STANDARD OF COMPARISON. 87 



5 per cent of births are to fathers over 51-0— A 2 

 2 " " " " " " 57-0— A 3 



5 <; " " " " under 23-0— a 2 



2 " " " " " " 21-4— a 3 



SCALE TESTED. 



Dr. Duncan 2 gives the ages of mothers for 16,385 births as 

 determined at the Dublin Lying-in Hospital between 1850 and i860, 

 and also the ages of mothers for 16,301 births as registered in 

 Edinburg and Glasgow in 1855. He also gives 3 a similar record 

 for Finland and Sweden, with the exception that in the last case the 

 births are the total for the whole population and amount to 100,057. 

 Comparing these with the female record as I have determined it 

 from the Redfield Genealogy, we have the following table: 



TABLE II. 



PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN AT DIFFERENT AGES OF MOTHERS. 



Ages ....15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 5°+ 



Dublin 4.65 29.67 32.40 23.29 7.38 2.42 .13 .03 



Edinburg and 



Glasgow.. 2.30 22.62 30.89 23.61 14.76 5.15 .58 .03 

 Finland and 



Sweden .. 3.29 16.50 26.32 25.61 18.08 8.51 1.69 — 

 Redfields, 



i8thcen.. 3.33 22.78 28.33 2 ^-^3 J 4-44 8.88 .57 — 



From this table it will be seen that Ireland stands at the extreme 

 of early reproduction and Finland and Sweden at the extreme of 

 late production, while Scotland and America are intermediate and 

 close together. Finland and Sweden being very cold climates and 



(2) Fecundity, Fertility, and Sterility, p. 7. 



(3) Ibid., p. IS- 



