ANNALES DE DEMOGRAPHIE HISTORIQUE

France (Paris) 84

1995

97.84.1 - French - Laurence FONTAINE, CNRS - Centre de recherches historiques, EHESS, 54, bd Raspail 75270 Paris Cedex 06 (France)

The economic role of kinship (Rôle économique de la parenté) (p. 5-16)

This article presents the questions asked in the session "Entretiens de Mahler" on the economic role of kinship and, in particular, for which social groups, to what extend, and by which means does kinship play an active part in the social reproduction of the families. A synthesis of the communications presented is then proposed, looking at each social group studied - aristocracy, merchant, city inhabitant and peasant - at the role of kinship and at its interplay with the State. Finally, the main issues raised during the session are discussed. (HISTORY, KINSHIP, ECONOMY)

97.84.2 - French - Marie-Claude PINGAUD, Laboratoire d'Anthropologie sociale, Collège de France, 52 rue du Cardinal-Lemoine, 75005 Paris (France)

An egalitarian method of property division and the destiny of lineages (Partage égalitaire et destins des lignées) (p. 17-33)

In a large village in the Perche, between Beauce and Normandie, an aristocracy of merchant-farmers benefited from the partial dismantling of lordschips estates which took place in the second part of 18th. However, by the middle of the next century, partible inheritance as prescribed by customary-law long before Napoleonic Code, was to undermine considerably the position of the privileged peasant with numerous heirs, in spite of homogamous alliance and a close network of spiritual affinity. Reported by informants or recorded in the sources, principally the notarial archives, a whole lot of "social facts" has improved genealogical research concerning the lineal descendants of one of these landowners. Equal sharing of land between heirs determines social and domestic reproduction -intermarriage within the kinship and neighbourhead group, neolocality of the new couple - and the technical and juridical conditions of production - the varying pattern and development of agricultural units, the rapid turning of domestic groups within the family from one farm to another. This situation obtained till the beginning of this century, when the settling down of one heir on the farm prevailed. (FRANCE, HISTORY, INHERITANCE, HOMOGAMY, KINSHIP)

97.84.3 - French - Hugues NEVEUX 7, rue du Château, 92600 Asnières (France)

Occasional requirements to solicit help from kinship circles. The issue in a rural French environment (16th-18th centuries (Sollicitations conjoncturelles des cercles de parenté. Position du problème à partir du milieu rural français (XVIe-XVIIIe siècles)) (p. 35-42)

This article seeks to determine to what degree family networks in modern rural France, when called upon, transcended the role attributed to them by home-families (not necessarily nuclear families). A study of bails, guardianships and (will) executors reveals that family networks were called upon only when the home-family was, or was assumed to be, incapable of solving conjunctural problems on their own. In such conditions, family members outside the home would appear to have been called upon both because of the constraints accompanying the problems and through habit, meaning that one family member would be called upon rather than another. These habits did not fit into a single system but into various ones, in which one system appears often to have been predominant, while the lesser systems were not necessarily immutable. (FRANCE, HISTORY, KINSHIP, FAMILY, SOCIAL ORGANIZATION)

97.84.4 - French - Monica PAROLA, Via Monta N. 25, 14037 Portacomaro (Italy)

Kinship and trades in Turin during the Napoleonic period (La parenté et les métiers à Turin pendant l'époque napoléonienne) (p. 43-57)

This research analyzes the composition of family councils and the decisions made by these institutions in Turin during the Napoleonic period. Studying kinship ties, both paternal and maternal, the author shows that the presence and the rôle of relatives differed with the occupation and the economic conditions of the family. Maternal relatives intervened actively in the management of orphans' property, chiefly among merchant and artisan families, where the estate is always managed by the paternal family. Thus, family councils were used by élites to perpetuate essentially patrilineal family patterns, while among merchant and artisan families the councils became important legal tools in the hands of maternal relatives to control capital investments endorsed to female family members in the form of dowries. (ITALY, METROPOLIS, HISTORY, KINSHIP, OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS, SOCIAL SYSTEMS)

97.84.5 - French - Christophe DUHAMELLE, Mission historique française en Allemagne, Hermann-Föge-Weg 12, D-37073 Göttingen (Germany)

Kinship and social orientation: The immediate rhenish, 17th- 18th centuries (Parenté et orientation sociale : la chavalerie immédiate rhénane, XVIIe-XVIIIe siècles) (p. 59-73)

Though being an isolated and weak group of nobility, the rhenish imperial knighthood manages to strengthen its dominating position in the ecclesiastical principalties. Which pratices of kin did make possible this perduring domination? First of all, kin is a protecting wall, because the way into the cathedral chapters (electing the bishops) passes through paternal and maternal genealogical proofs and through cooptation. A little amount of lineages can in this way almost monopolize the chapters, as long as they practice a thorough endogamy and reinforce constantly the cognatic and agnatic network commanding the passage of power. But it doesn't mean that kin relations are hardened in this frame: the increasing ecclesiastical specialization leads to a tightening of the lineage. The role of each member of the family is redefined, the inheritance's discipline is hardened, the agnatic descent is emphasized. The growing differenciation of the kin circles (a large one for the working of the oligarchy, an institutional one for the defence of the exclusivism, a narrow one for the tightening of the lineage) is governing this familial strategies that show a high degree of flexibility in actualising different sorts of kin. (GERMANY, HISTORY, KINSHIP, SOCIAL CLASSES, SOCIAL ORGANIZATION)

97.84.6 - French - Francine ROLLEY, 34 rue Alexandre Marie, 89000 Auxerre (France)

Between an ancient style of economy and a market economy: The role of kinship networks in the forestry trade in the 18th century (Entre économie ancienne et économie de marché : le rôle des réseaux de parenté dans le commerce du bois au XVIIIe siècle) (p. 75-96)

For several centuries, timber was floated down the Morvan river, all the way to Paris. The eighteenth century merchants who began this thriving trade created networks allowing them to control all the stages of the process, from lumbering in the Morvan forests to sales in the capital. In order to do so, they placed - at each of the strategic points of the Commerce - a family member who was supposed to defend family interests and build up solid relations in the vinicity.

Such an inter-regional commerce could coexist with the Ancien Régime structures only thanks to royal arbitration. Another problem for the trade was how to maintain internal cohesion in the face of centrifugal forces and divering interests. An analysis of two networks reveals that strikingly different solutions were attempted and that those which proved longerlasting were those which succeeded in keeping separate family relations and business. (FRANCE, HISTORY, KINSHIP, TRADE, SOCIAL ORGANIZATION)

97.84.7 - French - Roland BONNAIN, CNRS - Centre de recherches historiques, EHESS, 54, bd Raspail 75270 Paris Cedex 06 (France)

The pot of gold and the canvas. How family history was represented (Le crible aux Louis d'or et le canevas. L'histoire familiale comme représentation) (p. 97-104)

Every family has its own history handed down for one generation to the next and whose mains functions are to preserve its identity, for those behaviour. Certain events and caracters are selected: they became exemplary for those who either told the family story or listen to it. These narratives are coloured by the inheritance system and by the historical context. The way a genealogy is commented upon by the heiress allowed us to understand better how the sharings of the property and subsequent buying back are experienced intimately by the household. It also showed the differences between the "good" inlaws who work for the household and the "bad" kinsmen who take away a part of the inheritance and who suffer grief at departing and are overtaken by failure when they are away. These family stories then became legends about the family origin. (FRANCE, HISTORY, KINSHIP, GENEALOGY, INHERITANCE)

97.84.8 - French - Michel NASSIET, Université de Nantes, Chemin de la Sensive du Terre, 44300 Nantes (France)

Kinship networks and marriage types amongst the nobility - 15th-17th centuries (Réseaux de parenté et types d'alliance dans la noblesse (XVe-XVIIe siècles)) (p. 105-123)

In that article we first observe some aspects of consanguinity relationship in French nobility. In the patrilineage, relations were turned according to the asymmetry made by unequality of noble share; solidarity relations were often going very far into genealogical degrees. Otherwise the solidarity from maternal grand-father or uncle was sometime very efficient. Then we propose a typology of matrimonial alliance, which the relations we observed can be reconsidered. The typology mainly distinguishes homogamy, and girls' hypogamy, which we observe using the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries sources. Choices of matrimonial alliances were connected to demographic context and nuptiality. (FRANCE, HISTORY, KINSHIP, SOCIAL CLASSES, INBREEDING, HOMOGAMY)

97.84.9 - French - Sylvie PERRIER, Université de Paris VIII, Département d'histoire, 2 rue de la Liberté, 93526 Saint-Denis Cedex 02 (France)

The roles of kinship networks in the upbringing of minor orphans according to Parisian guardianship records (Rôles des réseaux de parenté dans l'éducation des mineurs orphelins selon les comptes de tutelle parisiens) (p. 125-135)

The study of the records of guardianship of minor children in Old Regime France makes possible to observe the dynamics of kinship networks in cases where the solidarity of the family members is needed to protect the orphans' welth and to take care of their education. Parents are often gathered together to decide a line of action for the children but the composition of those "assemblies de parents" varies greatly according to the time when the union was originally broken, to the presence or lack of kinship in Paris and to the motive of the gathering. Some of the parents attend all the gatherings while others make only one appearance. Uncles and cousins are frequently the more stable parents during a guardianship. Friends and neighbours appear to be only temporary substitutes to missing parents in the network. Remarriage of the surviving parent introduces new variables in the analysis: the step-parent has a major role in the children's life and the network is reorganized arround the new family cell. (FRANCE, CAPITAL CITY, HISTORY, KINSHIP, ORPHANS)

97.84.10 - French - Alain BIDEAU, Centre Pierre-Léon, URA CNRS 223, Maison Rhône-Alpes des Sciences de l'Homme, Université Lyon II (France), Guy BRUNET, Centre d'études démographiques, Université Lyon II (France), Bertrand DESJARDINS, Programmes de recherche en démographie historique, Université de Montréal (Canada), and Michel Prost, Département de démographie et génétique, Institut Européen des Génomutations, Lyon (France)

Population reproduction in the XVIIth, XVIIIth and XIXth centuries. Examples from France and Quebec (La reproduction de la population aux XVIIe, XVIIIe et XIXe siècles. Exemples français et québécois) (p. 137-148)

This article examines the descendants of four cohorts of couples formed in the 17th and 18th (two cohorts in two French mountain valleys and one on the Ile-d'Orléans in Quebec). The children are separated into four categories according to their fate (deceased while still unmarried, unknown fate, married but childless, 'useful children'). 'Useful children', a concept used in population genetics, are those who in turn bear children. In all three places, the useful children represent only from 26 to 31% of births. The study goes on to measure the contributions made by these couples to the next generation. In the mean, each couple gave birth to little over one useful child. But the contributions of couples turns out to be very unequal. Depending on the place, from 36 to 53% of couples left no useful children behind them, while a small minority of couples made an ample contribution to the next generation. The same measure is reproduced in the constitution of the next generation, thereby showing that inequality of couples in terms of reproduction is perpetuated. (FRANCE, CANADA, HISTORICAL DEMOGRAPHY, DESCENT, POPULATION REPLACEMENT)

97.84.11 - French - Michel CARTIER, EHESS, 22 av du Président-Wilson, 75116 Paris (France)

Family and population in China in the 16th to 18th centuries in the light of a recent work by Liu Ts'ui-Jung (Famille et population en Chine du XVIe au XVIIIe siècles à la lumière d'un ouvrage récent de Liu Ts'ui-Jung) (p. 149-159)

Taking as its starting point the huge sample of 260,000 people born in China between the 13th and the 19th century used by Liu Ts'ui-Jung in her recent study on Lineage population, our study aims at assessing the premodern demographic evolution of China. In as much the method of family reconstruction actually limited the scope of the her book, Liu Ts'ui-Jung was not able to go beyond the description of a specific demographic regime defined by three elements: 1) universal marriage; 2) a moderate level of masculine fertility; and 3) a life expectation at 15 comprised between 30 and 40. These conditions would not allow the constitution of many extended households, whereas the annual rate of growth would be somewhere around 1%, a situation having little in common with the present day "population explosion".

Using data included in the book, but not considered for the demonstration, we have been able to establish a dramatical deterioration of the mortality pattern from the middle of the 18th century onwards. Accordingly, the proportion of widows increases whereas fertility declines. These new findings shed a new light on the history of the Chinese population which would be characterized with a long period of growth followed by a crisis generated by a surge of the mortality rate. (CHINA, HISTORICAL DEMOGRAPHY, FAMILY RECONSTITUTION, FERTILITY TRENDS, MORTALITY TRENDS)

97.84.12 - English - Chris GALLEY, Noami WILLIAMS and Robert WOODS, Department of Geography, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3BX (U.K.)

Detection without correction: Problems in assessing the quality of English ecclesiastical and civil registration (p. 161-183)

Reliable, good quality source material is required for any demographic study. By selecting specific examples from York during the parish register period and Sheffield during the civil registration period deficiencies in both ecclesiastical and civil registration are discussed with reference to how they affect infant and adult mortality calculations. In particular, the extent to which the deaths of very young infants were registered is considered in detail. Bourgeois-Pichat's biometric test, Farr's early life tables and Coale and Demeny's model life tables have all been used to correct inaccuracies within original sources. We consider the limitations of each of these methods and suggest that a reassessment of the quality of vital registration data and the methods used to make corrections is needed in order to make further advances in historical demography possible. (ENGLAND, HISTORICAL DEMOGRAPHY, HISTORICAL SOURCES, QUALITY OF DATA, INFANT MORTALITY)

97.84.13 - French - Pierre GUILLAUME, Université de Bordeaux III, Domaine universitaire, Esplanade Michel-de-Montaigne, 33405 Talence Cedex (France)

Half-breeds in Indochina (Les métis en Indochine) (p. 185-195)

The 1936 census confirms the importance of metisses who are becoming the majority of peoples who have the right to vote in the colony. Statistics of marriages show, for the 30s, the multiplication of legal union between French men and Indochinese women or, more exceptionally, between Indochinese men and French women, without speaking of concubinage.

Metisses exist in indochina for a long time so, about 1860, religious institutions have kept care of them. Then charitable institutions of many kinds worked in the same way and, at last, the colonial government itself interfered.

Unions, legal or not, with native people appealed very contrasted jusgements. Many witnesses says the charm of Indochines girls but others described them as formidable spouses. For children born of these unions they are seen as well as living and propitious syntheses of the two races qualities as the product of all their vices. It is very difficult for them to take place in the European or in the Annamite world, even if they are legitime or recognized children and there is a risk they become ennemies of France while they would be precious friends if they had been well treated. In name of race purity, the Vichy government strictly condemned metissage, by the pen of Dr Martial. (SOUTH-EAST ASIA, HISTORY, MESTIZOS, DEMOGRAPHIC STATISTICS, MIXED MARRIAGE)

97.84.14 - French - Franz-Joseph HAHN and Jean-Luc PINOL, Centre de recherches historiques sur la ville, URA CNRS 1010, Université Strasbourg II, 22 rue Descartes, 67084 Strasbourg Cedex (France)

Mobility of a large city: Strasbourg from 1870 to 1940 (La mobilité d'une grande ville : Strasbourg de 1870 à 1940) (p. 197-210)

The city is a perpetually recomposing sphere. The flow of arriving and departing people is uninterrupted. Between 1870 and 1940, the residency register of Strasbourg includes 1 200 000 open files. Our choice was to study those heads of household whose surname started with N. They represent some 1% of the population.

48% of these people have only one residence, 17% have more than four residences. Strasbourg is a European cross-roads and between WWI and WWII, the city functions as a sismograph for the migration from Eastern Europe, 40% of the heads of the household stay in the city for less than six months, and the average stay is less than two months. This forces to think about the alchemy that is or is not created between the long established population and the passers through... (FRANCE, METROPOLIS, GEOGRAPHIC MOBILITY, HISTORY)

97.84.15 - French - John KOMLOS, Department of Economics, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Ludwigstrasse 33-IV, 80539 Munich (Germany)

On the importance of anthropometric history (De l'importance de l'histoire anthropométrique) (p. 211-223)

One can think of the average height reached at a particular age by individuals in a population as the historical record of their nutritional experience. Medical research has confirmed that nutritional status - and thus physical stature - is related to food consumption and therefore to real family income, and therefore to wages and to prices and therefore to the standard of living. Thus, height can be used as a proxy for these economic variables. Through anthropometric research one can illuminate the biological well being of some members of a society - women, children, aristocrats, subsistence farmers and slaves - for whom market wages are seldom available. In addition, it has been shown that the biological standard of living can diverge from conventional indicatros of well being during the early stages of industrialization. These are noteworthy contributions to the frontiers of knowledge in economic and demographic history. (ANTHROPOMETRY, ECONOMIC DEMOGRAPHY, STANDARD OF LIVING)

97.84.16 - French - Muriel NEVEN and Michel ORIS, Laboratoire de Démographie, Université de Liège, Place du 20 Août, 32, 4000 Liège (Belgium)

The statistics of antituberculosis dispensaries and hospitals in the service of the social history and epidemiology of the "white plague", late 19th-early 20th centuries (Les statistiques des dispensaires antituberculeux et des hôpitaux au service de l'histoire sociale et de l'épidémiologie de la "peste blanche" fin XIXe-début XXe siècles) (p. 225-239)

During the late 19th and the beginning the 20th centuries, the struggle against tuberculosis is a strong reason to redefine health as social gaming, and not as individual gaming anymore. Here the number of actors increases on the market of medical cares, involving some tensions. This paper compares (by the mean of death causes statistics) people affected and treated in a local hospital, and those treated in the antitubercular health centres from the province of Liège. It studies the respective contribution of hospital records and statistics list of health centres to the historical epidemiology of the 'white plague' and to social history of the health. (BELGIUM, HISTORY, TUBERCULOSIS, EPIDEMIOLOGY, HISTORICAL SOURCES)

97.84.17 - French - Frans van POPPEL, Ellen KRUSE, NIDI, BP 11650, 2502 AR La Haye (Netherlands), and Jan KOK, Posthumus Institut/Institut International d'Histoire sociale, Cruquiusweg 31, 1019 AT Amsterdam (Netherlands)

"The main cause of variations is crim": An attempt to explain excess mortality of illegitimate children in The Hague in the mid-19th century ("La cause principale des différences c'est le crime" : essai d'explication de la surmortalité des enfants illégitimes à La Haye au milieu du XIXe siècle) (p. 241-275)

During the last quarter of the 19th century, illegitimate children had much higher infant mortality than legitimate children. To investigate which factors played a role in this, we collected information on the household situation and the life course of all illegitimate children, born in the Dutch city of The Hague in the years 1850-1852. Use was made of birth and death certificates and of the population registers of the city. We compared our information with data on a random sample of legitimate children, born in the same city. After children had reached the age of one month, mortality among illegitimate children became very high, compared to that of our reference group. Proportional hazards analysis showed that this excess mortality was caused by a set of factors, the most important being the age of the mother at birth, regional background, and the socio-economic group to which the notifier of the birth belonged. Aside from those factors, legal status of the child as such had an effect on infant mortality. The unwed mothers most likely to lose their child in its first year of life lived alone with their child and were obliged to resume work to support themselves and their child. The opportunity to breastfeed may have played a key role in this. (NETHERLANDS, HISTORICAL DEMOGRAPHY, ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN, EXCESS MORTALITY, MORTALITY DETERMINANTS)

97.84.18 - French - M.-C. VITOUX, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines, 10 rue des Frères-Lumière, 68093 Mulhouse Cedex (France)

The premises of a young infants' policy under the Second Empire\: The Mulhouse association of young mothers (Les prémisses d'une politique de la petite enfance sous le Second Empire : l'association des femmes en couches de Mulhouse) (p. 277-290)

As early as the 1830s, the social elite of Mulhouse was aware of the higher infant mortality in the working class. A family policy was adopted only during the Second Empire: the consciousness of the failure of the first philanthropic measures explains why the manufacturers decided to take direct responsibility for the working class family. The demographic preoccupations are directly linked to philanthropy. This paper analyses the principles and evaluates the results of the Association for the care of lying-in women. (FRANCE, HISTORY, CHILD CARE)

97.84.19 - English - Hans-Joachim VOTH, Claire College, Cambridge CB2 15L (U.K.)

Civilian health during WWI and the causes of German defeat: A reexamination of the Winter hypothesis (p. 291-307)

This paper is a reexamination of the Winter hypothesis, which holds that there was a marked difference in the development of civilian health during the First World War between the central powers and the Western allies. Ultimate success on the battlefield, according to Winter, required balancing the needs of the military with civilian demands; Germany lost because it failed to achieve such a balance. The resulting decline in health standards undermined the war effort and eventually led to defeat. This article proceeds in two steps. First, it demonstrates that Winter's data does not allow him to make a proper comparison between the two camps. Second, the author argues that his hypothesis can be refuted once a truly comparable sources is used - infant mortality rates. There is as yet no convincing evidence to suggest that the outcome of the First World War was determined by public health policy. (WESTERN EUROPE, HISTORY, WAR, PUBLIC HEALTH)

1996

MORBIDITY, MORTALITY, HEALTH

A) DATA ORGANIZATION AND CATEGORY OF ANALYSIS

97.84.20 - French - Susan GROSE SOLOMON

Public health statistics in 1920s Soviet Union: International cooperation and national tradition in a post-revolutionary framework (Les statistiques de santé publique dans l'Union soviétique des années vingt : coopération internationale et tradition nationale dans un cadre post-révolutionnaire) (p. 19-44)

In October 1929, a two-man delegation (a social hygienist and a sanitary statistician) went to Paris to participate in the meeting of the International Institute of Statistics called to consider revisions of the Bertillon classification of the causes of illness and death. The Soviet delegates were demonstrably eager to be considered part of the international scene in public health statistics. But they came to Paris with a radical proposal to replace the locationist system of classification with one that gave clear primacy to the principle of social etiology. This paper examines the assumptions about public health statistics, about the international area, and about their own indigenous tradition in public health, that underlay the Soviet proposal. On the basis of this particular case, the paper raises questions about the factors that favor the adoption of one system of statistical classification as opposed to others and about the general problem of studying " internationalism " in public health. (USSR, HISTORY, PUBLIC HEALTH, STATISTICS, CLASSIFICATION)

97.84.21 - French - Yankel FIJALKOW

Territorialisation of a health risk and population statistics: The "TB apartments" of the unhealthy region of Saint-Gervais (1894-1930) (Territorialisation du risque sanitaire et statistique démographique : Les " immeubles tuberculeux " de I'îlot insalubre Saint-Gervais (1894-1930)) (p. 45-60)

The assumption of contagion is often employed as an argument for the demarcation of areas considered dangerous to public health. This articles examines how it was used in the case of the insalubrious district of Saint-Gervais (Paris). The district was identified thanks to statistics available from the health records of Parisian apartment houses, which have been kept since 1894. The author's main concern is the existence of " maisons meurtrières " (deathtraps) denounced by contemporary documents although deaths from tuberculosis were progressively decreasing. The examination of statistics giving the number of inhabitants and fatalities from tuberculosis in each apartment buolding shows that, with the exception of those with furnished rooms, only a small proportion of these dwellings actually had a high death rate from tuberculosis between 1894 and 1930. It also shows that the delimitation of the insalubrious area was based on the idea that the illness was irreversible, allowing the " deathtraps " discovered in earlier stages to be added to those found in each subsequent check. This method made it possible to designate " infected districts " and to justify a policy of city planning. (FRANCE, CAPITAL CITY, HISTORY, PUBLIC HEALTH, URBAN PLANNING, TUBERCULOSIS)

97.84.22 - French - Arlette MOURET

The legend of the 150,000 annual deaths from TB (La légende des 150 000 décès tuberculeux par an) (p. 61-84)

This article analyzes the stages by which it was concluded that there were 150.000 deaths from tuberculosis in France at the end of the nineteenth century. The calculations made by Brouardel are broken down and the inappropriate nature of some of his choices is pointed out. In addition to these oddities in calculation, the contemporary social and political factors warrant our attention. The estimation can also be explained by the growing fears regarding demographic and social perils. Did not tuberculosis and the falling birth rate jeopardize all hope of taking revenge on Germany ? In fact, the " enemy " had decided to undertake a vast program for the construction of sanatoriums, thus tempting the French public health authorities to use the figures to mobilize the attention of the public and politicians. In the collective imagination, tuberculosis and its 150.000 fatalities replaced the great epidemic of the nineteenth century, cholera, whose most destructive appearance in 1854 killed precisely 150.000 persons. In spite of the more probable estimation from the statistical services (fewer than 100.000 deaths), this figure of 150.000 deaths from tuberculosis was revived in the period between the World Wars and again in the last decade by certain historians, which proves that it became engraved in memory. However, from the turn of the century, and especially between 1918 and 1940, the proponents of this numbers have admitted that they used them to influence opinion. Here we have an excellent example of a dual language : depending on where he was speaking, the same scientist of political authority could simply double the estimations of mortality from tuberculosis. (FRANCE, HISTORY, TUBERCULOSIS, PUBLIC HEALTH, PROPAGANDA)

97.84.23 - French - Patrice BOURDELAIS

The moving threshold of when old age commences: Comparative approaches, France and Sweden (Un seuil évolutif d'age de la vieillesse : approches comparées France-Suède) (p. 85-97)

The major criticism to be made concerning studies of ageing populations is that the threshold chosen as the entry into old age has remained fixed. However, in recent years, the realities of the age at which one becomes elderly have changed so much that persons in the category " over 60 ", for example, no longer occupy the same place in the succession of generations, the same economic and social roles as their not so distance forefathers. In particular, they no longer have the same life expectancy or the same state of health. Therefore, how are we to understand and interpret the growing proportion of older persons in our populations ? To get out of this impasse, this article presents one possibility for determining an evolutionnary threshold - it is one of the conditions of the comparison - for entry into old age. It depends on the state of health of the persons concerned at each stage. This synthetic indicator has been applied in the French and Swedish populations since the mid-nineteenth century. The results underline the extent of the changes that have occurred, especially in the twentieth century, the closeness of the thresholds between the two countries at the beginning and end of the period, as well as the differences in the progress of masculine life expectancy. Although the proposed indicator can certainly be improved, it emerges strengthened by this compartaive approach. (FRANCE, SWEDEN, AGED, OLD AGE, METHODOLOGY, HEALTH, MALE MORTALITY)

97.84.24 - French - Jean-Marie ROBINE, Pierre MORMICHE and Emmanuelle CAMBOIS

Trends in total survival curves, without chronic illness and invalidity in France from 1981 to 1991: Application of a WHO model (Evolution des courbes de survie totale, sans maladie chronique et sans incapacité en France de 1981 à 1991 : application d'un modèle de l'OMS) (p. 99-115)

In 1984, World Health Organisation (WHO) has proposed a demo-epidemiological model which allows the assessment of the possible consequences of the lengthening of life on the level of health. This model is represented in a graphic form by three curves : the observed survival curve, the hypothetical survival curve without chronic diseases and the hypothetical survival curve without disability; thus, as life expectancy at any age is calculated from the survival curve, this model allows the computation of life expectancy without chronic diseases and life expectancy without disability. The relationships between the three curves can be used to illustrate the numerous theories dealing with the evolution of the populations' health which enliven debates in public health since several decades. Application of the model to French data on mortality, morbidity and disability also allows to enlignten the evolution of the health status of the French population over the last decade. (FRANCE, MORTALITY, MORBIDITY, DISABILITY, SURVIVORSHIP TABLES, MODELS)

B) NATIONAL EXPERIENCIES

97.84.25 - French - Eugénie BOURNOVA

Public health and medical corps in a period of transition: The case of Crete in the early 20th century (Santé publique et corps médical en transition : le cas de la Crète au début du XXe siècle) (p. 119-136)

This article deals with the transformation of the public health system in Crete at the turn of the century, when the island was placed under the protection of the European Powers. Cretan archives, especially those from the town of Rethimno, provide a wealth of information on this subject. They show that the new ruling powers, with the declared objective of safeguarding their soldiers, required local authorities to keep a close watch over epidemics, indeed to lock up populations considered dangerous for public health, such as lepers and prostitutes - who did not fail to put up a strong resistance. While providing equipment for hospital facilities, which were still primitive, the Powers also introduced legislation concerning the practice of medicine, from which Muslim Cretans were gradually excluded. The rate at which medical care was provided increased markedly at the beginning of the twentieth century, in particular in the principal towns. The Rethimno notarial archives reveal that this new and well qualified medical corps belonged to the world of prominent citizens, and while ministering to the town's health needs, they held considerable political and economic power. (GREECE, REGIONS, HISTORY, PUBLIC HEALTH, MEDICAL PERSONNEL, SOCIAL ORGANIZATION)

97.84.26 - English - James A. BROTHEN

Population decline and plague in late medieval Norway (p. 137-149)

Norwegian scholars have engaged in considerable research over the last half century in an attempt to assess the impact of the Black Plague of 1349 on population and society in Norway. Evidence has been put forward relating the incidence of plague to a continuance of population decline over the two centuries following its initial introduction. Estimates of population decline in Norway between 1350 and 1550 indicate a reduction by as much as 65%. Two directions of study have emerged, one concentrating on land abandonment known as the "Ødegard Project". The other is represented by the recent works of Ole Jørgen Benedictow presenting epidemiological and osteo-archaeological research. An examination of the available literature raises questions concerning the degree to which plague, and its recurrence, directly affected population decline in Norway during the Late Middle Ages. While evidence of the virulence of the plague and the degree of farm abandonment is compelling, a direct relationship to population decline may not be as great as implied by the research. Other explanatory factors, especially social and economic responses to plague, have been given limited attention. (NORWAY, HISTORY, PLAGUE, DEPOPULATION)

97.84.27 - English - Hiroshi KAWAGUCHI

Population increase policy after the 1783 Great Famine in northeastern Tokugawa Japan (p. 151-168)

During the Tokugawa Period, northeastern Japan has been thought to be a less advanced poor region, for the population had decreased for over 100 years from the beginning of the eighteenth century. In particular, farmers had been severely affected by several famines, especially by the 1783 great famine. I have reevaluated the social and economic situation after 1783 by investigating the details of the in-migration plan. The in-migration plan in the study area was not a kind of welfare policy to relieve farmers affected by the 1783 great famine, but evidence which shows the beginning of the proto-industrialization make special products. The demand for female labor to produce hemp cloths increased rapidly from the beginning of the nineteenth century, women who were good at weaving at the loom were invited as brides. (JAPAN, HISTORY, FOOD SHORTAGE, POPULATION POLICY, IMMIGRATION POLICY)

97.84.28 - English - Angela T. THOMPSON

Mexico's other wars: Epidemics, disease, and public health in Guanajuato, Mexico, 1810-1867 (p. 169-194)

" Mexico's Other Wars " refers to the fight against disease, particularly epidemic disease, during the period when Mexico gained its independence and was involved in the very conflictive process of nation-building, from 1810-1867. Controlling and eradicating disease was an integral part of that process. In this period, fighting disease assumed the crucial political purpose of making all people healthier as one means of building economically productive civil society. To attain this goal, early nineteenth-century local policy makers organized an increasingly secular and integrated public health system governed by municipal and state officials who legislated local public health regulations. While disease was not eradicated, the incidence and severity of epidemics decreased and likely contributed, as one of many factors, to population increase. This process was evident in the city and state of Guanajuato, the focus of this paper, for Guanajuato's population almost doubled in this period despite war and intermittent armed conflict. (MEXICO, PROVINCES, EPIDEMY, PUBLIC HEALTH, HEALTH POLICY)

97.84.29 - English - Paul R. KATZ

Germs of disaster. The impact of epidemics on Japanese military campaigns in Taiwan, 1874 and 1895 (p. 195-220)

This essay highlights the way in which epidemics shaped Japanese military campaigns in Taiwan in 1874 and again in 1895, as well as subsequent colonial policy after 1895. The author have focused on these particular campaigns because a vast body of source materials exists which allows not only to understand the diseases which ravaged the Japanese forces, but also to determine their effects on particular battles and subsequent Japanese military, foreign and colonial policy. For example, during the 1874 campaign in the southern tip of Taiwan, of the approximately 5.990 men at risk, only 4 soldiers were killed in battle, while 20 succumbed to battle wounds and other injuries. In contrast, 547 men died of disease, particularly malaria. During the 1895 campaign, the Japanese force of just over 50.000 men suffered horrific losses due to epidemics, with 4.642 soldiers dying of disease as opposed to 164 killed in battle and 515 wounded or injured. Although the Japanese quickly won the war against the resistance forces, their battle against Taiwan's epidemics had only just begun, as thousands of Japanese soldiers and civilians perished during the first years of the Japanese Occupation era (1895-1945). The Japanese soon realized that they would have to solve Taiwan's public health problems if they were to have any hope of effectively governing their new colony. As a result, some of the first regulations of the colonial government concerned sanitation and quarantine measures. All in all, Japanese colonial policy and its colonial modernization of Taiwan appear to have been significantly shaped by fear of the island's epidemics and the need to bring under control. (TAIWAN, JAPAN, EPIDEMY, WAR, HEALTH POLICY, COLONIZATION)

97.84.30 - French - Isidro DUBERT

Mortality in Galicia, 1600-1850 (La mortalité en Galice, 1600-1850) (p. 221-248)

The author's goal is to determine the influence of the death rate on the demography of Galicia, a region located in the north-west of the Iberian peninsula, during the Ancien Régime. From this viewpoint, he examines the general characteristics of mortality as well as the chronology, intensity and nature of the different waves of mortality from 1600 to 1850. He also presents a rough outline of the fall in Galicia's death rate, by comparing the results obtained at various levels with those from other regions of Spain as well as Europe. This paper is meant to complement the efforts of all researchers interested in the " geography of death " in modern Europe. (SPAIN, PROVINCES, HISTORICAL DEMOGRAPHY, MORTALITY, MORTALITY DECLINE)

97.84.31 - French - Jörg Peter VÖGELE

Variations between town and country and mortality trends in Germany during the industrialization (Différences entre ville et campagne et évolution de la mortalité en Allemagne pendant l'industrialisation) (p. 249-268)

Traditionally cities and towns in historical Europe were perceived as being particularly unhealthy. Terms like " le handicap urbain " ou "urban penalty " have been introduced in order to emphasize the high death rates in the fast-growing industrial towns of nineteenth century Europe, which significantly exceeded the average rates for rural areas or the whole country. A rising population density was ideal for the transmission of the prevailing infectious diseases. This paper assesses urban and rural mortality change in Imperial Germany, when the country was going through a process of accelerated industrialization and urbanization. It provides an analysis of changes in age-, sex- and disease-specific mortality in urban and rural Prussia. In general, urban mortality in Germany reached its peak after the midde of the century, thereafter urban mortality improved substantially in relative as well as in absolute terms, the gap between urban and rural mortality narrowed and finally disappeared entirely. The largest cities registered the strongest decline in mortality. Obviously they had the potential to overcome the threats of disease or death, and became forerunners of improved health conditions in modern industrialized societies. An analysis of the mechanisms of mortality change in an urban environment during industrialization in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries can therefore serve as a paradigm for conditions in highly urbanized industrial societies. (GERMANY, HISTORICAL DEMOGRAPHY, MORTALITY, RURAL-URBAN DIFFERENTIALS, INDUSTRIALIZATION)

97.84.32 - French - Benoît GAUMER and Alain AUTHIER

Spatial and ethnic differenciation in infant mortality: Quebec, 1885-1971 (Différenciations spatiales et ethniques de la mortalité infantile : Québec 1885-1971) (p. 269-291)

The aim of this paper is to present an overview of the evolution of Infant Mortality in Montréal and in the whole Province of Québec, from 1885 to 1971, and to highlight factors which may have determined the differential decline during this period. Based on civil registers, quality and fiability of the results are first discussed. Compiling statistics on infant mortality was of great importance in so far as it enabled hygienists to justify baby welfare clinics and county health units. In Montréal, cultural context showed a powerful influence on infant mortality : more French Canadian infants died in their first year than the British and the Jews. Between 1920 and 1930, infant mortality rates in the Canadian metropolitan area declined in rural areas of the Province. After this period, these rates have declined even more rapidly. (CANADA, PROVINCES, HISTORICAL DEMOGRAPHY, INFANT MORTALITY, DIFFERENTIAL MORTALITY, DEMOGRAPHIC STATISTICS)

C) VARIA

97.84.33 - French - Jacques HUSSENET

The Saugrain counts. The beginning and the hypotheses (Les dénombrements Saugrain. Genèse et hypothèses) (p. 295-312)

Many historians of population have tried to determine the origins of the population statistics published in the Dénombrement du Royaume (1709) and in the Nouveau dénombrement du Royaume (1720) by Claude Saugrain. Jacques Hussenet provides new developments : his main document is a manuscript kept in the Senate arkivs listing, at the time of Regency, more than 38.000 french settlements classified. The Dictionnaire géographique du Royaume de France seems to be the copy of a much older book commissioned by the Contrôle général des finances. Claude Saugrain may have used it for his publication of 1709 and to a smaller extent for the one of 1720. A close examination of this document shows that the Contrôle général concern was to evaluate rather count the population. (FRANCE, HISTORY, ENUMERATION, HISTORICAL SOURCES)

97.84.34 - French - Henri FOURNOL

Understanding migratory phenomena. Mobility in a village in the Herault region of France from 1836 to 1962 (Comprendre les phénomènes migratoires. La mobilité dans un village de l'Hérault de 1836 à 1962) (p. 313-336)

Using a previous reconstitution of families living in the village of Puéchabon (Hérault) and twenty-three lists of its inhabitants from 1836 to 1962 as a base, the author has analyzed the migrations of the villagers according to sex, marital status and age group while distinguishing two types of migration : actual departures and entries (permanent or long-term departures, and entries by newcomers or those returning after prolonged absences), and short-term absences and subsequent returns. Using this typology, he brings out three periods of migration for the village residents : before the War of 1870, there were traditional movements; between 1870 and World War II, a pronounced rural exodus occurred; and since then, there has been a less striking but more regular decline in population. (FRANCE, HISTORICAL DEMOGRAPHY, MONOGRAPHS, INTERNAL MIGRATION)

97.84.35 - French - Hernan OTERO

The fertility of immigrants in Argentina. The Tandil French, 1860-1914 (La fécondité des immigrants en Argentine. Les Français de Tandil, 1860-1914) (p. 337-358)

Based on the reconstitution of families of French immigrants who settled in Tandil (Buenos Aires) during the great wave of immigration, this article examines the migrants' fertility. Legitimate births, descendants, proto and intergenesiacal intervals as well as the maternal ages at the final delivery are successively analyzed. The results are then compared with data gathered in the French regime from which the immigrants came. The application of the method perfected by Louis Henry makes possible a micro-discussion of certain hypotheses connecting the demographic transition in Argentina with the arrival of European immigrants. This article's main findings are that there was no voluntary birth control among the immigrants and the determination of their birthrate, which was midway between that existing in their native regions in France and that of the local population in Argentina. (ARGENTINA, FRANCE, HISTORICAL DEMOGRAPHY, IMMIGRANTS, FERTILITY)

97.84.36 - French - Hervé LE BRAS

History and population systems (Histoire et systèmes démographiques) (p. 359-372)

Is it possible to describe the past evolution of populations by using the notion of system ? This article shows that three obstacles arise : the disciplinary stricture, that is, the artificial isolation of demographic phenomena cut off from the political and economic phenomena on which they depend; the spatial stricture, that is, the delimitation of a given zone, quite often a village or small tomn, which means excluding readjustments by migration; and , finally, the confusion of scales, that is, the passing from an individual level (" micro ") to a collective one (" macro "). Given these obstacles, the few systems proposed are severely milited. An example of this limitation is given with the model called selfregulating, which is disturbed when mortality diminishes. Hence, we propose a more modest vision of demographic systems. (HISTORY, DEMOGRAPHY, METHODOLOGY, THEORETICAL MODELS)

D) FIRST STUDIES

97.84.37 - French - Isabelle DEVOS

The regionalization of excess mortality of young females in Belgium, 1890 to 1910 (La régionalisation de la surmortalité des jeunes filles en Belgique entre 1890 et 1910) (p. 375-407)

This article describes the evolution of mortality and differential mortality between the sexes in Belgium from birth till the 20th birthday during the period 1890-1910. Excess female mortality occured especially between the ages of 5 and 20 and had a favourable development during the period of observation : in 1910 the phenomen was not as general as in 1890, but it still existed in 21 of the 41 districts, with variable intensity. Excess female mortality declined more rapidely in the South than in the North of the country. It can be noted on the other hand that the intensity of the phenomen was not related to the level of mortality. Research on the causes of death helped to define the nature of excess female mortality : tuberculosis, a related cause to excess female mortality, dropped clearly during this period, consequence of better working conditions and a better standard of living. The analysis of excess female mortality in areas with a different system of production showed the importance of the position of girls (and boys) in the production process towards the explanation of the spatial variation of excess female mortality. The female disavantage was most important in rural and textile areas due to the intensity and the nature of the labour of girls in these regions. (BELGIUM, HISTORICAL DEMOGRAPHY, EXCESS MORTALITY, FEMALE MORTALITY, GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION)

97.84.38 - French - Evelyne SANCHEZ

Demography and perception of social status in a colonial society. Analysis of the census in the San Joseph parish of (Puebla, New Spain) in 1777 (Démographie et perception du statut social dans une société coloniale. Analyse du recensement de la paroisse de San Joseph (Puebla, Nouvelle-Espagne) de 1777) (p. 409-422)

The census is used here not only for its interesting demographic data, but also for its illustration of the " social esteem " reserved for certain households that the censustaker questioned. By crosschecking, it becomes clear that there was a correlation between the perception of social status and family size. Whereas the indios macehuales were marked by the Malthusianism of poverty and socio-racial depreciation, the Spanish elite maintained more extended families. It was this elite that imposed a life style to which the native caciques (Indian chief and the castas for whom marriage seems to have played a eugenic role) referred. However, this model had little following among other parish members, notably among the half-castes, and the nuclear family of 2 to 4 persons remained by far the most prevalent. This de facto half-caste society retained its colonial character by aspiring to imitate the characteristics of the dominant group, including its demographic dimension. (MEXICO, HISTORICAL DEMOGRAPHY, MONOGRAPHS, CENSUSES, FAMILY SIZE, SOCIO-ECONOMIC DIFFERENTIALS)

97.84.39 - French - Marie-Pierre ARRIZABALAGA

Network and migratory choices in the Basque Country. The example of Sare in the 19th century (Réseau et choix migratoires au Pays Basque. L'exemple de Sare au XIXe siècle) (p. 423-446)

Migration patterns among the inhabitants of Sare in the nineteenth century varied according to their families' socio-economic backgrounds. Individual migration choices remained geographically and professionally endogamous among the poor, landless population who could only survive within the rural environment which their parents provided for them and among the wealthy population who could afford to comfortably establish all their children within the community. Those who were the most attracted to urban migration and to international emigration were the non-heirs who originated from small and medium-sized propertied families and who accepted a financial compensation for their shares of the family inheritance and emigrated in order to avoid downward social mobility. In aggreement with Louis Etcheverry, we will argue that those who emigrated to cities or overseas were not the landless individuals of Sare but those who did not inherit the larger share of their parents' property, yet wished to preserve or better their social status through emigration. (FRANCE, PROVINCES, HISTORICAL DEMOGRAPHY, EMIGRATION, SOCIAL CLASSES, INHERITANCE)

Back to Home page