142 THE FAMILY AND THE NATION 



these children will become parents in their turn. 

 Doubtless, the number of unmarried men is still 

 affected by the rule of celibacy aforetime imposed on 

 Fellows of Colleges. The large proportion of child- 

 less couples may indicate that men and women of 

 academic distinction and mode of life are often not 

 fertile and are inclined to late marriages ; while the 

 average number (2.84) of children to a marriage which 

 produces any offspring is closely concordant with that 

 in other sections of the educated classes, and is 

 probably determined by the same causes. Nor do 

 recent marriages show any signs of improved results, 

 since 67 marriages, where the youngest child is under 

 ten years, and consequently may not be the last of the 

 family, have resulted in only 164 children, an average 

 of about 2.45. It is impossible as yet to calculate the 

 precise rate of decline of this later group, since no 

 estimate can be made either of recent infertile marriages 

 or of confirmed celibates. It must be admitted that 

 the domestic arrangements of the Colleges are openly 

 and curiously symbolic of their deadly effect on the 

 constituent population, since, although funerals in 

 College chapels are of frequent occurrence, none of 

 these buildings is licensed for marriages, nor do any 

 of them possess a baptismal font. 



In the course of the investigations of which the 

 results are given in the previous paragraphs, it was 

 observed that no diminution in the birth-rate appeared 

 to occur in families where distinct evidence — either 

 from the places of education or profession — could be 

 obtained that the persons in question belonged to the 

 Roman Catholic religion. It was not easy to get clear 



