their results, than medical men. Their professional duties are closely identified with the two greatest events in life-birth and death-that occur to any human being.

What, then, are the facts in the case, and what are the causes? On account of the rapid increase of a foreign element in our midst, this change going on in our population has not been so perceptible, nor created much interest. Had no such additions ever been made to our numbers, the change would have excited universal attention, and some explanation of the causes would certainly have been demanded. There are two methods of testing the character and extent of this change: first, by ascertaining the average number of children to each family in a community; second, by comparing the differences between the birth-rates and the death-rates of a people. Without attempting to solve these questions with mathematical accuracy, a task of difficulty, the facts stand very nearly as follows. The early parish and town records of New England show that the first settlers had large families, numbering on an average from seven to nine children; but soon after the first generation a slow decline commenced. For the last two or three generations this decrease has continued at a more rapid rate, so that from the best estimates that can be made, it is thought that the present average number of children to each married couple will certainly not exceed four, and may not be much over three. From statistics on mortality, it

is found that only about three-fifths of all infants born, live to adult age. After, then, making the necessary allowances for death, and the fraction who do not marry, it will be seen at once, that the original stock is scarcely kept good at the present time in numbers. It is safe, we believe, to state that the average number of children to each marriage has diminished nearly one-half since the present century commenced.

In respect to the birth-rate and death-rate of our New England people proper, it is difficult to obtain them exactly, inasmuch as all the foreign class born in this country are generally returned in the reports as native American. But in some places the reports of the two classes have been kept separate, while in others, by a careful analysis of the Registration Reports, and the nationality of the population, a very correct result can be reached of the birth-rate and death-rate of each. It is very evident that these two great points in vital statistics, viz., birth-rate and deathrate, have been approximating, with New Englanders, for the last half century, nearer and nearer each other. This statement is confirmed by the fact, that in towns peopled almost entirely by Americans, the deaths frequently exceed the births. This relative decrease in population is admitted by the highest authorities, the U. S. Census, the National Bureau of Vital Statistics, and the State Registration Reports.* Now,

*The character of our population is undergoing a great change. Surely, and not very slowly, a mixed stock of Irish, German and

judging by the past, what are we to expect in the future? Should the same relative decrease continue two or three generations more, what will be the result? That there should be, in the course of two or three generations, so great a falling off in the birth-rate of our New England people, and that the Irish, English, Scotch, German and Canadian-French women living in our midst should have, to say the least, twice as many children, are curious facts which must in some way have a solution or explanation. That this wide difference arises wholly from violating the laws of nature in conception, and by abortion in pregnancy, we cannot believe; but other causes also exist in the peculiarities and changes in physical organization. All medical observation and experience teach that there is in women a wide difference in the matter of fertility, and that it must have its foundation in differences of constitution. That this difference exists in communities where, in order to prevent increase, the laws of nature are not in the least violated, all must admit. In what, then,

Canadians is taking the place of the purely English stock which has possessed Massachusetts for more than two centuries. The tide of immigration flows the stronger with an increasing wealth and general prosperity. There is much hard work to be done, unskilled labor is in demand, and Americans are not ready or willing to supply it from their own ranks. These are facts for the statesman, the educator and the moralist." Massachusetts Registration Report, 1870.

"No one can be familiar with life in the Eastern and Middle States generally, and in the Western cities, and not be aware that children are not born to American parents as they were in the early days of the country. Luxury, fashion, and the vice of boarding,' combine to limit the increase of families to a degree that in some sections has threatened the perpetuation of our native stock. This tendency is not one that requires to be brought out by statistical comparison. It is patent, palpable, and needs no proof."-U. S. Census, 1870.

does it consist? What is the peculiar type of organization most favorable to fertility? Is a particular temperament, or a predominance of a certain class of organs, requisite ?

Some of the causes of this difference are very obvious in the ill health of women, particularly in the weaknesses and diseases connected with the reproductive organs. That these are very prevalent with American women, all will admit; but why should they exist to such an extent? What are their primary causes? Do not most of them arise from previous violations of law, from wrong habits and practices, from perverted and false notions? Besides, have not these agencies or primary causes prevailed so long and to such an extent as to change, in some measure, not only the form of body and type of organization, but to affect, in some degree, the disposition, the habits and the character of the individual.

Commencing medical practice more than thirty years ago, in a mixed population, embracing several distinct nationalities, my attention was early called to this difference in birth-rate. Careful comparisons were instituted in respect to the female organization of the Irish, the English, the Scotch, the German, the Canadian-French and the American, and then between those of each race who were prolific and those who were not. Then a thorough review of all books treating upon population was resorted to, together with investigation into all the principles of physiology that could throw any light upon this subject. In this inquiry

we were surprised to find, that among all the writers upon population, there was scarcely one who had been thoroughly educated in the science of physiology, or in the practical application of medicine to the laws of life. In all the discussions and theories of the early writers who attempted to account for the increase or decrease of population, the human body, the most important agent, received but little attention. The systems and theories they advocate are based upon causes or grounds entirely external to the body, and some of them sustain very slight relations to it. But within a few years new inquiries have started up as to physical agencies affecting different races and nations, and also in respect to origin of species, laws of life and health, &c. The principles of physiology, biology and anthropology are assuming every year greater and greater importance. In these new inquiries and discussions upon the laws of life, health and disease, and other changes that affect physical organization, the laws that govern its increase or decrease must ere long receive far more attention. For it stands to reason and common sense, that there must be, in the very nature of things, some great primary law of propagation, and that such a law must have its seat and foundation within the body itself.

After extensive observation and no small amount of reading and reflection, I became thoroughly convinced that there was a great primary law of propagation founded in nature. This conviction has been every year strengthened by new and