Note 245-12 — Chapter II

Compare J. Graunt, Natural and Political Observations on the Bills of Mortality (1662). During the course of the 19th century, according to averages made from long series of years, there were, for every 1,000 girls born alive in Lombardy, 1,070 boys; in Bohemia, 1,062; in France, 1,058; in Holland, 1,057; in Saxony, 1,056; in Belgium, 1,052; in England, 1,050; in Prussia,[TN 81] 1,048. On the whole, the ratio in 70,000,000 children born alive was as 100 : 105.83. The excess of males over females in bastards is smaller than in the case of legitimate children, in towns than in the country. Everything considered, the number of boys born seems to be greater than the number of girls in proportion as the father is in advance of his wife in years. Compare Sadler, Law of Population, II, 343. Hofacker, Ueber die Eigenschaften die sich vererben, 51 ff. Wappäus, Allg. Bevölkerungstatistik, II, 151, 160 ff., 306 ff. Per contra, we have Legoyt's supposition that the number of boys born is greater in proportion as the parents are more nearly of an age: Statistique comparée, 500.