284 LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE HOURS. 



than if single. Young married women, like young 

 married men, die rapidly.' As to men, all those from 

 twenty-three to seventy who remain unmarried ' are 

 practically committing suicide.' 



It might be shown in the same way that matrimony 

 is a preventive against poverty, bad looks, deformity, 

 ill-temper, intemperance, and a number of other un- 

 desirable qualities, if statistics on these points were 

 carefully collected ; for, beyond all doubt, there would 

 be found to be more poor, ill-looking, deformed, sour- 

 tempered, and drunken persons among the single than 

 among the married. Or it might be shown quite as 

 satisfactorily or unsatisfactorily (but with far greater 

 probability of correctness) that to be poor, or ugly, or 

 ill-tempered, or intemperate, conduces to singleness 

 (' single cursedness ' let us say). And the statistics 

 actually quoted by Stark, Bertillon, and Drysdale may 

 be used (as justly as by these statisticians) to show 

 that circumstances which are unfavourable to longevity 

 diminish the chance of securing a partner for life, and 

 that tendencies to insanity or to crime are not, strictly 

 speaking, advantageous features in either male or 

 female candidates for matrimony. 



The truth is that neither conclusion can justly be 

 derived from the statistics quoted, though certainly 

 one or other is just in itself, and most probably both 

 are just. If more bachelors die than married men 

 between given ages, it is certain that either the 

 married state is favourable to longevity, or that persons 

 likely to die soon, whether from weak health, intern- 



