TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 215 



instances the paternity has been subsequently found by Decree of Court, and 

 recorded in terms of the Statute {Ibid.) ; and in twenty-eight cases the children 

 have been legitimated by the subsequent marriage of their parents, such alteration 

 of status being also duly registered {Ihiil. § 36). In a few instances, the judicial 

 findings relate to children whose paternity was acknowledged at registration, from 

 which it would appear that, notwithstanding the reputed father's adhibition of his 

 signatm-e to the register, the mother is occasionally induced to raise an action 

 against him. 



" The mothers of no fewer than 571 of the 1189 illegitimate children (very nearly 

 one-half) are registered as being domestic servants, 216 as fartn servants, 22 as milli- 

 ners or dressmakers, and 36 as washericomen, haivhers, and other miscellaneous avoca- 

 tions ; while in the case of 344, or more than a third of the whole, the occupation 

 is not specified.* In several cases the mothers appear to have been widoivs, and, in 

 a few rare instances, married women living apart from their husbands. 



" From notes by the District Examiner, it appears that the mother of one of the 

 illegitimate children registered at Keith in 1860 is a pauper, and has given birth to 

 Jive illegitimate children ; while the mother of one of those registered at Rothie- 

 may, in the same year, is living idle at home, and has given birth to four illegiti- 

 mate children." 



Very considerable differences in respect to the amount of illegitimacy present 

 themselves in the different districts, the maximum rate being upwards of 25 per 

 cent., and the minimum as low as 6 or 7 per cent. As a rule, the sea-board parishes 

 have a lower percentage of illegitimacy than the inland ones. Neither the excess 

 of females over males, nor the comparative number of houses and windowed 

 rooms, as ascertained at the Census, appear to afford any satisfactory solution of 

 the differences in question. But with regard to the county generally, the compa- 

 rative paucity of marriages may, perhaps, have something to do with the large 

 amount of illegitimacy. 



The paper concluded as follows : — " In a paper which I published in the year 

 1860, 1 ventured to suggest a variety of causes as accounting for the illegitimacy 

 of Scotland generally. In the present paper, however, it will be observed that I 

 have almost entirely confined my remarks to a statement of facts, from which I 

 incline to think that no verj^ satisfactory deductions can be drawn, in the absence 

 of such detailed information as could only be obtained from a carefully conducted 

 local inquiry. 



" Even the best districts in Scotland have room for improvement in the matter in 

 question, and here, in the metropolitan county, we have not much to boast of. I 

 freely acknowledge the tendency which prompts us to shut our eyes on our own 

 shortcomings, and to call attention to those of our neighours ; but on the present 

 occasion, I think it will be admitted that the great and continued preeminence of 

 Baurt'shire in the matter of illegitimacy is a sufficient waiTant for my having 

 selected that county as the subject of my remarks." 



The paper was accompanied by several tabular appendices, and also by a series 

 of extracts bearing upon the subject from the notes appended by the Registrars to 

 their quarterly returns. 



On the Expediency of recording Still-Births. By Geoege Setok, Advocate, 

 M.A. Oxon., Secretary in the General Hegistry Office of Births, 6fC. (Scotland). 



This paper mentioned that, while these births are recorded in France and some 

 other continental nations, they are not registered either in England or Scotland. 



It showed, inter alia — • 



That the statistics of the subject are very imperfect. 



That under the old and unsatisfactory system of registration in Scotland, a con- 

 siderable number of still-births appear to have found their way into the parochial 

 records. 



That, estimating the stiU-births in Scotland at 41 per cent, of the total births, 

 their present annual number would amount to upwards of 5000. 



* A more general registration of the occupation of mothers of illegitimate children is 

 now effected in Banffshire and the other counties of Scotland. 



