248 MARRIAGE AND DISEASE. 



when eleven months old brought forth seven pigs. 

 They were tiny, ill-developed things ; some died im- 

 mediately after birth, others within a few days, and 

 all of them succumbed within five weeks of the time 

 of birth. The strength of the mother was consider- 

 ably taxed by the operation, but she recovered, and 

 having gained maturity, she had well-developed and 

 healthy offspring by the same father. It is a common 

 practice in many districts to destroy the first litter of 

 puppies brought forth by a bitch, and if you ask the 

 " fancier " why he does so, he will inform you that 

 " the first litter are never any good ; they are sickly, 

 and seldom get through the distemper ; they have no 

 pluck, and they never come to anything." 



In the human family the same rule holds good. 

 The children born of parents who have not themselves 

 reached maturity are markedly inferior to those born 

 under like circumstances of mature parents. Aristotle 

 remarked that in those cities of Greece where it was 

 the custom for young people to marry before maturity, 

 the children were puny and of small stature. Montes- 

 quieu observed the same fact when, in France, the fear 

 of conscription induced great numbers of young people 

 to marry long before the proper period : the unions 

 were fruitful, but the children were small, wretched, 

 and unhealthy. According to M. Lucas, the same 

 occurred in 1 8 1 2 and 1813. 



A vast number of these children of the immature 

 are born prematurely, to the great danger of the im- 

 perfectly developed mothers; a much larger percentage 



