SELECTIVE ELIMINATION 



305 



As a representative of the first group, there has been a steady increase in 

 the number of deaths from cancer (chart 5). As the disease occurs almost 

 entirely in late middle and old age, the reproductive period is not affected, 



TABLE 1 



Percentage of the total deaths which occur under twenty years of age, New York City, 1928 



1922 1923 192 + 192? 1926 192,7 (<>28 1929 1930 1931 



Chart 5. Mortality from Cancer per 100,000 Population, New York City, 1922 



to 1931 



so that there has been no selective action. With the increase in the number 

 of children who survive, there is an increase in the proportion of adults in 

 the population, so that more reach the age when cancer and the degenerative 

 diseases are liable to occur. 



