humanfaculty4 - page 266 of 305

interferes with the maintenance of their stock, we should expect the breed of Englishmen

to steadily deteriorate, so far as that particular influence is concerned.

I am well aware that the only perfectly trustworthy way or conducting the inquiry is by

statistics derived from numerous life-histories, but I find it very difficult to procure these

data. I therefore have had recourse to an indirect method, based on a selection from the

returns made at the census of 1871, which appears calculated to give a fair approximation

to the truth. My object is to find the number of adult male representatives in this

generation, of 1000 adult males in the previous one, of rural and urban populations

respectively. The principle on which I have proceeded is this

I find (A) the number of children of equal numbers of urban and of rural mothers. The

census schedules contain returns of the names and ages of the members of each “family,”

by which word we are to understand those members who are alive and resident in the same

house with their parents. When the mothers are young, the children are necessarily very

young, and nearly always (in at least those classes who are unable to send their children to

boarding schools) live at home. If, therefore, we limit our inquiries to the census

“families” of young mothers, the results may be accepted as practically identical with

those we should have obtained if we had direct means of ascertaining the number of their

living children. The limits of age of the mothers which I adopted in my selection were, 24

and 40 years. Had I to begin the work afresh, I should prefer the period from 20 to 35, but

I have reason to feel pretty well contented with my present data. I correct the results thus

far obtained on the following grounds :—(B) the relative mortality of the two classes

between childhood and maturity; (C) the relative mortality of the rural and urban mothers

during childbearing ages; (D) their relative celibacy; and (E) the span of a rural and urban

generation. It will be shown that B is important, and C noteworthy, but that D and E may

be disregarded.

In deciding on the districts to be investigated, it was important to choose well-marked

specimens of urban and rural populations. In the former, a town was wanted where there

were various industries, and where the population was not increasing. A town where only

one industry was pursued would not be a fair sample, because the particular industry might

be suspected of having a special influence, and a town that was increasing would have

attracted numerous immigrants from the country, who are undistinguishable as such in the

census returns. Guided by these considerations, I selected Coventry, where silk weaving,

watch-making, and other industries are carried on, and whose population had scarcely

varied during the decade