Further inquiries have shown some curious modifications of the law which seems to preside over this part of the natural economy of the world. In illegitimate births, the over-proportion of boys is somewhat less, nearly approximating in some countries to a par with the number of girls. In France,' says Mr Babbage, it was observed a few years ago, that out of 6,705,778 persons born, legitimate and illegitimate, there are 3,458,965 males, and 3,246,813 females, or nearly 16 males to every 15 females. Out of 460,391 illegitimate children, there are 235,951 males, 224,440 females. From these data it follows that, in France, for every 100,000 legitimate female children, there will be 106,534 legitimate males; but for every 100,000 illegitimate females, there will be born only 105,128 illegitimate males; so that the probability of a child about to be born being a female is greater if it is illegitimate than if it is legitimate.' It has likewise been found that there is a less over-proportion of boys from marriages in which the husband is the younger party, and in cases also where both parties are extremely young. If the husband, therefore, be much the younger party, we expect his family to consist chiefly of girls; and the same where both husband and wife are much under the age of twenty or twenty-one. a recent traveller, the proportion is 1 to 2-3; that is, Still Births. The proportion of dead-born to live-born children is found in European cities to be about 1 in 20, but in the country not above half that amount; showing apparently that rural life is most favourable to the health of women during pregnancy and to successful parturition. It is worthy of remark, that more male than female children are still-born; the proportion in Western Flanders has been found as 14 to 10, and the same result appears in some other countries. At Gottingen, in 100 births, 3 were of legitimate, and 15 of illegitimate children. Effects of Scarcity. Times of scarcity and privation tend to reduce the number of marriages, and also of births, though gene rally not immediately. The great scarcity which ce curred in England at the commencement of the present century, occasioned a diminution in the number of marriages to the extent of about 18 per cent., as compared with the previous years of abundance. In the Netherlands, wheat was at 9:56 florins per hectolitre in 1816, and the births in the year 1818 had sunk, from a previous higher number (195,362 in 1815), to 183,706: in 1819, wheat had fallen to 372 florins per hectolitre, and the births, two years thereafter, rose to 210,359. MARRIAGES. The number of marriages per annum in proportion to the population, and the ages at which marriages take place in both sexes, form interesting subjects of inquiry. In England and Wales, the number of marriages registered was 111,481 in 1837-8; 121,083 in 1838-9; and 124,329 in 1839-40. The number is believed to have been less in the first of these years than it otherwise would have been, in consequence of a popular errer which induced parties to hurry on their nuptials before the commencement of the operation of the registration act. Taking the two latter years against each other, we find an increase of 3246 marriages upon the latter; but this is liable to a reduction of 1700 on account of the increase of population; so that, on the same number of people in 1838-9 and 1839-40, there was an increase of marriages, strictly, of about 1500. While there was thus an increase upon the whole country, the greater portion of the manufacturing districts in the west of England, where at this time commercial difficulties existed, showed a decrease, amounting in some districts to 6 per cent.; and in Manchester and Salford to no less than 12 per cent. The average fruitfulness of marriages is not clearly ascertained, in consequence of imperfect registrations; In England and Wales, the proportion of marriages but it is considered by Mr M'Culloch to be in England to the whole population seems to have been diminished in the ratio of 4 children to each marriage. The during the last fifty years. It is calculated that, in the accounts of the Registrar - General for the six years period 1796-1800, there was 1 marriage annually to ending 1842 give the proportion as 41-56; this, how-every 123 persons; in the period 1816-20, 1 for every ever, is too high a ratio, seeing that it includes illegitimate as well as legitimate births. Legitimate and Illegitimate Births. The proportion of illegitimate to legitimate births is a point of great importance in political economy as well as morality, for illegitimate children are generally a burthen to the state, and have an inferior chance of growing up useful citizens. It is also a fact ascertained by statistics, in opposition to common ideas, that such children have generally less of the elements of health and vitality than other children. The proportion of illegitimate to other births is-for France, 1 to 125; Prussia, 1 to 131; England, 1 to 14; Sweden, 1 to 146; the preponderance of morality thus appearing in favour of the two latter countries. In cities the proportions are strikingly different. In Paris, for 28 legitimate there are 10 illegitimate births; in other and stricter terms, the latter are in proportion to the former as 1 to 2-84. In Stockholm, from the report of 127 persons; in the period 1826-30, 1 for every 128. This seems to be nearly its present proportion. Some years ago, Mr Finlaison made a calculation of the ages of women at the time of their marriage from an assemblage of 878 cases, which was too small for very satisfactory results. Enlarging the number to 1000 for the sake of arithmetical distinctness, he found the following to be the various ages at marriage: 1 According to the preceding table, the average age of marriage in England is-for men, 274 years; for women, 25.5 years. It presents, upon the whole, a favourable view of the prudence of the English people as to marriage. Only 23 per cent. men, and 13 per cent. women, are wedded under the age (legal non-age) of 20. About one-half of both sexes are married between 20 and 26. Only about three-fourths of a per cent. of first marriages are contracted by either men or women after they reach the age of 44. It seems to be clearly ascertained, that the tendency of the sexes to marriage is liable to be modified by a number of conditions. Above a certain point in education, comfort of circumstances, and respectability of position, the tendency diminishes, and we see men and women of the middle and upper classes living contentedly in celibacy, from a dread of the increased expenses of matrimonial life. Below that point, the tendency increases, from opposite causes. It is observably more powerful amidst a dense operative population than amongst a scattered one, and it reaches its extreme in the half-destitute class, however otherwise circumstanced. Statistics affords us some information respecting two widely-separated parts of the earth, one of which is remarkable for early and numerous, and the other for rare and long-delayed marriages-Glasgow and the parish of Montreux in Switzerland. In Glasgow, the marriages were, in 1839, in the proportion of I to 112 of the population; and this ratio rises much higher in unusually prosperous years, as, for instance, in 1825, when it was 1 in 84. Montreux is too small a district to afford basis for a calculation of this kind; but the people, who are all small labouring proprietors, are remarkable for postponing marriage to a late age, the average ages of men and women being 30 and 26 75 respectively. In Montreux, the births are as 1 to 46 of the population, and the deaths as 1 in 75, both uncommonly favourable proportions. Those of Glasgow will be found very different. It seems incontestable, indeed, that a multiplication of marriages in most situations is attended by an increase of mortality, and particularly an increase in the mortality of the young during the first years of childhood. We trust we may here venture upon a few general remarks of a social tendency with respect to marriage amongst the industrious orders. It is a familiar saying among the industrious orders, that the mouth never comes without the meat for it;' by which they encourage themselves to marry, or console themselves when, having married, they find their family increasing upon them more rapidly than they can well see how they are to provide for it. This fallacy has been in some measure brought to the test of figures. Dr James Philips Kay, an assistant Poor-Law Commissioner, instituted in the year 1838 an inquiry into the actual income of agricultural labourers in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Returns to the circulars which he issued for this purpose enabled him to make the following abstract of the annual earnings of 539 families: 44 married men, with 5 children, 3 of whom above 10 years, 15 married men, with 7 children, 4 of whom above 10 years, Average annual income. £25 1 4 I married man, with 5 children above 10 years, 42 13 0 1 married man, with 6 children above 10 years, 52 00 The first question suggested by this table is-How much of the increased income of the men with families was owing to their working more steadily, from a sense of their families being dependent upon them? and how much to the earnings of their wives and children flowing into the common stock? This does not directly appear, but the returns afford means of arriving pretty near the truth by calculation. Out of the 539 male heads of families, 475 earned annually by daywork £7382, 58. 2d., which gives the average annual earnings of each man by this means at £15, 10s. 10d., or within a fraction of 6s. a week. The earnings by taskwork are specified in 350 cases, and amount in all to £5018, 17s. 7d., which gives the average earnings of each man by this means at £14, 6s. 10d. annually, or 58. 6d. a week. There are enumerated at least 286 cases in which the labourer obtained earnings in both ways; but it would give too high an average to add the two sums together. We are enabled to approach to the truth in another direction, by deducting the amount of earnings said to be made by women and children from the average incomes of the families. The sum of all the annual earnings of all the families (counting each single man as a family), in the table given above, is £19,129, 16s. 5d.; and this gives an average annual income of £35, 10s. The men are stated to have earned on an average £5, 88. by harvest work, in addition to their regular wages: the average earnings of wives are about £2, 12s. 7d.; of children able to work, £8, 1s. 11d.; and the value of gleanings by the younger children is £1, 1s. 10d. Deducting these sums from the average family income, leaves £17, 4s. 4d. for the average annual earnings of the man by ordinary task and daywork; and this, when we take into consideration the number of men, and the amount earned in the year by these routine kinds of labour, seems by no means an improbable estimate. This £17, 4s. 4d. added to the £5, 8s. of harvest wages, gives £25, 12s. 4d. as the average annual earnings of a man (7s. 3d. per week), or only 13s. more than the average earnings of the unmarried men; from which we infer that the additional income of the married men is derived from the labour of their wives and children. Deducting the earnings of the unmarried men from the whole amount, and dividing the remainder by the number of married men, we get an average of Families. may be considered in easy circumstances, marriage be a step which must render increased exertions and selfdenial necessary, what must it be for those who are in more difficult circumstances? Let the experience of a committee appointed in Glasgow in 1837, to afford relief to the industrious poor in a season of severe pressure, answer the question: : Out of 3072 adult males who applied for relief and were furnished with work, 2273 were married. The number of the children of those married applicants was 6302, or nearly 3 children to each family. No less than 532 of those married men were under 30 years of age: of the children, 3994, or nearly two-thirds, were under 10 years of age. Of the 2273 married men, 2171 were weavers; and the account given by Mr Charles Baird, in a paper read before the Statistical Society of London, in February 1838, of the condition of that class even in times of no extraordinary pressure, may serve to show with what prospects they had rushed upon the hazardous responsibilities of marriage:- The great bulk of the weavers in Glasgow and its suburbs,' says he, are in extreme poverty. Their wages which, even in 1819, were as low as 12s. gross, or 10s. 8d. nett (the deductions being for loom-rent, winding, &c.), now average only 8s. 4d. gross, or 7s. nett per week; and even for this miserable pittance they are obliged to work from 14 to 16 hours per day. Their houses, which are generally in the suburbs, are of the poorest description, barely furnished, and the food and clothing of the inmates, as might be expected, not only of the plainest description, but also quite inadequate.' It is apparent, that they who, in the best of times, can barely procure a subsistence by 14 or 16 hours of daily toil, must, by the slightest and shortest stagnation of trade, be reduced to destitution, and, under such circumstances, to incur the charge of a family is madness. This is a consideration which has of late been much urged upon the poorer classes-not always, it is to be feared, in the most judicious manner. Leaving out of view that the deductions of Malthus (see POPULATION, No. 83), whose disciples have been the most busy in giving this kind of advice, are based upon statistics remarkable both for vagueness and inaccuracy, and tainted by the polemical bias of his mind when he first published them, the form in which they have generally been submitted is of all others the least calculated to make an impression upon uneducated minds. Abstract reasoning, geometrical and arithmetical ratios, convey amount to each Family. no tangible ideas calculated to influence their conduct; and the subordinate discussions into which some of these philosophers are fond of diverging, repel by inspiring disgust. Advice may be sound, however, although it be given in an uncouth form and by unamiable persons. In regard to improvident marriages, the industrious poor would do well to consider. VALUE OF CORN GLEANED. 46 with no children, 110 with 2 7-8ths, all the children under 10, Average Annual £0 17 10 0 18 7 1 0 6 156 196 These figures demonstrate that the married labourers incurred in general an additional amount of expenditure, which their additional income by no means compensated. The kind of expense incurred by the married men, as well as the amount, is differentchildbed outlay, education of children, and the increased chances of sickness as the numbers of a family increase. It must be remarked, too, that the cases selected to illustrate this point are, in so far as the unskilled labourers of the country are concerned, favourably circumstanced. Of the 539 families enumerated, 397 had gardens (averaging 19 rods); 136 had some fuel free of charge; 259 had each a pig; and 20 each a donkey. The average of their house-rent (£3, 11s. 44d.) did not rise above the average level throughout the country; while in a rural district provisions are cheaper than in towns. Above all, the engrossment of their parents' attention by labour was not so dangerous for the children as in densely-populated towns, where, when left at all to themselves, they are in constant danger of falling in with instructors in crime, and are placed in a situation where greater opportunities present greater temptation. If, then, among individuals who, for the class to which they belong, Marriage has its attractions, and, what is more, its moral advantages. It is the only institution which reconciles with the stability and good order of society one of the strongest impulses of our nature. If it add in some degree to a man's expenditure, it repays him by conferring blessings unattainable without it. The unmarried man is isolated; the married man, if ordinarily well-conducted, has a permanent hold on the affections of a portion of his fellow-creatures. A judicious selection of a helpmate ensures him comforts at home which no price could otherwise secure for him. If he act wisely, he will find his family affections the best of moral teachers. The state of marriage is honourable, and is desirable. And now let us turn to the considerations which every man, properly desirous of entering such a state, ought to weigh duly beforehand :-It is mainly by her domestic industry that he ought to expect his wife to contribute to his comfort-by her judicious aid in making what he earns to go as far as possible. She may at first have some time to spare for earning, but when a family comes upon her, that and the household together will take up by far the greatest part of her time. Children must for a time be a mere draft upon his industry, Great and just complaints have been raised of the ex DEATHS. A human being born with a sound constitution is calculated to live seventy years or upwards, under favourable circumstances; but, as we well know, all of us are surrounded more or less by circumstances unfavourable to life, by which, practically, our term of years is liable to be greatly shortened. Existence, as to duration, is proverbially the most uncertain of all things; and this because, from ignorance, incautiousness, and accidents, life is constantly coming into collision with the conditions calculated to destroy it. The conditions unfavourable to life come into operation, we have seen, before the human being has seen the light. They continue in operation throughout the whole of its appointed period; so that, out of any large number born, a certain proportion die in the first year, a certain proportion in the second, the third, and so on, until all are gone-only a certain comparatively small number attaining the full age which nature promises to sound life maintained in favourable circumstances. treme labour exacted from infants in factories. Grant- | them than of a blessing. A bachelor state may be less ing that the employers of such infants are culpable- happy than a good marriage, but it is better than a what are their parents? The father who allows his rash one, which precipitates all parties into destitution. child to be precociously employed in labour beyond its It is the more necessary to impress the importance powers, calculated to destroy it physically and morally, of the lesson, ‘Learn to abstain,' because it is the most and render all its future life one long disease, is con- difficult to practise, on account of the strength of the senting to the crime. There is no legal pressgang to impulse to be overcome, and the weakness of those subsweep children into factories. A conscientious man, jected to it, from its reaching its intensest power at who contemplates marriage, will take these facts into an age when the judgment is yet immatured and exconsideration, and ask himself whether his position and perience empty; and also because rash marriages are prospects are such as entitle him to expect to be able the great promoters of a destitute, and consequently a to support a wife and children as they ought to be sup- demoralised, unhealthy, and miserable population; and ported, for a number of years. He must estimate the because the man who has taught himself, by struggling possible earnings of his wife at a very low figure-as against inclination, to make his instincts bend to his something that may at times enable them to indulge in reason in this matter, has strengthened himself to an extra luxury, but not as contributing to the neces- resist almost any other temptation. It is men (and sary household expenses. He ought to assume that women too) who know how to earn and how to practise his children, before their tenth year, will earn nothing, self-denial-who know what it is to appreciate pleaand that for some years after their earnings will amount sures, but are able to reconcile themselves to abstinence to a mere trifle. The sources of his income being thus in whom inclination and will are under the control of ascertained, he must next look his expenses fairly in judgment and reflection-who constitute the sound and the face. It is a duty he owes to himself and society useful portion of society. In proportion as this class to aim at procuring for himself a sufficient allow-preponderates, will it be possible to keep the healthiance of nourishing food, comfortable clothing, the ness and morality of the community at a high average. means of preserving cleanliness, so requisite to health, and weather-tight, well-ventilated lodgings, with the necessary fuel. The same comforts which he aims at for himself, he becomes bound to procure for her whose time after their union ought to be mainly directed to caring for the comforts of him and his children. And for those children he is bound, by every natural feeling, to provide while they are unable to provide for themselves, in such a manner that they shall start upon life with hale constitutions and a fair elementary education. From his knowledge of his own expenses as a bachelor, and from, what he can learn of the expenses of his married neighbours, he can form a tolerably near estimate of what marriage is likely to cost him. He must take it for granted that unforeseen accidents are more likely to occur in a family consisting of two, three, or four, than in a family consisting of one; and on this account ought not to venture on the married state unless he or his intended has some little stock of sparings laid up in the event of contingencies. This being provided for, he must next take into account whether his earnings can cover the certain steady outlay of a family, and deposit a trifle at intervals in the savings' bank; and whether there is a fair prospect of their continuing to increase, and at least not to fall off. If every prospect is favourable, he may take the step; if not, he incurs the almost certain danger of reducing himself and his family to a state of destitution-of increasing by his rash act the number of sufferers in society of adding to the number of that class which is at once miserable in itself and the cause of misery to others. When we ask all who have not a reasonable prospect of being able to rear and instruct a healthy family to abstain from marriage, we only ask of them to consult their own happiness; the benefit of their abstinence will be reaped by society at large as well as themselves; the bad effects of their rashness will be felt by society as well as themselves, but the deepest, bitterest dregs of the harsh draught will fall to be drained by them. We only ask them to submit to a necessity which it is in vain to struggle against. If they ask why they are to deny themselves a gratification which they see others indulge in, the answer is, for the same reason that they forego many other pleasures they may wish for, but cannot earn by honest industry. Marriage is a fruitful source of happiness when judiciously set about; but, like all other goods of this life, it must be earned, and those who are not in a condition to earn it (whether for want of employment or want of ability), ought in conscience to forego it. To rush blindly upon the cost of marriage, without forethought, encouraging their rashness by such groundless remarks as, When God sends mouths he sends meat,' is not even to snatch a pleasure they have not had it in their power to earn, for such inconsiderate matches have more of a curse in The conditions necessary for healthy and protracted existence are institutions of Almighty wisdom; they are briefly enumerated in the article PRESERVATION OF HEALTH (No. 45), to which we refer. They vary in different countries, according to climate, civilisation, and political arrangements; and, as necessarily follows, are different in the same country in different ages. Table of Mortality for England. During the eighteen years from 1813 to 1830, there were registered as buried in England and Wales 3,938,496 persons, of whom 1,942,301 were females. The ages of all these persons were, as far as possible, ascertained and stated; so that it was possible by these means to ascertain the rate of mortality at the different ages, for that period, and in that country. The table consequently formed is given at the top of next page. constructed in other countries, that while the births of Mortality at Various Ages, and Expectation of Life. tion at every fifth year; joined to which is a similar table formed from the Million Tontine of 1695, and indicating very clearly the improvement of life in England during the last hundred years :— Diseases. From a table of mortality, a calculation is easily made | with regard to the probable duration of the life of any person. The calculation is made, with regard to any particular age, by adding up, in a table of mortality, all the deaths after that age, and dividing the sum by the numbers living at that age. The quotient is the expectation of life of a person of that age. A table of the expectation of life, for service in life-assurance and annuity business, is formed by doing this with regard to every age, and putting the whole in proper succession. We here present such a document, formed from the above mortality table, but only showing the expecta-tablished in England is conducted upon enlightened Expectn. Expectn. 43.20 Of the specific causes of mortality, it is difficult to procure anywhere a proper estimate, on account of the imperfection of most systems of registration, and particularly the want of precision and uniformity in naming various diseases. The system of registration now es principles, and appears to have hitherto been managed with great regard to correctness. It has enabled its able director, Mr Farr, to draw up very minute and comparatively satisfactory tables of the fatality of diseases in England and Wales for several recent years. The registered deaths of 1838 were 342,529, of which 175,044 were of males, and 167,485 of females. The causes of death were assigned in 330,559 instances; assuming that the other cases might be distributed proportionally among the assigned causes, a table was constructed, of which the following is a summary:— 36.55 37-64 |