326 Of the Checks to Population in Bk. ii. 



the proportion was as 1 to 88; in 1756 as 1 to 

 112. 



In the dukedom of Cleves, in 1705, the pro- 

 portion was 1 to 83; in 1755, 1 to 100. 



In the Churmark of Brandenburgh, in 1700, 

 the proportion was 1 to 76; in 1755, 1 to 

 108.* 



More instances of this kind might be produced ; 

 but these are sufficient to shew that in countries, 

 where from a sudden increase in the means of 

 subsistence, arising either from a great previous 

 mortality or from improving cultivation and trade, 

 room has been made for a great proportion of 

 marriages, this proportion will annually decrease 

 as the new employments are filled up, and there 

 is no further room for an increasing population* 



But in countries which have long been fully 

 peopled, in which the mortality continues the 

 same, and in which no new sources of subsistence 

 are opening, the marriages being regulated prin- 

 cipally by the deaths, will generally bear nearly 

 the same proportion to the whole population at 

 one period as at another. And the same con- 

 stancy will take place even in countries where 

 there is an annual increase in the means of subsis- 

 tence, provided this increase be uniform and per- 

 manent. Supposing it to be such, as for half a 

 century to allow every year of a fixed proportion 

 of marriages beyond those dissolved by death, the 

 population would then be increasing, and perhaps 



* Sussmilch, Gottliche Ordnung, vol. i. c. iv. sect. lxxi. p. 140. 



