760 JOHN BEARD, 



be more males than in the preceding generation. The oscillations 

 will go on, until equilibrium be reached. The decisive factors in the 

 whole question are 1) the fact, that with the female and not the male 

 the determination and regulation of sex for the succeeding generation 

 lie, and 2) the circumstance, that the proportion of females apparently 

 increases with the number of ofifspring ^). 



A sudden preponderance in the number of the males is not of 

 gravity, for this can easily be put right in the next generation. A 

 decrease in the males will at first lead to an increase in the females, 

 and, finally, from these to an increment in the males. A sudden 

 augmentation in the females will be followed by the production of 

 more males, and thus indirectly it may lead to a decrease in the 

 females. A diminution in the number of females must be followed by 

 the bringing forth of more young by the remaining ones, and from 

 this an increment in the females will ensue. 



There is much statistical evidence, going to show, that at first 

 the offspring in man embrace more males than females. Tables con- 

 tradictory to this result also exist, and for fuller information the 

 reader may refer to other works treating of the problems of sex, such 

 as Hensen's 2) "Zeugung". As we have now disposed of any supposed 

 influence of the male, these tables must be differently interpreted than 

 hitherto. Thus, where it is said, that the father was older than 

 the mother, it must be assumed, that the mother was young, and 

 so on^). 



Whether the aforesaid self-regulating arrangement ■*) be or be not 



1) Large families will, therefore, increase the population in suc- 

 ceeding generations, because of the greater number of females thereby 

 arising: small families tend to produce the opposite result, because of 

 their unfavourable effect on the number of females. 



2) Hensen, v., Die Physiologie der Zeugung, Leipzig 1881, p. 203 

 —207. 



3) These tables prove nothing, as Hensen has already insisted. 

 The introduction of the father's age as a factor, and the vague state- 

 ments, as to the actual and relative ages of the chief agents, the mothers, 

 completely vitiate them. 



4) Objections will doubtless be raised as to the validity of the 

 conclusion. Of such two very obvious ones may be noted : the queen- 

 bee sometimes in later life only lays male-eggs, i. e., when her store 

 of sperms is used up, and among the Chinese, where female infanticide 

 is practised, the race shows no signs of decrease. Regarding the first 

 it is in reality a diseased condition, and it leads to disastrous results, 

 the death of the hive. Under normal conditions the queen-bee produces 



