Omaha daily bee., 1916-06-11
Dr. w OOQ
Accounts for
the Remark
able Apparent
Effort of
Nature to
Replace the
Men Lost in
Battle
BY Dir. Woods Hutchinson

80
The Worlds Foremost Physlclan-Author,
NNE OF tne most uneApee'eu war ie'
suits comes In the recent an
nouncement from England Of
u..,no. .nd an. rent,y growing ,ncreasa
uis'inos ~. App.' $3.50
In the NUMBER OF poys among tne pao,es
born witning the last tnree monlns,
whereas the general aVerase LOT sne
past ten years mad run ABOUT l,ozo
boys to each 1000 girls, tne rate TOOK
jump In the first quarter OF
last year to LOBE, second quarter 70 l,V41
and the third To l,0bb. This ID not very
huge increase, only about TWO per cent,
but 1t seems TO De progressing, ana is'
from the militarisrs point OF view, IN tne
right direction. Apparently II 10 calcuiated
to do something TO redress tnat terriDle
and bitterly lamented surplus 81 females
In modern communities, OF Wl)cn w NAYS
heard 80 much IN recent year, particular
ly In recent months.
Perhaps It might Dc wei, nrst 70 "a
plain what looks IKE an apparent con.ra-
diction to those unverse0 II the Meiha-
choly science OF vital statistics MS y
that although there are more females
than males IN the entire populaIon, .no
number Of boy Dapies anu giri psDlsn
brought to birth 10 Gngpiariy neary
equal, with an almost invariable slight
surplus Of boys.
This surplus. however, or the greater
part Of 1t, disappears very early IN ire,
much Of It at birth itself, from the pam
full but practical and anatomical reason
that boy babies have larger heads IMAM
girl babies--due. OF course, TO tneir gu.
perior mentality (U-and hence more OF
them die in the process OF birth Ana at
every successive decade Of life the really
sterner and superior sex taxes increasing
advantage Of the defenseless male, ana
wears him down and survives MIN IN ever
increasing proportion. So that II ID 20
be feared that, after all, the surplus 10
males will get the better OF It AFTER the
war, In spite Of this modest increase IN
the proportion OF ldefenseless boy papies.
This ID not by any means the hrst re-
corded instance Of an apparent attempt
on the part OF nature to redress the dis
turbance In the balance OF the sexes
caused by war. An increase In the pro-
portion Of male births has been reported,
in q crude and general way, from WIDE
variety Of both races and continents. not
merely after war. but also after famines
and devastating pestilences.
Much Of this has been put down ~ loose
popular rumor Of the wish Is father to
the thought" variety. And considering
the fact that really complete and well
kept and reliable records OF all the births
In country scarcely come into existence
until the last nifty or sixty years--our own
birth rates in these United States are still
only about seventy per cent complete
there Is small chance Of finding any ac-
citrate and reliable data either In support
or disproval OF this popular claim.
But there are few instances which
come within the range Of modern vital
statistics, notably the Franco.Pr ussian
war Of 1901, In which the records IN
Prussia (and, curiously enough, also In
Paris) show slight but distinct In.
crease in the percentage Of male births In
the first sad second years following the
war. A limilar though slighter increase
was fornd after our own Civil War And
now comes this unuuestioned slight in.
crease 81 male babies in England. 4
Several explanations have been offered