ons and daughters, to avail themselves of the superior
advantages that the city offers, will not only keep up but to a certain
point increase the population, until the reaction of overcrowding,
following the self-regulating law of compensation, starts a return
emigration.

The effect of climate and race on prolificity, though much spoken of,
is not so great a factor as supposed. The inhabitants of Great Britain
are surpassed by none in the point of prolificity; yet their location
is quite northern. The Swedes have always been noted for their
fecundity. Olaf Rudbeck says that from 8 to 12 was the usual family
number, and some ran as high as 25 or 30. According to Lord Kames, in
Iceland before the plague (about 1710) families of from 15 to 20 were
quite common. The old settlers in cold North America were always
blessed with large families, and Quebec is still noted for its
prolificity. There is little difference in this respect among nations,
woman being limited about the same everywhere, and the general average
of the range of the productive function remaining nearly identical in
all nations. Of course, exception must be made as to the extremes of
north or south.

Ancient and Modern Prolificity.--Nor is there much difference between
ancient and modern times. We read in the writings of Aristotle, Pliny,
and Albucasis of the wonderful fertility of the women of Egypt, Arabia,
and other warm countries, from 3 to 6 children often being born at once
and living to maturity; but from the wonder and surprise shown in the
narration of these facts, they were doubtless exceptions, of which
parallels may be found in the present day. The ancient Greek and Roman
families were no larger than those of to-day, and were smaller in the
zenith of Roman affluence, and continued small until the period of
decadence.

Legal Encouragement of Prolificity.--In Quebec Province, Canada,
according to a Montreal authority, 100 acres of land are allotted to
the father who has a dozen children by legitimate marriage. The same
journal states that, stimulated by the premium offered, families of 20
or more are not rare, the results of patriotic efforts. In 1895, 1742
"chefs de famille" made their claim according to the conditions of the
law, and one, Paul Bellanger, of the River du Loup, claimed 300 acres
as his premium, based on the fact that he was the father of 36
children. Another claimant, Monsieur Thioret de Sainte Genevieve, had
been presented