r wives for long periods;
many women are left widows; the females become in excess of the males;
the excitement of the times overtops the desire for sexual intercourse,
or, if there is the same desire, the unprolific prostitute furnishes
the satisfaction; and such facts as these, coupled with many similar
ones, soon produce an astonishing effect upon the comparative
birth-rate and death-rate of the country. The resources of a country,
so far as concerns population, become less as the period of
peace-disturbance is prolonged. Mayo-Smith quotes von Mayr in the
following example of the influence of the war of 1870-71 on the
birth-rate in Bavaria,--the figures for births are thrown back nine
months, so as to show the time of conception: Before the war under
normal conception the number of births was about 16,000 per month.
During the war it sank to about 2000 per month. Immediately on the
cessation of hostilities it arose to its former number, while the
actual return of the troops brought an increase of 2000 per month. The
maximum was reached in March, 1872, when it was 18,450. The war of 1866
seems to have passed over Germany without any great influence, the
birth-rate in 1865 being 39.2; in 1866, 39.4; in 1867, 38.3; in 1868,
38.4. On the other hand, while the birth-rate in 1870 was 40.1, in 1871
it was only 35.9; in 1872 it recovered to 41.1, and remained above 41
down to 1878. Von Mayr believes the war had a depressing influence upon
the rate apart from the mere absence of the men, as shown in the fact
that immediately upon the cessation of hostilities it recovered in
Bavaria, although it was several months before the return of the troops.

Mayo-Smith, in remarking on the influence of war on the marriage-rate,
says that in 1866 the Prussian rate fell from 18.2 to 15.6, while the
Austrian rate fell from 15.5 to 13.0. In the war of 1870-71 the
Prussian rate fell from 17.9 in 1869 to 14.9 in 1870 and 15.9 in 1871;
but in the two years after peace was made it rose to 20.6 and 20.2, the
highest rates ever recorded. In France the rate fell from 16.5 to 12.1
and 14.4, and then rose to 19.5 and 17.7, the highest rates ever
recorded in France.

Influence of Rural and Urban Life.--Rural districts are always very
prolific, and when we hear the wails of writers on "Social Economy,"
bemoaning the small birth-rates of their large cities, we need have no
fear for urban extinction, as emigration from the country by many
ambitious s