TRANSACTIOKS OF SECTION P. 



839 



of cliildren to a marriage was at least as great as in our time. In Oul' time the 

 fertility of marriage is determined partly by physical, partly by social causes. 

 Formerly the fertility of marriage was as great as nature permitted, just as 

 marriage was undertaken as freely as the law and the economic development of the 

 community permitted, not as nowadays, when people remain unmarried though 

 not restrained by the fact of being unable to afford it. In spite of the marriages 

 taking place later on the average, the fertility of marriage was not less than now. 

 This position is established in the paper by means of statistics. 



Finally comes the question of illegitimacy. A result of the masses being com- 

 pelled to defer wedlock to a later age than now was that the number of illegitimate 

 births was greater than in our time. This cannot be proved directly, but the 

 paper shows, by the use of modern statistics, how the number of illegitimate 

 children increases as the age of marriage among the masses increases. I am 

 confident that the rule can be laid down for Denmark that in former times, both 

 within and without the bonds of wedlock, more children were born relatively to 

 the population than in our own time. The tendency towards a diminished birth- 

 rate which can be shown for our time (and is demonstrated in the paper) did not 

 exist of old. That the population did not increase was due, not to a small natality, 

 but to a great mortality, as is also shown in the paper. 



When the number of the baptised in former centuries is determined, a smaller 

 factor must be used with which to multiply it, in order to deduce the population, 

 than would be appropriate for our time. If the number of baptisms in former 

 times be multiplied by 30, the numbers of the population will probably be 

 determined to within 10 per cent, of excess or defect. 



The following tables illustrate some of the more important facts to which 

 allusion is made : — 



Table I. — Change in the Ratio of Civil Conditions at each Age-group in Denmark. 

 100 in each Age-group and for each of the Sexes. 



Table II. — Change in Numbers in different Age-groups. 



