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19
most suggestive points are the occurrence of a high
marriage-rate in 1873, immediately after a prosperous
year, as judged by the high value of the exports of
1872. The maximal birth-rate followed at an interval
of three years, but the minimal birth-rate was four
years after the minimal marriage-rate. The association
of a minimal proportion of males to females
with the minimal birth-rate is suggestive of physical
debility, as there are good reasons for thinking that a
preponderance of male births is associated with great
bodily vigour. As regards the effects of increase of
value of imports, it would seem that a maximal value is
not associated with a great spending power on the part
of those of the marriageable ages. On the contrary,
the occurrence of the minimal marriage-rate three
years after this item reached its maximum is suggestive
of poverty of the nation, or else the ruling of
high prices, prohibitive of marriage. The connection
between the price of wheat and the marriage-rate is
more than obscure. If marriage be at all dependent
on the price of commodities, especially the necessities
of life, then when the marriage-rate is low the prices
of necessities would presumably be high, yet, with
wheat at a price which should indicate cheap food, the
marriage-rate is one of the lowest recorded. To fully
appreciate the lines of thought indicated by these
remarks, it would be necessary to construct charts
showing the different fluctuations in the various statistics,
and to set out the variations from the means of