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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



among the Jews in Warsaw, and low among the Jews in Prussia, just 

 as it is among the christians in these countries. In other words, in 

 eastern Europe, where childbirth is attended to by ignorant midwives, 

 the proportion of stillbirths is larger than in western Europe, where 

 either physicians or trained midwives are in attendance. Stillbirths 

 are, after all, greatly dependent on economic conditions. They are 

 very frequently met with among people in the lowest social and 

 economic strata, and rare among the prosperous. 



Illegitimate Births 



Illegitimacy has often been taken as an index of the morality of 

 a community. While it may be a true index in many countries, yet 

 in some countries, owing to special marriage laws, an excessive pro- 

 portion of illegitimate births is not necessarily an indication of vice. 

 A good illustration is presented in Austria. There a child is con- 

 sidered illegitimate in case the parents have not registered their mar- 

 riage with the civil authorities. It appears that the Jews in Galicia 

 and Bukowina very often neglect to register their marriages and con- 

 sider their religious ceremony as sufficient. As a result of this special 

 law, it is found that while nowhere else is the proportion of illegitimate 

 births among the Jews over four per cent., it reaches in Austria 61.37 

 per cent. In Storozynee the records even show 99.61 per cent, of illegi- 

 timate births among the Jews, which is manifestly absurd. 



It is seen from the above figures that about seven illegitimate 

 children are born to christians in Bavaria to one to Jews ; in Amsterdam 

 it is about three to one, in Warsaw seven to one, in Prussia and 

 Budapest two to one, and in Eussia five to one. The high percentage 

 in Austria and in part of Budapest has already been explained above as 

 being of no significance. 



