Ch. xi. On the Fruitfulness of Marriages. 481 



which however would be a rare one, the distance 

 between marriage and death would be the same 

 as between birth and marriage. 



If we apply these observations to registers in 

 general, though we shall seldom be able to obtain 

 the true proportion of the born living to marry 

 on account of the proportions of births, deaths, 

 and marriages not remaining the same, and of our 

 not knowing the average age of marriage, yet we 

 may draw many useful inferences from the infor- 

 mation which they contain, and reconcile some 

 apparent contradictions ; and it will generally be 

 found that, in those countries where the marriages 

 bear a very large proportion to the deaths, we 

 shall see reason to believe that the age of marriage 

 is much earlier than the average age of death. 



In the Russian table for the year 1799, pro- 

 duced by Mr. Tooke, and referred to, p. 317, 

 the proportion of marriages to deaths appeared 

 to be as 100 to 210. When corrected for second 

 and third marriages, by subtracting one sixth 

 from the marriages, it will be as 100 to 252. 

 From which it would seem to follow, that out of 

 252 births 200 of them had lived to marry ; but 

 we cannot conceive any country to be so healthy 

 as that 200 out of 252 should live to marry. If 

 however we suppose, what seems to be probable, 

 that the age of marriage in Russia is 15 years 

 earlier than the expectation of life or the average 

 age of death, then, in order to find the proportion 

 which lives to marry, we must compare the mar- 

 riages of the present year with the deaths 15 years 



VOL. I. II 



