Note 418 — Chapter III · THEORY OF THE ORIGINAL PAIRING OR MONOGAMOUS FAMILY

Thus, according to Sadler, The Law of Population, II, 333 ff., and Hofacker and Notter, Ueber die Eigenschaften welche sich bei Menschen und Thieren von den Eltern auf die Nachkommen vererben, "more boys are born if the husband is older than the wife, more girls if the wife is older than the husband." But Noirot and Breslau have reached the opposite result; and Berner, from Norwegian statistics, has shown that "the law is untenable." From the registers of births in Alsace-Lorraine, Stieda, Das Sexualverhältniss der Geborenen, proves "that neither the relative nor the absolute ages of the parents exercise this sort of influence." Platter "concludes from the examination of thirty million births that the less the difference in the age of the parents the greater is the probability of boys being born." For these authorities and others see Westermarck, op. cit., 469, 470; and compare Thompson and Geddes, Evolution of Sex, 32 ff., for a review of theories, particularly the comparative table, p. 35, and the bibliography, p. 40.