The sex ratios of human and sheep births in areas of high mineralization

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Abstract
The soils of the Tablelands of New South Wales are in general deficient in molybdenum. The sex ratio of lambs bred on these soils averages about 90 rams to 100 ewes. The Tablelands also contain very limited areas of fertile soils which are in the immediate neighbourhood or downstream of proven occurrences of various non‐ferrous metals. The sex ratio of lambs bred on such soils averages about 112 rams to 100 ewes. The Merseyside Conurbation of England began in 1958 to draw very substantial quantities of water from the Dee River Scheme. There is a large mineral province on the catchment area of the Dee. The Cheshire parts of the conurbation have received the greatest proportion of the new supply, and in association with the new supply the sex ratio of live births has become very significantly more masculine, especially in the Cheshire parts. Some 7 years after the introduction of Dee water to the conurbation, the death rates began to manifest a very significant decline, the decline being greatest where the consumption of Dee water was greatest.

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