Medicine: Demographic Equinox

In 1898, the women of New York City, whose population then reached 3,000,000 for the first time in the community's history, gave birth to more than 100,000 children in a single year. That great increment continued year after year, but in recent years the birthrate (36.4 per 1,000 in 1898) dropped steadily until last year, for a total population of 7,400,000, it was down to 13.4. It was down that low, not only because the adult population has grown out of earlier proportion but because, for the first time in 39 years,...