HISTORICAL RACES 



2G7 



concerned, it may be taken as a fact that in the main the limit of 

 fertility of marriage was set by nature alone.' 1 This applies 

 equally to the whole of the period. In this respect, therefore, this 

 period resembles those which preceded it. 



Whatever effects may have to be attributed to these factors in 

 the former periods, it is within the modern period that they first 

 become of primary importance. Something was said in the 

 First Chapter as to the history of the so-called Neomalthusian 

 propaganda, and it was pointed out that it began relatively early 

 in the century. It is obviously very difficult to obtain any 

 definite facts regarding the extent of these practices, but a very 

 great body of evidence points to the conclusion that, not only 

 have these practices come to be of great importance, but also that 

 it is by means of variation in their use, together with deliberate 

 restraint from intercourse between married persons, by which 

 population has come to be regulated. 



With regard to definite evidence the results of an inquiry carried 

 out by the National Birth-Rat e Commission may be quoted. Of 

 481 schedules issued, 366 gave definite replies regarding the 

 limitation of births. In 288 cases the marriages were specifically 

 stated to be limited, and in 203 of these 288 cases there were 

 further particulars. In 105 cases (51-7 per cent.) limitation 

 appears to have been due merely to restriction of intercourse to 

 periods when conception was believed to be unlikely or to absten- 

 tion from intercourse. There were 98 cases in which contra- 

 ceptive methods were apparently employed. 2 



16. We now come to a consideration of the three practices 

 which we found to be of such importance in the first two groups. 

 Of prolonged restraint from intercourse imposed as a social 

 custom there is no trace. It was certainly not characteristic of 

 the mediaeval period ; it is possible that in the earlier portion of 

 the period, of which in these respects we have little definite know- 

 ledge, the practice may have been continued from the times 

 previous to conversion to Christianity, just as we shall find that 

 abortion and infanticide were continued in some cases. It is 

 important also to notice that abortion and infanticide, at least in 

 the form of well-recognized social customs, are also absent. For 

 the first time in history none of these practices are in common 

 use. We may shortly consider how they came to disappear. 



1 Rubin, loc. cit., p. 614. * The Declining Birth-rate, p. 20. 



