NUMERICAL RELATIONS OF SOCIAL FORMS 141 
pendent of any specific number. Certain specific numbers 
have, however, usually been chosen for such subdivisions, 
namely, the number ten and its derivatives. This is un- 
doubtedly due to the fact that the number of the fingers 
of the hands suggests itself easily as an appropriate mag- 
nitude for numerical groupings of elements into units. 
Many secret societies have consisted of organizations of 
groups of five. In the older civilizations, many organiza- 
tions shaped themselves as combinations of groups of ten 
with special duties and responsibilities. Of the larger de- 
rivatives, the classical example is the hundred. It was the 
numerical magnitude for subdivisions, not only in early 
German and Anglo-Saxon times, but also in the ancient 
American civilizations.! 
Minimum and Maximum Qualifications 
i] 
The second instance in which the numerical magnitude 
becomes of importance for the external relations occurs in 
case the group manifests specific characteristics only below 
or above a certain size. The distinction between the gen- 
eral character of the external relations of small and large 
groups has been referred to previously. But the same ques- 
tion can be asked in detail for the relation between certain 
specific characteristics and certain well-defined magni- 
tudes. In the last analysis the internal relations of the 
group elements will be the basis for the character of the 
group as a whole, but in this case the interest is not in these 
internal relations, but in the group as a unit. The facts 
which point to the existence of a special significance of the 
size for the group as a whole all belong to one category. 
They are the legal prescriptions with regard to maximum 
and minimum membership for groups which are to be sub- 
ject to specific rights and duties. 
1 Soz., pp. 126-30.