BOOK REVIEWS 67 The book throughout emphasizes that in the final analysis, economy is the determinant of a particular social system. Morgan envisioned human history as consisting of three major epochs—savagery, barbarism and civilization, of which the first two were subdivided into a lower, middle, and upper stage, depending on the development in the production of the means of subsistence; for, as he said: "the great epochs of human progress have been identified, more or less directly, with the enlargement of the sources of subsistence."6 His characterization of the different historical periods is as follows: Lower Savagery Fruit and nut subsistence Middle ,, Fishing and employment of fire Upper ,^ Invention of bow and arrow for hunting Lower Barbarism Introduction of pottery (and the village life) Middle ,, Domestication of animals (East); cultivation and stone housing (West) Upper ,, Invention of iron tools and development of plough cultivation Civilization Discovery of phonetic alphabet and writing Engels broadly following Morgan's prehistoric evolutionary schema noted a clear characterization of the periods: Savagery was the period in .which the appropriation of natural products, ready "for use, predominated; the things produced by man were, in the main, instruments that facilitated this appropriation. During the age of barbarism knowledge of cattle breeding and land cultivation was acquired, and methods of increasing the productivity of nature through human activity were learnt. Civilization is the period in which knowledge of the further working up of natural products, of industry proper, and of art is acquired.7 Science of History Besides periodization of human history, Morgan also analyzed the development of family, marriage, kinship and government. He said that out of the original conditions of "promiscuous" intercourse, there appeared ^consanguine family", which prohibited the sex relations between parents and children. What followed was the "punaluan family", which further excluded marriage relations between brothers and sisters. Then came the "pairing'family", a transitional phase to monogamy in which the partners could end the marriage at will. Afterwards came the "patri-archical family5-' where male had the supreme authority (at times polygyny). Recently we have the "monogamian family" resembling the modern nuclear unit. Regarding further development of family, Morgan said that "it must advance as society advances, and change as society changes, even as it has done in the past. It is the creation of the social system and will reflect its culture".8 Further he said, it was due to the growth of wealth, that there was the transition from the martrilineal descent to panilineal and to the advent of monogamy as the only way of avoiding any uncertainty in the matter of paternity.9 Similarly, the other