332 Of the Checks to Population in Bk. ii. 



the excess of births which the state of each coun- 

 try will admit. 



Statistical writers have endeavoured to obtain 

 a general measure of mortality for all countries 

 taken together ; but, if such a measure could be 

 obtained, I do not see what good purpose it could 

 answer. It would be but of little use in ascer- 

 taining the population of Europe or of the world ; 

 and it is evident, that in applying it to particular 

 countries or particular places, we might be led 

 into the grossest errors. When the mortality of 

 the human race in different countries and different 

 situations, varies so much as from 1 in 20 to 1 in 

 60, no general average could be used with safety 

 in a particular case, without such a knowledge of 

 the circumstances of the country, with respect to 

 the number of towns, the habits of the people and 

 the healthiness of the situation, as would pro- 

 bably supersede the necessity of resorting to any 

 general proportion, by the knowledge of the par- 

 ticular proportion suited to the country. 



There is one leading circumstance, however, 

 affecting the mortality of countries, which maybe 

 considered as very general, and which is, at the 

 same time, completely open to observation. This 

 is the number of towns, and the proportion of town 

 to country inhabitants. The unfavourable effects 

 of close habitations and sedentary employments 

 on the health are universal ; and therefore on the 

 number of people living in this manner, compared 

 with the number employed in agriculture, will 

 much depend the general mortality of the state. 



