we find in the Far East.. Says Dixon of the Japanese:,..-"It used to be no uncommon thing (and we have no clear evidence that the custom is obsolete) for a dutiful daughter to sell herself for a term of years to the proprietor of a house of ill-fame, in order that she might thus retrieve her father's fallen fortunes. When she returned to her home, no stigma attached to her; rather was she honoured for her filial devotion."

Though, in a work just published, The Real Japan,' Mr. Henry Norman denies this alleged return home with credit (in modern titnes at least) he verifies the earlier part of the statement, that daughters are sold for specific periods by their parents: the fact that such parents are tolerated being sufficiently indicative of the prevailing sentilnent. Here then we get proof that in respect of this division of 458 THE INDUCTIONS OF ETHICS. conduct, as in respect of the divisions of conduct dealt,vith in preceding chapters, habits generate sentiments harmonizing with them. It is a trite remark that the individual who per sists in wrong-doing eventually loses all sense that it is wrong-doing, and at length believes that it is right-doing; and the like :holds socially-lnust, indeed, hold socially, since public opinion is but an aggregate of individual opinions. § 185. If, instead of comparing one society with another, we cOInpare early stages of those societies which have devel oped civilizations ·with later stages, we find very variable relations between chastity and social development. Only in modern societies can we say that this relation becomes tol erably clear.

Already we have seen how low in their sexual relations were the people of India in early days, and how, prorniscuity and polyandry having died out, poets and sages in later times endeavoured to explain away the traditional trans gressions of their gods, while existing Hindus show shaIne when reproached ·with the illicit amours of their ancient heroes and heroines. Here there seems to have been a prog,;. ress of the kind to be looked for. That, among adjacent societies, there took place some kin dred changes, seeIns implied in the fact that prostitution in temples, which prevailed among Babylonians, Egyptians, &c., and which, like other usages connected with religion, more persistent than general usages, probably indicated certain customs of earlier tilnes, disappeared partially if not ",~holly. It is to be observed, to·o, that along with wOlnan-stealing, comlnon during prinlitive stages of the civilized, as still anlong the uncivilized, there naturally went a degraded position of captured ,vomen (concnbinage being a usual concomitant), and that therefore, with the cessation of it, one cause of low sexual relations came to an end. That in the case of the IIebrews further advances took place seeins to OHASTITY. 459 be shown by the facts that though Herod the' Great had nine 'wives,and though in the .Mishnah polygamy is referred to as existing, yet the references in Eeelesiast,icus imply the generaf establishment of monogamy.

The relevant changes in the course of Greek civilization clearly do not warrant the assertion that better ll"elations of the sexes accompanied higher social' arranget!lents. The amount of cOllcubinage implied by the lliad,'wds less than that implied by the use of female slaves and servants in Athenian. households; and the established institution of hetairai, with the lnany distinguished of whom coexisted a •. multitude of undistinguished, the adding to the public revenue by a tax on houses of ill-falne, and the continuance of authorized prostitution in the temples of Aphrodite Pandemos,further prove that the relations of the s~xes had degenerated. On passing to Rome ,ve meet with an undeniable case of retrogression in sexualarrange~ ments and usages, going along .with that kind of social progress which. is implied by extension of' empire and increase of political organization. The contrast between the. regular relations of men to women in early ROlnan times, and the extremely irregular relations which pre vailed in the tilnes of the emperors, when the being modest was taken to imply being ugly, and when patrician ladies had to be stopped by law from becoming prostitutes, shows that nioral degradation of this kind may . accolnpany one type of adyancing civilization.

The reaction which comnlenced after these most cor rupt Roman tiInes, ,vas greatly furthered by Christianity .. The furtherance,however, cannot be ascribed to a true conception of the relations of the sexes, and a sentiment appropriate to it, but rather to an asceticism which rep~ robated the acceptance of pleasures and applauded the sub~ mission to pains. The prompting motive was an other worldly one more than an intrinsically moral one; though the other-worldly motive probably fostered the moral mo460 THE INDUCTIONS. OF ETHICS. ti vee But in this case, as in countless other cases, ." the general law of rhythrn was illustrated. Following this violent reaction canle in time a violent re-reaction; so that after a period of sexual restraints came a period of sexual excesses-a period in which the relation between action and reaction was further illustrated by the fact that the nominally-celibate clergy and nuns becalne worse than the laity who were not bound to celibacy.

It should be added that the peoples of Northern Europe, anlong wholn the relations of the sexes seem to have been originally good, also exhibited in course of time, though in a less marked degree, the sexual retrogression that may go along with some kinds of social progression. In mod ern days, however, the advance to higher political types and more settled social states, has been accompanied by an average improvement in this respect as in other respects. § 186. Satisfactory interpretation of these many strange contrasts and variations is impracticable: the causation is too complex. We may, however, note certain causes which Beenl to have been occasionally influential, though we cannot say to what extent. The extreme laxity of the Tahitians may possibly have been encouraged by the imnlensefertility of their habitat. Commenting on the abundance of food almost spontane ouslyproduced by their soil, .Cook says of the Tahitians:----.

~'They seerl1 to be exempted from the first general curse, that' man should eat his bread in the s,veat of his brow.'" Where self-maintenance and, by implication, the n1ain tenance of children, is thus extremely easy, it seems that comparatively little Ihischief results if a mother is left to rear. a child or children without the aid of a father; and in the absence of those evil effects on both parent and off spring which result where the necessaries of life are diffi cult to get, there lnay not tend to arise that social reproba:-CHASTITY. 461 tion of incontinence which arises where its Iniscliievous con~ .'# sequences are conspicuous. Africa furnishes us with, the hint of another cause of laxity which may sometimes operate. The fact 'that "the Dahoman, like almost 'all semi-barbarians, considers a nUlll erous family the highest blessing "-a fact which recalls kindred ones implied in the Bible-be~omes comprehensible, when werelnelnber that in early stages, characterized by constant antagonisms, internal and external, it is important to ,maintain not ,only the" n~nlbers of the tribe in face of other tribes, but also the numbers of the falnilies and, clans; since the weaker of these gO to the wall when struggles take place. Hence it results that not only is, barrenness a reproach but fertility a" ground of esteeln; and hence possibly the reason ,why in;EastAfrica "it is no disgrace for an' unmarried woman tobecolne ,the mother of a family: " the -remark of 'one traveller, which I cannot now find, concerning another tribe,: being that awonJan's irregu ...

larities are 'easily forgiven, if she bears luany children. 'This fact seems to point to the conclusion, pointed to by many preceding' facts; that there is a connexion bet\veen llllchastity and a militant regime; seeing that production Qf many children is a desideratum only where the mortality from "violence is great. For suspecting this connexion we find a further reason in the degraded" position of WOlnen which uniformly accompanies pronounced mili tancy (see Principles o.fSociology, Part" III, Chapter X, ~'The Status of Women"). Where, as among peoples constantly fighting, the hard work is done by slaves and women-where women are, spoils of ,var to be dealt with ~s th~victorsplea,se:-where, when not stolen or gained hy conquest, ,they are bought; it Jsmanifest that the 'wills of women being in abeyanGe, the unchecked ego... ~smof men must conflict with' the' growth of chastity~: ~i\.nd in the settled polygamy of societies which lose great n:umb~rs of Inen in battle, the large harems of kings and 462 THE INDUOTIONS OF ETHICS.

chiefs, the buying of female slaves-all of them character istic of the Inilitant type-we similarly see relations of the sexes adverse to any moral restrictions. If we reIllember that the extreme profligacy of ROIne was reached after long centuries of conquests; if we relllember that there survived during the feudal organization resulting froIn war, the jus primm noctis j if of Russia, exclusively organized for war, "we read that any girl on his estate was until recently, at the lord's disposal; "we see further reason for suspecting that the n1.ilitant type of. society is unfavourable to elevated relations of the sexes. We must not conclude, however, that chastity always characterizes societies of the non-lnilitant type. Though sundry of the above-named peaceful tribes are distinguished from uncivilized tribes at large by the purity of their sexual relations, it is not so with another peaceful tribe, the Todas: these are characterized rather by the opposite trait. The Esquirnaux, too, among ,vholn there is exchange of "wives, do not even know what war is.

§ 187. It remains only to emphasize the truth, discern ible anlid all complexities and varieties, that without a prevailing chastity ·we do not find a good social state. Though comparison of intermediate types of society does not make this clear, it is made clear by comparison of extreme types. Anl0ng the lowest we have such a group as the Ku-Ka-tha clan, inhabiting Western South Australia, whose chief characteristics are "treachery, ingratitude, lying and every species of deceit and cunning," who have "no property,"" no punishment of offenders," "no idea of right and wrong," and who show "absolute lack of the sentiment in question: "chastity or fidelity being quite unknown to them." At the other extreme COlne the most advanced societies of Europe and Anlerica, in which, along with a relatively high standard of chastity (for women at least), there exist high degrees· of the various CHASTITY. 463 traits required for social life which are ,vanting in these Australians. N or does comparison of different stages of civilized nations fail to furnish evidence; as witness the con trast between our ,own time and the time after the Rystora tion, in respect alike of chastity and of general welf~re.

There are three ways in which chastity furthers a superior social state. The first is that indicated at the outset-con duciveness to the nurture,()f offspring. - Nearly everywhere, but especially where the stress of competition makes the rearing of children difficult, lack of· help from the father must leave ··the :rr~other overtaxed, and entail inadequate nutrition of progeny. ',:unchastity, therefore, tends toward~ production of inferior illdividuals, 'and if it prevails' widely' must cause decay'of the society. ' , 'the second cause is that, conflicting as it does with the, establishment of norlnal monogamic 'relations, unchastity is adverse to those higher sentlments which prompt such relations. In societies characterized by inferiQr forms. of marriage, or by irregular connections, there cannot devel~p to any great extent that powerful combination of feelings~ affection, admiration, sympathy-which in 80 marvellous a manner has grown out of the sexual instinct. A~d in th~ absence of this complex passion, which manifestly pre~ supposes a relation between ,one man and ()ne "Yomall, the supreme interest in life disappears, and leaves behind relatively s11,bordinate interests. Evidently a prevalent unchastity severs the higher from the lower components of the sexual relation: the root may produce a fe,v leaves, but no true flower.

Sundry of the keenest resthetic pleasures must at the' same time be undermined. It needs· but to call to mind what a predominant part in fiction, the drama, poetry, and nlusic, is played by the romantic element.,in love,to see that anything ,vhich militates against it tends to diIninish,i£ not to de stroy, the chief gratifications which should fill the leisure part of life. '31 CHAPTER"' XIV. SUMMARY OF INDUCTIONS. § 188. Where the data are few and exact, definitecon w elusions can be drawn; but where -they are nurnerous and inexact, the conclusions drawn must be proportionately indefinite. Pure mathematics exemplifies the one extrerne, and Sociology the other. The" phenomena presented by individual life are highly complex, and still more complex are the phenomena presented by t11elife of aggregated individuals ; and ". their great' complexity is rendered still greater by the Inultiformity and "variability of surrounding conditions. -, To the difficulties iu the way of generalization hence arising, must be added the "" difficulties arising frorn un certainty of the evidence-the doubtfulness, incompleteness, and conflicting natures, of the statements with which we have to deal. Not all"travellers' are to be trusted. Sorne are bad observers, some are biassed by creed or custom, some by personal likings or dislikings; and all have but imper fect opportunities of getting at the truth. Similarly with historians. Very little of what they narrate is from imme diate observation." The greater part of it cornes through channels which colour, and obscure,and distort ; while everywhere party feeling, religious bigotry, and the" senti~ ment of patriotism, cause exaggerations and suppressions.