670 POLITICAL ECONOMY ters those who do or who do not now accept its doctrines form the larger number. Yet it must be acknowledged that these doctrines have taken a hold upon the minds of men which it is difficult to shake off. According to Prof. R. E. Thompson, Malthus's main position was anticipated by Herrenschwand in his Discours fondamental sur la population (1786). In 1820 Godwin published his work "On Population, an Inquiry concerning the Power of Increase in the Numbers of Mankind, being an Answer to Mr. Malthus's Essay on that Subject." The "Inquiry" comprises a careful examination of the progress of popula- tion throughout the world, and of the causes which tend to prevent its increase, of the means of subsistence of man, and a review of Malthus's doctrines from a moral as well as a philosophical standpoint. Godwin gives as his reason for producing his book, that Malthus had said in his preface that the "Essay on Population" was indebted to his writings for its existence ; and as "it still holds on its pros- perous career," "I cannot consent," he adds, "to close my eyes for ever, with the judg- ment, as the matter now seems to stand, re- corded on my tomb, that in attempting one further advance in the route of improvement, I should have brought on the destruction of all that Solon, and Montesquieu, and Sidney . . . had seemed to have effected for the redemption and the elevation of mankind." He says that Malthus's book had then been before the public 20 years without any one, so far as he knew, attempting a refutation of his main principle. One of the most detailed examinations of the work of Malthus which have been published is " The Law of Population," by Michael Thomas Sadler, M. P. (London, 1830). In ad- dition to an elaborate answer to Malthus's theory, Mr. Sadler develops a doctrine of popu- lation. "The prolificness of human beings," he says, " otherwise similarly circumstanced, varies inversely as their numbers ;" and he pre- sents a mass of evidence to prove that nature has not " invested man with a fixed and un- varying measure of prolificness," but that the Creator has "regulated the prolificness of his creatures in reference to the circumstances in which his providence shall place them, instead of leaving that regulation to the busy, selfish, and ignorant interference of men." In arti- cles published in July, 1830, and January, 1831, and now included in the collection of his es- says, Macaulay attacked Sadler's book with much severity, and at the same time indicated unmistakably his belief in the doctrines of Malthus. The Rev. Thomas Chalmers, D. D., who had thoroughly imbibed these doctrines, published a volume on "Political Economy in connection with the Moral State and Moral Prospects of Society " (Glasgow, 1832). Fear- ing " a sweeping, headlong anarchy," he aimed to present the evidence of the "tremendous evil " of over population, and at the same time to appeal to his countrymen to take steps to "avert it from their borders." In 1840 ap- peared in Edinburgh "The Principles of Pop- ulation, and their Connection with Human Happiness," by Archibald Alison (2 vols. 8vo), the first draft of which, says the au- thor, was composed in 1809 and 1810, while the treatise was rewritten between 1819 and 1828. This book is wonderfully rich in facts and illustrations, and deduces a theory of self- adjustment in the power of increase in popula- tion which may be briefly stated as follows : There is a rapid increase of numbers in the early stages of society, a gradual retardation as society advances, and an ultimate stationary condition in its last stages. It need hardly be added that Mr. Alison is an uncompromising adversary of Malthus, and that he sees nothing in this question which can give any cause for alarm for the future of mankind upon the earth. In 1841 Thomas Doubleday published in London " The true Law of Population shown to be connected with the Food of the People " (new ed., 1854), in which he undertakes to de- monstrate that " whenever a species or genus is endangered, a corresponding effort is inva- riably made by nature for its preservation and continuance, by an increase of fecundity or fer- tility ; and that this especially takes place when- ever such danger arises from a diminution of proper nourishment," and that consequently " the deplethoric state is favorable to fertili- ty, and that on the other hand the plethoric state is unfavorable to fertility." Thus " there is in all societies a constant increase going on among that portion of it which is the worst supplied with food ; in short, among the poor- est." " The Westminster Review " for April, 1852, contains "A New Theory of Popula- tion," understood to be by Herbert Spencer, deduced from the general law of animal fer- tility. It argues that an antagonism exists be- tween individuation and reproduction; that matter in its lower forms, that of vegetables for instance, possesses a stronger power of increase than in all higher forms; that the capacity of reproduction in animals is in an inverse ratio to their individuation; that the ability to maintain individual life and that of multiplication vary in the same manner also. He further demonstrates that " the ability to maintain life is in all cases measured by the development of the nervous system." In Spencer's "Principles of Biology" the doc- trines here stated have been further elaborated and illustrated. " Population and Capital," consisting of lectures delivered before the uni- versity of Oxford in 1853-'4, by George K. Rickards (London, 1854), contends by careful induction from facts that the truth is the very reverse of Malthus's theory; "that the pro- ductive power of a community tends to increase more rapidly than the number of its inhabi- tants." W. R. Greg, in " Enigmas of Life " (London, 1872), has taken issue with Malthus, and says one influence tending to reduce the rate of increase " may be specified with con-
