CONTRACEPTION AND FERTILITY IN THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS.
Gilbert W. Beebe Williams and Wilkins,1942, 274 pp. $2.50.
THAT THERE is often a correlation between high birth rate and low standard of living is generally realized, and it might be expected that a reduction in fertility would result in a decrease in poverty. This study gives an indication of the amount of fertility reduction that might be expected from the introduction of a contraceptive service into a region of high fecundity and low economic opportunity.
Numerous studies of the subject of human fertility have been made, notable among these being the works of the late Raymond Pearl '99. The conclusion that all social and economic groups are homogeneous in uncontrolled fertility seems quite well established and is upheld by Dr. Beebe's data, except for a slightly lower fertility among the small sample of negroes which may be due to increased venereal infection. The principal cause of fecundity variation in different populations is variation in the degree of employment o£ contraception. The results show that even irregular and unskillful use of contraceptives results in definite decline in birth date and that there is a definite interest in family limitation in the highly fertile rural population.
This book is somewhat technical but should be enlightening to the average reader. For those interested in the statistical methods involved (and in this type of study statistical methods are of prime importance) there is an appendix with a discussion of the subject.
FROM THE Cabinet Press of Milford, New Hampshire has just appeared a book of 136 pages The Family of Captain John Millsof Aledway and Sherborn, Mass., and Amherst,N. H., by William Carroll Hill 'O2. This genealogy, distributed by the author, will be of interest and value to genealogists in general. One of the chapters of particular interest is devoted to the Wheelock family, as Rev. Ralph Wheelock, great grandfather of the Rev. Eleazar Wheelock was a great great grandfather of Keziah Lyon, wife of Captain John Mills. The book also contains chapters on the Lyon, Ruggles, Curtis, Bullard, Holden, Upton, Wilkins and Lawrence families.
