FERTILITY OF SOCIAL CLASSES 325 



also the intellectual and professional classes and the upper bour- 

 geoisie — are, on an average, superior to the community as a 

 whole. This fact being granted, it is obvious that it is greatly 

 to the interest of the community that the fertility of these 

 superior classes should be greater than that of other classes. For 

 a diminished fertility on the part of the upper classes, and an in- 

 creased fertility on the part of the lower classes, would mean a 

 multiphcation of the less fit at the expense of the more fit ; conse- 

 quently, it would entail an organic regression of the entire race. 



What, then, are the facts ? Are the upper classes, the intel- 

 lectual and professional classes, the scholars and statesmen, the 

 shrewd factory directors and business men — are all these increas- 

 ing as they should ? Is their fertility at all events equal to, if it is 

 not greater than, the fertility of the working and artisan class ? 



M. Jacques Bertillon has established the statistics with regard 

 to this question for the four chief cities of Europe — Paris, London, 

 Vienna, and Berlin.^ The method by which he proceeds to 

 establish the opulent or indigent nature of the various quarters 

 of these difierent cities is the following : 



1. In every quarter, among 1,000 households of at least 



two persons, how many female servants ? 



2. Among 1,000 marriages, how many marriage settle- 



ments ? 



3. Among 1,000 individuals inhabiting the quarter, how 



many indigent persons in receipt of relief ? 



4. Among 1,000 individuals having a profession, how many 



are working-men ? 



5. Among 1,000 individuals, how many inhabit overcrowded 



dwellings ? 



This method is easily justifiable. Firstly, the number of 

 servants gives an idea of the wealth of a household ; secondly, 

 the frequency of marriage settlements in any quarter is a sign 



1 J. Bertillon, La Natalite sdon le degre d'aisance, in Bulletin de I'Institut 

 International de Statistigue, tome xi.. Premiere Livraison, pp. 163-178. 

 St. Petersburg, 1899. 



