t.) were by men, 4,865 (58 per cent.) by wives.

In the period from 1871 to 1878, there were actions for divorce in
Saxony[74]:

Year. By Husbands. By Wives.
1871 475 574
1872 576 698
1873 553 673
1874 643 697
1875 717 752
1876 722 839
1877 746 951
1878 754 994
----- -----
Total 5,186 6,178

The fact that divorce, as a rule, hurts women more, did not restrain
them in Saxony either from instituting most of the actions. The total
actions for divorce increased, however, in Saxony, as in France, much
faster than population. In Switzerland, during the year 1892, there were
granted 1,036 applications for divorce. Of these, wives had instituted
493, husbands 229, and both parties 314.

Statistics teach us, however, not alone that wives institute the larger
number of actions for divorce; they also teach us that the number of
divorces is in rapid increase. In France, divorce has been regulated
anew by law since 1884. Since then, divorces have greatly increased from
year to year. The number of divorces, and years they fell in, were as
follows:

1884 1,657
1885 2,477
1886 2,950
1887 3,636
1888 4,708
1889 4,786
1890 5,457

In Vienna there were, from 1870 to 1871, 148 divorces; they increased
from year to year; from 1878 to 1879 they ran up to 319 cases.[75] But
in Vienna, being a preponderatingly Catholic city, divorce is hard to
obtain. That notwithstanding, about the year 1885 a Vienna Judge made
the remark: "Complaints on the ground of broken marriage vows are as
frequent as complaints for broken window-panes." In England and Wales
there was, in 1867, 1 divorce to every 1,378 marriages, but in 1877
there was 1 to every 652 marriages; and in 1886, 1 to as few as 527. In
the United States the number of divorces for 1867 was 9,937, and for
1886 as many as 25,535. The total number of divorces in the United
States between 1867 and 1886 was 328,716, and the fault fell in 216,176
cases upon the husband, in 112,540 upon the wife.

Relatively speaking, the largest number of divorces occurs in the United
States. The proportion between marriages and divorces during the period
of 1867 to 1886 stood for those States in which an accurate record is
kept: