THE JEWS: RACE AND ENVIRONMENT 5°9 



also not as difficult for him to be baptized, because he considers himself 

 as much of christian as of Jewish origin. It is Euppin's opinion that 

 hardly 10 per cent, of the children resulting from mixed marriages 

 remain Jews for any considerable length of time. Of these it is doubt- 

 ful whether any Jews are left after two or three generations. 



" The loss sustained by Judaism through mixed marriages," says 

 Euppin, " is not to be considered a negligible quantity. In 1901, after 

 five years of legalized intermarriage in Hungary, the proportion of 

 children born to mixed parents was 1.23 per cent, of the total number 

 of Jewish births; in Prussia, after twenty-five years of mixed mar- 

 riages, it was 10.47 per cent., and in Berlin even 15.15 per cent, of 

 all the Jewish births were of mixed origin. Between 1875 and 1902 

 14,536 children were born in Prussia from mixed marriages." In 

 fact, Euppin points out that the loss is much greater than through 

 baptism, which is very much in vogue in Prussia. He shows that in 

 Prussia only about 400 Jews are converted annually to Christianity, 

 as against 700 children of half-Jewish blood becoming christians. 

 Only about 25 christians are annually converted to Judaism and 75 

 children of half-Jewish blood are gained by Judaism through inter- 

 marriage. In this connection it is of interest to mention the nu- 

 merous christian missions to the Jews, which are mostly kept up on 

 the moneys contributed by English-speaking people. It is well known 

 that they meet with but little, if any, success. Their expense is enor- 

 mous. According to Dr. Kohler, 15 the Berlin Society for Promoting 

 Christianity among the Jews spent more than 117,152 Eeichsthaler 

 upon the conversion of 461 Jews during the fifty years of its existence, 

 while the London Society paid between the years 1863 and 1894 from 

 £600 to £3,000 for the conversion of a single Jew. It appears from 

 the figures given above that intermarriage brings much better results 

 for the promotion of Christianity among the Jews than missions with 

 their ' costly converts,' who only rarely prove to be desirable acquisi- 

 tions to Christianity. 



Dissolution of Marriage 

 There are but few data about the frequency of divorce among the 

 Jews. In eastern Europe and the orient, the rabbinical law of divorce 

 prevails among the Jewish inhabitants, and any trivial cause often 

 suffices before some rabbis to grant a divorce. The husband can even 

 send a divorce to his wife by proxy through a messenger. Divorces, 

 while not uncommon, considering the ease with which they can be 

 obtained, are not very frequent. Family ties are very strong among 

 the eastern European Jews and only rarely is advantage taken of the 

 rabbinical law to dissolve marriage. The western European Jews do 



" ' Jewish Encyclopedia,' Vol. IV., p. 252. 



