The two departments of Orne and Finisterre present a very glaring contrast: in the former, one birth per annum on every 44.8 (1851 = 51.6), a marriage on every 147.5, a death on every 52.4 (1851 = 54.1) living persons; in the latter, on the contrary, on every 26 (1851 = 29.8), 113.9 and 30.4 (1851 = 34.2). In Namur, the proportions were 30.1, 141, 51.8; in Zeeland, 21.9, 113.2, 28.5. (_Quételet_, I, 142.) The Mexican province, Guanaxuato, presents the most frightful extreme: one birth per annum on every 16.08 of the population living, and one death in every 19.7. (_Quételet_, I, 110.)] [Footnote 239-4: Compare even _Steuart_, Principles, I, ch. 13. _Sadler_, Law of Population, 1830, II, 514: =======================================+=============+=========== |_Marriages_ |_Children_ | _per annum_ |_on every_ | _on every_ | _100_ | _10,000_ |_Marriages_ |_inhabitants_| ---------------------------------------+-------------+----------- In the purely Flemish provinces | | of Belgium | 128 | 481 In the purely Wallonic provinces | | of Belgium | 139 | 448 In the mixed provinces of Belgium | 152 | 425 In Holland | 148 | 476 In Lombardy | 166 | 489 In Bohemia | 173 | 413 In the kingdom of Saxony | 170 | 410 =======================================+=============+===========] [Footnote 239-5: Compare _Horn_, Bevölkerungswissenschaftliche Studien, I, 162 ff., 191, 252 ff. In most countries, there is a much larger number of children to a marriage in the rural districts than in the cities; but at the same time, marriages are much less frequent there. In Saxony, however, where the cities show a greater marital productiveness, the rural districts present a large number of marriages. Of the 10 countries compared by _Wappäus_, II, 481 ff., only Prussia and Schleswig are exceptions to the rule.] SECTION CCXL. INFLUENCE OF AN INCREASE OF THE MEANS OF SUBSISTENCE.