1893,] The Quantity of Human Life. 203 
sible number of physical laborers ; and in each case the maxi- 
mum of consciousness must be sought. Speculative as these 
views may appear yet they are substantiated by historical fact. 
To-day when the quantity of human life is greatest, the phy- 
sical laborers effect most with the least effort, and the mental 
laborers are constantly diminishing that effort. So that were 
a given status of living to continue, the physical laborers 
would decrease, and the mental laborers would increase until 
finally equiblibrium should be attained. 
Such equilibrium however, is indefinitely postponed by the 
constantly ascending standard of living. But as the standard 
of living ascends, all live more, and, since the physical laborers 
diminish and the mental laborers increase, the quantity of life 
is still further augmented. This would happen were the pop- 
ulation to remain constant. But as the standard of life rises, 
the possibilities of existence increase, and the death rate 
diminishes. Consequently the population increases as the 
quantity of the individual life increases, and hence the total 
quantity of human life is augmented by both of these recip- 
rocating factors. How great the quantity of human life may 
some day be is a question which the developments of the 
future alone can decide. 
If the present rate of its growth shall continue unabated, 
sooner or later the time will come when it can increase no 
more. All the resources of the earth will be utilized and 
strained to the utmost to augment that life. But they cannot. 
Gradually the potential energies of nature which support life 
will be dissipated as energy of motion. And as those energies 
dwindle and disappear, the quantity of human life will fall 
away contemporaneously. The time must come when that 
quantity will be zero. 
