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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



expect that the Jews in every country would present the same pe- 

 culiarity. 



I will begin with the question of the fertility of the Jews. 



I. Natality 



From the enormous mass of vital statistics collected during the 

 past century, nothing definite could be established as to the influence 

 of race on the birth rate. On the one hand, one would be led to 

 believe that the Teutons have a high birth rate, when judged by the 

 proportion of births in the German empire, but, on the other hand, in 

 Scandinavia, where the Teutons have preserved themselves in a much 

 greater purity, the rates are comparatively low, and the same is true of 

 England. The Slavonic races in eastern Europe have a very high 

 degree of fertility, but the differences in the various provinces of 

 Eussia, Poland and Austria are so great as to disprove directly the 

 contention that race is necessarily the cause. In the same manner, the 

 differences in the rates in Italy and southern France are striking. 

 The racial elements are about the same in both countries, yet the birth 

 rate of Italy is much higher than that of France. The Jews in Europe, 

 owing to their isolation and alleged abstinence from intermarriage with 

 other peoples, should offer good material for the solution of the ques- 

 tion on the influence of race on fertiltv. 



It has been observed all over Europe that the birth rates of the 

 Jews are low. When compared with the non-Jewish population of 

 some countries, like Prussia, Bavaria, Bohemia, etc., they are only one 

 half as fertile as the christians. Some authors have asserted that 



1 The term ' christian ' includes : In Algeria, the Europeans living in that 

 colony, the Mohammedan inhabitants being polygamous can not be compared 

 with the monogamous Jews; in Warsaw Roman Catholics are referred to, and 

 in European Russia, Greek Orthodox; in all the rest it includes the total non- 

 Jewish population of the country. 



