Take the whole of the third, fourth, and fifth divisions into which Mr.
Sadler has portioned out the French departments. These three divisions
make up almost the whole kingdom of France. They contain seventy-nine
out of the eighty-five departments. Mr. Sadler has contrived to divide
them in such a manner that, to a person who looks merely at his
averages, the fecundity seems to diminish as the population thickens. We
will separate them into two parts instead of three. We will draw the
line between the department of Gironde and that of Hérault. On the one
side are the thirty-two departments from Cher to Gironde inclusive. On
the other side are the forty-six departments from Hérault to Nord
inclusive. In all the departments of the former set, the population is
under 132 on the square mile. In all the departments of the latter set,
it is above 132 on the square mile. It is clear that, if there be one
word of truth in MV. Sadler’s theory, the fecundity in the latter of
these divisions must be very decidedly smaller than in the former. Is it
so? It is, on the contrary, greater in all the three tables. We give the
result.