That the facts of aggregation are of the highest importance in sociology appears also to be quite clear.[354] These facts have been described by Mr. Wheeler for the Australian aboriginal society, and we shall in several places refer to his work. It will serve us as a basis in the following discussion, which nevertheless does not appear superfluous as it is connected more exclusively with the problem of family. In this connection the main question to be asked is: Do the natives usually live scattered, in single families, or in larger groups? All the features of family life--the husband's authority, the sexual marital relation, the economics of the household, the relation of children to parents--would appear in a different light, and our ideas thereon might in many respects be modified according to the answer we obtained to the above question. This point (_i. e._ the mode of living) would also be decisive in the problem of group relationship: if the natives live normally in single families, which assemble only occasionally, then the individuality of the family relationship is placed beyond any doubt. And if there are, besides, any group relations, they must radically and absolutely differ from the individual one; for the latter, and it only, is constituted by the most powerfully binding element--continuous daily contact. If, however, the aborigines live in more or less numerous groups, our question is still open, and we have to inquire: Do the families, which (permanently or temporarily) form one body, live in a state of social communism and promiscuity? Or are they more or less isolated from each other? That will form the second part of our task.[355]