reasing. 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 preceding the census of 1871.[25] It is an open town, in
which the crowded alleys of larger places are not frequent. Its urban
peculiarities are therefore minimised, and its statistical returns
would give a picture somewhat too favourable of the average
condition of life in towns. For specimens of rural districts, I
chose small agricultural parishes in Warwickshire.

[Footnote 25: It has greatly changed since this was written.]

By the courteous permission of Dr. Farr, I was enabled to procure
extracts from the census returns concerning 1000 "families" of
factory hands at Coventry, in which the age of the mother was
neither less than 24 nor more than 40 years, and concerning another
1000 families of agricultural labourers in rural parishes of
Warwickshire, under the same limitations as to the age of the mother.
When these returns were classified (see Table I., p. 246), I found
the figures to run in such regular sequence as to make it certain
that the cases were sufficiently numerous to give trustworthy results.
It appeared that:

(A) The 1000 families of factory hands comprised 2681 children, and
the 1000 of agricultural labourers comprised 2911; hence, the
children in the urban "families," the mothers being between the ages
of 24 and 40, are on the whole about 8 per cent, less numerous than
the rural. I see no reason why these numbers should not be accepted
as relatively correct for families, in the ordinary sense of that
word, and for mothers of all ages. An inspection of the table does
indeed show that if the selection had begun at an earlier age than 24,
there would have been an increased proportion of sterile and of
small families among the factory hands, but not sufficient to
introduce any substantial modification of the above results. It is,
however, important to recollect that the small error, whatever its
amount may be, is a concession in favour of the towns.

(B) I next make an allowance for the mortality between childhoo