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LAW OF POPULATION: ́

A TREATISE, IN SIX BOOKS;

IN DISPROOF OF THE SUPERFECUNDITY OF
HUMAN BEINGS, AND DEVELOPING THE

REAL PRINCIPLE OF THEIR INCREASE.

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PREFACE.

HAVING, in a preceding publication, stated the reasons which induced me to undertake the present work, it is unnecessary for me to advert to them on this occasion; still more superfluous would it be to repeat what was then said on the great importance of the subject discussed in these volumes. The Principle of Population, highly interesting in itself, is, when considered as a practical question, manifestly one of the most important subjects which can engage human attention, as fallacious views concerning it necessarily lead to the most pernicious consequences. Two opinions are held, as to its nature and tendency. The one, that human prolificness is so regulated, as naturally to produce happiness; the other, that it exists in an excess, which has as constant a tendency to occasion misery. It is needless to add, that these different views, whether individually or nationally entertained, lead to principles and conduct diametrically opposite. Already, I think, the darker theory has, wherever it has prevailed, perpetrated more injury, particu

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