The choice of a mate.

  • Ludovici, Anthony M. (Anthony Mario), 1882-1971.
Date:
[1935]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: The choice of a mate. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    average age of marriage may not be set much too high for healthy and normal functioning. I tried to correlate the maternal death-rate in both England and France with the age at marriage, but found it impossible, owing to the defective returns. A steady decline of marriages with girls under twenty is, however, certainly recorded in English statistics for recent times, and we know from history that, before the nineteenth century, such marriages were much more common than they ever were after 1850. Marriages per thousand of girls under 20 in :— 1871 were 26.8 1881 were 21.5 1891 were 16.2 1901 were 12.9 1911 were ix.2 1920 were 16.0 1921 were 14.8 1922 were 13.2 1923 were 12.5 1924 were 12.4 1925 were 12.7 1926 were 12.1 1927 were 14.3 1928 were 14.7 Thus, except for a slight rise in the last two years, the number per 1000 has declined over 50 per cent in a little over fifty years. Even the marriage per 1000 of girls over 20 and under 25 has also declined during the same period, as we can see from the following :— 1871 133-7 1922 108.2 1881 121.9 1923 108.2 1891 112.4 1924 109.8 1901 104.9 1925 no.4 1911 97-7 1926 104.0 1920 134.1 1927 114.4 1921 114.4 1928 112.6 Thus, except for a notable rise in the year following the clearing up of War conditions, a decline is apparent. And, with the prejudices now rife, it promises to be sustained. When we bear in mind that, in addition to the factor of age, which tends to be made steadily higher and higher, we must also allow for the recent introduction of hard exercise and masculine sports in girls’ schools, so that, in any case, the pelvic muscles and bones tend to be prematurely stiffened, we can hardly wonder if, despite the alleged advances in science, parturition does not tend to become an easier or less dangerous function. I, therefore, submit that the trend of modern opinion, as regards the marriage-age of women, is following, as it is in other depart