FERTILITY 621 



statistical inquiries by Newsholme and Stevenson, ^ and Udny 

 Yule.^ These writers have shown that the observed fall is not 

 simply a consequence of changes in the ages of the people, or in 

 the proportion of naarried to single women, for allowing for such 

 alterations as have occurred, the number of births per 100,000 

 of the population in England and Wales, for example, has dropped 

 from .3236 in 1861 to 2729 in 1901. 



The dechne in the birth-rate (so far as England and Wales are 

 concerned) is not appreciably greater in the towns than in the 

 rural districts. It is, however, especially marked in places 

 inhabited by the servant-keeping class.^ It appears to be 

 greatest in those sections of the population which give evidence 

 of the exercise of thrift and foresight, for Heron * has shown 

 that the more cultured, prosperous, and healthy classes are 

 producing fewer children than those belonging to a lower social 

 status. 



There is no evidence that this decline in the birth-rate is 

 due to an increase of sterility, for congenital unavoidable sterihty 

 in either sex is rare.^ The inference is, therefore, that the 

 decline is principally, if not entirely, the result of dehberate 

 voUtion in the regulation of the married state. Direct evidence 

 that this inference is correct is provided by the Fabian Society, 

 whose report ® indicates that the practice of hmitation prevails 

 with at least one-half, if not three-fourths, of all the married 

 people of Great Britain. The statistics collected from other 

 countries point in a similar direction.' This is noticeably the 

 case for New South Wales, Victoria, and New Zealand among 

 the British Colonies, and for France among Continental nations. 

 Indications pointing unmistakably in the same direction are 

 to be observed in the United States, Germany (especially Saxony, 

 and certain of the big cities) as well as in Belgium and Italy. 



' Newsholme and Stevenson, " The Decline of Human Fertility in the 

 United Kingdom," &c., Jour. Royal Statis. Soc, 1906. 



" Yule, " On the Changes in the Marriage and Birth-Rates," &o., Jour. 

 Roy. Statis. Soc, 1906. 



' Sidney Webb, " The Decline in the Birth-Rate," Fabian Society Tract, 

 London, 1907. 



* Heron, ."On the Relation of Fertility in Man to Social Status," &c., 

 Drapers' Company Memoir, London, 1906. 



^ Kelly, toe. cit. ^ Sidney Webb, toe. cit. 



' Newsholme and Stevenson, toe. cit. 



