ugenist, as I ventured to formulate some years ago, that every
child who comes into the world should be desired, designed, and loved in
anticipation. But if in France, shall we say, such a tendency begins to
obtain a generation earlier than it does in Germany, there will come to
be a disparity of population which, continuing, must inevitably mean
sooner or later the disappearance of France.

Or again, difference in the marriage age in different classes within a
given community has very notable consequences, as Sir Francis Galton
showed in his book, "Hereditary Genius," and later, in more detail, in
his "Inquiries into Human Faculty." He shows that, other things being
equal, the earlier marrying class or group will in a few generations
breed down the others and completely supplant them. If the natural
quality of the one class differ from that of the other, the ultimate
consequences will be tremendous. It has been proved up to the hilt that
in Great Britain these differences in marriage in different classes
exist, and that, on the whole, the marriage age varies directly as the
means of support for the children, to say nothing of natural and
transmissible differences in different classes. One can only, therefore,
repeat what was said some time ago in contribution to a public
discussion on this subject that, "considering the present distribution
of the birth-rate, nothing strikes a more direct blow at the future of
England than that which tends to increase the marriage age of the
responsible, careful, and provident amongst us whilst the improvident
and careless multiply as they do."

Let us now consider another possible factor in this question, and then
we must proceed to look at the individual woman as the question of the
marriage age affects her.

_The Marriage Age and the Quality of the Children._--Both from the point
of view of the race and from that of the individual who desires happy
parenthood it is necessary to learn, if possible, how the age of the
parents affects the quality of their offspring. If motherhood is to be a
joy and a blessing, the children must be such as bring joy and blessing.
My provisional judgment on this matter is that we are at present without
anything like conclusive evidence proving that the age of the parents
affects the quality of their children.

Let us look at some of the arguments which have been advanced. The
school of biometricians, represented most conspicuously in latter years
by