Law of Population 



77 



term of one European people could exceed that of 

 another by a quarter of a century. 



In the half-century previous to 1903 the decline in 

 the mortality of children under five years of age has 

 amounted to 19-2 per cent, while the decline in the 

 general mortality of the country is 287 per cent, 

 showing that the former has not kept pace with the 

 reduction in the general mortality of the country. 



It must surely now be evident to every intelligent 

 observer that the heavy mortality in the past from 

 war, pestilence, and famine in no way operated in the 

 direction of keeping down or decreasing the population 

 of any country. Populations were not kept down or 



1 Up to 1881 the registration of Ireland was very defective. 



