36 HISTOEICAL 



population was desirable or undesirable, and they usually came 

 to the conclusion that the more inhabitants in a country, the 

 better for the country. Long before the time of Malthus, and by 

 many different writers, attention was paid to the connexion 

 between numbers and the food-supply. It was Malthus, however, 

 who first aroused public interest in the subject. His book, indeed, 

 made an impression that few books have ever made. Since his 

 time every educated man has had the problem of numbers in mind, 

 and current opinion still often enough reflects the view put 

 forward by Malthus if not in detail for it is difficult to say what 

 exactly the views of Malthus were at least in the general and on 

 the whole gloomy and fatalistic manner of regarding the problem. 

 It is owing to the fact that those contributions which, after the 

 time of Malthus, attracted most attention, added little to the 

 development of thought, and owing to the influence of the writings 

 of J. S. Mill, who himself never shook off the profound impression 

 made upon him early in life by the Essay, that the views, or 

 perhaps we should rather say the outlook, of Malthus so long 

 maintained their sway. The development of the modern view as 

 expounded by political economists was not set out in a form that 

 attracted public attention, and it was thus possible for the late 

 Governor of South Africa, when answering a question in the House 

 of Commons a few years ago, to refer to the problem as though no 

 important contribution had been made to the subject since the 

 time of Malthus. 



Of the development of opinion regarding the qualitative aspect 

 of the problem there is little to be said. Popular interest in this 

 subject is of comparatively recent birth. That which is interesting 

 to observe is that, as a result of the course which thought has 

 taken, the population problem is seldom seen as a whole, and that 

 the relations one to another of the very numerous questions 

 arising therefrom are scarcely ever appreciated. 



