168 THE TREND OF THE RACE 



during their lives. Still higher estimates are made by Lenz, 

 although they are based on very unreliable methods. In Den- 

 mark (1886-95) venereal infection in Copenhagen, other cities 

 and in the country bore the ratio of 201, 30, and 4 respectively 

 (Prinzing.) 



It is Impossible on the basis of any statistics that have been 

 compiled to ascertain whether venereal diseases have been in- 

 creasing or decreasing. Medical opinion on the subject is very 

 divergent. It is only recently possible, owing to the discovery 

 of the Wassermann and other tests for syphilis, to gain any 

 idea as to the extent to which this scourge is disseminated 

 among the population, and no data have yet been compiled that 

 will give an accurate idea of its prevalence. We are much less 

 able to estimate its prevalence in times past. 



Since venereal diseases are much more common in cities, and 

 since the city population has been increasing at a relatively rapid 

 rate, it would seem likely that venereal diseases in cities have been 

 on the increase. And if they have increased in the cities it would 

 be only natural that with our greatly increased means of travel 

 they would be disseminated into the small towns and rural 

 districts, leading to an increase also in these communities. We 

 are perhaps justified in attributing the tendency of the birth 

 rate to fall more rapidly in the cities hi part to the greater preva- 

 lence of venereal disease in urban communities. But how far 

 these diseases have produced a fall of the general birth rate is 

 uncertain. 



Of all the factors influencing the birth rate, it is probable that 

 the most potent is the voluntary restriction of births. In many 

 families children do not come because they are not wanted, and 

 in many others the number of children is limited to two or three. 

 The custom of standardizing the family, so common in France, is 

 rapidly spreading to other lands, especially among the members 

 of the higher social strata. Large families are no longer in style, 

 and parents who have many children are often regarded as 

 guilty of a violation of good form, if they do not incur a more 

 serious judgment. 



