[418] Thus, according to SADLER, _The Law of Population_, II, 333 ff., and HOFACKER AND NOTTER, _Ueber die Eigenschaften welche sich bei Menschen und Thieren von den Eltern auf die Nachkommen vererben_, "more boys are born if the husband is older than the wife, more girls if the wife is older than the husband." But Noirot and Breslau have reached the opposite result; and Berner, from Norwegian statistics, has shown that "the law is untenable." From the registers of births in Alsace-Lorraine, STIEDA, _Das Sexualverhältniss der Geborenen_, proves "that neither the relative nor the absolute ages of the parents exercise this sort of influence." Platter "concludes from the examination of thirty million births that the less the difference in the age of the parents the greater is the probability of boys being born." For these authorities and others see WESTERMARCK, _op. cit._, 469, 470; and compare THOMPSON AND GEDDES, _Evolution of Sex_, 32 ff., for a review of theories, particularly the comparative table, p. 35, and the bibliography, p. 40. [419] The authorities are compared by WESTERMARCK, _op. cit._, 470; and there is an interesting discussion of this point by WAKE, _Marriage and Kinship_, 223 ff. _Cf._ DARWIN, _Descent of Man_, chap. viii, 215 ff. PLOSS, _Das Weib_, I, 239-44, gives a comparative view of the notions of various peoples as to the knowledge of sex before the birth of the child. [420] DÜSING, _Die Regulierung des Geschlechtsverhältnisses bei der Vermehrung der Menschen, Tiere, und Pflanzen_ (Jena, 1884), 121-237. [421] As summarized by WESTERMARCK, _op. cit._, 470, 471. [422] PLOSS, _Ueber die das Geschlechtsverhältniss der Kinder bedingenden Ursachen_, 21 ff., 30, _passim_. [423] Compare GEDDES AND THOMPSON, _Evolution of Sex_, 32-54, who discuss the literature relating to sex-determination; and GEDDES, article "Sex" in _Encycl. Brit._ See the bibliographies of the subject in GEDDES AND THOMPSON, _op. cit._, 40, 53, 54. MARSHALL, _A Phrenologist amongst the Todas_, 110, 111, regards the tendency to produce more males than females as due to natural selection, practiced by an in-and-in breeding people, made necessary originally by female infanticide. Thus a "male-producing variety of man is formed." [424] Consistent with the rule is the fact that the majority of illegitimate births are female. [425] DÜSING, _op. cit._, 237. [426] POWERS, _Tribes of California_, 403, 149; STARCKWEATHER, _The Law of Sex_, 159 ff.; WESTERMARCK, _op. cit._, 476-80, who cites many other authorities. [427] _Ibid._, 481, 482.