ABSTRACT
In asking your consideration for a subject of the gravest social importance, I do not propose to occupy your time by a rehearsal of the fortunes of the Infants Bill of last session, nor to follow Dr. Frances Hoggan in her very interesting inquiry as to that stage of the evolution of our race, which was marked by the development of the paternal sentiment, and the substitution of the patriarchate, for the more primitive inatriarchate or maternate.
