THE TRUE LAW OF POPULATION SHEWN TO BE CONNECTED WITH THE FOOD OF THE PEOPLE. 66 BY THOMAS DOUBLEDAY, AUTHOR OF FINANCIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND ;" MUNDANE MORAL GOVERNMENT," &c., &c. "But the more they afflicted them the more they multiplied and "Old Families last not THREE OAKS."-SIR THOMAS BROWNE. THIRD AND ENLARGED EDITION, WITH A POSTSCRIPT. LONDON: SMITH, ELDER & Co., 65, CORNHILL. PREFACE. IN venturing to bring a third and enlarged edition of the following work before the public, its author has little of prefatory matter to adduce. Having, from the first, aimed to build an hypothesis upon the sure foundation of a multitude of facts, all pointing one way and all corroborating each other, his sole attempt in the present volume has been to add to the number of these facts. Without such a foundation as this, theory, however plausible, is of little value. In his quest of materials, therefore, the author has not been sparing of research; and with the more prominent proofs of the universality of the principles laid down, he has not hesitated to note the minutest truths that seem to bear upon the question. Of the theory itself, as originally put before the world, he has nothing to retract nor to alter; nor has he anything to add to it. To the principles of increase and of decrease amongst mankind, as well as throughout the animal and vegetable world, as originally stated in the first edition of this Essay, he entirely adheres. The additions made are those of corroborative facts only, to the store of which time is constantly adding. In the Postscript of the present edition, the reader will find brief replies to the objections brought against this theory, since the period of its first publication. These objections are embodied in the Report upon the first edition of this work, laid before the French Institute by M. Villermé, and in an article in a recently published number of the new series of the "Westminster Review," since republished separately. How far such objections have succeeded in invalidating any portion of this work the reader must judge; and in his reader's hands the author confidently leaves the final decision. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, August 1st, 1853. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. Of the following work, the author may justly affirm, that perhaps no treatise, embodying a theory of a novel and, at first sight, somewhat singular nature, was ever begun with fewer prejudices or preconceived notions relative to it, on the part of the writer. It was indeed purely by accident that the author was brought upon the train of thought, which being pursued in all its ramifications, resulted in the present work. He by no means intends, of course, to assert that he had not at one time or other examined the various theories that have been put forth on the puzzling subject of Population, nor to deny that |