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Though we cannot at once, and in exact figures, show the yearly amount of criminal abortion in this country, statistics on the subject being necessarily imperfect or wanting, we may yet arrive at an approximate result. This is done by an easy and reliable process of induction, the several factors of which, each of itself rendering probable the conclusion, tend, when combined, to make it almost absolutely certain.

We are to consider, in this connection, the evidence afforded by--

Several of these points are as yet almost wholly uninvestigated. They are stated, therefore, with care, as bearing decidedly on the question at issue, and as tending to provoke still further research.

Statistics in this country are as yet so imperfect, that we are necessitated to a process of deduction. If it can be shown that a state of things prevails elsewhere to a certain extent, explainable only on one supposition, and that the same state of things prevails in this country to a greater extent, all other causes, save the one referred to, being in great measure absent, little doubt can be entertained of the part this plays; but if it can, in addition, be proved that this cause must necessarily be stronger with us than elsewhere, then its existence becomes morally certain. Accordingly, if we find that in another country living births are steadily lessening in proportion alike to the population and to its increase, that natural or preventive causes are insufficient to account for this, while the proportion of still-births and of known abortions is constantly increasing, and these last bear an evident yet increasing ratio to the still-births; that in this country the decrease of living births, and the increase of still-births, are in much greater ratio to the population, and the proportion of premature births is also increasing; that these relations are constant and yearly more marked, we are justified in supposing that abortions are at least as frequent with us, and probably more so.

In many countries of Europe, it has been ascertained that the "fecundity" of the population, or the rate of its annual increase, is rapidly diminishing.

In Sweden, it has lessened by one-ninth in 61 years. In Prussia, by a third in 132 years. In Denmark, by a quarter in 82 years. In England, by two-sevenths in a century. In Russia, by an eighth in 28 years. In Spain, by a sixth in 30 years. In Germany, by a thirteenth in 17 years. In France, by a third in 71 years.

Or, in other words:

In Sweden it has lessened by a fifth; in Prussia, by a fourth; in Denmark and England, by a third; and in Russia, Spain, Germany, and France by a half, in a single century.

For the sake of convenience, larger bodies of statistics existing concerning it, and from the fact that it represents the extreme of the alleged decrease, we take France for our comparisons.

In France at large, according to the official returns as analyzed by Legoyt, the increase of the population which, from 1801 to 1806, was at the rate of 1.28 per cent. annually, from 1806 to 1846 had fallen to about .5 per cent. The exact ratio of decrease after this point is better shown by the figures themselves. The increase from 1841 to 1846 was 1,200,000; from 1846 to 1851, 380,000; from 1851 to 1856, 256,000.

In England, during this latter period, with a population of but one-half the size, the returns of the Registrar-General show a relative increase nine times greater. In thirty-seven years, from 1817 to 1854, the mean annual increase in France was not more than 155,929, yet in five years, from 1846 to 1851, it had fallen to 76,000 yearly, and from 1851 to 1856, to 51,200, and this with a population ranging from twenty-nine to thirty-four millions.

A comparison of these facts, with those obtaining in other European States, will make the above still more evident. We now quote from Rau.

Rate of Increase. Per Cent. Hungary, according to Rohrer 2.40 England, from 1811 to 1821 1.78 " from 1821 to 1831 1.60 Prussia, from 1816 to 1827 1.54 " from 1820 to 1830 1.37 " from 1821 to 1831 1.27 Austria, 1.30 Scotland, from 1821 to 1831 1.30 Netherlands, from 1821 to 1828 1.28 Saxony, from 1815 to 1830 1.15 Baden from 1820 to 1830 1.13 Bavaria, from 1814 to 1828 1.08 Naples, from 1814 to 1824 0.83 France from 1817 to 1827 0.63 France, more recently, 0.55

A similar and corroborative table, containing additional matter, is given by Quetelet; its differences from the preceding are owing to its representing a series of different years.

Rate of Increase. Per Cent. Ireland 2.45 Hungary 2.40 Spain 1.66 England 1.65 Rhenish Prussia 1.33 Austria 1.30 Bavaria 1.08 Netherlands 0.94 Naples 0.83 France 0.63

And more recently, Legoyt brings up these results to the close of 1846. As shown by the census, the rate of increase was, in

Per Cent. Great Britain, exclusive of Ireland 1.95 Prussia 1.84 Saxony 1.45 Norway 1.36 Sardinia 1.08 Holland 0.90 Austria 0.85 Sweden 0.83 France 0.68

Or, as shown by the annual excess of births over deaths, and therefore more reliable--

Per Cent. Norway 1.30 Prussia 1.18 Sweden 1.14 Holland 1.03 Wurtemberg 1.00 Great Britain, exclusive of Ireland 1.00 Denmark 0.95 Austria 0.90 Saxony 0.90 Hanover 0.85 Belgium 0.76 Bavaria 0.71 Russia 0.61 France 0.50

In four departments of France, among which are two of the most thriving of Normandy, the deaths actually exceed the births.

From the above facts, it would naturally be supposed that the percentage of births to the whole population must be smaller than in other European countries, and from the lessened annual rate of increase of the population, that the proportionate number of births must be decreasing in similar ratio. This is found, indeed, to be the case.

From large statistics furnished by De Jonn?s, we have compiled the following table of the comparative ratios of births to the population in the principal countries of Europe:--

Ratio. Venice and Dependencies, 1827 1 to 23 Tuscany, 1834 " Lombardy, 1828 1 to 24 Russia, 1835 1 to 25 Wurtemberg, 1821 to 1827 " Prussia, 1836 " Mecklenburg, 1826 1 to 26 Sardinia, 1820 " Naples and Dependencies, 1830 " Greece, 1828 " Poland, 1830 1 to 27 Ireland, 1821 to 1831 " Germany, 1828 " Switzerland, 1828 " Spain, 1826 " Portugal, 1815 to 1819 1 to 27.5 Sweden, 1825 1 to 28 Holland, 1832 " Austria, 1829 " Belgium, 1836 " Bavaria, 1825 " Two Sicilies, 1831 " Sweden and Norway, 1828 1 to 30 Denmark, 1833 " Roman States, 1836 " Turkey, 1835 " Hanover, 1835 1 to 31 Sicily, 1832 " Austria, 1828 to 1830 1 to 32 Great Britain, 1821 to 1831 " Scotland, 1821 to 1831 1 to 34 England, 1821 to 1831 1 to 35 Norway, 1832 " France, 1771 to 1851 1 to 25 to 1 to 37

In a total population, at different periods, of 232,673,000, there were 8,733,000 births; whence an average on the grand scale of one birth to every 26.6 individuals.

In France, however, the ratio has been steadily lessening, as seen by the following table:--

Ratio of births. 1771 to 1775 1 to 25 1801 to 1810 1 to 30 1811 to 1825 1 to 32 1826 to 1836 1 to 33 1836 to 1840 1 to 34 1841 to 1845 1 to 35 1846 to 1850 1 to 37

The position of France, as compared with the rest of Europe, in respect to the ratio of births to the population at different periods, is made still more manifest by another table:--

Annual ratio of births. 1 to 23 Venetian Provinces, 1827; Tuscany, 1834. 1 to 23.5 Kingdom of Naples, 1822 to 1824. 1 to 24 Tuscany, 1818; Sicily, 1824; Lombardy, 1827 to 1828; Russia, 1831. 1 to 24.5 Prussia, 1825 to 1826. 1 to 25 France, 1781; Austria, 1827; Russia, 1835; Prussia, 1836. 1 to 26 Sardinia, 1820; Hanover, Wurtemberg and Mecklenburg, 1826; Greece, 1828; Naples, 1830. 1 to 27 Spain, 1826; Germany and Switzerland, 1828; Poland, 1830; Ireland, 1831. 1 to 27.5 Portugal, 1815 to 1819. 1 to 28 Holland, 1813 to 1824; Bavaria and Sweden, 1825; Austria, 1829; Belgium, 1836. 1 to 29 Canton Lucerne, 1810; Holland, 1832. 1 to 29.8 France, 1801. 1 to 30 Sweden and Norway, 1828; Belgium, 1832; Denmark, 1833; Turkey, 1835; States of the Church, 1836. 1 to 31 Sicily, 1832; Hanover, 1835. 1 to 31.4 France, 1811. 1 to 31.6 France, 1821. 1 to 32 Austria, 1830; Great Britain and Switzerland, 1831. 1 to 33 France, 1828 to 1831. 1 to 34 Norway and Holstein, 1826; Scotland, 1831; France, 1834 to 1841. 1 to 35 Denmark, 1810; England, 1831; Norway, 1832. 1 to 37 France, 1851.

In Paris, strange to say, the decrease in the ratio of births to the population, though decided and steady, has not, in actual proportion, been as great as in the empire at large, showing that the cause, whatever we find it to be, is not one depending on the influence of a metropolis alone for its existence.

From 1817 to 1831 there averaged, in Paris, one birth to 26.87 inhabitants; but from 1846 to 1851, one to 31.98.

Again, as might have been expected, we find that the proportion of still-births, in which we must include abortions, as has hitherto been done, however improperly, in all extensive statistics, is enormous, and is steadily increasing. To show this the more plainly, we first present a table of the ratio of still-births to the living births in the various countries of Europe.

Geneva, 1824 to 1833 1 to 17 Berlin Hospitals, 1758 to 1774 1 to 18 Paris Maternit?, 1816 to 1835 1 to 20 Sweden, 1821 to 1825 1 to 23.5 Denmark, 1825 to 1834 1 to 24 Belgium, 1841 to 1843 1 to 24.2 Prussia, 1820 to 1834 1 to 29 Iceland, 1817 to 1828 1 to 30 Prague, 1820 1 to 30 London Hospitals, 1749 to 1781 1 to 31 Vienna, 1823 1 to 32 Austria, 1828 1 to 49 France at large, 1853 1 to 24 Department of Seine 1 to 15 Paris, 1836 to 1844 1 to 14.3 " 1845 to 1853 1 to 13.8

The proportion of still-births in the rural districts of France is governed by the same laws as in the metropolis.

In 363 provincial towns the ratio was, from

While districts more thinly populated gave, from

In Belgium, during a similar period, the ratio was much the same.

The apparent discrepancy between city and country, noticed as equally obtaining in Belgium and France, is chiefly owing to greater negligence of the country officials in registering the still-births, and to the fact, as we have seen in Paris, that the ratio of births to the population is greater in the city than in the country at large.

Finally, while the proportion of still-births to the whole number is greatly increasing in Paris, so is the number of known abortions.

We omit, for the present, the evidence afforded by arrests and trials, which we might here have turned to account. At the Morgue, which represents but a very small fraction of the foetal mortality of Paris, and in this matter almost only crime, there were deposited during the eighteen years preceding 1855, a total of 1115 foetuses, of which 423 were at the full term, and 692 were less than nine months; and of these last, 519, or five-sixths, were not over six months, a large proportion of them showing decided marks of criminal abortion.

Again, of the 692 foetuses of less than nine months, deposited at the Morgue during these eighteen years, 295 were between 1836 to 1845, an average, at that time, of 32.7 yearly; and from 1846 to 1855 there were 397, an average of 44.1. During the means of these periods the births in France were as follows:--In 1841, 1,005,203, and in 1851, 1,037,040, from which it is evident that there was deposited at the Morgue, in 1841, one infant, dead from abortion, to every 30,700 births; and in 1851, one to every 23,500. The increased ratio is seen to be striking; it will hereafter become apparent that the increase is far greater in reality.

We turn now to our own country, to which the City of New York holds much the same relation, as respects public opinion no less than in other matters, that Paris holds to France.

The following table shows the rapidity of this increase:--The ratio of foetal deaths to the population, was in

In the three years preceding 1849, there were registered in New York 400 premature births, and 3139 children still-born; a total of 3539, representing at that time a yearly average of some 1200 foetal deaths. While it will be shown hereafter that a large proportion of the reported premature births must always be from criminal causes, and that though almost all the still-births at the full time, even from infanticide, are necessarily registered, but a small proportion of the abortions and miscarriages occurring are ever reported to the proper authorities, it will immediately be made apparent that at the present moment the abortion statistics of New York are far above those of 1849.

In the three years preceding 1857, there were registered in New York 1196 premature, and 4735 still-births, a total of 5931, representing a yearly average of some 2000 foetal deaths; showing that in the short space of seven years, the number of foetal deaths in New York, already enormous, had very nearly doubled.

Again, in 1856, the total number of births at the full time in New York, was 17,755; of these, 16,199 were living; proving that of children at the full time alone, setting aside the great number of viable children born prematurely, and the innumerable earlier abortions not recorded, one in every 11.4 is born dead.

From foreign statistics on a large scale, it is found that the proportion of still-births, even allowing a wide margin for criminal causes, does not, in those countries, drop below 1 in 15, and this in France, ranging from that number up to 1 in 30 or 40 of the whole number of births reported. We have already given a table upon this point.

In New York, from 1854 to 1857, there were 48,323 births, and 5931 still-births, at the full time and prematurely; or in other words, 1 to every 8.1 was born dead.

The ratio of still-births in New York, including, as we have seen, abortions, is steadily increasing, as seen by the following table, in which we have compared the still-births, supposable perhaps of accidental value, with the general mortality, whose value is at least as accidental, if not more so. The evidence, like that already furnished, is astounding.

Total mortality. Still-births. Ratio. 1804 to 1809 13,128 349 1 to 37.6 1809 to 1815 14,011 533 1 to 26.3 1815 to 1825 34,798 1,818 1 to 19.1 1825 to 1835 59,347 3,744 1 to 15.8 1835 to 1855 289,786 21,702 1 to 13.3 1856 21,658 1,943 1 to 11.1

The frequency of abortions and premature births reported from the practice of physicians, and thus to a certain extent, but not entirely, likely to be of natural or accidental origin, is as follows:--

In 41,699 cases registered by Collins, Beatty, La Chapelle, Churchill, and others, there were 530 abortions and miscarriages. Here all the abortions were known; their proportion was 1 in 78.5.

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