130 THE LAW OF BIRTHS AND DEATHS 



Articles of food consumed by the Belgian working 

 man, calculated by months : 



The outvstanding features are the increase in the con- 

 sumption of bread, meat and butter, foods rich in pro- 

 teids and fats, and the decrease in the consumption of 

 the relatively innutritious potato. The consumption of 

 meat has increased enormously in most countries, and 

 in this connection may be noted the fact that experiments 

 carried out by Dr. Chalmers Watson * indicate that a 

 purely meat diet produces sterility " more or less complete " 

 in animals. True, the conditions were very severe, but 

 the experiments indicate that the great increase of meat- 

 eating may be a contributory cause of the increasing 

 sterility among human beings. 



In the light of the facts examined we are enabled to 

 understand the curious revenge often obtained by subject 

 races in outbreeding and ultimately absorbing their 

 conquerors. For example, the Saxons under the Normans, 

 and the Chinese under the Manchus. It is true that Nitti 

 expresses the view that slaves are unprolific, which appears 

 to be the received opinion, but he gives no evidence in 

 support of this view save some vague assertions that 

 enslaved races abandon themselves to despair. It seems 

 to be one of those conventional fallacies which pass current 

 because no one takes the trouble to examine the facts. 



There is no obvious reason why slaves should be in- 



1 The Declining Birthrate. 



