166 THE TREND OF THE RACE 



That syphilis is another potent factor in reducing the birth rate 

 has long been recognized. Syphilis is a common cause of abortion 

 and of still births, but the percentage due to this disease appears 

 not to be accurately ascertained. Dr. Willey thinks that about 

 32.8 per cent of total still births are due to syphilis. Dr. Thos. 

 Barlow thinks that the majority are the result of this cause. 

 According to Dr. Prince Morrow (Social Diseases and Marriage} 

 "60 per cent of children born of syphilitic mothers die in utero 

 or soon after birth. Records of the Leurrenne Hospital which 

 refer almost exclusively to syphilis in prostitutes show that of 

 165 pregnancies with maternal syphilis, 145 which terminated 

 fatally, while in only 22 did the infants survive, that is, only 

 i child in 7 pregnancies." Syphilitic mothers often produce 

 several abortions, after which they may bear living offspring, 

 who, however, being affected with hereditary syphilis are apt to 

 die young. The attempt of the National Birth Rate Commission 

 to elicit some information from various experts who were ex- 

 amined as to the prevalence of abortion due to syphilis, yielded 

 little but guarded expressions of opinion. Reliable data on 

 abortions are practically impossible to procure. While abortion 

 has become more frequent in recent years, the increase is doubt- 

 less to be attributed largely to the employment of artificial means. 



Venereal diseases are, as a rule, notoriously more prevalent 

 in cities than in rural districts, 1 and hence may constitute an 

 important factor in the greater relative reduction of the urban 

 birth rate. One of the most thorough studies on this subject 

 was made by Guttstadt who sent a questionnaire to the physi- 

 cians in Prussia, concerning the number of venereal cases treated 

 in April, 1900. Of every 10,000 adult inhabitants of Prussia there 

 were treated: 



1 The relatively high rural rate for gonorrhoea shown by American recruits for 

 the recent war is largely due to the great prevalence of this disease in the negro 

 population which is still mainly rural. 



