[1] A portion of this article is taken by permission from R. S.
Conway's _Italic Dialects_ (Camb. Univ. Press, 1897).
IJOLITE (derived from the first syllable of the Finnish words _Jiwaru_,
_Jijoki_, &c., common as geographical names in the Kola peninsula, and
the Gr. [Greek: lithos], a stone), a rock consisting essentially of
nepheline and augite, and of great rarity, but of considerable
importance from a mineralogical and petrographical standpoint. It occurs
in various parts of the Kola peninsula in north Finland on the shores of
the White Sea. The pyroxene is morphic, yellow or green, and is
surrounded by formless areas of nepheline. The accessory minerals are
apatite, cancrinite, calcite, titanite and jiwaarite, a dark-brown
titaniferous variety of melanite-garnet. This rock is the plutonic and
holocrystalline analogue of the nephelenites and nepheline-dolerites;
it bears the same relation to them as the nepheline-syenites have to the
phonolites. It is worth mentioning that a leucite-augite rock,
resembling ijolite except in containing leucite in place of nepheline,
is known to occur at Shonkin Creek, near Fort Benton, Montana, and has
been called missourite.
IKI, an island belonging to Japan, lying off the north-western coast of
Kiushiu, in 33° 45´ N. lat. and 129° 40´ E. long. It has a circumference
of 86 m., an area of 51 sq. m., and a population of 36,530. The island
is, for the most part, a tableland about 500 ft. above sea-level. The
anchorage is at Gonoura, on the south-west. A part of Kublai Khan's
Mongols landed at Iki when about to invade Japan in the 13th century,
for it lies in the direct route from Korea to Japan via Tsushima. In the
immediate vicinity are several rocky islets.
ILAGAN, the capital of the province of Isabela, Luzon, Philippine
Islands, on an elevated site at the confluence of the Pinacanauan river
with the Grande de Cagayan, about 200 m. N.N.E. of Manila. Pop. (1903)
16,008. The neighbouring country is the largest tobacco-producing
section in the Philippines.
ILCHESTER, a market town in the southern parliamentary division of
Somersetshire, England, in the valley of the river Ivel or Yeo, 5 m.
N.W. of Yeovil. It is connected by a stone bridge with the village of
Northover on the other side of the river. Ilchester has lost the
importance it once possessed, and had in 1901 a population of only 564,
but its historical interest is considerable. The parish church of St
Mary is Early English and Perpendicular, with a small octagonal tower,
but has been largely restored in modern times. The town possesses
almshouses founded in 1426, a picturesque cross, and a curious ancient
mace of the former corporation.
Ilchester (_Cair Pensavelcoit_, _Ischalis_, _Ivelcestre_,
_Yevelchester_) was a fortified British settlement, and subsequently a
military station of the Romans, whose Fosse Way passed through it. Its
importance continued in Saxon times, and in 1086 it was a royal borough
with 107 burgesses. In 1180 a gild merchant was established, and the
county gaol was completed in 1188. Henry II. granted a charter,
confirmed by John in 1203, which gave Ilchester the same liberties as
Winchester, with freedom from tolls and from being impleaded without the
walls, the fee farm being fixed at £26, 10s. 0d. The bailiffs of
Ilchester are mentioned before 1230. The borough was incorporated in
1556, the fee farm being reduced to £8. Ilchester was the centre of the
county administration from the reign of Edward III. until the 19th
century, when the change from road to rail travelling completed the
decay of the town. Its place has been taken by Taunton. The corporation
was abolished in 1886. Parliamentary representation began in 1298, and
the town continued to return two members until 1832. A fair on the 29th
of August was granted by the charter of 1203. Other fairs on the 27th of
December, the 21st of July, and the Monday before Palm Sunday, were held
under a charter of 1289. The latter, fixed as the 25th of March, was
still held at the end of the 18th century, but there is now no fair. The
Wednesday market dates from before the Conquest. The manufacture of
thread lace was replaced by silk weaving about 1750, but this has
decayed.
ÎLE-DE-FRANCE, an old district of France, forming a kind of island,
bounded by the Seine, the Marne, the Beuvronne, the Thève and the Oise.
In this sense the name is not found in written documents before 1429;
but in the second half of the 15th century it designated a wide military
province of government, bounded N. by Picardy, W. by Normandy, S. by
Orléanais and Nivernais, and E. by Champagne. Its capital was Paris.
From the territory of Île-de-France were formed under the Revolution the
department of the Seine, together with the greater part of
Seine-et-Oise, Seine-et-Marne, Oise and Aisne, and a small part of
Loiret and Nièvre. (The term Île-de-France is also used for Mauritius,
q.v.).
See A. Longnon, "L'Île-de-France, son origine, ses limites, ses
gouverneurs," in the _Mémoires de la Société de l'histoire de Paris et
de l'Île-de-France_, vol. i. (1875).
ILETSK, formerly _Fort Iletskaya Zashchita_, a town of Russia, in the
government of Orenburg, 48 m. S. of the town of Orenburg by the railway
to Tashkent, near the Ilek river, a tributary of the Ural. Pop. 11,802
in 1897. A thick bed of excellent rock-salt is worked here to the extent
of about 100,000 tons annually. The place is resorted to for its salt,
mud and brine baths, and its koumiss cures.
ILFELD, a town in Germany, in the Prussian province of Hanover, situated
at the south foot of the Harz, at the entrance to the Bährethal, 8 m. N.
from Nordhausen by the railway to Wernigerode. Pop. 1600. It contains an
Evangelical church, a celebrated gymnasium, once a monasterial school,
with a fine library, and manufactures of parquet-flooring, paper and
plaster of Paris, while another industry in the town is brewing. It is
also of some repute as a health resort.
Ilfeld, as a town, dates from the 14th century, when it sprang up round
a Benedictine monastery. Founded about 1190 this latter was reformed in
1545, and a year later converted into the school mentioned above, which
under the rectorship of Michael Neander (1525-1595) enjoyed a reputation
for scholarship which it has maintained until to-day.
See Förstemann, _Monumenta rerum Ilfeldensium_ (Nordhausen, 1843); M.
Neander, _Bericht vom Kloster Ilfeld_, edited by Bouterwek (Göttingen,
1873); and K. Meyer, _Geschichte des Klosters Ilfeld_ (Leipzig, 1897).
ILFORD [GREAT ILFORD], an urban district in the Romford parliamentary
division of Essex, England, on the Roding, 7 m. E.N.E. of London by the
Great Eastern railway. Pop. (1891) 10,913, (1901) 41,234. A portion of
Hainault Forest lies within the parish. The hospital of St Mary and St
Thomas, founded in the 12th century as a leper hospital, now contains
almshouses and a chapel, and belongs to the marquess of Salisbury, who
as "Master" is required to maintain a chaplain and six aged inmates. The
chapel appears to be of the date of this foundation. Claybury Hall is a
lunatic asylum (1893) of the London County Council. There are large
photographic material works and paper mills. LITTLE ILFORD is a parish
on the opposite (west) side of the Roding. The church of St Mary retains
Norman portions, and has a curious monumental brass commemorating a boy
in school-going clothes (1517). Pop. (1901) 17,915.
ILFRACOMBE, a seaport and watering-place in the Barnstaple parliamentary
division of Devonshire, England, on the Bristol Channel, 225 m. W. by S.
of London by the London & South-Western railway. Pop. of urban district
(1901) 8557. The picturesque old town, built on the cliffs above its
harbour, consists of one street stretching for about a mile through a
network of lanes. Behind it rise the terraces of a more modern town,
commanding a fine view across the Channel. With its beautiful scenery
and temperate climate, Ilfracombe is frequented by visitors both in
summer and winter. Grand rugged cliffs line the coast; while, inland,
the country is celebrated for the rich colouring of its woods and glens.
Wooded heights form a semicircle round the town, which is protected from
sea winds by Capstone Hill. Along the inner face of this rock has been
cut the Victoria Promenade, a long walk roofed with glass and used for
concerts. The restored church of Holy Trinity dates originally from the
12th century. Sea-bathing is insecure, and is confined to a few small
coves, approached by tunnels hewn through the rock. The harbour, a
natural recess among the cliffs, is sheltered on the east by Hilsborough
Head, where there are some alleged Celtic remains; on the west by
Lantern Hill, where the ancient chapel of St Nicholas has been
transformed into a lighthouse. In summer, passenger steamers run to and
from Ilfracombe pier; but the shipping trade generally has declined,
though herring fisheries are carried on with success. In the latter part
of the 13th century Ilfracombe obtained a grant for holding a fair and
market, and in the reign of Edward III. it was a place of such
importance as to supply him with six ships and ninety-six men for his
armament against Calais. During the Civil War, being garrisoned for the
Roundheads, it was in 1644 captured by the Royalists, but in 1646 it
fell into the hands of Fairfax.
ILHAVO, a seaport in the district of Aveiro, formerly included in the
province of Beira, Portugal, 3 m. S.W. of Aveiro (q.v.), on the lagoon
of Aveiro, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean. Pop. (1900) 12,617. Ilhavo is
inhabited chiefly by fishermen, but has a celebrated manufactory of
glass and porcelain, the Vista-Alegre, at which the art of glass-cutting
has reached a high degree of perfection. Salt is largely exported.
Ilhavo is celebrated for the beauty of its women. It is said to have
been founded by Greek colonists about 400 B.C., but this tradition is of
doubtful validity.
ILI, one of the principal rivers of Central Asia, in the Russian
province of Semiryechensk. The head-stream, called the Tekez, rises at
an altitude of 11,600 ft. E. of Lake Issyk-kul, in 82° 25´ E. and 43°
23´ N., on the W. slopes of mount Kash-katur. At first it flows eastward
and north-eastward, until, after emerging from the mountains, it meets
the Kungez, and then, assuming the name of Ili, it turns westwards and
flows between the Trans-Ili Ala-tau mountains on the south and the
Boro-khoro and Talki ranges on the north for about 300 m. to Iliysk. The
valley between 79° 30´ and 82° E. is 50 m. wide, and the portion above
the town of Kulja (Old Kulja) is fertile and populous, Taranchi villages
following each other in rapid succession, and the pastures being well
stocked with sheep and cattle and horses. At Iliysk the river turns
north-west, and after traversing a region of desert and marsh falls by
at least seven mouths into the Balkash Lake, the first bifurcation of
the delta taking place about 115 m. up the river. But it is only the
southern arm of the delta that permanently carries water. The total
length of the river is over 900 m. From Old Kulja to New Kulja the Ili
is navigable for at most only two and a half months in the year, and
even then considerable difficulty is occasioned by the shoals and
sandbanks. From New Kulja to Iliysk (280 m.) navigation is easy when the
water is high, and practicable even at its lowest for small boats. At
Iliysk there is a ferry on the road from Kopal to Vyernyi. The principal
tributaries of the Ili are the Kash, Chilik and Charyn. A vast number of
streams flow towards it from the mountains on both sides, but most of
them are used up by the irrigation canals and never reach their goal.
The wealth of coal in the valley is said to be great, and when the
Chinese owned the country they worked gold and silver with profit. Fort
Ili or Iliysk, a modern Russian establishment, must not be confounded
with Ili, the old capital of the Chinese province of the same name. The
latter, otherwise known as Hoi-yuan-chen, New Kulja (Gulja), or Manchu
Kulja, was formerly a city of 70,000 inhabitants, but now lies
completely deserted. Old Kulja, Tatar Kulja or Nin-yuan, is now the
principal town of the district. The Chinese district of Ili formerly
included the whole of the valley of the Ili river as far as Issyk-kul,
but now only its upper part. Its present area is about 27,000 sq. m. and
its population probably 70,000. It belongs administratively to the
province of Sin-kiang or East Turkestan. (See KULJA.)
ILION, a village of Herkimer county, New York, U.S.A., about 12 m. S.E.
of Utica, on the S. bank of the Mohawk river. Pop. (1890) 4057; (1900)
5138 (755 foreign-born); (1905, state census) 5924; (1910) 6588. It is
served by the New York Central & Hudson river, and the West Shore
railways, by the Utica & Mohawk Valley Electric railroad, and by the
Erie canal. It has a public library (1868) of about 13,500 volumes, a
public hospital and a village hall. The village owns its water-works and
its electric-lighting plant. Its principal manufactures are Remington
typewriters and Remington fire-arms (notably the Remington rifle); other
manufactures are filing cabinets and cases and library and office
furniture (the Clark & Baker Co.), knit goods, carriages and harness,
and store fixtures. In 1828 Eliphalet Remington (1793-1861) established
here a small factory for the manufacture of rifles. He invented, and,
with the assistance of his sons, Philo (1816-1889), Samuel and
Eliphalet, improved the famous Remington rifle, which was adopted by
several European governments, and was supplied in large numbers to the
United States army. In 1856 the company added the manufacture of farming
tools, in 1870 sewing-machines, and in 1874 typewriters. The last-named
industry was sold to the Wyckoff, Seamans & Benedict Company in 1886,
and soon afterwards, on the failure of the original Remington company,
the fire-arms factory was bought by a New York City firm. A store was
established on the present site of Ilion as early as 1816, but the
village really dates from the completion of the Erie canal in 1825. On
the canal list it was called Steele's Creek, but it was also known as
Morgan's Landing, and from 1830 to 1843 as Remington's Corners. The
post-office, which was established in 1845, was named Remington, in
honour of Eliphalet Remington; but later the present name was adopted.
The village was incorporated in 1852. Ilion is a part of the township of
German Flats (pop. in 1900, 8663; in 1910, 10,160), settled by
Palatinate Germans about 1725. The township was the scene of several
Indian raids during the French and Indian War and the War of
Independence. Here General Herkimer began his advance to raise the siege
of Fort Schuyler (1777), and subsequently Ilion was the rendezvous of
Benedict Arnold's force during the same campaign.
ILKESTON, a market town and municipal borough, in the Ilkeston
parliamentary division of Derbyshire, England, 9 m. E.N.E. of Derby, on
the Midland and the Great Northern railways. Pop. (1891) 19,744, (1901)
25,384. It is situated on a hill commanding fine views of the Erewash
valley. The church of St Mary is Norman and Early English, and has a
fine chancel screen dating from the later part of the 13th century. The
manufactures of the town are principally hosiery and lace, and various
kinds of stoneware. Coal and iron are wrought in the neighbourhood. An
alkaline mineral spring, resembling the seltzer water of Germany, was
discovered in 1830, and baths were then erected, which, however, were
subsequently closed. The town, which is very ancient, being mentioned in
Domesday, obtained a grant for a market and fair in 1251, and received
its charter of incorporation in 1887. It is governed by a mayor, 6
aldermen and 18 councillors. Area, 2526 acres.
ILKLEY, an urban district in the Otley parliamentary division of the
West Riding of Yorkshire, England, 16 m. N.W. from Leeds, on the Midland
and the North-Eastern railways. Pop. of urban district (1901) 7455. It
is beautifully situated in the upper part of the valley of the Wharfe,
and owing to the fine scenery of the neighbourhood, and to the bracing
air of the high moorlands above the valley, has become a favourite
health resort. Here and at Ben Rhydding, 1 m. E., are several
hydropathic establishments. The church of All Saints is in the main
Decorated, largely restored in 1860. Three ancient sculptured crosses
are preserved in the churchyard. The institutions include a museum of
local antiquities, a grammar school, the Siemens Convalescent Home and
the Ilkley Bath Charitable Institution. The fine remains of Bolton Abbey
lie in the Wharfe valley, 5 m. above Ilkley. Ilkley has been identified
with the _Olicana_ of Ptolemy, one of the towns of the British tribe of
the Brigantes. There was a Roman fort near the present church of All
Saints, and the site has yielded inscriptions and other small remains.
Numerous relics are preserved in the museum.
ILL, a river of Germany, entirely within the imperial territory of
Alsace-Lorraine. It rises on a north foothill of the Jura, S.W. of
Basel, and flows N.N.E. parallel with the Rhine, which it enters from
the left, 9 m. below Strassburg. Its course lies for the most part
through low meadowland; and the stream, which is 123 m. long, receives
numerous small affluents, which pour out of the short narrow valleys of
the Vosges. It is navigable from Ladhof near Colmar to its confluence
with the Rhine, a distance of 59 m. It is on this river, and not on the
Rhine, that the principal towns of Upper Alsace are situated, e.g.
Mülhausen, Colmarl, Schlettstadt and Strassburg. The Ill feeds two
important canals, the Rhine-Marne canal and the Rhine-Rhone canal, both
starting from the neighbourhood of Strassburg.
ILLAWARRA, a beautiful and fertile district of New South Wales,
Australia, extending from a point 33 m. S. of Sydney, along the coast
southwards for 40 m. to Shoalhaven. It is thickly populated, and
supplies Sydney with the greater part of its dairy produce. There are
also numerous collieries, producing coal of superior quality, and iron
ore, fireclay and freestone are plentiful. The Illawarra Lake, a salt
lagoon, 9 m. long and 3 m. wide, is encircled by hills and is connected
with the sea by a narrow channel; quantities of fish are caught in it
and wild fowl are abundant along its shores. The chief towns in the
district are Wollongong, Kiama, Clifton and Shellharbour.
ILLE-ET-VILAINE, a maritime department of north-western France, formed
in 1790 out of the eastern part of the old province of Brittany. Pop.
(1906) 611,805. Area 2699 sq. m. It is bounded N. by the English
Channel, the Bay of St Michel and the department of Manche; E. by
Mayenne; S. by Loire-Inférieure; and W. by Morbihan and Côtes-du-Nord.
The territory of Ille-et-Vilaine constitutes a depression bordered by
hills which reach their maximum altitudes (over 800 ft.) in the N.E. and
W. of the department. The centre of this depression, which separates the
hills of Brittany from those of Normandy, is occupied by Rennes, capital
of the department and an important junction of roads, rivers and
railways. The department takes its name from its two principal rivers,
the Ille and the Vilaine. The former joins the Vilaine at Rennes after a
course of 18 m. through the centre of the department; and the latter,
which rises in Mayenne, flows westwards as far as Rennes, where it turns
abruptly south. The stream is tidal up to the port of Redon, and is
navigable for barges as far as Rennes. The Vilaine receives the Meu and
the Seiche, which are both navigable. There are two other navigable
streams, the Airon and the Rance, the long estuary of which falls almost
entirely within the department. The Ille-et-Rance canal connects the
town of Rennes with those of Dinan and St Malo. The greater portion of
the shore of the Bay of St Michel is covered by the Marsh of Dol,
valuable agricultural land, which is protected from the inroads of the
sea by dykes. Towards the open channel the coast is rocky. Small lakes
are frequent in the interior of the department. The climate is
temperate, humid and free from sudden changes. The south-west winds,
while they keep the temperature mild, also bring frequent showers, and
in spring and autumn thick fogs prevail. The soil is thin and not very
fertile, but has been improved by the use of artificial manure. Cereals
of all kinds are grown, but the principal are wheat, buckwheat, oats and
barley. Potatoes, early vegetables, flax and hemp are also largely
grown, and tobacco is cultivated in the arrondissement of St Malo.
Apples and pears are the principal fruit, and the cider of the canton of
Dol has a high reputation. Cheese is made in considerable quantities,
and the butter of Rennes is amongst the best in France. Large numbers of
horses and cattle are raised. Mines of iron, lead and zinc (Pont-Péan)
and quarries of slate, granite, &c., are worked. There are flour and
saw-mills, brick works, boat-building yards, iron and copper foundries
and forges, dyeworks, and a widespread tanning industry. Sail-cloth,
rope, pottery, boots and shoes (Fougères), edge-tools, nails, farming
implements, paper and furniture are also among the products of the
department. The chief ports are St Malo and St Servan. Fishing is very
active on the coast, and St Malo, St Servan and Cancale equip fleets for
the Newfoundland cod-banks. There are also important oyster-fisheries in
the Bay of St Michel, especially at Cancale. The little town of Dinard
is well known as a fashionable bathing-resort. Exports include
agricultural products, butter, mine-posts and dried fish; imports,
live-stock, coal, timber, building materials and American wheat. The
department is served by the Western railway, and has over 130 m. of
navigable waterway. The population is of less distinctively Celtic
origin than the Bretons of Western Brittany, between whom and the
Normans and Angevins it forms a transitional group. Ille-et-Vilaine is
divided into the arrondissements of Fougères, St Malo, Montfort-sur-Meu,
Redon, Rennes and Vitré, with 43 cantons and 360 communes. The chief
town is Rennes, which is the seat of an archbishop and of a court of
appeal, headquarters of the X. army corps, and the centre of an académie
(educational division).
In addition to the capital, Fougères, St Malo, St Servan, Redon, Vitré,
Dol, Dinard and Cancale are the towns of chief importance and are
separately noticed. At Combourg there is a picturesque château of the
14th and 15th centuries where Chateaubriand passed a portion of his
early life. St Aubin-du-Cormier has the ruins of an important feudal
fortress of the 13th century built by the dukes of Brittany for the
protection of their eastern frontier. Montfort-sur-Meu has a cylindrical
keep of the 15th century which is a survival of its old ramparts.
ILLEGITIMACY (from "illegitimate," Lat. _illegitimus_, not in accordance
with law, hence born out of lawful wedlock), the state of being of
illegitimate birth. The law dealing with the legitimation of children
born out of wedlock will be found under LEGITIMACY AND LEGITIMATION. How
far the prevalence of illegitimacy in any community can be taken as a
guide to the morality of that community is a much disputed question. The
phenomenon itself varies so much in different localities, even in
localities where the same factors seem to prevail, that affirmative
conclusions are for the most part impossible to draw. In the United
Kingdom, where the figures differ considerably for the three
countries--England, Scotland, Ireland--the reasons that might be
assigned for the differences are negatived if applied on the same lines,
as they might well be, to certain other countries. Then again, racial,
climatic and social differences must be allowed for, and the influence
of legislation is to be taken into account. The fact that in some
countries marriage is forbidden until a man has completed his military
service, in another, that consent of parents is requisite, in another,
that "once a bastard always a bastard" is the rule, while in yet another
that the merest of subsequent formalities will legitimize the offspring,
must account in some degree for variations in figures.
TABLE I.--_Illegitimate Births per 1000 Births (excluding
still-born)._
+------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| |1876-|1881-|1886-|1891-|1896-|1901-|
| |1880.|1885.|1890.|1895.|1900.|1905.|
+------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| England and Wales| 48 | 48 | 46 | 42 | 41 | 40 |
| Scotland | 85 | 83 | 81 | 74 | 68 | 64 |
| Ireland | 24 | 27 | 28 | 36 | 36 | 26 |
| Denmark | 101 | 100 | 95 | 94 | 96 | 101 |
| Norway | 84 | 81 | 75 | 71 | 74 | .. |
| Sweden | 100 | 102 | 103 | 105 | 113 | .. |
| Finland | 73 | 70 | 65 | 65 | 66 | .. |
| Russia | 28 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 27 | .. |
| Austria | 138 | 145 | 147 | 146 | 141 | .. |
| Hungary | 73 | 79 | 82 | 85 | 90 | 94 |
| Switzerland | 47 | 48 | 47 | 46 | 45 | .. |
| Germany | 87 | 92 | 92 | 91 | 90 | 84 |
| Netherlands | 31 | 30 | 32 | 31 | 27 | 23 |
| Belgium | 74 | 82 | 87 | 88 | 80 | 68 |
| France | 72 | 78 | 83 | 87 | 88 | 88 |
| Portugal | .. | .. | 123 | 122 | 121 | .. |
| Spain | .. | .. | .. | .. | 49 | 44 |
| Italy | 72 | 76 | 74 | 69 | 62 | 56 |
| New South Wales | 42 | 44 | 49 | 60 | 69 | 70 |
| Victoria | 43 | 46 | 49 | 60 | 69 | 70 |
| Queensland | 39 | 41 | 44 | 48 | 59 | 65 |
| South Australia | .. | 22 | 25 | 30 | 38 | 41 |
| West Australia | .. | .. | .. | 48 | 51 | 42 |
| Tasmania | .. | 44 | 38 | 46 | 57 | .. |
| New Zealand | 23 | 29 | 32 | 38 | 44 | 45 |
+------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
Table I. gives the number of illegitimate births per 1000 births in
various countries of the world for quinquennial periods. It is to be
noted that still-born births are excluded, as in the United Kingdom
(contrary to the practice prevailing in most European countries)
registration of such births is not compulsory. The United States is
omitted, as there is no national system of registration of births.
This method of measuring illegitimacy by ascertaining the proportion of
illegitimate births in every thousand births is a fairly accurate one,
but there is another valuable one which is often applied, that of
comparing the number of illegitimate births with each thousand unmarried
females at the child-bearing age the "corrected" rate as opposed to the
"crude," as it is usually termed. This is given for certain countries
in Table II.
TABLE II.--_Illegitimate Births to 1000 Unmarried and Widowed Females,
aged 15-49 years._
+------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+----------+
| Country. |1846-55.|1856-65.|1866-75.|1876-85.|1886-95.|1896-1905.|
+------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+----------+
| England and Wales| 17 | 18 | 16 | 13 | 10 | 8 |
| Scotland | .. | 22 | 23 | 20 | 17 | 13 |
| Ireland | .. | .. | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
| Denmark | .. | 28 | 27 | 26 | 24 | 23 |
| Sweden | 20 | 22 | 23 | 22 | 22 | .. |
| Germany | .. | .. | .. | 28 | 27 | 26 |
| Netherlands | .. | .. | 10 | 9 | 9 | 6 |
| Belgium | 16 | 16 | 17 | 19 | 17 | 17 |
| France | 15 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| Italy | .. | .. | .. | 24 | 24 | 19 |
+------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+----------+
The generally accepted idea that the inhabitants of the warmer countries
of the south of Europe are more ardent in temperament has at least no
support as shown in the figures in Table I., where we find a higher rate
of illegitimacy in Sweden and Denmark than in Spain or Italy. Religion,
however, must be taken into account as having a strong influence in
preventing unchastity, though it cannot be concluded that any particular
creed is more powerful in this direction than another; for example, the
figures for Austria and Ireland are very different. It cannot be said,
either, that figures bear out the statement that where there is a high
rate of illegitimacy there is little prostitution. It is more probable
that in a country where the standard of living is low, and early
marriages are the rule, the illegitimate birth-rate will be low. As
regards England and Wales, the illegitimate birth-rate has been steadily
declining for many years, not only in actual numbers, but also in
proportion to the population.