OF SCOTLAND.
367
&c. is only L. 3 Sterling. Hence it appears 5 that the familyof a labourer, may be supported at a less expence, than evenwhat is required for the same number of persons within aWork-house. It is stated, that in England the expence ofeach pauper in a work-house amounts to L. 15, 15s. while theWages of a labourer are rated at L. 31, 10s. Sterling yearly.
SECT. IX.
The general la’ai.on which population depends _The prin-
ciples on which population depends are simple, and may bereduced to a single axiom, which is, that mankind will in-crease in proportion to their comfortable subsistence. This lawindeed regulates all animated life ; and it is justly remarkedby Dr Franklin, “ That there is no bound to the prolific na-ture of animals and plants, but what is made by their crowd-ing and interfering with each other’s means of subsistence.”
Tendency to exceed subsistence. —If the deficiency of food,therefore, has set a natural boundary to the increase of ani-mals and vegetables, and the fact cannot be denied, it follows,as a necessary consequence, that there must exist, in both, aconstant tendency to propagate their species beyond the li-mits of subsistence. That such is the case, has been repeat-edly acknowledged ; and, since the commencement of socie-ty, the effect has been illustrated by the uniform experienceof mankind. Although the seeds of life be profusely scatter-ed, yet their means of reaching maturity are confined, andnecessity restrains their progress. “ The race of plants, andthe race of animals,” says Malthus , “ shrink under this greatRestrictive law; and man cannot, by any efforts of reason,escape from it.” Hence his life is subjected to a constant