Reviews. 209
in his interpretation of many of the ceremonies he describes. One would like to have seen a little more careful weighing of evidence, a little more consideration of opposing arguments.
Notwithstanding this, the work has solid merits. As a study of Taboo, especially on the sexual side, it will prove of much value to the student. The author's use of psychology, his insistence on the relation between modern civilised customs and those of savages, his criticism of Westermarck (where he does criticise him), are excellent points. He does not refer to Mr. Payne's admirable History of the Neiv World; but he sees that kinship originated in relation — the relation of contiguity, or (as Mr. Payne puts it) in the food-group. He has thrown light on the taboo of the mother-in-law, though I am not sure that he has quite solved the mystery. His view of the object of marriage-ceremonies appears not to include the fertility of the union ; and his dis- cussion of marriage in relation to the family is quite inadequate, if indeed he can be said to have discussed it at all. He flings altogether aside, as no concern of the investigator of primitive marriage, its legal effect and its relation to the constitution of society. These are important omissions. They bring into relief the limited character of his work. But within its limitations, as a study of Taboo in its bearing on Marriage, it will materially help towards the right appreciation of the complex subject of the origin and development of marriage.
It would greatly have facilitated the use of the book if Mr. Crawley had supplied a list of works cited. The reader desiring to verify a statement has often to hunt through the notes for many pages, in order to arrive at the title of a work subsequently cited simply by the name of the author, with the addition of op. cit.
E. Sidney Hartland.
La Psychologie Ethnique. Par Ch. Letourneau. Paris : Schleicher Freres. 1901.
Professor Letourneau is a well-known writer who has pub^ lished almost as many volumes as there are sides to human culture. Marriage, property, government, law, literature, slavery, VOL. xiii. p
