1888.] Mr G. Seton on Illegitimacy in Parish of Marnoch. 231 
It may, perhaps, seem somewhat invidious to have selected a 
single parish, in order to illustrate the prevalence of the unfortunate 
social blemish by which the whole of Scotland is more or less 
characterised ; but there appears to be ample justification for the 
present paper, when it is borne in mind that, with the occasional 
exception of Wigtownshire,* the county of Banff has, during the 
past thirty years, steadily held the highest place in the illegitimacy 
tables, and that, while one of its parishes (Seafield) exhibits a 
percentage of little more than 7, and two others (Cullen and 
Bath veil) each about 10*5, Marnoch, during the same period, 
reached the enormous proportion of upwards of 24 per cent. The 
diagram on the wall (which has been most carefully prepared by 
Per 
Cent. 
Mr Hubert H. Gray of the Kegistrar General’s Department), forcibly 
exhibits the position of Marnoch {red line), in the matter of 
illegitimacy during the thirty years ended 1884, as compared with 
* During the decennial period in question, the parish of Penninghame, in 
Wigtownshire, with a population, in 1381, of 3777 (1755 males and 2022 
females), had 1083 births, of which 146 were illegitimate, thus presenting a 
very favourable contrast to IVIarnoch. These figures, however, do not embrace 
t ranscripts, which would probably bring up the illegitimate births in Penning- 
hanie to about 166, against 277 in Marnoch, with 557 fewer inhabitants, and a 
larger proportion of houses to the population. (Penninghame — 610 houses to 
822 families. Marnoch — 678 houses to 712 families.) 
