302 



DR MATTHEWS DUNCAN ON THE 



Chapter IX. — Fertility of Wives Mothers Married at Different Ages. 



Before discussing this and the next topics, it is necessary to remark that fer- 

 tility may be maintained in degree in two ways — either by long-continuance or 

 by intensity while it lasts. At present I omit entirely the consideration of inten- 

 sity of fertility while it lasts, taking up this in the next part. But I shall show 

 that, of a mass of fertile women, the younger are, on the whole, more fertile than 

 the older. To demonstrate this I first adduce a Table (VII.) drawn from the data of 

 St George' s-in-the-East. It is evident here that the younger women 1 1 years mar- 



TABLE VII. — Showing the Fertility op Wives Mothers Married at Differed 

 Ages, from the data of St George's-in-the-East. 



Mother's Age at 

 Marriage. 



11-,^ Years Married. 



21 -,'j Years Married. 



Average Number 

 of Children. 



Average Number 

 of Children. 



15-19 



50 



77 



20-24 



4-5 



7-0 



25-29 



4'4 ' 



6-4 



30-34 



34 



3-0 



ried, and also those 21 years married, have, on an average, larger families than the 

 elder, of whatever respective ages. It must be observed that the Table includes 

 all wives, who, in a small selected population, have shown any fertility. And it 

 must be added that the Committee of the Statistical Society have enunciated the 

 same conclusion. I quote their own words : — "The following abstract will show 

 the average number of children to each marriage, at the respective periods of 10, 

 20, 30, and 40 years after the birth of the first child, for each class of marriages 

 formed at the four different quinquennial periods of life. 



" TABLE VIII. 



Years elapsed 



since Birth 



of First Child. 



Average number of Children to each Marriage formed at Ages 



16-20. 



21-25. 



26-30. 



31-35. 



10 

 20 

 30 

 40 



5-05 



7-68 



8-41 



10-85 



4-51 

 7-01 

 7-89 

 824 



4-42 

 643 

 6-80 

 500 



3 44 

 300 

 7-00 

 400 



