November 18, 2019 The Theory of Population The general nature of all animated life is to increase beyond the nourishment provided for it. The positive checks to population are extremely various, and include every cause, whether arising fro m vice or misery, which in any degree contributes to shorten the natural duration of human life. But as, by that law of our nature which makes food necessary to the life of man, population can never actually increase beyond the lowest nourishment capable of supporting it , a strong check on population, namely, the difficulty of acquiring food, must be constantly in operation. The checks may be classed under two general heads—the preventative and the positive.The preventative check, peculiar to man, arises from his reasoning faculties, which enable him to calculate distant consequences. He sees the distress which frequently presses upon those who have large families; he cannot contemplate his present possession...
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