MULTIPLICATION OF THE HUMAN RACE. 48^1 



To every reader there will probably occur the seemingly 

 adverse evidence furnished by the Irish ; who, though not 

 well fed, multiply fast. Part of this more rapid increase is 

 due to the earlier marriages common among them, and con- 

 sequent quicker succession of generations — a factor which, 

 as we have seen, has a larger effect than any other on the 

 rate of multiplication. Part of it is due to the greater 

 generality of marriage — to the comparative smallness of the 

 number who die without having had the opportunity of pro- 

 ducing offspring. Tlie effects of these causes having been 

 deducted, we may doubt whether the Irish, individually con- 

 sidered, would be found more prolific tlian the English. 

 Perhaps, however, it will be said that, considering their diet, 

 they ought to be less prolific. This is by no means obvious. 

 It is not simply a question of nutriment absorbed : it is a 

 question of how much remains after the expenditure in self- 

 maintenance. Now a notorious peculiarit}' in the life of the 

 Irish peasant, is, that he obtains a return of food that is large 

 in proportion to his outlaj^ in labour. The cultivation of his 

 potatoe-ground occupies each cottager but a small part of the 

 year ; and the domestic econom}^ of his wife is not of a kind 

 to entail on her much daily exertion. Consequently, the crop, 

 tolerably abundant in quantity though innutritive in quality, 

 very possibly suffices to meet the comparatively = low expendi- 

 ture, and to leave a good surplus for genesis — perhaps a 

 greater surplus than remains to the males and females of the 

 English peasantr}', who, though fed on better food, are 

 harder worked. 



We conclude, then, that in the human race, as in all other 

 races, such absolute or relative abundance of nutriment as 

 leaves a large axcess after defraying the cost of carrying ou 

 parental life, is accompanied by a high rate of genesis.* 



* This is exactly the reverse of Mr. Doubleday's doctrine ; which is that 

 throughout both the animal and vegetal kingdoms, *' over-feeding checks in- 

 crease ; whilst, on the other hand, a limited or deficient nutriment stimu- 

 lates and adds to it." Or, as he elsewhere says — "Be the range of the 



