If  we  turn  to  the  adult  population,  we  find  usually
that,  in  very  varying  degrees,  there  is  a  marked  excess
of  women.  It  exists  independently  of  emigration ;  and
while  it  may  be  said  to  be  excessive  in  most  European
countries  (and  especially  in  Great  Britain  and  Sweden),
in  new  countries  it  usually  does  not  exist  at  all.
How  are  we  to  explain  this  discrepancy  between
the  sexual  proportions  at  birth  and  at  adult  age  ?

It  was  formerly  supposed  that  war  and  the  ex-
posure of  men  in  dangerous  occupations  were  alone
sufficient  to  account  for  the  greater  mortality  of  men.
That  they  are  the  chief  factors  seems  to  admit  of
little  doubt;  an  exact  analysis  does  not  now  permit
us  to  conclude  that  they  are  the  sole  factors.
War  and  occupation  can  only  come  in  as  working
factors  during  youth  and  adult  life;  and  the  same
may  be  said,  on  the  whole,  even  of  men's  tendency  to
indulge  in  excesses,^  which  is  sometimes  brought  in
as  a  factor,  though  it  is  probably  to  a  large  extent  a
factor  of  organic  rather  than  of  merely  accidental
social  character.  It  is  during  the  very  earliest
period  of  life  and  at  the  latest  that  the  greater  mor-
tality of  males  is  most  clearly  marked.^     Bertillon

'  I  do  not  attach  much  importance  to  this,  as  against  it  must  be  set
the  depressing  influences,  lack  of  air  and  nourishment,  etc.,  under
which  women's  lives  are  frequently  passed.
^  The  greater  mortality  of  new-born  males  is  found  in  all  countries
where  precise  statistics  exist.  In  some  countries,  in  Sweden,  for
instance,  but  not  in  England,  the  male  mortality  is  greater  than  the
female  at  every  age.  (Bertillon,  Art.  "  Mortalite,"  p.  762,  Diet.  ency.
des  Sci.  Med.)


432  MAN   AND   WOMAN.
