158 THE DESCENT OF MAN, 



much larger proportion than the married; for instance, out 

 of every 1,000 unmarried men, between the ages of twenty 

 and thirty, 11.3 annually died, while of the married only 

 6.5 died.* A similar law was proved to hold good, during 

 the years 1863 and 1864, with the entire population 

 above the age of twenty in Scotland; for instance, out 

 of every 1,000 unmarried men between the ages of 

 twenty and thirty, 14,97 annually died, while of the mar- 

 ried only 7.24 died, that is less than half.f Dr. Stark 

 remarks on this: ^' Bachelorhood is more destructive 

 to life than the most unwholesome trades, or than 

 residence in an unwholesome house or district where there 

 has never been the most distant attempt at sanitary improve- 

 ment." He considers that the lessened mortality is the 

 direct result of '^marriage, and the more regular domestic 

 habits which attend that state." He admits, however, that 

 the intemperate, profligate, and criminal classes, whose 

 duration of life is low, do not commonly marry; and it 

 must likewise be admitted that men with a weak constitu- 

 tion, ill-health, or any great infirmity in body or mind, will 

 often not wish to marry, or will be rejected. Dr. Stark 

 seems to have come to the conclusion that marriage in 

 itself is a main cause of prolonged life, from finding that 

 aged married men still have a considerable advantage in 

 this respect over the unmarried of the same advanced age; 

 but every one must have known instances of men, who with 

 weak health during youth did not marry, and yet have sur- 

 vived to old age, though remaining weak, and therefore 

 always with a lessened chance of life or of marrying. There 

 is another remarkable circumstance which seems to sup- 

 port Dr. Stark^s conclusion, namely, that widows and 

 widowers in France suflier in comparison with the married 

 a very heavy rate of mortality; but Dr. Farr attributes this 

 to the poverty and evil habits consequent on the disruption 

 of the family and to grief. On the whole we may conclude 

 with Dr. Farr that the lesser mortality of married than of 



* Dr. Farr, ibid. The quotations given below are extracted from 

 the same striking paper. 



f I have taken the mean of the quinquennial means, given in " The 

 Tenth Annual Report of Births, Deaths, etc., in Scotland," 1867. 

 The quotation from Dr. Stark is copied from an article in the " Daily 

 News," Oct. 17, 1868, whicl; Dr. Farr considers very carefully 

 written. 



