HUMAN POPULATION IN THE FUTURE. 499 



sistence, causes, then, a never-ceasing requirement for skill, 

 intelligence, and self-control involves, therefore, a constant 

 exercise of these and gradual growth of them. Every 

 industrial improvement is at once the product of a higher form 

 of humanity, and demands that higher form of humanity to 

 carry it into practice. The application of science to the arts, 

 is the bringing to bear greater intelligence for satisfying our 

 wants ; and implies continued progress of that intelligence. 

 To get more produce from the acre, the farmer must study 

 chemistry, must adopt new mechanical appliances, and must, 

 by the multiplication of processes, cultivate both his own 

 powers and the powers of his labourers. To meet the 

 requirements of the market, the manufacturer is per- 

 petually improving his old machines, and inventing new 

 ones ; and by the premium of high wages incites artizans to 

 acquire greater skill. The daily-widening ramifications of 

 commerce entail on the merchant a need for more know- 

 ledge and more complex calculations ; while the lessening 

 profits of the ship-owner force him to build more scientifi- 

 cally, to get captains of higher intelligence, and better crews. 

 In all cases, pressure of population is the original cause. 

 Were it not for the competition this entails, more thought 

 and energy would not daily be spent on the business of life ; 

 and growth of mental power would not take place. 

 Difficulty in getting a living is alike the incentive to a 

 higher education of children, and to a more intense and 

 long- continued application in adults. In the mother it in- 

 duces foresight, economy, and skilful house-keeping ; in the 

 father, laborious days and constant self-denial. Nothing but 

 necessity could make men submit to this discipline; and 

 nothing but this discipline could produce a continued pro- 

 gression. 



In this case, as in many others, Nature secures each step 

 in advance by a succession of trials ; which are perpetually 

 repeated, and cannot fail to be repeated, until success is 

 achieved. All mankind in turn subject themselves more or 



