332 



HEREDITY AND SELECTION IN SOCIOLOGY 



We have taken Italy on purpose ; for the economic conditions, 

 and the struggle for existence which results from them, are less 

 developed in that incomparable country than in the northern 

 and central civilisations of Europe ; so that it must be, on the 

 whole, easier for the upper classes in Italy to marry early than 

 it is for the same classes in England or France or Germany. 

 Not only is the economic life less intense, but the Italian nature 

 is, as a consequence, more inclined to frugality — ^in a word, 

 the standard of life required by the upper classes is not only 

 somewhat less exorbitant than that required further north, but 

 it is easier of attainment. Nevertheless, we find in Italy that 

 the three categories which marry, on an average, at the age of 

 thirty and upwards are precisely those which are the most 

 educated and most cultured, and those whose multiplication is 

 most beneficial for the community : the ofi&cial class, the pro- 

 fessional and learned classes, and the officers' class. And, on 

 the other hand, the categories whose members marry at the 

 earliest age, and which may therefore be held to be most fertile, 

 as a general rule, are those of the masons, bricklayers, and 

 artisans. If this is the condition of affairs in Italy, much more 

 must it be the condition prevailing in the economically more 

 developed countries. 



That this supposition is correct is shown by the statistics 

 given by M. Easeri for England, for the period 1884-85 : 



We find, further, the Registrar-General writing in 1893 to the 

 effect that " the mean age at marriage has been steadily rising 



