On the Probability that a Marriage entered into by a Man of any Age, will be Fruitful

Extract

In a paper which I read before the Society in 1879, I gave the results of an investigation I had made with the object of determining the probability, that a man marrying at any age over 40, will, or will not, have children; and I have now extended the same enquiry to men of all ages. The statistics upon which my former conclusions rested, related to 339 marriages entered into by peers and their near relations above the age of 40, and were extracted from Lodge's Peerage for the year 1871. For all statistical enquiries this work is, in my opinion, greatly preferable to any of the other works that give records of the British Peerage. The principal ground for this opinion is, that Lodge usually gives the dates of birth of the daughters of each family, as well as those of the sons; whereas other Peerages generally omit those dates, and place the names of the daughters (without any dates) after the names of the sons, so that it is impossible to tell whether they are older or younger than their brothers. In the case of a few families this practice is also adopted in Lodge, presumably by special desire of the head of the family; and it is a matter of regret that this, together with other circumstances to be presently mentioned, diminishes the value of the book for statistical purposes.