306 



DP MATTHEWS DUNCAN ON THE 



TABLE XV.— Showing the Probable Amount of Continuance in Fertility, 

 at Different Epochs, of Wives Married at Various Ages. 



Age of Mother at Marriage, .... 



15-19 



20-24 



25-29 



30-34 



35-39 Total. 



The proportion Child-bearing about the \ 

 5th year of Married Life is 1 in . . j 



1 56 

 641 



1-62 

 61-7 



2-46 

 406 



294 

 340 



6-30 

 15-9 



1-92 

 52-1 



The proportion Child-bearing about the ) 

 10th year of Married Life is 1 in . j 



1-92 

 52-1 



2-40 

 41-7 



3 54 

 28-2 



5-22 

 192 





2 64 

 37 9 



The proportion Child-bearing abont the ) 

 loth year of Married Life is 1 in . .( 



or a Percentage of 



2-76 

 362 



408 



245 



1092 

 91 



2244 

 45 





4-80 

 20 8 



The proportion Child-bearing about the ) 

 20th year of Married Life is about 1 in j 



5-10 

 196 



8-76 

 11-4 



77-88 

 13 





... 



9-78 

 10-2 



The proportion Child-bearing about the ) 

 25th year of Married Life is about 1 in J 



or a Percentage of 



40-80 

 2-4 



288-3 

 •35 





... 



... 



102-6 

 •97 



It is to be remarked that I only object to tliis statement of these authors so far 

 as the increase of the population is concerned, and I do not consider the diminished 

 chances of survival which children of very early marriages are believed to have. 

 There can be, in my opinion, no doubt that early marriages are most favourable 

 to the population ; and, as I have already shown that wives under 20 are less 

 fecund than those from 20 on to at least 24 years of age,* the fertility of the younger 

 as a mass is the more striking. But although most highly fertile as a mass, the 

 iiumber of sterile among those married under 20 years of age is not inconsiderable, 

 and it is probably this amount of sterility which, while satisfactory statistical 

 evidence was deficient, has given rise to the error now 7 commented upon. The 

 authors referred to give no definition of what they mean by early marriage. 

 Whatever they may mean, they have no good evidence for their doctrine. 



Quetelet-j- enunciates on this topic the following doctrine, as a natural conse- 

 quence from his data and reasonings. A marriage, says he, if it be not barren, 

 produces the same number of births at whatever period it takes place, provided 

 the age of the woman does not exceed 26 years. After this age the number of 

 children, he adds, diminishes. Not only do I, of course, think Quetelet wrong in 



* Trans. Royal Society, 1864. f Treatise on Man, p. 15. 



