Ch.v. in Switzerland. 347 



very unusual proportion of 12 to 1. The births 

 were only about a 49th part of the population ; 

 and the number of persons above sixteen was to 

 the number below that age nearly as 3 to 1.* 



As a contrast to this parish, and a proof how 

 little the number of births can be depended upon 

 for an estimate of population, M. Muret produces 

 the parish of St. Cergue in the Jura, in which the 

 subsisting marriages were to the annual births only 

 in the proportion of 4 to 1, the births were a 26th 

 part of the population, and the number of persons 

 above and below sixteen just equal/f" 



Judging of the population of these parishes from 

 the proportion of their annual births, it would ap- 

 pear, he says, that Leyzin did not exceed St. 

 Cergue by above one-fifth at most ; whereas, from 

 actual enumeration, the population of the former 

 turned out to be 405, and of the latter only 171. % 



I have chosen, he observes, the parishes where 

 the contrast is the most striking; but though the 

 difference be not so remarkable in the rest, yet it 

 will always be found true that from one place to 

 another, even at very small distances, and in si- 

 tuations apparently similar, the proportions will 

 vary considerably .§ 



It is strange that, after making these observa- 

 tions, and others of the same tendency, which I 



* Memoires, &c. par la Societe Econ. de Berne. Annee 1766, 

 p. 11 and 12. 

 t Ibid, 

 t Id. p. U. 

 § Id. p. 13. 



