CHAPTER XII. 



MULTIPLICATION" OF THE HUMAN" EACE. 



f 



§ 365. The relative fertility of Man considered as a 

 species, and those changes in Man's fertility which occur under 

 changed conditions, must conform to the laws which we have 

 traced thus far. As a matter of course, the inverse variation 

 between Individuation and Genesis holds of him as of all 

 other organized beings. His extremely low rate of multipli- 

 cation — far below that of all terrestrial Mammals except the 

 Elephant, (which though otherwise less evolved is, in extent 

 of integration, more evolved) — we shall recognize as the 

 necessary concomitant of his much higher evolution. And 

 the causes of increase or decrease in his fertility, special or 

 general, temporary or permanent, we shall expect to find in 

 those changes of bulk, of structure, or of expenditure, which 

 we have in all other cases seen associated with such effects. 



In the absence of detailed proof that these parallelisms 

 exist, it might suffice to contemplate the several communities 

 between the reproductive function in human beings and other 

 beings. I do not refer simply to the fact that genesis pro- 

 ceeds in a similar manner; but I refer to the similarity of 

 the relation between the generative function and the func- 

 tions which have for their joint end the preservation of the 

 individual. In Man, as in other creatures that expend much, 

 genesis commences only when growth and development are 

 declining in rapidity and approaching their termination. 

 Among the higher organisms in general, the reproductive 

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