LAWS OF THE FERTILITY OF WOMEN. 301 



successive children he says : — "All the Tables are constructed upon the pre- 

 sumption of its certainty, and, happily, it is one which, on this very debatable 

 question, has never been made the subject of controversy, and which does not 

 admit of it. Nothing," he continues, " is more certain, or better ascertained, than 

 the average period at which the human female, in a state of prolificness, repro- 

 duces. Were we, indeed, to form our general rules from particular exceptions, 

 we should in this, as in all other cases, be grievously misled ; we might conclude, 

 for instance, that she would continue to multiply within the year; but general 

 computations will rectify any such error, and conduct us to conclusions which 

 are not only reconcilable with philosophy and truth, but resolvable into the 

 ordinations of a merciful Providence. The human mother has to feed her infant 

 for a period pretty nearly corresponding in length to that of gestation (I speak 

 now as regards the necessity of the great mass of the community, with whom 

 the question evidently rests) ; nature, therefore, has kindly ordained, as a general 

 rule, that the period of impregnation shall be postponed till that essential duty is 

 discharged, and for a period somewhat beyond it ; and he must be ignorant 

 indeed, who does not see most clearly that the health, and, indeed, frequently 

 the existence, both of mother and offspring, are secured by this physical regula- 

 tion of the common parent of mankind. The human being, in reference to the 

 term of existence, multiplies later, and at longer intervals, and ceases to be pro- 

 lific sooner, than any other animated being with whom we are acquainted ; hence 

 we find, on the average, that, in the maternal state, during its period of fruitful- 

 ness, the births are not so frequent as once in 2 years. Even in the rank of 

 society which is absolved from the necessity (though not from the duty) of ful- 

 filling one of the most important of the maternal offices, that of feeding, from 

 their own bosoms, their infant offspring, and who too often avail themselves of 

 that unnatural immunity, consequently removing what our physiologists regard 

 as one of the physical impediments to an accelerated prolificness,* — even in this 

 rank, I find the births are at intervals of about, but rather exceeding, 2 years ; that 

 period, therefore, as it respects the mass of the community, who are differently 

 circumstanced in this respect, cannot be shorter. But arguments and proofs on 

 this point are unnecessary, no writer having ever ventured upon supposing a 

 shorter period than 2 years possible ; and even Sir William Petty, when 

 labouring to prove the possibility of a doubling every 10 years for a century after 

 the flood, amongst his other suppositions, so extravagant if applied to the present 

 era, only lays it down, that every teeming woman can bear a child ' once in two 

 years. 11 ' 



* On this subject the work of Roberton already cited may be consulted ; also a paper by 

 Professor Laycock, quoted by Roberton. 



