DATA FOE THE PKOBLEM OF EVOLUTION IN MAN. 
ANTHROPOMETRIC DATA FROM AUSTRALIA. 
By a. O. POWYS*. 
A. Feytilittj of Man and Woman in relation to Age. 
To render the problem a definite one the influence of the number of earlier 
births is practically removed by considering only the first births, i.e. those within 
12 months of marriage. Table I. gives such first births per 100 wives in quin- 
quennial age-groups from the experience of New South Wales during the six years 
1893-8. The second column shows the mean annual number of marriages con- 
tracted by women in the age-groups indicated in the first column. Korosi, the 
well-known statistician of Budapest, in a paper read before the Royal Society 
(Phil. Trans., B, Vol. 186, Part ll. pp. 792 et seq.), gave a somewhat similar table, 
in which, however, the probability of birth was shown to be higher the younger 
the wife. But it must be borne in mind that most of the marriages contracted 
under the age of 20 are compulsory, i.e. were contracted after conception had 
followed illicit intercourse. It is therefore only correct that the number of such 
ante-nuptial conceptions should be withdrawn from both the marriages and the 
resultant births. The third column shows the number of such ante-nuptial con- 
ceptions. Births occurring within 9 months of marriage have been so regarded. 
It is true that there are some legitimate 7 months children, but the births at 
that month show no inordinate dimensions, as the following figures indicate. Six 
years 1893-8: Under 2 months of marriage, 1334 cases; 2 — 3 months, 1204; 
3—4 months, 1577; 4—5 months, 1657; 5—6 months, 1840; 6—7 months, 1942; 
7—8 months, 1949; and 8 to 9 months, 1863. 
* The following data — tables, calculated constants and diagrams — were freely placed at my 
disposal by Mr A. O. Powys of the Government Statist's Office, Melbourne. I have added but little 
to his own notes upon them. K. P. 
