246 



BIOLOGY OF DEATH 





The area covered is the United States birth registration 

 area, We see that with the very low death-birth ratio 

 of 56 in 1915, there was no significant change till the 

 influenza year 1918, when the ratio rose to 73 per cent. 



25 

 200 

 I7S 



I 

 8 



100 



75 



SO 



STATES' 





19/3 



&>5 



1917 



1920 



YEAR 



FIG. 59. Showing the change in percentage which deaths were of births in each of the 

 years 1912 to 1919 for Vienna ( - ); 1915 to 1919 for the United States ( --- );and 

 1912 to 1920 for England and Wales ( ----- ). 



But in 1919, it promptly dropped back to the normal value 

 of 57.98, almost identical with the 1917 figure of 57.34. 



In England and Wales, the provisional figure indi- 

 cates that 1920 will show a lower value for the vital 

 index than that country has had for many years. 



So we see that neither a highly destructive war, nor 

 the most destructive epidemic since the Middle Ages, 

 serves more than to cause a momentary hesitation in the 

 steady onward march of population growth. 



