THE CAUSES OF THE DECLINING BIRTH RATE 157 
Venereal Diseases in Prussian Cities 
Males Females 
Te elie. 54 co epiaceere dd Boek 141.9 45-7 
In 17 other cities of over 100,000...... 99.9 27.9 
In 42 cities of 30,000 to 100,000....... 58.4 17.6 
In 47 cities with less than 30,000...... 45.1 16.9 
In other cities and rural districts....... 7.9 24 
Naturally there are sources of error in these data owing to the 
tendency of individuals to go to larger cities for treatment. That 
they indicate a greater liability to infection in the larger cities, 
however, is confirmed by data on the infections of recruits to the 
army from various parts of Prussia. Of 10,000 recruits in 1903- 
os there were venereal cases as follows: 
Venereal Cases in Urban and Rural Recruits in Prussia 
BOTA tretinoin ca ueinten make pesca 0 Gegeat Malan hae 413 
27 other cities over 100,000...............0.. 158 
26 HE BO=TOO00Og is. dg dean edb yea ee 102 
oa. 8 BS, SQG= OOOO us a niadia dina eeene eas 80 
Small cities and rural districts............... 44 
Dr. Blaschko contributes further to the bad reputation of 
Berlin in his estimate that of 1,000 men between 20 and 30 years 
nearly 200 become infected with gonorrhcea and 24 with syphilis 
per year, and that of men who marry after 30, each has had 
gonorrhoea twice on the average, and every one in 4 or 5 has 
syphilis. This is apt to be an over-estimate. The Berlin Gewerb- 
skrankenverein reports the yearly number of venereal infections 
as having increased from 53.6 per thousand male members in 
1892-95, to 87.1 per thousand male members in 1906-7. Of 
course a considerable number of cases may not have been reported 
to the organization, so that the estimates are minimal. Dr. 
W. Claasen, on the basis of medical reports on syphilis in medical 
benefit organizations, estimates that from 22.5 per cent to 34 
per cent of all Berlin workers contract syphilis at some time 
