Number' ofilie Sexes at Birth. 
girls, almost entirely from Tamul parents. In Batavia in 
1748, among the Chinese, there were under fourteen years of 
age 1063 boys and 806 girls ; among the Malays, SOS boys 
and SOI girls ; among the Macassers, 601 boys and 509 girls ; 
among the Javanese, 3040 boys and 3860 girls : In all, 
34,000 boys and S8,000 girls (Valentyn, Bcschryvmg van 
Amhoyna.) Humboldt found, that in New Spain the pro- 
portion was as 100 to 97, whereas in France it is 100 to 
96 only. Hufeland thought it interesting to ascertain the 
proportion among the Jews, as a remarkable remnant of an 
Oriental and Patriarchal People ; and he found that of 803 
successive births in Berlin, during sixteen years, 5S8 were boys 
and 365 girls, a proportion almost as high as S8 to SO. But 
upon the whole, the number of males born to that of females, 
seems to be 21 to 20 over the whole earth. The proportion of 
the sexes is reduced to perfect equality before they reach the 
age of puberty, as more boys than girls die before fourteen. 
By the assistance of Link, and especially of Budolphi, 
Hufeland has extended the comparison over animated nature in 
general. In hermaphrodite flowers, all proportions between the 
sexes are found, but monogamy is very rare, and the excess of 
the male sex, (or more stamina than pistils), very great. Dioeci- 
ous plants are more analogous to animals, and here the male sex 
predominates, as may be observed in a field of hemp, or in the 
willow and poplar tribes. 
Worms are generally hermaphrodite, but there are two 
kinds of intestinal worms where the sexes are distinct, and in 
these the predominance of the female is immense. Indeed, 
of one, the oxyuris, no male has been detected. In insects in ge- 
neral the male predominates, but the working bees and amazon 
ants are undeveloped females. In fishes, Bloch says the males 
are most numerous; but Staunton, in his voyage to China, 
states that the seal fishers reckon 30 females to one male. Of 
the amphibia little is known ; but according to Budolphi, the 
male is much less frequent among the Laceria agilis than the fe- 
male. In birds, the female decidedly predominates. In the mam- 
malia, polygamy is most frequent, and one male is sufficient for 
thirty or forty females. Upon the whole, it appears that the female 
sex is most numerous among animals, except the human race. 
Professor Hufeland then proceeds to au ioquirv peculiar to 
