154 H.R. Storer on the decreasing increase of population, etc. 
legitimate and natural, reached the frightful ratio of 1 in 8. 
hat the foetal deaths as compared with the total mortality, had 
increased from 1 in 87 in 1805, tol in,13 in 1855. That the 
reported early abortions, of which the greater number of course 
escape registry, bear the ratio to the living births of 1 in 40, 
while elsewhere they are only 1 in 78. And finally, that early 
abortions, bearing the proportion to the still births at the ful 
time of 1 in 10 in 1846, had increased to 1 in 4 in 1856. 
So far the city of New York—a metropolis, and claiming pre- 
éminence neither in morals nor religion. On the other hand in 
Puritan Massachusetts, in the State at large, and therefore but lit- 
tle affected by the statistics of its capital, which however would 
by themselves probably be found corroborative of the main result, 
we have seen that the ratio of still births at the full time and 
premature as compared with the living births in 1850, was 1 to 
155. rance it is 1 to 24, and in Austria 1 to 49. That the 
ratio of premature births to those at the full time, during the pe- 
riod from 1850-56 was 1 to 26, while in New York city itis 
only 1 to 40. That the ratio of foetal deaths to the general mor- 
tality was 1 to 18 in 1851, and in 1855 1 to 10-4; while in New 
York city a year later, in 1856, it was only 1 to 11; and that 
from 1850-55 the frequency of abortions as compared with still 
births at the full time, was at least eight times as great as in the 
worst statistics of the city of New York. 
Few persons could have believed possible the existence of such 
_Dr. Jacob Bigelow, then President of the Academy, was inclined at one time 
to disbelieve in the existence of certain customs everywhere prevalent among apd 
He subsequently publicly acknowledged however, that his doubts were owing to bis 
not having personally investigated the subject. 
