28 HISTOKICAL 



It would seem that Malthus and his father used often to discuss 

 new books and questions of the day. His father, Daniel Malthus, 

 was inclined to favour the revolutionary school ; Robert Malthus 

 thought that he saw serious objections to Godwin's views on the 

 subject of ' perfectibility ', and was so much impressed by them 

 that he decided to put his ideas in writing. Whereas in the first 

 edition Malthus was chiefly concerned with controverting Godwin 

 and his school, by the time of the second edition he had lost 

 interest in this side of the matter and his attention was almost 

 entirely devoted to the problem of population. 



Such was the origin of the book which focused the attention of 

 men on the population question. In the sixth chapter we shall 

 have to review the position which it sets out and to trace the 

 subsequent development of the theory. It is sufficient to say here 

 that according to Malthus, whereas pojmlation tends to increase 

 in^geometrical ratio, food tends to increase in an arithmetical 

 atio. As a result population is checked by the operation of vice 

 and misery, to which factors he added, in the second edition, 

 moral restraint. Statistics showed, even in the lifetime of Malthus, 

 that the increase of food was not limited to an increase in an 

 arithmetical ratio, and thus in reality the theory fell to the ground. 

 It was, however, only gradually realized that this was so and that 

 the relation between population and the food-supply is connected 

 with the question of the return to industry, which may at any one 

 time be increasing or decreasing according to the operation 

 of many factors, of which the increase in skill is the chief. The 

 points which are of interest in this historical sketch are the 

 strong feelings which the book aroused among the adherents 

 of the various schools of thought, the practical movement to 

 which it gave shape, and finally the influence which it had upon 

 Darwin and Wallace. 



8. From what has been said, it is clear that the ground had been 

 well prepared for a favourable reception. Further the ' populous- 

 ness of ancient nations ' was a famous theme for controversy in the 



the chief authorities for the life of Malthus are (1) a notice by Otter, afterwards 

 Bishop of Chichester, prefixed to the second edition of the Political Economy 

 published in 1836 and (2) an article by Empsen in the Edinburgh Review. 

 Jan. 1837, p. 469 to p. 506. See also Bonar's Malthus and his Work, to which 

 in this and the following sections I am indebted. For some personal reminiscences 

 see Martineau's Autobiography, vol. i, p. 211. He is described as possessing the 

 ' most pleasing manners and the most benevolent heart ' (Manning, History and 

 Antiquities of Surrey, p. 578). 



