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An Essay on the Principle of Population
An Essay on the Principle of Population, as it Affects the Future Improvement of Society with Remarks on the Speculations of Mr. Godwin, M. Condorcet, and Other Writers.
Thomas Malthus
London
Printed for J. Johnson, in St. Paul’s Church-Yard 1798.
© 1998, Electronic Scholarly Publishing Project
http://www.esp.org
This electronic edition ismade freely available for scholarly or educational purposes, provided that this copyright notice is included. The manuscript may not be reprinted or redistributed for commercial purposes without permission.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE ......................................................................................... VII CHAPTER 1........................................................................................1
Question stated - Little prospect of a determination of it, from the enmity of the opposing parties - The principal argument against the perfectibility of man and of society has never been fairly answered Nature of the difficulty arising from population - Outline of the principal argument of the Essay
CHAPTER 2........................................................................................6
The different ratio in which population and food increase - The necessary effects of these different ratios of increase - Oscillation produced by them in the condition of the lower classes of society Reasons why this oscillation has not been so much observed as might be expected - Three propositions on which the general argument of the Essay depends - Thedifferent states in which mankind have been known to exist proposed to be examined with reference to these three propositions.
CHAPTER 3 ......................................................................................12
The savage or hunter state shortly reviewed - The shepherd state, or the tribes of barbarians that overran the Roman Empire - The superiority of the power of population tothe means of subsistence the cause of the great tide of Northern Emigration.
CHAPTER 4 ......................................................................................17
State of civilized nations - Probability that Europe is much more populous now than in the time of Julius Caesar - Best criterion of population - Probable error of Hume in one the criterions that he proposes as assistingin an estimate of population - Slow increase of population at present in most of the states of Europe - The two principal checks to population - The first, or preventive check examined with regard to England.
CHAPTER 5 ......................................................................................23
The second, or positive check to population examined, in England The true cause why theimmense sum collected in England for the poor does not better their condition - The powerful tendency of the poor laws to defeat their own purpose - Palliative of the distresses of the poor proposed - The absolute impossibility, from the fixed laws of our nature, that the pressure of want can ever be completely removed
iii
from the lower classes of society - All the checks to population maybe resolved into misery or vice.
CHAPTER 6 ......................................................................................32
New colonies - Reasons for their rapid increase - North American Colonies - Extraordinary instance of increase in the back settlements - Rapidity with which even old states recover the ravages of war, pestilence, famine, or the convulsions of nature.
CHAPTER 7......................................................................................36
A probable cause of epidemics - Extracts from Mr Suessmilch’s tables - Periodical returns of sickly seasons to be expected in certain cases - Proportion of births to burials for short periods in any country an inadequate criterion of the real average increase of population - Best criterion of a permanent...
An Essay on the Principle of Population, as it Affects the Future Improvement of Society with Remarks on the Speculations of Mr. Godwin, M. Condorcet, and Other Writers.
Thomas Malthus
London
Printed for J. Johnson, in St. Paul’s Church-Yard 1798.
© 1998, Electronic Scholarly Publishing Project
http://www.esp.org
This electronic edition ismade freely available for scholarly or educational purposes, provided that this copyright notice is included. The manuscript may not be reprinted or redistributed for commercial purposes without permission.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE ......................................................................................... VII CHAPTER 1........................................................................................1
Question stated - Little prospect of a determination of it, from the enmity of the opposing parties - The principal argument against the perfectibility of man and of society has never been fairly answered Nature of the difficulty arising from population - Outline of the principal argument of the Essay
CHAPTER 2........................................................................................6
The different ratio in which population and food increase - The necessary effects of these different ratios of increase - Oscillation produced by them in the condition of the lower classes of society Reasons why this oscillation has not been so much observed as might be expected - Three propositions on which the general argument of the Essay depends - Thedifferent states in which mankind have been known to exist proposed to be examined with reference to these three propositions.
CHAPTER 3 ......................................................................................12
The savage or hunter state shortly reviewed - The shepherd state, or the tribes of barbarians that overran the Roman Empire - The superiority of the power of population tothe means of subsistence the cause of the great tide of Northern Emigration.
CHAPTER 4 ......................................................................................17
State of civilized nations - Probability that Europe is much more populous now than in the time of Julius Caesar - Best criterion of population - Probable error of Hume in one the criterions that he proposes as assistingin an estimate of population - Slow increase of population at present in most of the states of Europe - The two principal checks to population - The first, or preventive check examined with regard to England.
CHAPTER 5 ......................................................................................23
The second, or positive check to population examined, in England The true cause why theimmense sum collected in England for the poor does not better their condition - The powerful tendency of the poor laws to defeat their own purpose - Palliative of the distresses of the poor proposed - The absolute impossibility, from the fixed laws of our nature, that the pressure of want can ever be completely removed
iii
from the lower classes of society - All the checks to population maybe resolved into misery or vice.
CHAPTER 6 ......................................................................................32
New colonies - Reasons for their rapid increase - North American Colonies - Extraordinary instance of increase in the back settlements - Rapidity with which even old states recover the ravages of war, pestilence, famine, or the convulsions of nature.
CHAPTER 7......................................................................................36
A probable cause of epidemics - Extracts from Mr Suessmilch’s tables - Periodical returns of sickly seasons to be expected in certain cases - Proportion of births to burials for short periods in any country an inadequate criterion of the real average increase of population - Best criterion of a permanent...
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