THE LAW OF HUMAN INCREASE. 43 



they possess a remarkably healthy, well-balanced organization. Illus- 

 trations of this type we shall find abound most among the middling or 

 working classes of the German, the English, the Scotch, the Irish, and 

 the Americans. The strictly native New-Englanders are, in some re- 

 spects, an exception, and require a more particular notice. During 

 the last century the colonists of New England, made up mostly of 

 English stock, multiplied rapidly. So great was their natural increase 

 that they doubled in numbers in less than twenty-five years. Malthus 

 regarded them as the best specimens, in this respect, of any people or 

 race, and based upon facts from this source his great principle of pop- 

 ulation. But a most surprising change has taken place within one 

 hundred years with this same people. From records carefully kept, it 

 appears that the average number of children to each family has de- 

 creased with every generation ; that they commenced with large fami- 

 lies averaging eight or nine but it is now doubtful whether the 

 average will exceed three children to a family, scarcely enough to 

 keep the original stock good in numbers. This change has occurred 

 in the same places, with the same people, having the same climate and 

 plenty of food. Making allowance for the " arts of destruction and 

 prevention " which may exist to some extent, we do not see how this 

 great decrease in birth-rate can be accounted for, except by some 

 change in physical organization. The first settlers of New England 

 were remarkably healthy had well-balanced organizations and this 

 fact was true of the women as well as of the men. But a great change 

 in this respect has taken place. The men are not so strong and vigor- 

 ous as their grandfathers and ancestors, and the women have deteri- 

 orated physically in a surprising degree. A majority of them have a 

 predominance of nerve-tissue, with weak muscles and digestive organs. 

 The most marked change in this one hundred years, in organization, is 

 this loss of balance or harmony in the organs, and especially in women 

 it is far more striking. They have been diverging more and more from 

 that normal standard upon which the law of propagation is based. 



There is only one other people or race where there has been such a 

 natural decrease in numbers that is the Sandwich-Islanders. Once 

 they were a strong and robust people. In 1830, when the first census 

 was taken which was ten years after the American missionaries com- 

 menced their labors the population was 130,000, but by the last 

 census there were only about 40,000, one third as many as fifty years 

 ago. In the mean time religious institutions have been introduced, 

 education has become general, and the family as an institution has 

 been established. All the elements of a Christian civilization have 

 been thoroughly established, but still the population has been stead- 

 ily decreasing at the rate of about one thousand each year. How 

 can this be explained ? It can not be from the want of food, nor 

 a well-regulated society, nor change in climate, nor want of a good 

 government ; there have been no wars, no famine, and only two or 



