\. 



808 



AMEKICAN ^t(fEN OF SCIENCE 

 Table XX. The Causes Li, uiting the Size of Families 



Number of Children 







^ 



Number of families. 



Not limited 



Voluntarily limited . 



Health 



Expense 



Other causes 



102 



67 



35 



25 



5 



5 



-^- 



58' 98 

 19 r 14 

 39 - 84 

 17 ' 44 

 12 i 29 



10 



11 



100 

 29 

 71 

 26 

 30 

 15 



54 

 22 

 32 

 8 

 14 

 10 



31 

 14 

 17 

 11 

 3 

 3 



12 

 5 

 7 

 2 

 5 

 



ited, the cause of the voluntary limitation 

 being health in 133 cases, expense in 98 

 cases and various other reasons in 54 cases. 

 Childlessness was involuntary in two thirds 

 of the ca.ses. In the standardized family 

 of two children the condition was desired 

 six times out of seven. In over one third 

 of the 461 families the limitation was in- 

 voluntar>% due to infertility and other 

 pathological causes, but if these had not ob 



' curred later in nearh^ all cases. In seventy- 

 one marriages prior to 1890 the average 

 size of family including all children born 

 was 2.9, and the limitation was voluntary 

 in forty-eight per cent, of the cases. In the 

 decade of the 80 's with 132 marriages the 

 size of the family was 2.6, and the limita- 

 tion was voluntary in sixty-four per cent, 

 of the ca.ses. For 198 marriages contracted 

 in the 90 's, when no more children will be 



I I NOT VOLUNTARILY LIMITED 

 yZ^ LIMITED BtCAUSt Of HEALTH 



\:^ tUPEKSE 



fCR OTHER CRUSES 



tained", voluntary limitation would have oc- I born, the average size of family was 2.0, and 



the limitation is voluntary in seventy per 

 icent. of the cases. 



Neither the prevalence of the voluntary 



limitation of the size of family, nor the 



l^ict that the size of family is limited 



jirectly or indirectly through infertility 



ill-health in more than three fourths of 



[e cases, can be regarded with satisfac- 



m. It is indeed evident that a limitation 



ithe number of offspring was an essential 



c^dition of the evolution of a higher race 



a| of the civilization to which it has at- 



t{\ed. It might be as undesirable and 



bnade as illegal for a man to have 



si^ihildren as to have two wives. But we 



ar^laying with edged tools when we subsfci- 



tut^ationalism for fundamental instincts. 



In mctise the family is not voluntarily 



limVi for the welfare of the race, but to 



avoHsk and ill-health real or fancied 



expqp and inconvenience, and to give the 



indiiial child greater advantages. There 



seeing be no existing conditions which 



23456769 ...1 ^ 



. ^\"1 <fck the decreasing birth rate, while 



Fig. 4, The number of families of American .. -V * i j? * r + -+0 



\ . r V, \r..\r.cr +i,n Tinnibpr tlicreVe powerful forces tending to its 



men of science of each size, showing the numhcr i v \ , , -i o f -, , 



voluntarily limited and the wiusea of the limita- deelinlplow the danger point of the death 



tion. rate. 



->.' 



