To the Society it seemed an all-important question. Was our race to
perish by sterility, and if so, was sterility due to wealth and luxury
or to poverty and disease? Or was the cause of the decline a voluntary
limitation of families? We determined, as a first step, to form some
sort of statistical estimate of the extent of voluntary restriction. We
thought, and, as the event proved, thought rightly, that our members
would be willing to assist us in this delicate enquiry. They were a
sample of the population, selected in a manner which bore no sort of
relation to the question at issue, and if we could get returns from them
indicating their personal practice in the matter, we might have some
clue to the facts. It turned out that the result was far more startling
and far more conclusive than we suspected.
In November, 1905, carefully drafted enquiry forms were sent out to all
members of the Society except unmarried women, so arranged as to allow
exact answers to be given to the questions without disclosure of the
name or handwriting of the deponent. Of the 634 posted 460 were returned
or accounted for, and only two members signified objection to the
enquiry. After deduction of bachelors and others not relevant, we
obtained particulars of 316 marriages. I prepared an elaborate
statistical report, which showed that in the period 1890-1899 out of 120
marriages only 6 fertile marriages were recorded in which no restriction
had been adopted.
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