THE FUTURE 187 



the humours, but induces a general relaxation of the 

 solids, a state highly unfavourable to procreation. To 

 remove this we recommend the following course : First, 

 sufficient exercise in the open air ; secondly, a diet consisting 

 chiefly of milk and vegetables ; thirdly, the use of astringent 

 medicines as steel, alum, dragon's blood, elixir of vitriol, 

 the Spa or Tunbridge Waters, Peruvian bark, etc., and 

 lastly, above all, the cold bath." 



Verily there is nothing new under the sun. Here in 

 this old volume of over a hundred years ago we have the 

 main symptoms of the birthrate problem clearly grasped 

 and the most promising lines of treatment mapped out. 

 Iron is strongly recommended by Sharp in his Essays 

 on Medicine as " greatly facilitating conception." If 

 iron in small quantities or any of the other substances 

 recommended do really facilitate conception, it is easy to 

 see how many of the apparently contradictory statistical 

 results could be produced. Suppose the water of a given 

 district strongly impregnated with iron. This might lead 

 to a considerable increase of average fertility in that 

 district. In another district might be present some 

 substance which tended to check fertility. As it is not 

 likely that any material effect on the deathrate would 

 result in either case, there would be a considerable irregu- 

 larity when birthrates and deathrates of the two districts 

 were compared. Yet for a country as a whole the law 

 of averages would level up these incidental factors. 



A very interesting line of inquiry is suggested by " some 

 results obtained at the experimental farm at Roseville, 

 California, by Professor Silas Wentworth, who has found 

 that by placing ewes in a field under the power wires 

 of an electric power company, the average production 

 of lambs is more than doubled." l Assuming the fact 

 1 The Task of Social Hygiene, Havslock Ellis, p. 173. 



