II. THE SEXUAL EPOCH OF THE MENACME. (continued 5)

356Regarding the pathological conditions of the female reproductive organs which counteract the peripheral sensory excitants of voluptuous sensation, we exclude from further consideration the obvious causes, absence and atrophy of the reproductive organs, and senile marasmus. Of prime importance as a cause of the failure of sexual sensibility in the early period of married life must be mentioned inflammation of the fossa navicularis, due to awkward attempts at intercourse. Other causes of deficient sensibility are: complete or partial persistence of the hymen, lesions of the vaginal inlet, acute or chronic vulvitis in consequence of irritating abundant secretion, especially as a sequel of gonorrhœal vaginitis. The last named infective disorder is especially harmful, because Bartholin’s glands are involved in the associated vulvitis. Even after the cure of the vulvitis, permanent dyspareunia may remain. Perineal fissures may result in the stimulant effect of coitus being insufficient, owing to the slight friction possible at the vaginal inlet in these cases. Not less serious sometimes are small, hardly discernible fissures in the vagina. Additional causes of deficient sexual sensibility are recto-vaginal, and vesico-vaginal fistulæ.

The second cause of dyspareunia, diminution or complete lack of irritability of the reflex centre of the lumbar enlargement of the spinal cord, appears to be less frequently operative. We must, however, assume that certain nervous disorders, such as hysteria and pathological changes in the spinal cord, are responsible in this connection. The activity of the lumbar sexual centre appears in women to be normally subject to variation within certain limits; and seems usually to attain its maximum irritability during menstruation. But normally these variations are never so great as to produce in women complete though merely temporary dyspareunia; in this respect offering a marked contrast to what occurs in other animals at other times than the rutting season, and of which every bitch not on heat furnishes an example when she refuses the sexual advances of the dog.

As regards the third causal influence in the production of dyspareunia, the influence of the brain, this, though important, is less frequently in operation. Diseases of the brain, degenerative processes, may constitute a cerebral cause for the failure of sexual sensation. But more frequently, certain cortical perceptions, such as dislike or hatred of the cohabiting male, an ardent passion for some other lover, grief and trouble, exercise inhibitory influences, which render the occurrence of voluptuous pleasure during the sexual act difficult or quite impossible.

357A condition like dyspareunia, our knowledge of which depends entirely upon the subjective sensations of the woman concerned, is naturally one regarding whose existence accurate information is difficult to obtain. Very rarely does it happen that women spontaneously approach the physician with complaints of this condition; indeed, in my experience, they do so only when they are sterile, and when they assume, in accordance with the widespread popular belief, that their sterility is connected with the absence of voluptuous sensation during sexual intercourse. More commonly, however, it is the husband who feels it his duty to confide to the medical man the remarkable apathy of his wife in sexual intercourse. But when once the medical man’s attention has been directed to this question, and when he institutes enquiries among his patients in a scientific, passionless manner, one making due allowance for a woman’s modesty, as the moral importance of the subject demands, he will be astonished at the frequency of dyspareunia, and he will find herein the explanation of many obscure phenomena in the life of women. On the other hand, it must never be forgotten that a certain number of women complain of dyspareunia without any justification whatever, in order to arouse interest and sympathy, by representing themselves as unwilling sacrifices on the marital altar: the experienced gynecologist will readily detect the cases in which he is being misinformed; he can, moreover, always check the wife’s statements by conversation with the husband.

The constant sign of dyspareunia is the failure of ejaculation during coitus. We have previously described the muscular contractions which lead to ejaculation of the secretion of Bartholin’s glands and to the expulsion of the uterine and cervical mucus, as reflex actions evoked by the sensory stimulus dependent on friction of the female genital organs. The voluptuous sensation of ejaculation, associated with these muscular contractions, which the woman whose sensibility is normal experiences as the culminating point of her sexual “gratification,” is either quite unknown to a woman affected by dyspareunia, or is experienced by her only in a voluptuous dream, as a pollution, in which the sexual dream-perceptions act as the psychical stimuli by which the reflex discharge is originated. It has repeatedly happened to me, that on enquiring of women suffering from dyspareunia regarding their experience of the sensation of ejaculation, I have been informed that such sensations are known to them only from the descriptions of their female friends, or occasionally from dreams from which 358they have awakened with a feeling of moisture in the external genitals. Von Krafft-Ebing refers this process to a peristaltic contraction of the muscular fibres of the Fallopian tubes and the uterus, “whereby the tubal and uterine mucus is expressed;” whereas, for my part, I am of opinion, that ejaculation affects in the first place and principally the glands of Bartholin, the secretion of which is expressed by the contraction of the constrictor cunni muscles, and secondarily only affects the cervical glands of the uterus.

As a second sign of dyspareunia, I recognize a remarkably rapid outflow of the male semen from the female genital canal, immediately after coitus (profluvium seminis). The woman thus affected complains, when suitably questioned, that she is unable to retain the semen, and that it flows out of the vagina immediately after ejaculation. The cause of this remarkable phenomenon no doubt lies in the fact, that, owing to the absence of the voluptuous sensation, the reflex contractions of the muscles of the female genital organs, normally accompanying this sensation during intercourse, fail to occur. At the vaginal inlet, in normal conditions, the constrictor cunni muscle contracts, and farther up in the vagina a peristaltic contraction of the circularly disposed muscular fibres of the tunica media occurs: in this way the semen ejaculated into the vagina is for a time retained under a certain pressure. But in the absence of these muscular contractions, as well as of the muscular contraction of the pelvic floor, retention of the semen fails to occur. Cattle-breeders and horse-breeders have made similar observations regarding cows and mares, namely, that these animals are sometimes unable to retain the semen after coitus, and it is suggested that in these cases the animals are not properly on heat. Experienced cattle-breeders recommend in such cases that the retention of the semen should be promoted by douching the root of the tail and the external genitals with cold water. It is well known that by stimulating the peripheral sensory nerves in the neighbourhood of the genital organs, a reflex excitement of the lumbar sexual nerve centre is produced, as is seen, for example, in the practice of flagellation of the buttocks, for the increase of sexual desire.

Passing to the consideration of the pathological changes to be found in the reproductive organs of women suffering from dyspareunia, the nature of these will for the most part be obvious in relation to the etiology of the disorder. Most frequent, in my experience, were chronic inflammatory states of the vulva and of the vaginal and uterine mucous membrane, chronic metritis and parametritis. 359A very frequent appearance, and one practically characteristic of dyspareunia when of long standing, is a marked total relaxation of the reproductive apparatus. The uterus is extremely mobile, usually retroverted and partially prolapsed, thin, with lax walls, and usually an enlarged cavity; the portio vaginalis is flaccid, and runs to a point; the vagina is roomy; there is marked hypersecretion of the mucous membrane of the entire genital canal; there is great flaccidity of the constrictor cunni and levator ani muscles, and of the perineum. In several women with dyspareunia, I found old unhealed lacerations of the perineum. In some cases, the very small size of the clitoris is noteworthy. In one case amenorrhœa was present with an infantile uterus. In a large proportion of the cases I was able to detect a diminution both of the tactile and algic sensibility of the vaginal mucous membrane. The women were for the most part anæmic; many were extremely obese, and of lymphatic constitution. In some cases, however, no pathological changes whatever could be detected in the reproductive apparatus.

Dyspareunia is a condition which affects a woman’s whole nature, powerfully influences her mental life, and thus gives rise to greater psychical than physical damage. The consciousness of being deprived of the greatest joy of physical love produces great emotional depression, even in a woman by no means sensually inclined, and gives rise to a hypochondriacal state, at times even to melancholia. In other cases, the idea, not infrequently suggested by more happily situated women friends, that the woman herself is not to blame for this condition, has a demoralizing effect upon her, and destroys the happiness of married life. (It has been confessed to me, in isolated cases, that the dyspareunia was relative only.) Apart from this, the absence of sexual gratification gives rise to a series of nervous troubles, presenting either the variable characters of hysteria, or else the symptoms of neurasthenia. Finally, the frequently repeated incomplete coitus, incomplete inasmuch as the woman does not experience the sensation of ejaculation, induces chronic hyperæmia in the female reproductive organs, passing on into blood stasis, and ultimately into chronic inflammatory tissue changes; in this way arise metritis, perimetritis, and parametritis, salpingitis, oöphoritis, disorders of menstruation, menorrhagia, and atypical uterine hæmorrhages. The possibility cannot be disproved, that in this way new-growths of the reproductive organs may also originate. The act of sexual intercourse, which at first may be to 360the woman a matter of comparative indifference, and in which she plays her part merely from a sense of duty, becomes, in cases of long-standing dyspareunia, something to which she feels a positive dislike, and is recognized by her as the actual cause of the troubles that ensue upon intercourse, such as sacrache, sensations of weight and pressure in the pelvis, strangury, fluor albus, a feeling of exhaustion, etc.

At times, perverse sexual sensation is associated with dyspareunia. Women who find no enjoyment in normal sexual intercourse with a male, sometimes masturbate, sometimes indulge in amor lesbicus, etc.

Of great importance appears to me the relation between dyspareunia and sterility in women. As already pointed out, dyspareunia comes chiefly under medical observation in cases in which it is associated with sterility. The husband, seeking advice concerning his wife’s failure to conceive, complains of her frigidity in sexual intercourse as the probable cause; or the wife comes to seek advice, saying that she never experiences sexual gratification, and that for this reason she has failed to become pregnant. As a matter of actual fact, dyspareunia and sterility are associated with such remarkable frequency, that my own experience leads me to believe in the existence of an etiological connection between the two conditions, at least in a certain proportion of the cases. Among 69 sterile women whom I questioned regarding dyspareunia, the latter condition was present in 26, that is to say, in 38% of the cases. Matthews Duncan reported that of 191 sterile women, 62 did not experience sexual enjoyment. Sexual excitement of the woman during copulation would certainly appear to have a definite bearing upon the occurrence of conception, for we know that by the voluptuous sensation reflex actions are aroused in the genital canal, favouring the retention of semen and its passage through the os to the interior of the uterus, and perhaps also giving rise to reflex changes in the cervical secretion which favour the passage of the spermatozoa into the uterine cavity.

In cases of relative dyspareunia, the influence of this condition in producing sterility is also manifested, the unfaithful wife being impregnated by her lover though she has remained sterile in intercourse with the husband to whom she is indifferent. To dyspareunia of this nature (dependent upon sexual disharmony), we may also refer the sterility of a married pair who have for some time lived together in unfruitful intercourse, whereas, after divorce and the contraction of fresh unions, both the man and the woman 361prove normally fertile. Such cases have been personally known to me; and similar instances aroused the attention of the natural philosophers of antiquity, for instance, that of Aristotle. The importance of voluptuous sensation in promoting conception is also manifest from the fact that in the majority of women, after the pains of defloration, dyspareunia usually persists for a season during the early period of married life; and, corresponding with this, the first conception is usually deferred for some little time after marriage, to a period corresponding with the awakening of the sensation of ejaculation. In this connection, Courty reports the case of a lady who, although in blooming health, remained sterile during the first fifteen years of her married life; she then gave birth to a child whose father was unquestionably her lover; and after this in succession to two other children whose progenitor was the legal husband. This lady had never experienced voluptuous sensation in intercourse prior to the time of her first conception. Similar circumstances with an even clearer significance have been frequently observed among the lower animals; and Darwin records several striking observations of this character. Taking all the evidence into consideration, we are compelled to regard dyspareunia as a condition capable of causing sterility in women, although the sequence is not an absolutely necessary or invariable one.

In order to excite voluptuous sensation during intercourse, savage races make use of various means, some of which we here transcribe from the work of Ploss-Bartels. In Abyssinia, and on the Zanzibar coast, young girls receive instruction in certain rotary muscular movements known by the name of duk-duk, which they employ during coitus for the increase of sexual pleasure. Many Daiaks perforate the glans penis with a silver needle from above downwards; this needle is kept in place like a seton, until a permanent canal is formed through the glans: in order during coitus to stimulate the woman more powerfully, into this canal, just before coitus, various small articles are inserted, such as little rods of brass, ivory, silver, or bamboo, or silver instruments ending in small bundles of bristles; these project from the surface of the glans, and exercise a more powerful friction of the vagina, thus increasing the sexual pleasure of the woman. Men without such an apparatus are rejected by the women, whilst those who have made several such canals in the glans, and can therefore insert several instruments, are especially sought after and prized by the women. Such an apparatus is known as an ampallang, and 362in a symbolic manner the woman indicates to a man of her choice her desire that he should make use of one; he finds in his bowl of rice a rolled-up leaf, enclosing a cigarette which represents the size of the desired ampallang. Among the Alfurs of North Celebes, in order to increase the voluptuous pleasure of the woman during intercourse, the men bind round the corona glandis the eyelids of a goat, beset with the eyelashes, thus forming a bristly collar; in Java and in Sunda, before coitus, the men surround the penis with strips of goat-skin, leaving the glans free. In China they wind round the corona glandis torn fragments of a bird’s wing; these also project like bristles and increase the friction. Among the Batta of Sumatra, travelling medicine-men perform an operation by means of which they insert, beneath the skin of the penis, small stones, sometimes to the number of ten, at times also angular fragments of gold or silver; these heal in beneath the skin, and increase the stimulus of coitus for the women. Among the Malays of Borneo the penis is perforated, and some fine brass wire with the ends turned inwards is inserted: before coitus, the sharp ends of the wire are drawn out so as to project from the skin.

In our own part of the world, voluptuaries make use of an india-rubber ring beset with spines, which before coitus is passed over the corona glandis, in order to promote sexual gratification in the woman during intercourse. In cases of diminished potency in the male, in order to produce sufficient sexual excitement in the female by more powerful erection of the penis, various mechanical means are now employed. For instance, in such a partially impotent man, a constricting band of india-rubber may be passed over the root of the penis, whereby the reflux of blood from the corpora cavernosa is hindered, and a more complete and more enduring erection is induced. Elderly men have frequently declared to me that they were well satisfied by the employment of this simple measure, whilst behind their backs, their wives have assured me that the results were far from satisfactory. The apparatus described by Roubaud for the enlargement of the penis is no longer employed. Partially impotent men make use, however, of an instrument known by the name of “schlitten,” made of gold, silver, or white-metal; it consists of two delicate laminæ, united at the base by a metal ring, and at the upper end by an india rubber ring. This small apparatus, which must be made exactly to measure, renders possible the introduction of the imperfectly erect penis into the vagina; it supports the penis, and readily accommodates itself to the change in size of the organ as it slowly becomes erect.

363

Fertility in Women.

Fertility in women is the basis of the fecundity of a nation, of its growth, its power, and its importance. It is especially the fertility of married women which enters here into consideration, and forms the source of the statistical data of fertility; these are usually obtained by drawing a ratio between the number of marriages contracted in a given period, and the number of children born in the same period.

The fertility of women is a function beginning at an age varying in dependence on many conditions, and undergoing extinction at a definite period of life. It is, in fact, associated with the duration of the sexual life of woman, and, generally speaking, extends from the sixteenth to the fiftieth year of life. Climate, race, constitution, and morbid conditions, influence alike the first appearance of menstruation and the first pregnancy; and as they influence the duration of menstrual activity, so also do they influence the duration of fertility.

In the Bible are recorded numerous instances of the early commencement of fertility. At the present time also, in warm climates we meet with many examples of early motherhood. From the great work of Ploss-Bartels, from which we have already frequently quoted, we extract and summarize the following ethnographical details. Among the wives of the Bosjesman, mothers aged ten are frequently seen; travellers in New Zealand often saw mothers of eleven years, and mothers of the same age among the Samoyedes and in Palestine; mothers of twelve in British Guiana, in Jamaica, among the Schangallas, at Shiraz in Persia, among the Copts in Egypt; mothers aged thirteen in Cuba, among the Sioux and the Dakotas, and in New Caledonia; mothers aged fourteen among the Negroes of Gaboon.

According to the observations of Robertson, of sixty-five Indian women there gave birth for the first time:

At the age of 10 years 1

At the age of 11 years 4

At the age of 12 years 11

At the age of 13 years 11

At the age of 14 years 18

At the age of 15 years 12

At the age of 16 years 7

At the age of 17 years 1

Moreover, in the records of European countries, we find numerous instances of very early motherhood. Molitor’s case, a girl nine 364years old giving birth to a vesicular mole with an embryo; von Haller’s case, pregnancy in the ninth year of life; Carus’ case, pregnancy at the age of eight. Caspar saw a girl in Berlin who became pregnant at the age of twelve, and was delivered of a living child. Rüttel saw a girl nine years of age pregnant. King attended the confinement of a girl who at the time of her delivery was not yet eleven years old. Taylor reports the case of a girl twelve years and six months of age who was then in the last month of pregnancy. Koblanck attended a girl of fourteen who was delivered of a child weighing four and a half pounds.

In most of these cases the premature fertility is followed by a premature cessation of fertility. And there is more or less truth in Bruce’s statement regarding the Arab women in Africa, that those who began to bear children at the age of eleven were seldom still fertile at the age of twenty.

At times we may observe a remarkable extension of fertility beyond the average age, that is, beyond the age of fifty years.

In northern Europe pregnancy at a comparatively advanced age is by no means rare. From the official statistics of Denmark we learn that among 10,000 women, 465 were delivered at ages between 50 and 55 years. In Sweden, of 10,000 mothers, 300 gave birth to children when more than 50 years of age. In Ireland, the proportion of mothers over 50 was 345 per 10,000. In England the official figures dealing with the delivery of 483,613 women, showed that 7,022 were between 45 and 50 years of age, and 167 over 50 years of age.

The Surgical Academy of Paris, in an authoritative statement regarding the late age at which conception could take place, alluded to the fact that Cornelia, of the family of the Scipios, gave birth to Volusius Saturninus when sixty years of age, that the physician Marsa in Venice recorded the existence of pregnancy in a woman of sixty, that de la Motte recorded pregnancy in a woman of fifty-one, and that he believed it to be true that another Parisian woman had given birth to a girl at the age of sixty-three, and had herself suckled the infant.

In an important case, however, which came before the Court of Chancery in England, the court held that there was no definite evidence of the possibility of pregnancy in a woman sixty years of age; but that the greatest age at which, in England, pregnancy had indisputably occurred, was 54.

Among 4,925 deliveries occurring in the Prague Maternity Hospital, 365Schwing reports that there were 9 women delivered for the first time when over 40 years of age. Of these:

3 were 41 years of age.

2 were 42 years of age.

1 was 43 years of age.

2 were 44 years of age.

1 was 47 years of age.

Haller reports the cases of two women who gave birth to children, one at the age of 63, the other at the age of 70 years. Meissner delivered a woman of 60 years of her seventh child; Rush attended the delivery of a woman aged 60; Dewees that of a woman aged 61. Mende and Bernstein report cases of delivery at the age of 60. Marion Sims saw, in the state of Alabama, a negro woman 58 to 60 years of age, who gave birth to a child at this age, at an interval of twenty years since her last pregnancy. Nieden reports a case in which the first pregnancy occurred 26 years after marriage. When married, the wife was 18 years of age, the husband 30; during their first twenty-five years of married life there was no sign of pregnancy, but when the wife was 44 years of age, menstruation, hitherto regular, suddenly ceased; the cause of the cessation proved to be pregnancy, and at term a healthy girl weighing nine pounds was born; the mother was able to nurse the child herself. Smith attended a woman aged 52 who was delivered of twins; the youngest of her eight other children, who were then all living, was ten years of age.

Rodzewitsch collected from the Russian literature of the years 1872 to 1881, eleven cases in which women aged 50 to 55 had given birth to children. Talquist reports that in Finland, in the year 1883, a woman 58 years of age was delivered; whilst Ansell records the case of an Englishwoman who became a mother when 59 years of age. John Kennedy records the case of a woman of 62 who was normally delivered at this age; she had begun to menstruate at the age of 13, and since the age of 20 had previously given birth to 21 children, the last five when she was 47, 49, 51, 53, and 56 years of age, respectively. Prior even reports the case of a woman 72 years of age, who not only menstruated, but had an abortion(!)

The ideal of fertility in women is that the first completed act of sexual intercourse should be followed immediately by conception, that the pregnancy should terminate after the normal lapse of time in the birth of a child, and that the same process should be 366repeated at intervals of about ten months until the end of active sexual life. In actual experience, however, this never occurs. Fertilization as an immediate consequence of the first act of sexual intercourse (which in the lower animals is regarded as the rule) is a very rare occurrence in human beings. Moreover, in no single marriage is the reproductive capacity of the wife utilized to the full, up to the time of extinction of her generative faculty; either because the potency of the male partner undergoes a gradual decline, or, it may be, because, after a while, sexual intercourse becomes less frequent, or because precautions against procreation are taken.

The number of children to which during the three decades of her sexual life, from the menarche to the menopause, a woman might theoretically give birth, is never actually born. If we assume that, during the period of active sexual life, a woman requires a period of fifteen months to two years for each pregnancy, parturition, and lactation, a woman could easily during this period have fifteen or sixteen children, and this figure would represent the normal product of the normal fertility of the human female. There are indeed, women who, it may be in consequence of an exceptionally long period of sexual activity, or through giving birth repeatedly to twins or triplets, or because they have married several husbands in succession, have given birth to twenty-four children or even more. In Berlin, in the year 1901, there lived a woman 41 years of age who had had 23 children; there were three women, aged respectively 40, 43, and 46 years, who had had each 21 children; 246 women with families numbering 13 to 20; and 169 women each of whom had given birth to 12 children. In the very great majority of cases, however, the fertility of the wife of the present day is never fully developed. It is modified in various ways by the conditions of marriage, by social circumstances, by considerations relating to the health of husband or wife, by actual illnesses, and by voluntary limitation of fertility. Generally speaking, according to the investigations of Quetelet, Sadler, and Finlayson, the fertility of women is greatest in marriages in which the husband is as old as the wife, or a little older, but without marked difference in age. Marriages contracted at a very early age are less fruitful; the highest fertility is found in marriages contracted when the husband is 23 and the wife 26 years of age.

Conception does not generally take place until sexual intercourse has been frequently repeated. As the result of a statistical enquiry 367of my own, relating to 556 fruitful marriages, I ascertained that in these the first delivery occurred:

Within 10 months after marriage in 156 cases.

Within 11 to 15 months after marriage in 199 cases.

Within 16 to 24 months after marriage in 115 cases.

Within 2 to 3 years after marriage in 60 cases.

More than 3 years after marriage in 26 cases.

Thus we learn that in 35.5% of the cases the first delivery occurred within 1¼ years after marriage; in 15.6% within 10 months; and in 19.9% within 15 months after marriage; and 11.5% of the cases, the first delivery was more than 1¼ years and less than 2 years after marriage; in 6.0% it was between 2 and 3 years after marriage; and in 2.6%, the first delivery did not occur until more than 3 years after marriage.

From examination of the birth registers of Edinburgh and Glasgow, Matthews Duncan determined the mean interval between marriage and the birth of a living child to be seventeen months. In the majority of cases, the first delivery does not occur until a complete year has elapsed since marriage; in fact, in nearly two-thirds of the instances the first delivery occurs during the second year of married life.

The interval between two successive births is, according to Matthews Duncan, on the average 18 to 24 months, according to Goehlert, 24 to 26 months; the latter, however, points out that in cases in which the child dies very soon after birth, the birth of the next child ensues on the average in 16 to 18 months. In this connection, we must not fail to take into consideration the influence of lactation, inasmuch as mothers who do not suckle their children become pregnant considerably earlier, on the average, than those who undertake this duty. In reigning families, for instance, it is by no means uncommon for the consort to be delivered twice within a single year. The degree to which lactation hinders conception is so widely known, that women often suckle their infant for a very long period, with the definite aim of preventing the speedy recurrence of pregnancy. A high official from the Dutch Indies informed me that for this reason the native women were accustomed to suckle their infants for several years, and that it was by no means uncommon to see a small boy running about smoking a cigar, and then hurrying to his mother in order to be suckled.

The age at which a woman contracts marriage has also to this extent an influence upon her fertility, inasmuch as it appears that those who marry very young are far less fertile than those who 368marry between the ages of 20 and 25 years; the latter moreover have, on the average, a shorter time to wait for their first conception than women who marry before the age of 20. Women who marry after the age of 25 have to wait longer after marriage for their first delivery; in fact the older the woman after 25, the greater, on the average, the interval between marriage and the first delivery.

Arranging the data already referred to, regarding 556 fruitful women, in relation to this point of view, it appears that the first birth ensued:

Within 10 months of marriage. 10 to 15 months after marriage. 15 months to 2 years after marriage. 2 to 3 years after marriage. More than 3 years after marriage.

In 163 women marrying at ages 15 to 20 years 36 53 46 18 10

In 313 women marrying at ages 20 to 25 years 98 113 56 32 14

In 70 women marrying at ages 25 to 33 years 18 30 12 9 1

In 10 women marrying at ages over 33 years 4 3 1 1 1

To give percentages, the first birth occurred,

Within 10 months of marriage. 10 to 15 months after marriage. 15 months to 2 years after marriage. 2 to 3 years after marriage. More than 3 years after marriage.

Women marrying at ages 15 to 20 years, in 22.0% 32.5% 28.2% 11.0% 8.1%

Women marrying at ages 20 to 25 years, in 31.3% 36.1% 17.8% 10.2% 4.4%

Women marrying at ages 25 to 33 years, in 25.7% 42.8% 17.1% 12.8% 1.4%

Women marrying at ages over 33 years, in 40.0% 30.0% 10.0% 10.0% 10.0%

369Thus whereas in women who contracted marriage between the ages of 15 and 20 years, only 54.5% were confined for the first time within 15 months after marriage, in women who contracted marriage between the ages of 20 and 25 years, in 67.4% the first delivery occurred within 15 months of marriage. And whereas in those who married at the earlier age, the percentage of first deliveries occurring between 15 months and 2 years after marriage was 28.2, in those who married between the ages of 20 and 25, the percentage of first deliveries after the stated interval was only 17.8.

The figures compiled by Whitehead and Pfannkuch give similar results. Of 700 women who married between the ages of 15 to 20 years, there were 306 only who gave birth to a child within the first two years after marriage; whereas of 1,835 women who married between the ages of 20 and 25 years, no less than 1,661 gave birth to a child within two years after marriage—a percentage of 43.7 in the former case, and 90.6 in the latter case. Pfannkuch, as the result of a very large collection of figures relating to this question, found that in women marrying before the age of 20 years, the average number of months before the first delivery was 26; whereas in women marrying after the age of 20 years, the average number of months before the first delivery was 20.

According to Matthews Duncan

Of Every 100 Women Who Marry There Become Mothers

In the 1st year of married life. In the 2d year of married life.

Between the ages of 15 and 20 years 13.71 43.70

Between the ages of 20 and 25 years 18.48 90.51

Between the ages of 25 and 30 years 12.41 75.80

Between the ages of 30 and 35 years 11.44 62.93

Between the ages of 35 and 40 years 9.27 40.97

Sadler examined the relationship between the age at which marriage was contracted and the number of offspring in the case of the wives of English peers. He obtained the following results:

Age at marriage. Births per marriage.

12 to 16 years 4.40

16 to 20 years 4.63

20 to 24 years 5.21

24 to 28 years 5.43

370From exact statistical data of births in the Scandinavian countries of Europe (Denmark, Sweden and Norway), Goehlert compiled the following table, showing the percentages of fertility at various ages:

Ages. Married Women. Unmarried Women.

Denmark. Sweden. Norway. Denmark. Sweden. Norway.

Under 20 years. 1.0 1.0 0.7 9.1 7.0 4.9

From 20 to 25 years. 13.9 12.8 11.9 43.9 35.1 37.0

From 25 to 30 years. 26.5 24.7 24.7 28.1 27.9 32.4

From 30 to 35 years. 26.7 26.1 25.3 11.4 16.8 14.9

From 35 to 40 years. 21.0 21.6 21.3 5.4 9.0 7.1

From 40 to 45 years. 9.9 12.0 13.0 2.1 4.2 3.7

Over 45 years. 1.1 1.8 3.1

From this table it appears that the fertility of married women increases steadily up to the age of 35 years, but after this age it begins to decline. What a marked influence the age at marriage has upon fertility is shown by the comparison of the figures relating to married women with those relating to unmarried women; the fertility of unmarried mothers attains its maximum at the ages of 20 to 25 years. In the countries under consideration the average age of women at the time of marriage is 25 to 27 years.

In order to obtain a still clearer picture of the fertility of women in relation to age, Goehlert has combined the figures relating to the married and the unmarried, and then calculated the percentages, with the following results:

Ages. Married and Unmarried Women.

Denmark. Sweden. Norway.

Under 20 years. 1.7 1.6 1.1

From 20 to 25 years. 16.6 15.1 14.1

From 25 to 30 year 26.6 25.0 25.3

From 30 to 35 years. 25.3 25.1 24.4

From 35 to 40 years. 19.6 20.4 20.0

From 40 to 45 years. 9.2 11.2 12.2

From 45 to 50 years. 1.0 1.6 2.9

Over 50 years.

371If, finally, we combine into a single table the figures relating to all three of these countries, we obtain the following results:

Under 20 years 1.5%

From 20 to 25 years 15.3%

From 25 to 30 years 25.6%

From 30 to 35 years 24.9%

From 35 to 40 years 20.0%

From 40 to 45 years 10.9%

Over 45 years 1.8%

From these figures it appears that the maximum fertility of married women is attained, in Denmark at the age of 31, in Norway at the age of 31.7, and in Sweden at the age of 32 years. In the case of unmarried women, the maximum fertility is at the ages of 24 to 26 years. In the Austrian Empire, the maximum fertility of women is attained at about the age of 30 years; in England it is attained between the ages of 20 and 25 years.

Divergent results as regards the fertility of married women at different ages were obtained by Goehlert from the examination of 5,290 cases from the reigning families of Europe. In the favourable position as regards means of subsistence occupied by the members of these families, marriage naturally occurs, in most cases, much earlier in life, the mean age at marriage being between 19 and 22 years—the youngest mother (in the Capet dynasty) was only 13 years of age—and for this reason the figures relating to the younger age-classes are larger than in the previous tables. But as a result of this, the reproductive capacity also undergoes an earlier extinction, so that of these women, not one gave birth to a child when she was over 50 years of age. Goehlert gives the following table, compiled from these 5,290 instances:

Under 20 years 8.8%

From 20 to 25 years 25.4%

From 25 to 30 years 29.4%

From 30 to 35 years 21.6%

From 35 to 40 years 11.5%

Over 40 years 3.3%

In these cases the maximum fertility was obtained at the age of 27.

The physiological fertility of women is much more clearly manifested when we compare the fertility of women who have been married a few years only, with the fertility of women in the later years of married life. In the earlier period, the effective fertility more nearly approaches the physiological fertility, because at this time the various influences by means of which fertility is 372later so greatly diminished have not yet come into operation. In this connection the following data, published by Körösi, regarding the percentage fertility of recently married women, and that of married women in general, will be found of interest:

Recently-married women. All married women.

At ages 20 to 35 years. 32.9% 20.6%

At ages 35 to 40 years. 32.7% 14.7%

At ages 40 to 45 years. 21.4% 5.9%

Inasmuch as we learn from this table that in the case of women aged 40 and upward, the newly married exhibit a fertility of four times as great as that of married women in general, in whom pregnancy has already become rare, we can infer the influence upon fertility of abstinence and of artificial measures for the prevention of conception.

On the average, the maximum fertility of woman, that is, the maximum of effective fertility, is attained at the age of 18 to 20 years. Extreme youthfulness, and also the opposite condition, too advanced an age, when marriage is entered on, impair a woman’s fertility; whereas the conditions most favourable to fertility are that, at the time of marriage, the uterus should have attained its fullest development, and the ovaries also should be completely mature; this is not usually the case at puberty, but rather at the age of 20, 21, or 22 years. In Austria-Hungary, of 100 marriages in which the wife’s age at marriage was less than 18 years, the average offspring in the course of a single year were 36 to 38 children; in the case of 100 marriages in which the wife’s age at marriage was 18 to 20 years, the average offspring in a year were 40; this being the maximum fertility, the number of offspring in a year per hundred marriages (i. e., the percentage fertility), now undergoes a regular decline as the wife’s age at marriage increases; at an age of 25, the percentage fertility is 32; at the age of 30 years, the fertility is 24%; at the age of 35, 17%; at the age of 40 years barely 10%; at the age of 45, 7%; at ages 45 to 50, 0.1%. Thus, from the last figure, we see that of a thousand women marrying at the age of 50 years, one only gives birth to a child. 373Men obtain their maximum fertility (i. e., procreative capacity) at the age of 25 or 26 years; at this age their fertility amounts to 35% (that is, of 100 marriages at this age, 35 children will on the average be born within a single year); at the age of 35 years, the percentage fertility of men falls to 23; at the age of 45 years, it is 9½%; at 55, 2.2%; at 65, ½% (Körösi-Blaschko).

Whereas hitherto we have considered only the monogenous fertility of married women, we must remember that the figures relating to their biogenous fertility are also of interest—that is to say, the changes which a woman’s fertility experiences in married life in respect of the peculiarities of her husband; and of these peculiarities, the easiest to make the object of statistical investigation is the husband’s age. The age of the husband exercises an important influence upon the fertility of the wife, as is proved by the following figures published by Körösi:

Age of the Father. Age of the Mother.

25 years. 30 years. 35 years.

25 to 30 years 35.6% 25.0% 21.2%

30 to 35 years 31.2% 23.6% 19.9%

35 to 40 years 27.5% 21.8% 19.4%

40 to 45 years 16.7% 14.0%

45 to 50 years 14.4% 10.9%

50 to 55 years 10.9%

Also:

Age of the Mother. Age of the Father.

25 years. 35 years. 45 years. 55 years.

Under 20 years 49.1%

20 to 25 years 43.0% 31.3% 16.0%

25 to 30 years 30.8% 27.3% 18.5%

30 to 35 years 33.5% 23.7% 14.4% 8.1%

35 to 40 years 18.9% 11.8% 6.7%

40 to 45 years 6.6% 6.1% 3.0%

We learn from these figures that the maximum fertility is exhibited by a woman 18 years of age, when married to a man 25 years of age; less fertile is a woman 25 to 30 years of age married to a man 28 years of age; still less fertile is a woman 35 years of age married to a man 29 years of age. Neither the age of the 374mother alone, nor that of the father alone, is determinative of the fertility of the marriage, for the fertility of young wives married to elderly husbands is quite different from that of young wives married to young husbands. Very various age-combinations are possible, and each exhibits an average fertility peculiar to itself.

We can also regard the question from the standpoint of the difference between the ages of husband and wife respectively. In this connection, Körösi is led by his tables to the conclusion that wives between the ages of 18 and 20 years attain their maximum fertility when married to men 7 years older than themselves; women of 25 years when married to men 3 years older than themselves; women of 29 years when married to men of the same age; women of 30 years and upward attain their maximum fertility only when married to men younger than themselves. Men, on the contrary, always attain their maximum fertility when married to women younger than themselves. The age of maximum fertility differs in the two sexes, and those marriages will be most fruitful in which husband and wife are each of the age most favorable to fertility. This will be the case when the age of the wife is 18 to 20 years, and that of the husband 24 to 26 or perhaps 29 years.

In connection with the question of fertility, we have also to take into consideration the vitality of the children born, that is, what proportion of those born survive. According to Körösi’s interesting papers regarding the fertility of the inhabitants of Buda-Pesth, we learn that for every 100 marriages which have persisted for thirty years and upward, there were born, on the average, 539 children, of whom during this period 241 died, so that the percentage of survivals was 55.28. Parents who have lost one only of several children must, therefore, regard themselves as exceptionally favoured by fortune.

Social position, occupation, and religion, have, according to the last-quoted author, a notable influence on fertility. His investigations showed that the Roman Catholics and the Jews exhibited the greatest fertility; among the Catholics there were 541 children, and among the Jews 557 children, per 100 marriages. Amongst 100 Protestant families, on the other hand, only 479 children had been born. It will be seen that the theory of the comparatively enormous fertility of the Jewish race is not supported by these statistics. The Jews do, however, exhibit a greater power of rearing children, for among them the marriages of more than 30 years’ duration had 61⅔ % of the children still living; among the Protestants 57¾% survived; and among the Catholics only 52–⅗%. 375It thus appears that the surviving offspring per 100 marriages of 30 years’ duration were, among the Catholics 278, among the Protestants 252, and among the Jews 349.

The question whether, and to what extent, the age of the parents has an influence on the vitality of the children, is answered by Körösi’s mortality statistics in the sense that mothers below 20 years of age give birth to a larger proportion of children deficient in vital power. Where the mothers had married at the age of 16, the mortality of their offspring was, among Catholics 43%, among Jews 33%; married at 17, Catholic mortality 44%, Jewish 30%; married at 18, Catholic mortality 42%, Jewish 32%; married at 19, Catholic mortality 41%, Jewish 29%; married at 20, Catholic mortality 40%, Jewish 26%. Of the children whose fathers had married at the age of 24, 32% had died; of those whose fathers had married at 23, 37% had died; of those whose fathers had married at 20, 42% had died; and of those whose fathers had married before 20, actually 44% had died. It thus appears that the children alike of very young mothers and of very young fathers have a lessened chance of survival.

Inasmuch as the fertility of the wife is a product of two factors, her own peculiar fertility, and that of the procreating male, the question of the fertility of women cannot be accurately treated independently of this second consideration; hereby, however, is introduced a multiplicity of obscure combinations, by which the value of all the statistical data of fertility in women is seriously impaired.

These data give as the measure of fertility, the number of children per marriage actually brought up, embracing fruitful marriages, sterile marriages, and those not yet fruitful. In Berlin, in Copenhagen, and in Buda-Pesth, the average thus attained was slightly less than three births to each family, whilst the number of children actually living averaged two per family. A more accurate representation of fertility is obtained by ascertaining the number of children born, and the number of children living in relation to the duration of marriages reckoned in years, that is beginning with marriages of one year’s duration, and proceeding year by year to the highest recorded duration of marriage. In this way interesting statistics have been obtained; for example, one who has completed thirty years of married life may count on the average that five or six children will have been born to him, but may also reckon on having buried two or three at least of these. (Körösi.)

376Fertility is, as many facts indicate, also dependent on nutrition. A distinct proof, says Spencer, writing on the “Coincidence between high Nutrition and Genesis,” that abundant nutriment increases the number of births, and vice versa, is found among the mammalia; compare, for instance, the litter of the dog with that of the wolf and the fox. Whilst the dog’s litter numbers 6 to 14, that of the wolf numbers 5 to 7, that of the fox 4 to 6. The wild cat gives birth to 4 or 5 kittens once a year, the domesticated cat to 5 or 6, twice or thrice annually. The most remarkable contrast, in this respect, exists between the wild and the domesticated breeds of swine. The wild sow gives birth once a year to a litter of 4, 8, or 10 pigs (the number increasing in successive litters); the domesticated sow has often as many as 17 in a single litter, whilst in two years five litters, each numbering 10 pigs, are commonly born.

Darwin also draws attention to the fact that animals under domestication, being fed more abundantly and regularly than their wild allies, procreate at shorter intervals and are markedly more fertile than the latter. He states that the wild rabbit has four litters annually, each numbering 4 to 8 young; whereas the tame rabbit reproduces its kind six to seven times annually, and gives birth to litters numbering 4 to 11. Among birds, analogous phenomena are observed. The wild duck, for instance, lays 5 to 10 eggs in the course of the year, whereas the tame duck lays from 80 to 100; the wild grey goose lays 5 to 8 eggs, the domesticated goose 13 to 18.

It must be added that this exceptional fertility is manifested in animals that are quite inactive in comparison with their wild allies; not only are they richly fed, but they get their food without working for it. Moreover, it is easy to observe that among the domesticated mammals the well-fed are more fertile than the ill-fed.

That in the human species also, fertility is influenced to a notable degree by nutritive conditions, is shown by statistical investigation. After years distinguished by an exceptionally good harvest the number of children born is considerably greater than in normal conditions; whereas after a famine the opposite is observed. Malthus’s law of population states, inter alia, that the population increases when the amount of available nutriment increases, that is, that favourable nutritive conditions cause an increase, that unfavourable nutritive conditions cause a decrease, of population. Hardships and exhausting occupations diminish the fertility of women. The remarkable fertility of the Kaffirs is referred to the 377fact that this people, possessing large herds of cattle, lead a life comparatively free from care; it is no less true that the Boer women, who lead a life of well-fed leisure, have very large families; whereas the Hottentot women, poor, ill-nourished, and hard working, seldom bear more than three children.

Generally speaking, it may be said that fertility of the soil, in connection with an easily gained livelihood, favours also human fertility, notwithstanding the fact that certain statistical data seem to conflict with this proposition. Sadler, for instance, concludes that an increase in the price of the necessaries of life does not per se check fertility, but, indeed, rather increases it; he considers that the apparent decline in fertility is due to the fact that the number of marriages diminishes, owing to the rise in prices. We must, however, point out, that an increase in price of the necessaries of life is often associated with a rise in wages, and is therefore not necessarily identified with deficient nutrition; when, however, such a rise in prices leads to actual want, a limitation of fertility will certainly result; this has been proved by Legoyt and Villermé with regard to failure of the crops. Famine and disease lower the number of births; a less severe deficiency of nutriment often lowers only the quality of those born. Malthus was of opinion that the population of a country at any time was related to the quantity of nutriment produced or imported therein, on the one hand, and, on the other, to the liberality with which this nutriment was distributed to the individual. In countries where corn forms the principal crop, we find a thicker population than in pasture lands; and where rice is the principal crop, the population is even more abundant than it is in corn growing countries.

Passing to the consideration of the individual nutritive elements, we find that these also influence fertility. Above all, it has been proved that alcohol notably diminishes the fertility of women. Lippich states that of 100 women in Kärnten and Krain suffering from chronic alcoholism, 28.3 were barren. In England, where the abuse of alcoholic beverages is also very frequently observed in women, the same phenomenon has been noted. Matthews Duncan held that alcohol exercised a specific deleterious influence on fertility. Moreover, in addition to the constitutional disturbances produced by the abuse of alcohol, this beverage also exercises a well-known pathogenetic influence upon the female reproductive organs; with especial frequency, chronic oöphoritis may be shown to depend on this exciting cause.

378A diet consisting mainly of fish is known to increase the sexual impulse, and is said also to increase fertility. Further, a diet consisting mainly of potatoes or rice is said to favour reproduction; compare, for instance, the fertility of the Hindoos, who abstain entirely from animal food, and of the Chinese, who live chiefly on rice. Davy maintained that the women of races living chiefly on fish were handsomer and more fertile than others: and Montesquieu suggested that there was an association between the abundant population of sea-ports and also of Japan and China, and the large quantity of fish consumed in those places. On the other hand, a diet consisting chiefly of meat is said to have an unfavourable influence in this direction; in support of this view it is pointed out that races living by the chase, and living therefore almost entirely on meat, have very small families. This generalization is invalidated by the fact that Englishwomen, who eat far more meat than the women of the Latin races, are nevertheless distinguished by their great fertility.

In his “History of Civilisation in England” Buckle writes: “The population of a country, although influenced by many other conditions, unquestionably rises and falls in proportion as the supply of nutriment is abundant or the reverse.” Herbert Spencer also states that “every increment in the supply of nutriment is followed by an increment in fertility.”

It must not be forgotten that, in addition to the more or less abundant supply of nutriment, there are always other influences affecting fertility; the general mode of life, race, climatic conditions, etc., may, in various ways, co-operate with or countervail the influence of nutritive conditions. If, with the best possible supply of nutriment, there is associated a luxurious and enervating mode of life, the abuse of alcohol, severe intellectual exertion, or sexual excesses, the general result will be a diminution in fertility. And it is easy to understand why Cros, although perhaps with little justification, goes so far as to regard easy circumstances as an active cause of depopulation. “It is the poor,” he writes, “and the less wealthy departments of France, in which we find the most children.” In estimating fertility, however, we must never fail to take into consideration the more extensive employment of means for the prevention of pregnancy among the upper classes of society.

To a certain extent we can trace the influence of climate and of season upon fertility. Heat appears to favour fertility; Haycraft’s figures for the eight largest towns of Scotland show clearly how the number of conceptions rises and falls pari passu with the temperature. 379Lower animals also, when brought from a colder to a warmer neighbourhood, exhibit an earlier and more frequently recurring “heat.” In Europe, however, the Northern races appear more fertile than those of the south.

Of the seasons, spring is the one especially favourable to fertility. Quetelet, who proves by numerous statistical data that the maximum of conceptions occurs in May, attributes this fact to a general increase in the vital forces occurring in spring, after the cold of winter. Villermé, however, goes back to the older explanation, that the increase in the number of conceptions in May and June is due to social and economic conditions. The return of spring, especially the end of spring and the beginning of summer, a time of year in which the means of subsistence are provided in exceptional quantity, and of especially good quality, the season also of festivals and social reunion, when the two sexes are brought into more intimate contact and when the majority of marriages occur—these are the conditions associated with the season of greatest fertility. The figures of Wappaeus also confirm the influence of spring in favouring fertility. He found, however, that there were two seasons of maximal fertility. The first at the end of spring and the beginning of summer; the second in winter, especially in December. Mid-winter is for most people a period of domestic amusement and relaxation, one of exceptionally good nutrition, and of social reunion; the spring increase in fertility is a part of the awakening and increase of the reproductive forces of nature at large, which recurs every spring-time.

Every marked and sudden change in the mode of life has an unfavourable influence on fertility. Darwin reports that mares who have for some time been stall-fed with dry fodder and are then put out to grass are at first infertile after the change. Europeans going to reside in the tropics experience a notable decline in fertility as a result of the change of climate. According to Virchow, the fertility of European women who become acclimatized in the tropics declines very gradually, but in the course of a few generations is almost completely annulled.

The marriage of near kin is believed also to diminish fertility. As regards inbreeding in the lower animals, it is well known that when nearly related animals copulate, the number of the offspring is below the average. Nathusius paired a sow with its own uncle, the boar having proved productive in intercourse with other sows; the litter numbered five to six only. This sow, which belonged to the great Yorkshire race, was then paired with a small black boar, 380which in intercourse with sows of its own variety had procreated litters numbering six or seven; as a result of her first pairing with the black boar, the sow cast a litter numbering twenty-one whilst the second attempt produced a litter of eighteen. Similar results were obtained by Crampe, in his experiments in the inbreeding of rats.

Some authorities declare that the results of inbreeding are similar in the human species, that the marriages of near kin are less fruitful than the average. Darwin writes in this connection: “With regard to human beings, the question whether breeding in-and-in is also deleterious, will probably never receive a direct answer, for man reproduces his kind so very slowly, and cannot be made the object of experiment. The very general disinclination of nearly all races to the marriage of near kin, which has existed from the very earliest times, is of weight in relation to this question. Indeed we appear almost justified in applying to the human race the experience gained by experiment on the higher mammals.”

Darwin’s assumption regarding the effect upon fertility of the marriage of near kin in the human species, cannot, however, be accepted without qualification. In ancient times there was no uniformity of opinion on this topic. It is well known that among the Phœnicians, a son might marry his mother, and a father his daughter; and among the ancient Arabs it was the legal duty of the son to marry his widowed mother. Moses, on the contrary, forbade marriages between parents and children, between brothers and sisters, also marriage with a father’s sister, with a wife’s mother, and with an uncle’s widow.

Darwin considered that the marriage of first cousins was not unfavourable to fertility. Of 97 such marriages, 14 were sterile, whilst of 217 marriages of those not akin, 35 were sterile; the percentage in both cases being almost identical. Mantegazza, who regards kinship in marriage as unfavourable to fertility, found nevertheless that among 512 marriages of near kin, only 8 to 9% were sterile. It is widely believed that the dying out of many aristocratic families is dependent on the inbreeding so common in this class—but it must be admitted that scientific evidence in support of this belief is lacking. Incest in the human species may certainly result in fertilization. Among the Jews, marriages of near kin are very common, and often prove extremely fruitful.

Göhlert made a statistical investigation of the fertility of the reigning families of Europe, in order to throw light on this question. In the Capet dynasty, 118 marriages of near kin took place, and of 381these 41 were sterile; in the Wettin dynasty (Saxony), there were 28 such marriages, of which 7 were sterile, and 1 produced one child only; in the Wittelsbach dynasty (Bavaria), 29 such marriages, of which 9 were sterile, and 3 produced only one child each. Thus of 175 marriages of near kin, 57, or 32.6% remained sterile. Further, in the Habsburg-Lothringen dynasty, of 110 marriages, 25 were marriages of near kin, and of these 33% remained sterile.

It has been assumed since the days of antiquity that temperament and constitution exercise some influence on fertility. Hippocrates, Soranus, and Diokles, are among the ancient authors who refer to this matter. Soranus says very justly: “Since most marriages are contracted, not from love, but for the procreation of children, it is irrational, when choosing a wife, to have regard, not to her probable fruitfulness, but instead of this to the social position and the wealth of her parents.”

It would appear that a certain dissimilarity in physical constitution and temperament between husband and wife is favourable to the fertility of the marriage. For instance, a vivacious, dark husband, and a lethargic, fair wife, are better suited to one another than a husband and wife both extremely active, or both of extremely phlegmatic temperament.

Toussaint Loua published the following figures regarding the fertility of the women of the various countries of Europe:

Country. Number of births per hundred inhabitants. Fertility of Women Between the Ages of 15 and 45 Years.

Married. Unmarried. Average.

Hungary 4.94 17.8

Russia 4.12 20.5

Austria 3.93 16.4

Germany 3.77 34.8 2.9 17.7

Italy 3.67 28.8 2.4 16.1

Holland 3.67 35.3 1.0 16.0

Finland 3.63 15.8

England 3.58 29.7 1.6 15.5

Scotland 3.53 32.8 2.5 15.8

Belgium 3.25 33.7 1.8 14.8

Denmark 3.12 28.5 2.8 14.4

Roumania 3.12 13.5

Norway 3.10 29.3 2.2 14.0

Sweden 3.05 29.1 2.5 13.7

Switzerland 3.04 29.7 1.1 13.1

Greece 2.96 13.2

Ireland 2.69 29.8 0.5 12.3

France 2.63 20.3 1.8 11.6

382In towns, conjugal fertility is less, extra-conjugal fertility greater, than in the country. An increase in factory labour gives rise to an increase in the population, but to a decline in the vitality of the offspring; that is to say, it causes a quantitative increase, and a qualitative decrease, in fertility. An increase in agricultural labour has precisely the opposite effect. The influence of war upon fertility is unfavourable both quantitatively, and qualitatively. According to Tschouriloff, the introduction of universal military service, by withdrawing for a time all the most vigorous men from domestic life, tends to diminish fertility. Extensive emigration from a country in which the soil is fertile, and where the vital conditions are generally favourable, is stated by Bertillon to cause an increased fertility in the mother country; he further states that an increase in the number of the proprietors of the soil is followed by diminished fertility, and vice versa.

Prostitutes show as a rule a very low fertility. According to the data of Tarnowskaja, the fertility of prostitutes in Russia is 34%, whilst married women of similar ages in Russia exhibit a fertility of 51.8%. Gurrieri found 60% of prostitutes childless.

The fertility of female criminals was found by Lombroso to be undiminished. On the average, poisoners had given birth to 4.5 children, other murderesses to 3.2 children, child-murderesses to 2 children; thus the prisoners whose crime is commonly dependent on an abnormal eroticism had a fertility above the average.

The diminished fertility of prostitutes depends in part upon frequent venereal infection, in part upon the unfavourable influence of the mercury and iodide of potassium administered for the cure of such infection, also upon the frequency with which they consume excessive quantities of alcohol, upon the excessive frequency of coitus, which exercises a traumatic influence, upon the irregular mode of life, and upon their disinclination to be burdened with children.

Conjugal fertility, that is to say, the ratio between legitimate births and the number of married women between the ages of 15 and 50 years, has declined in Germany during the last decades. It was:

During the years 1872 to 1875 29.7%

During the years 1879 to 1882 27.4%

During the years 1889 to 1892 26.5%

383This decline is small, but it is much more manifest in urban than in rural districts. This fact is shown by the following figures, relating to fertility in Prussia:

1872 to 1879. 1894 to 1897.

In all towns 26.9 24.0

In Berlin 23.8 16.9

In other large towns 26.7 23.5

In rural districts 28.8 29.0

This difference depends principally on the fact that in the large towns of Germany (and still more in those of France) the use of means for the prevention of pregnancy is continually increasing, whereas the population of the rural districts is as yet less familiar with the use of these measures.

According to Hellstenius, conjugal fertility, that is, the number of children per married couple, is as follows:

In the Netherlands 4.88

Norway 4.70

Prussia 4.60

Bavaria 4.55

Sweden 4.52

Saxony 4.35

England 4.33

Belgium 4.23

Denmark 4.18

France 3.46

Talquist, who has published a statistical investigation concerning the modern tendency to diminished fertility, arrives at lower figures than Hellstenius. According to him, conjugal fertility is:

In Prussia 4.11

England 4.10

Belgium 4.12

France 2.09

In various States of the American Union 2.5 to 3.0

From the Almanach de Gotha Vacher obtained figures showing that each family of the higher aristocracy has on the average the following number of children.

In France 2.0

Italy 3.0

Germany 4.8

England 4.9

Russia 5.1

According to the figures we have published, the fertility of women suffices for the production during the sexual life of a small number 384only of children, averaging, in fact, 4 to 5 children per marriage. Many mothers, however, give birth to a very large number of children. Among 73,000 families inhabiting Buda-Pesth, Körösi found 300 mothers who had had 15 children or more; 7 mothers who had each had 21 children; and 3 mothers who had given birth respectively to 22, 23 and 24 children.

A newspaper report states that the wife of a citizen of Buda-Pesth, during the 43 years of her married life, gave birth to 32 children. In the year 1902, a Bohemian woman gave birth to her twenty-fourth child. Stieda reports the cases of two mothers, one of whom had 21, and the other 23 children. The wife of the German Emperor, Albrecht I, and the wife of Prince Jost of Lippe-Biesterfeld, each bore 21 children.

The so-called two-children-system obtains most commonly in France.

It is true that even in France there are on an average nearly three children born per marriage; but if we take into account surviving children only we find an average per family of 2.1 children only. Similar conditions obtain in New England, and in Transylvania; and the same practice is spreading throughout the United States. Another way in which the attempt is made to keep down the population is that customary in Alsace, where, if there are several children in a family one only marries, in order to avoid a division of the family property. It cannot be denied that in France, doubtless in consequence of the two-children system, a somewhat widely diffused prosperity exists, a prosperity which is lacking in the rare districts in France, such as Brittany, in which limitation of the family is not practised. What a disastrous influence the general use of measures for the prevention of pregnancy exercises on the military power and political status of a nation has, however, in recent years been made especially manifest in the case of France. In that country, of ten million families, two million are absolutely childless, and two million have only one child each, so that two-fifths of the French families are as good as inactive in maintaining the population of the country. The injury thus done to France is shown still more clearly by a tabular comparison of the excess of births over deaths in the German and French nations, respectively, during the two decades 1874 to 1894 (from G. von Mayr’s Population Statistics).

385

Year. Germany. France.

1874 +13.4 +4.8

1875 13.0 2.9

1876 14.6 3.6

1877 13.6 3.9

1878 12.7 2.6

1879 13.3 2.5

1880 11.6 1.7

1881 11.5 2.9

1882 11.5 2.6

1883 11.7 2.6

1884 11.2 2.3

1885 11.3 1.4

1886 10.8 1.5

1887 12.7 1.3

1888 12.9 2.5

1889 12.7 1.2

1890 11.3 –0.3

1891 13.6 –0.5

1892 11.7 +0.1

1893 12.2 –1.2

1894 13.6 –0.4

To what an extent in all times, and among all peoples, the fertility of women was esteemed, is shown by religious writings and traditional customs which aimed at enabling a wife who had had no children by her own husband, to seek other conjugal embraces. Among the Jews, it was the duty of a man to marry his widowed and childless sister-in-law; if he were unwilling or unable to perform this duty he was compelled to take a part in a ritual termed “chaliza,” in which his foot was bared and the bereaved woman spat upon him, because he was unwilling to maintain his brother’s house. In the law book of the Hindoos of Manus, we read, “If husband and wife have no children, it is proper for them to obtain the desired offspring by a union between the wife and the husband’s brother, or some other relative;” the child obtained in this way was legally regarded as the child of the husband. Confucius wrote: “If your wife is barren, take a second wife; she must be subordinate to the first wife, for her only duty is the bearing of children.” An analogy to this ordinance is to be found in the Bible; Abraham’s barren wife Sarai says to Abraham: “Behold now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abraham hearkened unto the voice of Sarai.” In the same way the barren Rachel speaks to her husband Jacob, “Behold my maid Billah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her.”

Luther, in his treatise on marital love published in the year 1522, bases, doubtless on the above biblical precedents, the following statement 386regarding fertility: “If a sexually potent woman is married to an impotent man, if she is unable to take any other man openly, yet is unwilling to do anything dishonourable, she should say to her husband, “Dear husband, you cannot fulfil your duty to me, and you have deceived my young body, you have endangered my honour and my happiness, and in the eye of God our marriage is null, forgive me therefore if I form a secret union with your brother or with your nearest friend; the fruit of this union will be yours in name, thus your possessions will not fall to strangers, and you will willingly allow me to deceive you, because involuntarily you have deceived me.””

In ethnography, the term endogamy is used to denote a law or custom by which marriage is allowed only within the limits of a specified race, tribe, or caste; thus, in the Old Testament, Jews are forbidden to marry women of other races. The ethnographical term exogamy indicates the prohibition of marriage between persons who are more closely allied, as, for instance, the Mosaic prohibition of marriage within certain degrees of blood-relationship. Such exogamic prohibitions persist even in the legislation of the present day. In many ecclesiastical and national laws we find the marriage of first cousins and of uncle or aunt with niece or nephew forbidden; and even a prohibition of the marriage of a man with his deceased wife’s sister.

Hegar considers the danger of inbreeding to be very great in the human species; for whereas in the lower animals breeders employ a methodical and carefully considered selection of the best specimens, nothing of this kind occurs among human beings; and the health of modern civilized man is such that there are few families without a skeleton in the closet. “Not only in families, but also in villages, in small and large towns, even in classes, and in entire nations, certain peculiar qualities, morbid tendencies, and predispositions, are handed down from generation to generation. We have, for instance, the tendency of the Jews to nervous disorders and diabetes, that of the English to gout, that of the Germans to myopia.” Strahan has therefore employed the term “social consanguinity,” to indicate that by means of common customs, environment, occupation, and mode of nutrition, a similarity in type is produced, leading to a similar predisposition to disorders and diseases transmissible from father to son.

The dangers of inbreeding are believed by Hegar to be, under present-day conditions, so considerable that he would allow the marriage 387of near kin in exceptional cases only, and where the circumstances are peculiarly favourable—for instance, where both parties to the projected marriage are in excellent health, and where there is no great similarity between them in feature or mental type. Certain anomalies transmitted from remote ancestors, dependent on deeply-marked peculiarities of the germ cells, may be so developed by inbreeding as to become absolutely fixed characteristics. If the morbid manifestations can be traced back for several generations, if the bodily defects and disturbances of development (the so-called stigmata of degeneration), are well marked and numerous, if the functional disorders of the nervous system and of the sense organs are pronounced, leading to idiocy, insanity, epilepsy, congenital deafmutism, blindness, instinctive criminality,—there is in such cases little or no hope of the regeneration of the family. It dies out, because the members are sterile; because they are confined in prisons or asylums; or because the children, if any are born, are deficient in vitality, and fail to reach maturity.

According to the brief summary of the subject given by Hegar, the peculiarities of the offspring at the time of birth depend upon:

Factors which give rise to peculiarities of the germ-cells:

I. Germinal rudiments derived from the ancestors;

II. Influences acting on the germ-cells within the parent organism;

a. Owing to peculiarities of the fluids and tissues of the parental body;

b. Owing to substances which penetrate the parental body and reach the germ.

Germinal rudiments altered by the conjugation of the male and female reproductive cells:

I. On the mother’s side;

a. Owing to peculiarities of the fluids and tissues of the maternal body;

b. Owing to substances which penetrate the maternal organism and reach the fertilized ovum.

II. On the father’s side, owing to substances which adhere to the paternal reproductive cells, or are enclosed within these.

The number of consanguineous marriages at the present day is not less than 5½ to 6½ per 1,000; the fertility of these marriages appears to be identical with the fertility of ordinary marriages. Mayet has made a statistical investigation to determine the influence 388of consanguineous marriages in the pathogenesis of mental disease. He finds that the number of those congenitally affected with mental disorder is twice as great in the offspring of consanguineous marriages as in the offspring of crossed marriages; in the case of simple mental disorder, of paralytic dementia, and of epileptic dementia, the ratio is actually greater than two to one (the actual figures are 218, 257, 208 : 100). Thus we see that when there exists any cause of inheritable mental disorder, blood-relationship of the parents more than doubles the danger to the children. In the case of imbecility and idiocy the danger is less in this respect (the ratio is 150 : 100); the factor of inheritance plays a less prominent part than in the case of other psychoses.

It was remarkable that among the offspring of marriages of nephew and aunt, cases of mental disorder were almost entirely lacking. Among the offspring of marriages of uncle and niece, the inheritance of mental disorder was more prominent than among the children of first cousins. It is interesting to determine the influence of blood-relationship in cases in which the existence of inheritable predisposition could not be proved. In these cases, as regards simple insanity, paralytic dementia, and epileptic dementia, the number of cases among the offspring of consanguineous marriages was only one-half as compared with the offspring of crossed marriages; whereas in the case of imbecility and idiocy this ratio was reversed. In idiocy, where inheritance generally speaking plays a small part, the origination of the disease would often appear to depend directly on the blood-relationship of the parents; whilst as regards other forms of mental disorder, if there is no inheritable predisposition, blood relationship in the parents appears to be a positive advantage; where, however, a family predisposition to insanity exists the likelihood of actual insanity appearing in the offspring is notably enhanced by a consanguineous marriage.

The Restriction of Fertility and the Use of Means for the Prevention of Pregnancy.

As we have already pointed out, a restriction of the fertility of women occurs in the majority of marriages, to this extent, that the potential reproductive powers of the wife are not fully utilized. In recent times, however, the restriction of fertility, by the deliberate use of measures for the prevention of pregnancy, has become so widely diffused, that it appears unwise from the scientific standpoint 389simply to ignore the question, and it has become indispensable to study how the practice developed, and to consider what are its actual results. From our own point of view, it is the more necessary to do this, for the reason that the use of preventive measures has come to play an important part in the sexual life of woman, and therefore deserves the fullest attention, not merely from the standpoint of the sociologist, but in addition from the purely medical point of view.

In many divisions of the population, and even in entire nationalities, the prevention of pregnancy, not merely in illicit intercourse, but also in married life, has become so general a practice that the fertility of the nation as a whole has been profoundly modified. Thus, in France at the present day, the average number of children per marriage is less than two; and the two-children-system is almost universally practised in Transylvania and Norway, whilst it is very rapidly spreading in North America. In the principal towns of the whole of Europe, this system is largely on the increase among the upper classes of society. The marriages of the poor, partly owing to ignorance, and partly to indolence, are as yet comparatively little affected by this depopulative principle.

In the days of antiquity, many lawgivers endeavoured to set bounds to excessive fertility, and artificial abortion was methodically practised by those who wished to avoid an inconveniently large family. Even among savage peoples, we find that certain preventive measures are occasionally employed in sexual intercourse. Among civilized peoples, however, until the beginning of the nineteenth century, religious and moral ideas derived from the Bible continued to dominate the sexual life. It is well known that Old Testament law and Christian morality alike forbid any artificial restriction of human increase. “Increase and multiply” was the command given in Genesis to the first parents of the race; and the psalmist exclaims, “Happy is the man that hath his quiver full” of children.

A remarkable revolution in thought was initiated toward the beginning of the nineteenth century by the great philanthropist and powerful thinker, Thomas Robert Malthus, founder of the doctrine of the propriety of checking the increase of population, author of the work “An Essay on the Principle of Population,” London, 1798, whose Law of Population soon attracted world-wide attention. Modern civilization having greatly increased the cost of bringing up a family, while simultaneously there has been a general 390rise in the price of the necessaries of life, there has resulted an extraordinary diffusion of Malthusianism; in comparison with the causes just alluded to for the use of preventive measures, diseases which render renewal of pregnancy dangerous to the mother’s life have comparatively little to do with the causation of voluntary sterility.

In his “Essay on the Principle of Population,” Malthus indicates, as the cause which has hitherto hindered mankind in the pursuit of happiness, the unceasing tendency of all organic life to increase in excess of the means of subsistence. In the case of plants and of unreasoning animals, the natural process is a very simple one. Both animals and plants are impelled by a powerful instinct to reproduce their kind, and the operation of this instinct is quite undisturbed by any anxiety regarding the livelihood of their offspring. The reproductive function is thus exercised at every available opportunity, and the superfluous individuals of the next generation are destroyed by lack of space and nutriment. In the human species the restriction of population is effected by a more complex mode of operation. Man is impelled to reproduce his kind by an instinct not less powerful than that of other animals; but the gratification of this instinct is checked by reason, which makes him ask himself whether he is not about to bring into the world beings for whom he will be unable to provide the means of subsistence. If he is influenced by this consideration, the resulting restriction of population may often entail serious consequences; if, on the other hand, he gratifies his instinct, regardless of the appeal of reason, the human species will inevitably tend to increase more rapidly than the means of subsistence.

Malthus declared that population, when its increase was unrestricted, doubled itself every twenty-five years, and therefore increased in a geometrical progression; he considered that in the most favourable circumstances the means of subsistence could not possibly increase more rapidly than in an arithmetical progression. The contrast between these two modes of increase will be more striking if we write out the actual figures. According to the theory of Malthus, the increase of human population would be represented by the figures 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, whereas the simultaneous increase in the means of subsistence would be represented by the figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Such an increase in population is, however, always prevented by certain checks, classed by Malthus as of two kinds, preventive checks and positive checks.

391A preventive check, in so far as it is voluntary, is peculiar to the human species, and originates in the intellectual faculty which enables man to foresee the consequences of his actions. A man who looks around him, and sees the poverty into which those with large families so often fall, who reckons up his present property or earnings, which barely suffice to provide for his own personal necessities, cannot fail, when he considers how hardly they would suffice for seven or eight additional persons, to doubt whether it would be possible for him to provide for the offspring he might bring into the world. Such considerations as these are likely to lead a large number of persons of all civilized nations to resist their natural instincts, and to refrain from early marriage. If abstinence entailed no serious consequences, it would be the least of all evils resulting from the principle of population.

The positive checks to increase of population are manifold, and embrace all the causes which are competent to lessen the natural duration of human life. Among these we may enumerate: all unhealthy occupations, severe toil, climatic conditions, poverty, errors in the rearing of children, town life, excesses of all kinds, the whole army of illnesses and epidemics, war, pestilence, and famine. In all countries, preventive and positive checks are more or less powerfully operative, and yet there are few in which the population is not continually tending to increase beyond the means of subsistence. As a further consequence of this tendency of population to increase, we observe the wider diffusion of poverty among the lower classes, so that any permanent improvement in their condition is rendered impossible.

After Malthus had carefully stated his thesis, he gave a summary record of the conditions of population in nearly all nations of the past and of his own time, in order to show how in all alike the three principal means of limiting population, moral restraint, disease, and poverty, had been in continuous operation.

He showed, for instance, how the population of the South Sea Islands had been limited by certain conditions, cannibalism, castration of the males, infibulation of the females, late marriages, the sanctification of virginity, contempt for marriage, etc.

In ancient Greece, Solon’s laws permitted infanticide. Plato, in “The Republic” asserts that it is the duty of the Government to regulate the number of the citizens, and to prevent an immoderate increase; men and women should be allowed to procreate only during their period of maximum strength, all weakly children should be 392killed. Aristotle advised that men should not be allowed to marry before the age of 37, and women before the age of 18; the women should give birth to a limited number of children only; if, after this, they again became pregnant, abortion should be induced. He maintained that if all were at liberty, as was the case in most countries, to bring into the world as many children as they pleased, poverty, the mother of crime and insurrection, must inevitably ensue.

Among the Romans war was as a positive check unceasingly operative: in this time of the Empire, preventive methods came into general use, in the form of various kinds of sexual perversity. Juvenal complains of the skilled methods employed in the induction of abortion; during the later period of the Roman Empire, sexual morality became so degenerate that marriage was hated and despised.

Passing to the consideration of the checks on population among the nations of modern Europe, Malthus examined the registers of marriages and deaths, and came to the conclusion that in few countries is the mass of people sufficiently capable of self-restraint to postpone marriage until they are reasonably assured of being able to provide for all the children they are likely to have; still, he ascertained that at the present day positive checks on population were less active, and preventive checks more active, than in earlier times and among savage races.

Malthus did not base upon his conclusions the advice that in sexual intercourse means of preventing pregnancy should be employed, as the modern “Malthusians” advise; in his eyes, moral restraint, that is to say, sexual abstinence, was the only remedy for the prevention of poverty and the other evil consequences of the principle of population. Moral restraint was in his opinion the only virtuous method of avoiding the evils of excessive fertility. It was a man’s duty not to marry until he had a definite prospect of being able to maintain his children; the interval between puberty and marriage must be passed in strict chastity. Man’s duty is not the mere reproduction of his species, but the reproduction of virtue and happiness, and if he is not able to do the latter, he has no right whatever to do the former. Malthus lays great stress on educating the people in this matter; “in addition to the ordinary subjects of instruction, it is necessary to explain the principle of population, and the manner in which it gives rise to poverty.” In the nature of the case, no lasting and general improvement in the condition of the poor is possible without an increase in the preventive restriction of population.

393The Malthusian doctrine of the law of population gave rise to an enormous sensation, and some of his disciples soon proceeded to translate his conclusions into practice; such authorities as James Mill and Francis Place recommended measures by means of which, “without any injury to health, or to the feminine sense of delicacy, conception can be prevented:” the avowed aim of these measures was to prevent the increase of population beyond the means of subsistence. Physicians and physiologists joined the ranks of these innovators; among others Raciborski, Robert Dale Owen in his “Moral Physiology,” Richard Carlile in his “Book of Woman,” the first work to give an exact description of the means to employ for the prevention of conception, Knowlton in his “Fruits of Philosophy.” In the year 1827 in the Northern counties of England leaflets were for the first time distributed among the working classes to instruct them in the use of preventive measures. Bradlaugh founded the Malthusian Society, which aimed at the dissemination of instruction in the use of preventive methods. There is now in England a “Malthusian League,” numbering leading physicians among its members; this supplies to all classes the means by which the family can be artificially limited. A new edition of the above-mentioned book, “The Fruits of Philosophy,” was circulated in London in an edition of several hundred thousand copies, and prominent persons spoke at congresses on the subject of Neo-Malthusianism. In Germany, also, a “Union of Social Harmony” was founded, for the free distribution of a hand-book on the use of measures for the prevention of conception, and for an investigation regarding the results of these.

We do not propose here to subject the teaching of Malthus to a critical examination; he has found formidable opponents, who have endeavoured to prove that his fundamental assumption is false; they maintain that work or the power of work increases in direct ratio with the population; and they also assert that population tends to increase, not, as Malthus maintained, in a geometrical, but simply in an arithmetical progression. We shall merely quote Liebig’s reply to the law of Malthus, “when human labour and manure are provided in sufficient quantity, the soil is inexhaustible, and will continue to yield unceasingly, the most abundant harvests;” and Rodbertus’ remark that “agricultural chemistry will ultimately be competent to create nutritive materials; this will some day be just as much within the power of society, as it is at present to provide any requisite quantity of textiles, given the 394necessary amount of raw material.” The celebrated socialist Bebel, is a strong opponent of Malthus. He writes: “The earth is doubtless thickly populated, but none the less only a small fraction of its surface is occupied and utilized. Not merely could Great Britain produce, as has been proved, a far larger supply of nutritive materials than at present, but the same is true of France, Germany and Austria, and in a still higher degree of the other countries of Europe. European Russia, were it as thickly populated as Germany, could support, instead of ninety millions, as at present, a population of four hundred and seventy-five millions. For the purposes of the higher civilization, toward which we are striving, we have to-day in Europe, and shall have for a long time to come, not an excess of population, but an insufficiency, and every day brings new discoveries and inventions whereby the means of subsistence are potentially increased. In other parts of the world, the insufficiency of population and the superfluity of ground are even more noticeable. Carey is of opinion that the single valley of the Orinoco, fifteen hundred miles in length, would suffice to provide nutritive material in sufficient quantities to feed the whole existing population of the world. Central and South America, and more especially Brazil, have a soil of extraordinary fertility, but are as yet practically unutilized by the world. To increase, not to diminish, the numbers of the human race, that is the appeal made by civilization to mankind!” A similar position on this question was recently taken by Roosevelt, the President of the United States, himself the father of six children, in a letter to two American women, Mrs. J. and M. Van Vorst, authors of the book “Woman Who Toils (Factory Life in America).” In this book, the writers prove that in the United States the average size of the family is now less than in any other country of the world, France alone excepted. President Roosevelt, in his letter, declares himself an ardent supporter of the biblical injunction, “increase and multiply!” He writes: “Whoever evades his responsibilities, through desire for independence, convenience, and luxury, commits a crime against the race to which he belongs, and should be an object of contempt and horror to a healthy nation. When men avoid becoming fathers of families, and when women cease to regard motherhood as the most important career open to them, the nation to which these men and women belong has cause for uneasiness about its future.” President Roosevelt continues: “To the American woman marriage is no longer a life-duty, a profession, as it is to her sisters 395who are members of the older civilizations. A woman who manages an extensive business, who supervises her own landed property, or who plays her own part in the world of finance,—for such as these, the ‘lottery of marriage’ is naturally something they dread rather than desire.” President Elliott, of Harvard College, has expressed similar views in a speech on this subject. He deplores the late marriages and small families of the cultured Americans. According to the last census, an American family has on the average less than three children; twenty years ago the average number was from four to five children.

I pass now to consider the medical point of view of this question of the prevention of pregnancy. It is my opinion that the physician as such should intervene in the matter, not in any case for the relief of the dominant economic parental dread of insufficient means for the upbringing of children, but only on account of the purely medical consideration of the physical dangers of motherhood. That is to say, the physician should lend his skilled assistance toward the attainment of facultative sterility, only when his own special scientific knowledge leads him to consider this urgently necessary; it is not his province to assist in preventing the birth of an immoderate number of offspring; his intervention is justified only when deliberate reflection has convinced him that his patient’s health or life would be endangered by pregnancy or childbirth. A woman’s life and well-being must appear to him of greater importance than the existence or non-existence of a possible infant. That this view is morally sound, is shown by the fact that public opinion justifies the accoucheur in the destruction of an already living child, when the mother’s life is endangered. In this connection we may recall the words of the great Napoleon; the physician Dubois, attending Marie Louise in a difficult confinement, asked Napoleon whether, if matters came to an extremity, he should save the mother or the child; Napoleon, notwithstanding his strong desire for the birth of an heir to his dynasty, replied, “The mother, it is her right.”