Abstract
WITH reference to Mr. Davison's letter in NATURE (vol. xxxiv. p. 571), I wish to point out that the subject of algebraic notation, not only for kinship, but for kinship and affinity, has been pretty fully discussed in several papers which I contributed to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and especially in a paper entitled “Analysis of Relationships of Consanguinity and Affinity,” which, at the request of Mr. Galton and Dr. Tylor, I contributed to the Anthropological Institute (Journal of the Anthropological Institute, August 1882). Some idea of the nature of that paper may be got from a statement of the several tables which are appended to it. Table I. gives the notation for the general relations of the first five orders, states the general and singular meaning of each, and classifies them according to index, sign, and grade. Table II. shows how these general relationships are divided into ultimate species. Table III. gives all the possible relationships of a man to a woman, and of a woman to a man, within the first five orders; and such relationships as exclude marriage according to the laws of England are marked with an asterisk. Table IV. gives the consanguineous relationships of the first five orders grouped in lines and species, the agnatic system being formed by the extreme terms on the left, and the uterine system by the extreme terms on the right. Table V. gives strict definitions of the English terms of relationship.
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MACFARLANE, A. Algebraic Notation of Kinship. Nature 35, 126 (1886). https://doi.org/10.1038/035126a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/035126a0
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