Note 24 — Part II. SCRIPTURE IRRECONCILABLE WITH HUMAN EXPERIENCE.

It may be safely asserted that population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical progression of such a nature as to double itself every 25 years.—Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. xviii., p. 3, col. Practically, such an instance is rare, if not wholly uninstanced. Take the increase of England and Wales as an example. In 1377 it was 2,092,978, in 1483 it was 4,689,000; in the 100 years, ending with 1800, the population had increased from 5,475,000 to 8,675,000; and in the century ending with 1860 it increased nearly threefold, the largest increase we have experienced. [In 1760 it was 6,736,000, in 1861 it was 20,062,725.]