508 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



tion of their future children. Of these 685, or 85.64 per cent., de- 

 clared that they desired to bring up their children as christians, and 

 only 116, or 14.36 per cent., decided in favor of the Jewish religion. 

 It is a striking fact that even in cases where the parents registered 

 themselves as freethinkers married to Jews, one half declared their 

 intention to raise their children in the tenets of the christian church. 

 The Jews thus lose in Hungary 85.64 per cent, of the children born 

 of mixed marriages, which is a net gain to the christian church. 



In New South Wales, also, it was found that most of the children 

 resulting from mixed marriages are raised as christians. Of the chil- 

 dren born to Jews married to christian women, 44 were Jewish and 

 119 christian; of the children of christians married to Jewesses, 35 

 were christian and 20 Jewish. The net result is that from the chil- 

 dren born to Jewish husbands married to christian wives only 26.99 

 per cent, were Jewish, and from children born to christian husbands 

 married to Jewish wives 36.36 per cent, are Jewish. It is noteworthy 

 that here the mother has more influence than the father in determining 

 the religion of the children. 



In Copenhagen, where the number of mixed marriages is very 

 large, Salomon states that most of the children are raised as christians. 

 The same conditions are stated to prevail in Italy and France. 



In Prussia this subject has been studied by the census officials for 

 many years. The result is this: About 75 per cent, of all the children 

 are christian, and only 25 per cent, are Jewish. Thus between 1885 

 and 1900 the figures are as follows: 



Jewish Christian 



1885 24.78 per cent. 75.22 per cent. 



1890 25.48 per cent. 74.52 per cent. 



1895 24.47 per cent. 75.53 per cent. 



1900 24.21 per cent. 75.79 per cent. 



These figures represent the children who lived with their parents in 

 the census years mentioned, and show distinctly that only 25 per cent, 

 of them are Jews, although among the parents 50 per cent, of Jews are 

 represented. It is noteworthy that in Prussia it is the husband's re- 

 ligion which has more influence in determining the religious affiliation 

 of the offspring. During the census of 1900 it was found that in 

 families where the mother was Jewish and the father christian only 

 20.08 per cent, of the children were Jewish, as against 27.67 per cent, 

 in families where the father was Jewish and the mother christian. 



It must also be mentioned that this does not represent the entire 

 loss sustained by the Jews through intermarriage. A person who has 

 one parent of christian origin, even if raised as a Jew, is more likely 

 to marry a christian than a Jew when he becomes of age, because so- 

 cially he comes in intimate contact with his christian relatives. It is 



