Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 69.djvu/269

Rh Ethnically there are hardly any differences between the Polish and Lithuanian Jews, still the latter show a ratio of 173 in Wilna, which again confirms the opinion that the excess in Wilna is due to neglect in reporting female births. In Prussia also the proportion was in 1893-1902, 106.24 (105.94 among the christians); in Austria in 1901 it was 107.85 (106.04 among the christians). In Prague the number of male births among the Jews in 1901 was equal to that of the female births, although among the christians there was an excess of males amounting to 104.1 per cent. In the United States the excess of male births is not large among the Jews, only 103.16 (Census Bulletin No. 19, 1890), while among the general population of Massachusetts and Rhode Island it is much higher.

Older statistics of stillbirths quoted by Bergman, Lagneau, Jacobs, etc., indicate that stillbirths occur less frequently among Jews than among Gentiles. More recent data on the subject show that this is not the case with the Jews in every country. Thus in Amsterdam the proportion of stillbirths in 1900 was among the Jews 3.48 per cent, of the total number of births, and much larger among the non-Jewish population, 4.81 per cent.; but in Warsaw it was in 1901 5.68 per cent, among the Jews, and only 4.13 among the christians. On the other hand, in Bavaria, it was in 1902-03 about the same among both, Jews (2.6 per cent.) and christians (2.9 per cent.). In Austria there are also no important differences. In 1901 the percentage of stillbirths was among Jews 2.61 and among christians 2.79. The most reliable statistics are collected in Prussia. The following are the percentages

There is practically no material difference in this respect among Jews and christians in Prussia. It should be mentioned in this connection that the smaller number of illegitimate births among the Jews would lead one to expect a smaller percentage of stillbirths, because the proportion of stillbirths is very large among illegitimates. The suggestion made by some that the large proportion of boys born among Jews is due to the fact that the percentage of stillbirths is small is also not to be seriously considered, simply because the proportion of stillbirths is not smaller among them. It must, however, not be overlooked that the percentage of stillbirths among the Jews varies with conditions observed among non-Jews in a given country. It is high