24 THE LAW OF BIRTHS AND DEATHS 



The small inquiry conducted by Lady Willoughby 

 de Broke yielded very similar results. Some 94 definite 

 replies were received, and of these 75 claimed that the 

 families were limited as against 19 which asserted that 

 no limitation was practised. But 70 replies gave par- 

 ticulars, and it seems that in only 33 cases were artificial 

 methods used against 37 in which the only method was 

 voluntary restraint. Thus we find that only a little 

 more than a third of the definite replies claimed that 

 any really effective methods of limitation were adopted. 



In the case of the Fabian Society's inquiry (conducted 

 by Mr. Sidney Webb), of 316 marriages 242 were reported 

 to be limited as against 74 unlimited. In this case no 

 particulars of the methods used were given, but if we 

 assume the same proportion to prevail in this case as 

 in the others between those who took definite measures 

 to limit the family and those who merely confined inter- 

 course to the supposed " safe " periods quite a reasonable 

 assumption we again find that only about one-third 

 were taking any really effective contraceptive measures. 



But the most striking fact has yet to be mentioned. 

 In the case of the first inquiry the number of children 

 per marriage (excluding childless marriages) was actually 

 greater among those families claiming to be limited than 

 among those where no contraceptive measures were 

 taken. The average number of children per family in 

 the one case was 2-4, in the other T6. Lady Willoughby 

 de Broke's inquiry showed that the average " limited " 

 family was 3J, whereas in the " unlimited " families the 

 average was only 2|. The Fabian inquiry showed that 

 the " limited " family numbered on the average 2' 7 

 and the " unlimited " family 2 -88 ; but the average 

 duration of the former was only fourteen years against 

 eighteen years for the latter. 



