Mr. Lubbock on the Census. 419 



tains in other countries, the pre-eminent sahibrity of our coun- 

 try. However consohitory this opinion may be, I fear it will 

 not stand the test of examination. Tiie disagreement of the 

 results given by the census with those given by the best tables 

 of mortality is so great, that either the one or the other must be 

 grossly inaccurate: this assertion, however, rests upon my own 

 calculations, which I shall be very glad to see verified or dis- 

 proved. Considering the manner in which these tables have 

 been formed, the error will not, I think, be found in them. 

 The table of Mr. Finlaison does not differ widely from Mr. 

 Milne's; and this, which can hardly l)e suspected of being un- 

 favourable, particularly when applied to the population ge- 

 nerally, would give a ratio far greater than — . 



In France the ratio of the legitimate male births to legiti- 

 mate female births is about 1-068, the ratio of illegitimate 

 male births to illegitimate female births is about 1-048; this 

 difference has been also remarked in other countries: see a 

 paper by Professor Babbage, in Dr. Brewster's Journal of 

 Science, New Series, No. 1. But we have no means, as far as 

 I know, of ascertaining whether it exists in England ; the par- 

 liamentary reports do not separate legitimate and illegitimate 

 births, nor do the bills of mortality. It would be interesting 

 to observe the differences presented by different counties with 

 regard to the number of illegitimate births; and it is much to 

 be regretted that no information on this subject is to be found. 



In a ))amphlet entitled " A Statement of the Principles and 

 Objects of a National Colonization Society," it is supposed, 

 p. 17, that in a population wliich increases at the rate of four 

 per cent, per amuim, the number of coui)les who attain the age 

 of puberty is as one to one hundred in proportion to the whole 

 population ; and hence that in Britain, taking the population 

 to be twenty millions, " the procreative power every year 

 brought into action would be 200,000 couples." 



Accoi-dingtothe Chester table of mortality, to which I have 



before referred, Of 10,000 males born, 57651 , , 



1 0,000 females born, 6302 j ' ^''^" '"^ 



age of 20. Therefore the males aged 20 are to the male births 



5765 

 20 years ago, as ' ^^ . If we suppose the population to be 



increasing aniuially in a geometrical progression, of which the 

 common ratio is 1 16 (according to tlic comparison of the 

 censuses of 1810 and 1820), the males aged 20 are to the 



male births at i>rcscnt aSj^^^/^^J---- . The male births are 



to the female births as 1 -Oi.S.O : 1. 



.'i 1 1 2 With 



