Effect of War on Crime, Marriage and Insanityj 



367 



The above facts admit of only one 

 interpretation — viz., that war, fruitful 

 though it is in shock cases and neuras- 

 thenia, does not increase, but may even 

 tend to diminish, insanity. 



WAR DECREASES SUICIDE 



"A remarkable and unexpected result 

 of the war has been a decided decline in 

 the rate of suicide. In the ten years 

 1901-10, the average number of male 

 suicides was 157 per million living. In 

 1914 the figure was 151 per million, 

 while in 1915 the figure fell to 104 

 (civilians only), and in 1916 it stood 

 at 111. Amongst females, as might be 

 expected, the fluctuations were much 

 less marked. The female rate in the 

 decennium 1901-10 was 47 per million 

 living, in 1914 and 1915 it was 45, and 

 in 1916 it was 38. These figures are a 

 further indication that the effect of the 

 war upon the mental stability of the na- 

 tion has been tonic, rather than de- 

 pressant." 



THE WAR AND ILLEGITIMACY 



Another aspect of the war in rel- 

 ation to eugenics is treated by Emma 

 O. Lundberg in an exhaustive article 

 in the American Journal of Physical 

 Anthropology for July-September, 

 1918. 



The writer has gathered comparative 

 data on the rates of legitimate and 

 illegitimate births based, respectively, 

 on the total number of married women, 

 and the nmiiber of unmarried, widowed 

 or divorced women in the various 

 countries of Europe. "These figures 

 are of interest as showing the trend of 

 the general birth rate over a period of 

 years, the illegitimacy birth rate over 

 the same period, and a comparison of 

 the two. The most striking thing 

 brought out is the regularity of the 

 absolute decline, not only of the 

 legitimate birth rate, but of the illegit- 

 imacy rate as well. With the exception 

 of Ireland, all the countries for which 

 we have figures covering from 30 to 

 40 years, show a decrease in the num- 

 ber of legitimate births in comparison 

 with the number of married women of 



the age inclusion. There vvais a similar 

 decline in the ratio of illegitimate births 

 to the number of unmarried women in 

 all of the countries except France and 

 Sweden; in the first of these countries 

 the rates were stable, and in the sec- 

 ond there was an increase. In Great 

 Britain and Bavaria, while the rates 

 indicate an increase, there was an 

 actual decline in the number of 

 illegitimate births. Other countries in 

 which there has been a progressive 

 decrease in the number of illegitimate 

 births annually are Austria, Belgium, 

 France, Great Britain, Italy, Norway, 

 and the Netherlands. Increases in the 

 annual number of illegitimate births 

 during a thirty to forty year period 

 have occurred in the German Empire 

 as a whole, especially in Prussia, and 

 in Bulgaria. Denmark, Finland. Bos- 

 nia and Herzogovina. Hungarv, Por- 

 tugal, Roumania, Russia in Europe, 

 Serbia, Sweden, and Switzerland. 



In the social changes that came when 

 Europe was plunged into war, old cus- 

 toms were uprooted, the existing order 

 was disturbed, and revolt against con- 

 servative ideals seemed likely to alter 

 the standards that society had sanc- 

 tioned. The economic and social rela- 

 tions of the sexes were altered ; artificial 

 distribution of population resulted from 

 concentration of men in army camps ; 

 emotional disturbance was a part of 

 the war excitement ; the growing inde- 

 pendence of women, economically and 

 socially, forecast freedom from re- 

 straints. On the other hand, the added 

 responsibilities and the seriousness of 

 the times, the greater individual free- 

 dom of women, and the general ab- 

 sence of leisure time, might be pre- 

 sumed to have counteracted these con- 

 ditions to a considerable extent. Also, 

 we must take into account the increased 

 number of marriages early in the war. 

 and the large proportion of the men 

 removed to the front. 



In England the Registrar-General 

 has called attention to the fact that 

 the war has producefl no perceptible 

 effect on the statistics of illegitimate 

 births, in spite of predictions current 

 in the early months of the war. 



