"WHEN THE MOTHEKS PAIL 31 



tant speculations concerning the causes of this inter- 

 esting and important phenomenon, it is here suggested 

 that, in all probability, it is analogous to the decline 

 of fertility among certain classes, and due to pre- 

 cisely similar causes. Like procreation, nursing is 

 a purely animal function ;'' and, like the power to 

 procreate, the ability to nurse offspring declines in 

 the most marked degree among the leisured, cultured, 

 and well-to-do classes. Among savages, as already 

 noted, the condition is practically unknown, and 

 among primitive people everywhere it is exceedingly 

 rare. But as we ascend the scale of civilization it 

 is met with in ever increasing degree. In the state- 

 ment quoted from Dr. Holt, which has been cor- 

 roborated for me by scores of physicians, emphasis 

 is laid upon the fact that it is the well-to-do woman 

 and the intellectual woman who most frequently 

 fail to nurse their babies. As in the case of the birth- 

 rate, there would seem to be some subtle physiologi- 

 cal reaction tending to dwarf the purely animal 

 functions as a result of the development of other 

 than animal functions in the human organism. 



It might be urged against this view that the Jew- 

 ish race has for a long time been singularly progres- 

 sive in its mental development, and that, notwith- 

 standing this fact, Jewish mothers are much more 

 commonly able to nurse their offspring than Gen- 

 tile mothers. But in this connection it must not 



