VIII. The proportion of the sexes produced by whites and coloured peoples in cuba

Abstract

The records compiled by Dr. Carlos J. Finlay, Chief Sanitary Officer of the Island of Cuba, and published in the ‘Informe Mensual Sanitario y Demographico de la Republica de Cuba,’ contain most valuable information concerning the proportion of the sexes born by whites and coloured peoples in Cuba. They are specially valuable to the student of the problem of sex production, inasmuch as they contain details not only of legitimate and illegitimate births but also equally full details of legitimate and illegitimate stillborn children (information which is not to be obtained in this country, and which, I may add, I have failed to induce our home authorities to attempt to supply in their publications); and because they deal with two races living on an island under similar conditions, the records for each of which are kept separate. Dr. Finlay, to whom I am greatly indebted for his courtesy in supplying me regularly with this publication, is careful to inform me that the figures in the tables referring to stillborn children, “in accordance with the Spanish law, do not only express the number of children that are actually born dead but also those that die within the first twenty-four hours after their birth.” This fact does not detract from the value of these records for the purpose I have in view, but it should be noted.