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The Influence of the Age of the Parent on the Vitality of the Child—a First Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

R. J Ewart
R. J Ewart
Affiliation:
(From the Statistical Laboratory of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine.)
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The subject I propose to discuss in the present and subsequent papers is of importance in two ways. Popular traditions have frequently implied that the age at which a parent begets offspring is not without influence upon the characters of the latter, the prevailing belief being humorously portrayed in the late W. S. Gilbert's ballad “The Precocious Baby.” Again, recent thinkers, notably Professor Karl Pearson, have asserted that elder born children differ markedly in liability to certain diseases from their younger brethren. Were this view to be accepted it would be relevant to enquire whether the difference might not be a function of the age of the parents at the time of birth of the offspring or at least whether such difference might not play a part in bringing about this result. Assuming that any such effect could be demonstrated, it is plain that a valuable stimulus would be given to the study of physiological changes in the reproductive system within the fertile period. These are the immediately interesting aspects of the subject, but with them I am less directly concerned than withcertain secondary consequences.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Hygiene , Volume 14 , Issue 4 , December 1914 , pp. 453 - 480
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1914

References

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