Contents

Introduction -- The origin of marriage -- A human pairing season in primitive times -- The antiquity of human marriage -- A criticism of the hypothesis of promiscuity -- Marriage and celibacy -- The courtship of man -- Means of attraction -- The liberty of choice -- Sexual selection among animals -- The sexual selection of man: typical beauty -- The law of similarity -- Prohibition of marriage between kindred -- Sexual selection as influenced by affection and sympathy, and by calculation -- Marriage by capture and marriage by purchase -- The decay of marriage by purchase; the marriage portion -- Marriage ceremonies and rites -- The forms of human marriage -- The duration of human marriage -- Summary.