440 Of the Checks to Population Bk. ii. 



porary causes, cannot possibly be accompanied by 

 similar variations in the whole mass of the popu- 

 lation. An increase in the births of one-third, 

 which might occur in a single year, instead of 

 increasing the population one-third, would only 

 perhaps increase it one-eightieth or ninetieth. 



It follows therefore, as I stated in the last chap- 

 ter, that the table of the population for the cen- 

 tury previous to 1780, calculated from the returns 

 of the births alone, at the distance of ten years 

 each, can only be considered as a very rough ap- 

 proximation towards the truth, in the absence of 

 better materials, and can scarcely in any degree 

 be depended upon for the comparative rate of in- 

 crease at particular periods. 



The population in 1810, compared with that of 

 1800, corrected as proposed in this chapter, im- 

 plies a less rapid increase than the difference be- 

 tween the two enumerations; and it has further 

 appeared that the assumed proportion of births to 

 deaths as 47 to 29-|- is rather below than above 

 the truth. Yet this proportion is quite extraordi- 

 nary for a rich and well-peopled territory. It 

 would add to the population of a country one-79th 

 every year, and, were it to continue, would, ac- 

 cording to table ii. ch. xi. of this book, double 

 the number of inhabitants in less than fifty-five 

 years. 



This is a rate of increase, which in the nature 

 of things cannot be permanent. It has been oc- 

 casioned by the stimulus of a greatly-increased 

 demand for labour, combined with a greatly-in- 



