The Malthusian theory.

These two quotations have appeared in recent medical literature. We have never seen a reference to Malthus in any of the current literature of the day, either lay or medical, which did not clearly show that the writer believed that the “Malthusian idea” is to destroy the fruitfulness of the marital relation, and which did not convict him of having never read one word of the writings of Malthus. Malthus iterated and reiterated that “I should always particularly reprobate any artificial and unnatural modes of checking population, both on account of their immorality and their tendency to remove a necessary stimulus to industry.” Malthus recognized the fact that every form of life, both animal and vegetable, down even to bacteria have such power of multiplication that, if unlimited means of nutrition were within reach, anyone of them might, in a few years, occupy every inch of the earth’s surface. They do not thus multiply for the simple reason that manifold checks exist in the struggle for life, and only the fittest survive. The human race is capable of doubling its numbers every twenty years or less, but it does not do so because of the operation of various checks referred to by Malthus as vice and misery on the one hand, and moral restraint on the other. More than half of all those born into the world in Malthus’ time died before the age of five years, a fact which he deeply deplored. This high infant mortality was due largely to the ignorance of the The Malthusian Theory