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 undoubtedly
 due to the fact that the number of the fingers
of the hands suggests itself easily as an appropriate magnitude
 for numerical groupings of elements into units.
Many secret societies have consisted of organizations of
groups of five. In the older civilizations, many organizations
 shaped themselves as combinations of groups of ten
with special duties and responsibilities. Of the larger derivatives,
 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 general
 character of the external relations of small and large
groups has been referred to previously. But the same question
 can be asked in detail for the relation between certain
specific characteristics and certain well-defined magnitudes.
 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 subject
 to specific rights and duties.

1 Soz., pp. 126-30.