INDEX. 



517 



Feifectibility of man ; M. Coudorcel's 

 system respecting, examined, ii. 8 — 

 16. 

 Persia, late marriages among the lower 

 classes of people of, i. 188 — state of, 

 with respect to the checks to popu- 

 lation : the dreadful convulsions in, 

 have been fatal to agriculture, 188, 

 189— small-pox, and other causes, 

 189. 

 Pent; quick progress which the Spa- 

 nish colony made in population, not- 

 withstanding its ill management, i. 

 515— cruelties of the first settlers, ii. 

 50. 

 Plague, its ravages in the Turkish do- 

 minions, i. 186, 187. 

 a constant admonition to the peo- 

 ple against their filth and torpor, ii. 

 258. 

 does not much diminish the aver- 

 age population, i. 520. — See also the 

 article Epidemics. 

 Plato, measures proposed by him to 

 regulate population, i. 235 — by en- 

 couraging, or checliing it by means 

 of honours and of marks of disgrace, 

 ib. — by destroying the children of the 

 inferior citizens, and all born imper- 

 fect, 236 — by limitinu the age of 

 marriage and of bearing children, 

 iSe, 237 — he thus evidently saw the 

 strong tendency of population to in- 

 crease beyond the means of subsis- 

 tence, i. 237 — inconsistencies in his 

 plan observed by Aristotle, 238, 

 239. 

 Plenty ; On the prevailing Errors re- 

 specting this Subject as connected 

 with Population, ii. 22? — error of 

 supposing that an increase of popu- 

 lation in any state not cultivated to 

 the utmost, will tend to augment the 

 relative plenty of the whole society, 

 ib. — an increase of population arising 

 from the improving state of agricul- 

 ture, very dilferent from its unre- 

 stricted increase, 230, 231— 234— if 

 a demand for labour increases rapid- 

 ly, though the supply of food be un- 

 certain, the population will advance 

 till positively checked by famine, 

 or diseases arising from severe w ant. 



235— scarcity and extreme povccly \ 

 may or may not accompany an in-] 

 creasing population, but must neces- 

 sarily accompany a permanently de- 

 clining population, ib. — the preju- 

 dices respecting population strikingly 

 resemble the old prejudices about 



specie, 237 — ignorance, despotism, 

 and oppression will conslanlly cause 

 a low state of popuhiiion, in spite of 

 the birth of any number of children 

 annually, 239 — 241 ^ agriculture 

 may more properly be termed the 

 efficient cause of po[.ulation, than 

 population of agriculture, 242 — re- 

 venue the source of population, and 

 not population of revenue, 242, 243, 

 S;44 — waste among the rich, or land 

 remaining uncultivated, do not in- 

 fluence the average distress of the 

 poor, 245 — inconsiderate conclusions 

 often drawn against the industry and 

 government of slates, from the ap- 

 pearance of uncultivated lands in 

 them, 2'J7 — 250— error of bringing 

 under cultivation too griat a quanti- 

 ty of poor land, 2.iO — the question 

 is not whclher the produce of the 

 earth may be absolutely increased, 

 but whether it may be increased so 

 as to keep pace with an unchecked 

 population, 251. — See Corn Laws 

 (1825), Harvests. 

 Plough in Syria, often only the branch 



of a tree, i. 182, 183. 

 Poland, an instance where, under the 

 agricultural system, the condition of 

 tlie lower classes is very wretched, 

 ii. 126, 127 — the reason of such 

 wretchedness slated, 127, 128. 

 Political economy, great importance of 

 the ditTusion of its principles ; they 

 should at least form a branch of uni- 

 versity education, ii. 353, 354, and 

 note. 



(1825), increasing attention paid 



to the science of, ii. 354, 355, note. 

 Political Justice, general character of 

 Mr. Godwin's work on, ii. 18. — See 

 the article Godwin. 

 Polygamy allowed, but seldom used, 

 among the American Indians, i. 42 — 

 in some degree obligatory on the 

 Mahometans, 132— its eftect on po- 

 pulation considered, 150—153 — in 

 some negro nations of Africa, sought 

 by the wife and not the husband, 

 1 30— -in the Turkish dominions, less 

 productive even in individual fami- 

 \ lies than monogamy, 186— tends to 

 degrade the female character; and, 

 by being practised among the supe- 

 rior classes, renders it difficult for 

 the lower classes to obtain w ives, 146, 

 147 — 196. — For the opposite cus- 

 tom, see the article Husbands. 

 Pmnerania, general mortality in, i. 330 



