Ch. xi. On the Fruitfulness of Marriages. 491 



in France 4± to 1. To occasion so rapid a pro- 

 gress as that which has taken place in America, it 

 will indeed be necessary that all the causes of in- 

 crease should be called into action ; and if the 

 prolifickness of marriages be very great, the pro- 

 portion of births to marriages will certainly be 

 above 4 to 1 : but in all ordinary cases, where the 

 whole power of procreation has not room to ex- 

 pand itself, it is surely better that the actual in- 

 crease should arise from that degree of healthiness 

 in the early stages of life which causes a great 

 proportion of the born to live to maturity and to 

 marry, than from a great degree of prolifickness 

 accompanied by a great mortality. And conse- 

 quently in all ordinary cases a proportion of births 

 to marriages as 4, or less than 4, to 1 cannot be 

 considered as an unfavourable sign. 



It should be observed that it does not follow 

 that the marriages of a country are early, or that 

 the preventive check to population does not pre- 

 vail, because the greater part of the born lives to 

 marry. In such countries as Norway and Swit- 

 zerland, where half of the born live to above 40, it 

 is evident that, though rather more than half live 

 to marry, a large portion of the people between 

 the ages of 20 and 40 would be living in an un- 

 married state, and the preventive check would ap- 

 pear to prevail to a great degree. In England it 

 is probable that half of the born live to above 35;* 



* At present (1825), and for the last ten, or even twenty years* 

 there is reason to believe that half of the born live to 45 years. 



