Note 43 — I HISTORICAL

See Stangeland, loc. cit., p. 230. There are two valuable and important books which appeared in the eighteenth century dealing with population. They do not lend themselves to quotation, but deserve mention here. Benjamin Franklin, in his Observations concerning the Increase of Mankind and the Peopling of Countries, pointed out the differences in the marriage-rate as between Europe and the more recently colonized countries and analysed the causes. It is interesting to note that he was led to a more or less clear recognition of the presence of the struggle for existence among all living organisms (p. 21). The second book referred to above is Adam Ferguson’s Essay on the History of Civil Society. The name of Ortes should perhaps be mentioned. His book Riflessioni sulla Popolazione, published in 1792, anticipated Malthus in almost every respect and yet aroused practically no attention.