That the counterbalance is not complete is generally believed, and we must view with dismay any agencies which tend still more to make the middle and upper classes sterile relatively to the lower. There can be little doubt that this has recently, and to an increasing extent, been brought about by the wilful avoidance, on the part of the parents of the middle and upper classes, of the full duties of parenthood. It can no doubt be urged that whereas, in many instances, the care of one or two children can be undertaken in such a manner as to insure their careful upbringing and education, the rearing of a large family would be quite beyond the power of the parents, and would lead to their neglect, or deprivation of some of those advantages which we have already seen to be so necessary for life’s struggle. However true this may be, and however we may sympathise with a parent’s desire to do his best by his offspring, it is likewise true that this is an important means, and probably one of greatly increasing importance, by which the upper and middle classes are becoming, relatively speaking, sterile. It is probable, too, that this sterility will be mostly found in the case of those who rise in life and have a longer and more difficult battle to fight, and who have, therefore, most cause to avoid unnecessary complication. _Fertility of French and English Marriages Contrasted._ We can see very clearly in the pages of contemporary history the disastrous effects which may follow diminished fertility. Owing to custom, and subsequently to legislation, property in France is divided equally among the children of a family; and in consequence of this, were there many children to a marriage, this property would be split up into smaller and smaller portions, insufficient at last to furnish the necessities of life. Among the rural population, a farmer by thrift can live and marry on his small farm, but half the farm would be a piece of property upon which no one could live an independent existence.