ABSTRACT
Father, mother, child were the physical persons; their relationships were physical, and formed the animal family; power, minister, subject are the moral or social persons, their relationships are moral or social, and form the moral family, or the society which is called domestic. The physical strength of the father could not contain this penchant for independence in the other family members; for several children are stronger than a father, and a man's very life is at every moment at his wife's disposition. In this domestic cult of Divinity, the mother had a distinguished place, or perhaps some function relative to her rank in the family. Hence the priestesses of pagan religion, and hence the usual tendency of ancient peoples, whose traces can still be seen in modern times, to attribute something superhuman to women, and in particular knowledge of the future.
