We may also add that a protracted domicile, together with the habits of
life contracted on very high or cold regions, may have for a further
result that polyandry lays no excessive demands upon a woman. The women
themselves are correspondingly affected in their nature. That they are
so is rendered probable by the circumstance that, among the Eskimo
girls, menstruation sets in only with the nineteenth year, whereas in
the warm zones it sets in as early as the tenth or eleventh, and in the
temperate latitudes between the fourteenth and the sixteenth year. In
view of the fact that warm climates, as universally recognized, exercise
a strongly stimulating influence upon the sexual instinct,--whence
polygamy finds its widest diffusion in warm countries--it is quite
likely that cold regions--to which high mountains and plateaus belong,
and where the thinner air may also contribute its share--may exercise
materially a restringent effect upon the sexual instinct. It must,
moreover, be noted that experience shows conception occurs rarer with
women who cohabit with several men. The increase of population is,
accordingly, slight under polyandry; and it fits in with the difficulty
of securing subsistence, encountered in cold lands and mountain
regions;--whereby additional proof is furnished that also, in this, to
us so seemingly strange phenomenon of polyandry, production has its
determining influence upon the relations of the sexes. Finally, it is to
be ascertained whether among these peoples, who live on high mountains
or in cold zones, the killing of girl babies is not a frequent practice,
as is oft reported of the Mongolian tribes, on the highlands of China.
Exactly the reverse of the custom among the Romans during the Empire, of
allowing celibacy and childlessness to gain the upper hand, was the
custom prevalent among the Jews. True enough, the Jewish woman had no
right to choose; her father fixed upon the husband she was to wed; but
marriage was a duty, that they religiously followed. The Talmud advises:
"When your daughter is of marriageable age, give his freedom to one of
your slaves and engage her to him." In the same sense the Jews followed
strictly the command of their God: "Increase and multiply." Due to this,
and despite all persecutions and oppression, they have diligently
increased their numbers. The Jew is the sworn enemy of Malthusianism.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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