LONDON

The Prolificity of the Jews a Thing of the Past  In a letter to the British Medical Journal a Jewish physician, Dr. M. Sourasky, controverts the prevailing view that the Jews are a prolific race. He admits that their fertility "was probably high during the beginning of the last century, but toward the latter part conditions had changed enormously." With political emancipation in western Europe a great weakening of religious fervor occurred, with a consequent disregard of biblical injunctions (such as "increase and multiply"). The Jewish birth rate declined rapidly and in many places fell much below that prevailing among non-Jewish communities. Quoting from Fishberg he gives the following statistics:Dr. Sourasky therefore concludes that the decline in the birth rate in most European countries is accentuated among the Jews. The official figures for Vienna tell the same story:The condition in London can be judged only on indirect evidence,