266 HISTOKICAL KACES 



developed slowly as European mediaeval society assumed its 

 typical aspect. The growth of these conditions is connected with 

 the disappearance of abortion and infanticide, and, as we shall se^, 

 there is evidence that there was a lengthy period during which 

 these customs continued to be practised after the introduction of 

 Christianity. 



The transition from the conditions of what we have called the 

 mediaeval period to those of the modern period was relatively 

 sudden. The economic changes connected with the rise of the 

 industrial system in the latter half of the eighteenth century did 

 away with the obstacles to marriage which have been mentioned. 

 As a result the average age at marriage was lowered. In England 

 between 1867 and 1888 it was for men twenty-six and for women 

 twenty-four. The question of the age at marriage in the modern 

 period need not detain us because it was not the variations in that 

 factor which have controlled numbers. There have been variations, 

 but these variations have been compensated for by other factors. 



Celibacy for religious reasons, which at certain times and places 

 was of great importance in the mediaeval period, has ceased to be 

 of any importance in the modern period. On the other hand, for 

 the first time in history voluntary celibacy on grounds other than 

 religious has come to be of importance. ' In the course of this 

 century [nineteenth century] Wappaus found that in Saxony 

 14-6 of the unmarried adult population died single ; in Sweden 

 14-9 per cent., in the Netherlands 14*2 per cent., and in France 

 20-6 per cent.' * The returns of the thirteenth United States 2 

 Census showed that of the females 35-44 years of age 10 per cent, 

 were single. 



In this connexion there is another matter which may be men- 

 tioned here. It will be referred to in detail later on. Whereas in 

 the mediaeval period the independent class married early and 

 the dependent class considerably later, in the modern period this 

 has been reversed. It is now the wage-earning class which marries 

 earlier than the independent class. 



15. Contraceptive methods were known in the mediaeval period, 3 

 but there is no evidence that either these practices or restraint 

 from intercourse between married persons were of any importance. 

 According to Kubin, * so far as the eighteenth century ... is 



1 Westermarck, Human Marriage, p. 145, 2 Popenoe and Johnson, 



Applied Eugenics, p. 136. * See, for instance, Albertus Magnus, De Secretis 



Mulierum, p. 233. 



