[82] See, for an interesting account of the position of women in the Italian Renaissance, Burckhardt, _Die Kultur der Renaissance_, Part V, ch. VI. [83] I may quote the following remarks from a communication I have received from a University man: "I am prepared to show women, and to expect from them, precisely the same amount of consideration as I show to or expect from other men, but I rather resent being expected to make a preferential difference. For example, in a crowded tram I see no more adequate reason for giving up my seat to a young and healthy girl than for expecting her to give up hers to me; I would do so cheerfully for an old person of either sex on the ground that I am probably better fit to stand the fatigue of 'strap-hanging,' and because I recognize that some respect is due to age; but if persons get into over-full vehicles they should not expect first-comers to turn out of their seats merely because they happen to be men." This writer acknowledges, indeed, that he is not very sensitive to the erotic attraction of women, but it is probable that the changing status of women will render the attitude he expresses more and more common among men. [84] _Ante_, p. 58. [85] "Women then were queens," as Taine writes (_L'Ancien Regime_, Vol. I, p. 219), and he gives references to illustrate the point. [86] Goethe, _Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre_, Book II, ch. I. [87] Havelock Ellis, _The Soul of Spain_, chap. III, "The Women of Spain." [88] Grete Meisel-Hess, _Die Sexuelle Krise_, 1909, pp. 148, 168. [89] "La Morale Sexuelle," _Archives d'Anthropologie Criminelle_, January, 1907. V THE SIGNIFICANCE OF A FALLING BIRTH-RATE