ment to the mental faculties of man ;* and I have also taken occasion incidentally, to show that an immense, and, practically speaking, an almost inexhaustible field for the increase of human food, in proportion to the demands of an increased population, is provided on the surface of our globe; † but this latter subject is of such vast importance in an argument for displaying the Divine perfections, that it requires a more direct and formal discussion; especially, as the true state of the case seems, in the present day, to be very generally misunderstood.

That the Creator could have formed man, without the necessity of sustaining his corporeal powers, by having recourse to food, no one can deny. His body might, doubtless, have been formed, had it so pleased the Divine Wisdom, of as permanent materials as pure gold or crystal rock, or even, with its present construction of flesh and blood, it might have found sufficient nourishment in the atmosphere he breathes. But this was not the scheme of creation, and would have been altogether inconsistent with the welfare of such a being as man, who requires to be roused and excited by some powerful necessity, before he will exercise his mental faculties. The whole process, as it actually exists, is exceedingly striking; and indicates a deeply contrived and most curiously adjusted system, which it is impossible to contemplate in any one of its complicated bearings, without admiration; and which, considered as a whole, amazes and confounds the mind, while it unspeakably exalts its conceptions of the unseen Contriver.

The beautiful adjustment of the soil and the elements, to the nature of the seed and the growth of plants, and the reciprocal adjustment of the vegetable functions to inorganic nature,-the fine and delicate adaptations of the whole system of organized existence, by which the

* See "Spring"-Origin of Agricultural Labour, &c.; and "Summer" -Principles of Horticulture, &c.

"Summer"-The Banana.-The Coral Insect, et passim.

almost innumerable productions of the vegetable world are so remarkably balanced among themselves, and adapted to their various localities, while they are with such matchless wisdom formed so as to afford a grateful subsistence to the equally diversified tribes of living creatures; and especially the peculiar nature of these adaptations with reference to the human race,—the only rational species of animals on our globe,—and the power bestowed upon the latter to modify their relations and regulate their growth,—all these circumstances, and many more, which have already been separately considered, unequivocally exhibit a system of intelligent, comprehensive, and far-seeing arrangement; and lead the mind to the contemplation of those ulterior views of the Supreme Governor, which have not yet been developed in the plan of Nature, but have been not obscurely intimated in the book of revealed truth.

With regard to that part of this wonderful system by which man is invested with the power of interfering with the nicely-adjusted balance of nature, and subjecting both the vegetable and animal world to such alterations as may promote his own views, and enable him to advance the comfort, and make room for the multiplication of his own species, referring my readers to what has already been said as the occasion occurred, I shall, in the present and some subsequent papers, confine myself to one branch of this wide and most interesting subject, that which relates to the question of supply and

demand.

It has been alleged by an exceedingly ingenious and well-intentioned writer,* that the supply of human food must necessarily be so disproportioned to the demand, as always to give rise to crime and misery, which are its natural checks, and that the tendency of the system is such as to induce the speedy arrival of a period in which the world shall become so overstocked as to prevent all further progression, and occasion evils at the

* Mr Malthus.

bare suggestion of which human nature revolts. His argument is founded on the assumption that the impulse to propagate the species is such, where there are no counteracting causes, as to occasion an increase of the human population in a geometrical progression, while their food is only made to increase in an arithmetical series; that is to say, that there is no wisely regulated adjustment between the laws of multiplication and those of subsistence, but that these laws are contradictory and hostile to each other.

It may safely be affirmed, a priori, that there must be some fallacy here. Any one who has properly considered the analogies of nature, will at once pronounce, that, in a system which, with regard to other particulars of inferior importance, displays so manifest and so benevolent an adjustment of the various departments of created things, a similar adjustment must be established in this higher department. Supposing, therefore, the natural fact to be established, that there is a tendency in the human species to increase in a geometrical ratio, we may rest assured that the checks to this progression are such as to form a well regulated balance, perfectly consistent with the welfare of society and the intentions of Divine Goodness.

This conclusion is borne out by the facts of history, and a rational survey of the present condition and future prospects of the world. It is true that crime and misery prevail, and have always prevailed, in every state of the human race; but this is the condition of our fallen nature, and depends altogether on a different principle from that which we are at present considering. At no period of the human history, and under no circumstances of their condition, were crime and misery the necessary result of over population, or the necessary checks by which it was restrained. The Chinese have been accused of murdering their infants from this cause; but what is the fact even with regard to that thickly peopled and comparatively well cultivated country?

Mr

Sadler has shown, on convincing evidence, that so far from China being yet made to yield its produce to the utmost extent, that country might be so cultivated as to "clothe and feed five times as many human beings as probably inhabit the whole world!" The ground on which he forms this remarkable conclusion, may be stated in very few words. He shows, from official documents, that China contains 640 millions of acres which might be cultivated, and that an acre of rice would afford a supply of that article sufficient for ten persons during a whole year, in the southern provinces, and for five persons in the northern. It follows that rice, which is the natural food of the Chinese, might be increased, even by their present mode of cultivation, so as to maintain four or five thousand millions of people living as they do. If we make allowance for the quantity of land which would require to be occupied in raising the materials for clothing, the result will not be materially different, as an acre of cotton will clothe from two to three hundred persons. But the present population of China, does not, according to their own official documents, exceed 360 millions, and is probably much less, while the population of the whole earth has never been stated at more than a thousand millions, and there is reason to believe it comes far short of that amount.*

If there be truth in this statement, it cannot be said that any necessity has yet existed, or is likely soon to exist, in China, for the perpetration of the unnatural crime of which they have been accused; and a similar remark may be extended to all the countries of the world. It is true that there has every where, and in all ages,

* Malte Brun states the amount only at 650 millions, and the Supplement to the Edinburgh Encyclopedia says, "we think his enumeration for Asia, Africa, and America still rather high, and submit the following estimate as the result of our inquiries:

been a pressure of the population against the means of subsistence; and it is also true that this is an ordination of the Creator, distinctly impressed on nature, and interwoven with the system of his government. It is one of those wise provisions by which man is stimulated to exertion. But if it has given rise to crime and misery, this has never proceeded from any physical necessity, but simply from that defect in the moral character of man, which, in all his operations, is so painfully conspicuous.

THIRD WEEK-SATURDAY.

HUMAN FOOD. THE MORAL OPERATION OF THE PRINCIPLE.

"It is an idea," says Mr Malthus, "that will be found consistent, equally with the natural phenomena around us, with the various events of human life, and with the successive revelations of God to man, to suppose that the world is a mighty process for the creation and formation of mind. Many vessels will necessarily come out of this great furnace with wrong shapes. These will be broken or thrown aside as useless, while those vessels, whose forms are full of truth, grace, and loveliness, will be wafted into happier situations, nearer the presence of the mighty Maker."

This is a sentiment of equal truth and beauty; and, what the author applies to the final result, may not improperly be used to explain various circumstances and occurrences in the process itself. One striking instance appears in the case we are now considering. It is for the development of mind, that the various arrangements as to human food have been made. For this purpose man's existence was made to depend on a constant supply of organized substances convertible into articles of nutrition, and these were only afforded in such proportions as to require constant toil for their acquirement.