It will be seen from these figures that the death rate among the single
is in all the more advanced years of life higher than among the married.
The probable explanation of this, however, is not that the married state
is better physiologically, as has been so often claimed, but that it is
better socially. These figures are a testimony, in other words, to the
social advantages of the home. Single persons, particularly in the more
advanced years of life, who are without homes, are more liable to fall
sick, and when sick are less liable to receive proper care. That these
figures show the great social advantage of the home in preserving life
is evident from the fact that among the widowed males, whose homes have
been broken up, the death rate is higher even than among the single
males. Moreover, in interpreting such statistics we must bear in mind
that the unmarried in the higher ages of life are made up very often of
those who are relatively abnormal, either physically or mentally, that
is, of the biologically unfit. Inasmuch as the single persons include
many of this class, and also lack the comforts of home, it is not
surprising that the death rate is much higher among them.

(6) Infantile mortality is one of the most interesting phases of vital
statistics. We have already said that the death rate is a good rough
measure of a people's civilization. Even more can we say that the death
rate among children, particularly those under one year of age, is an
index to a people's sanitary and moral condition. Taking the world as a
whole, it is still estimated that one half of all who are born die
before the age of five years. This represents an enormous waste of
energy. Even in many of the most civilized countries the death rate
among children, and especially among infants under one year of age, is
still comparatively high. Most of this death rate is unnecessary, could
be avoided, and, as we have already said, represents a waste of life.
Dr. Newman [Footnote: In his work on _Infant Mortality_.] gives the