singly by what we know of his worth, is one of the most ex- quisite gratifications, perhaps one of the most improving exer- cises of a rational mind. Friendship therefore may be expected to come in aid of the sexual intercourse, to refine its grossness and increase its delight. All these arguments are calculated to determine our judgment in favour of marriage as a salutary and respectable institution, but not of that species of marriage in which there is no room for repentance, and to which liberty and hope are equally strangers.
Admitting these principles therefore as the basis of the sexual commerce, what opinion ought we form respecting infidelity to this attachment? Certainly no ties ought to be imposed upon either party, preventing them from quitting the attachment, whenever their judgment directs them to quit it. With respect to such infidelities as are compatible with an intention to adhere to it, the point of principal importance is a determination to have recourse to no species of disguise. In ordinary cases, and where the periods of absence are of no long duration, it would seem, that any inconstancy would reflect some portion of discredit on the person that practised it. It would argue that the person's propensities were not under that kind of subordination, which virtue and self-government appear to prescribe. But incon- stancy, like any other temporary dereliction, would not be found incompatible with a character of uncommon excellence. What, at present, renders it, in many instances, peculiarly loathsome, is its being practised in a clandestine manner. It leads to a train of falsehood and a concerted hypocrisy, than which there is scarcely any thing that more eminently deprives and degrades the human mind.
The mutual kindness of persons of an opposite sex will, in such a state, fall under the same system as any other species of friendship. Exclusively of groundless and obstinate attachments, it will be impossible for me to live in the world, without finding in one man a worth superior to tliat of another. To this man I shall feel kindness, in exact proportion to my apprehension of his worth. The case will be the same with respect to the other sex. I shall assiduously cultivate the intercourse of that woman, whose moral and intellectual accomplishments strike me in the most powerful manner. But " it may happen, that other men will feel for her the same preference that I do." This will create no difficulty. We may all enjoy her conversation; and, her choice being declared, we shall all be wise enough to consider the sexual commerce as unessential to our regard. It is a mark of the ex- treme depravity of our present habits, that we are inclined to suppose the sexual commerce necessary to the advantages arising from the purest friendship. It is by no means indispensible, that the female to whom each man attaches himself in that matter, should appear to each the most deserving and excellent of her sex.
Let us consider the way in which tliis state of society will modify education. It may be imagined, that the abolition of the present system of marriage, would make education, in a certain sense, the affair of the public; though, if there be any truth in the reasonings of this work, to provide for it by the positive institutions of a community, would be extremely inconsistent with tlie true principles of an intellectual nature.* Education may be regarded as consisting of various branches. First, the personal cares which the helpless state of an infant requires. These will probably devolve upon the mother; unless, by fre- quent parturition, or by the nature of these cares, that be foimd to render her share of the burthen unequal; and then it will be amicably and willingly participated by others. Secondly, food • Book VI., Chap. VIII.
246 COHABITATION AND MAftRlAGE.
and otlier necessary supplies. These -will easily find their true level, and spontaneously flo-w, from the quarter in -vvhich they abound, to the quarter that is deficient. Lastly, the term educa- tion may be used to signify instruction. The task of insti-uction, under such a form of society, will be greatly simplified and alter- ed from what it is at present. It will then scarcely be thought more necessary to make boys slaves, than to make men so. The business will not then be, to bring forward so many adepts in the egg-shell, that the vanity of parents may be flattered by hearing tlieir praises. No man will think of vexing with premature learning the feeble and inexperienced, lest, when they come to years of discretion, they should refuse to be learned. The mind will be suffered to expand itself, in proportion as occasion and impression shall excite it, and not tortured.and enerv^ated by being cast in a particular mould. No creature in human form will be expected to learn anything, but because he desires it, and has some conception of its value; and every man, in proportion to his capacity, will be ready to furnish such general hints and comprehensive views, as will sufiice for the guidance and encou- ragement of him who studies from the impulse of desire.
These observations lead us to the consideration of one addi- tional difficulty, which relates to the division of labour. Shall each man manufacture his tools, furniture and accommodations? This would perhaps be a tedious operation. Every man per- forms the task to which he is accustomed, more skilfully, and in a shorter time than another. It is reasonable that you should make for me, that which perhaps I should be three or four times as long in making, and should make imperfectly at last. Shall we tlien introduce barter and exchcange? By no means. The moment I require any further reason for supplying you, than the cogency of your claim, the moment, in addition to the dictates of benevolence, I demand a prospect of reciprocal advantage to myself, there is an end of that political justice and pure society of which we treat.
The division of labour, as it has been developed by commercial ■writers, is the offspring of avarice. It has been found that ten persons can make two hundred and forty times as many pins in a day as one person.* This refinement is the gi-owth of monopoly. The object is, to see into how vast a surface the industry of the lower classes may be beaten, the more completely to gild over the indolent and the proud. The ingenuity of the merchant is ■whetted, by ncAV improvements of this sort to transport more of the wealth of the powerful into his coffers. The practicability of •effecting a compendium of labour by this means, will be greatly diminished, when men shall learn to deny themselves partial superfluities. The utility of such a saving of labour, where labour shall be changed from a burthen into an amusement, will «carcely balance the evils of so extensive a co-operation. From » Smith's "Wealth of Nations, Book I., Chap. I.
OBJECTION FROM 247 ■what has been said it appears, that there will be a division of labour, if we compare the society in question with the state of the solitaire and the savage. But it will produce an extensive sim- plification of labour, if we compare it with that to which we are at present accustomed in civilised Europe.
CHAP. IX.
OBJECTION TO THIS SYSTEM FROM THE PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION.
Objection stated. — Opinions that have been entei'tained on this subject,— ' Population adapted to Jind its own level. — Precautions that have been exerted to check it. — Conclusion.
An author wh?r has speculated widely upon subjects of govern- ment,* has recommended equality, (or, which was rather his idea, a community of goods to be maintained by the vigilance of the state) as a complete remedy for the usurpation and distress which are, at present, the most powerful enemies of human kind; for the vices which infect education in some instances, and the neglect it encounters in more; for all the turbulence of passion, and all the injustice of selfishness. But, after having exhibited this brilliant picture, he finds an argument that demolishes the whole, and restores him to indifi'erence or despair, in " the ex- cessive population that would ensue."
The question of population, as it relates to the science of politics and society, is considerably curious. Several writers upon these topics, have treated it in a way calculated to produce a very gloomy impression, and have placed precautions to counteract the multiplication of the human species, among the most important objects of civil prudence. These precautions appear to have occupied much attention in several ancient nations, among whom there prevailed a great solicitude, that the number of citizens in the state should sufier no augmentation. In modern times a contrary opinion has frequently obtained, and the populousness of a country has been said to constitute its true wealth and pros- perity.
Perhaps however, express precautions in either kind, are super- fluous and nugatory. There is a principle in the nature of human society, by means of which every thing seems to tend to its level, and to proceed in the most auspicious way, when least interfered with by the mode of regulation. In a certain stage of the social progress, population seems rapidly to increase; this appears to be the case in the United Slates of America. In a • Wallace: Various Prospects of Mankind, Nature and Providence, 176L 248 THE PRINCIPLES OF POPULATION.
subsequent stage, it undergoes little change, either in the way of increase or diminution; this is the case in the more civilised countries of Europe. The number of inhabitants in a country ■will perhaps never be found, in the ordinary course of affairs, greatly to increase, beyond the facility of subsistence.
Nothing is more easy than to account for tliis circumstance. So long as there is a facility of subsistence, men will be encou- raged to early marriages, and to a careful rearing of their chil- dren. In America, it is said, men congratulate themselves upon the increase of their families, as upon a new accession of wealth. The labour of their children, even in an early stage, soon re- deems, and even repays with interest, the expense and effort of rearing them. In such countries the wages of the labourer are high, for the number of labourers bears no proportion to the demand, and to the general spirit of enterprise. In many Eu- ropean countries, on the other hand, a large family has become a proverbial expression for an uncommon degree of poverty and WTctchedness. The price of labour in any state, so long as the spirit of accumulation shall prevail, is an infallible barometer of the state of its population. It is impossible where the price of labour is greatly reduced, and an added population threatens a still further reduction, that men should not be considerably under the influence of fear, respecting an early marriage, and a nu- merous family.
There are various methods, by the practice of which population may be checked; by the exposing of children, as among the ancients, and, at this day, in China; by the art of procuring abortion, as it is said to subsist in the island of Ceylon; by a promiscuous intercourse of the sexes, which is found extremely hostile to the multiplication of the species; or, lastly, by a syste- matical abstinence, such as must be supposed, in some degree, to prevail in monasteries of either sex. But, without any express institution of this kind, the encouragement or discouragement that arises from the general state of a community, will probably be found to be all-powerful in its operation.
Supposing however that population were not thus adapted to find its own level, it is obvious to remark upon the objection of this chapter, that to reason thus, is to foresee difficulties at a great distance. Three fourths of the habitable globe are now uncultivated. The improvements to be made in cultivation, and the augmentations the earth is capable of receiving in the article of productiveness, cannot, as yet, be reduced to any limits of cal- culation. Myriads of centuries of still increasing population may pass away, and the earth be yet found sufficient for the support of its inhabitants. It were idle therefore to conceive discourage- ment from so distant a contingency. The rational anticipations of human improvement are unlimited, not eternal. The very globe that we inhabit, and the solar system, may, for any thing that we know, be subject to decay. Physical casualties of dif- ferent denominations, may interfere with the progressive nature \ OP HEALTH, ETC. 249 of intellect. But, putting these out of the question, it is cer- tainly most reasonable, to commit so remote a danger to the chance of such remedies (remedies, of which perhaps vre may, at this time, not have the smallest idea) as shall suggest them- selves, at a period sufficiently early for their practical application.
Appendix.
OF HEALTH, AND THE PnOLONGATION OF HUMAN LIFE.
Omnipotence of 7rJnd. — Application of this principle to the animal frame. — Caiises of decrepitude. — Theory of voluntary and invonlwi' tary action. — Present utility of these reasonings, — Recapitulation. — Application to the future state of society.
The question respecting population is, in some dezroe, connected with the subject of health and longevity. It may therefore be al- lowed us, to make use of this occasion, for indulging in certain speculations upon tliis article. What follows must be considered as eminently a deviation into the land of conjecture. If it be false, it leaves the system to which it is appended, in all sound reason, as impregnable as ever.
Let us then, in this place, return to the sublime conjecture of Franklin, a man habitually conversant with the system of the ex- ternal universe, and by no means prepense to extravagant specu- lations, that " mind will one day become omnipotent over matter." * The sense which he annexed to this expression, seems to have re- lated to the improvements of human invention, in relation to machines and the compendium of labour. But, if the power of 1 intellect can be established over all other matter, are we not inevitably led to ask, why not over the matter of our own bodies? If over matter, at however great a distance, why not over matter which, ignorant as we may be of the tie that connects it with the thinking principle, we seem always to carry about with us, and which is our medium of communication with the external uni- 1 verse? ^ The different cases in which thought modifies the structure and members of the human body, are obvious to all. First, they are modified by our voluntaiy thoughts or design. We desire to stretch out our hand, and it is stretched out. We perform a thou- sand operations of the same species every day, and their familiarity annihilates the wonder. They are not in themselves less wonder- • Chap. VIII., Appendix, p. 241. The authors, ■nho have published their conjectvu-es respecting the possibility of extending the term of human life, are many. The most illustrious of these is probably Lord Bacon; the most recent is Condorcet, in his Outlines of a History of the Progress of the Human Mind, published since the first appearance of this work. These authors however have inclined to rest their hopes, rather upon the growing perfection of art, than, as is here done, upon the immediate and imavoidable operation of an improved intellect.
250 OF HEALTH, AND THE ful, than any of those modifications we are least accustomed to conceive. Secondly, mind modifies hody involuntarily. To omit, for the present, what has been oflFered upon this subject by way of hypothesis and inference,* there are many instances in which this fact presents itself in the most unequivocal manner. Has not a sudden piece of good news been frequently found to dissipate a corporeal indisposition? Is it not still more usual for mental im- pressions to produce indisposition, and even what is called a broken heart? And shall wc believe that that which is so power- ful in mischief, can be altogether impotent for happiness? How common is the remark, that those accidents, Avhich are to the in- dolent a soiuce of disease, are forgotten and extirpated in the busy and active? I walk twenty miles in an indolent and half- determined temper, and am extremely fatigued. I walk twenty miles, full of ardour, and with a motive that engrosses my soul, and I arrive as fresh and alert as when I began my journey. Emo- tion, excited by some unexpected word, by a letter that is de- livered to us, occasions the most extraordinary revolutions in our frame, accelerates the circulation, causes the heart to palpitate, the tongue to refuse its office, and has been known to occasion death by extreme anguish or extreme joy. There is nothing of which the physician is more frequently aware, than of the power of the mind in assisting or retarding convalescence.
Why is it that a mature man loses that elasticity of limb, which characterises the heedless gaiety of youth? The origin of this appears to be, that he desists from youthful habits. He assumes an air of dignity, incompatible with the lightness of childish sallies. He is visited and vexed with the cares that rise out of our mistaken institutions, and his heart is no longer satisfied and gay. His limbs become stiff, unwieldy, and awkward. This is the forerunner of old age and of death.
A habit peculiarly favourable to corporeal vigour, is cheerful- ness. Every time that our mind becomes morbid, vacant, and melancholy, our external frame falls into disorder. Listlessness of thought is the brother of death. But cheerfulness gives new elasticity to out limbs, and circulation to our juices. Nothing can long be stagnant in the frame of him whose heart is tranquil, and his imagination active.
A further requisite in the case of which we treat, is clear and distinct apprehension. Disease seems perhaps in all instances to be the concomitant of confusion. When reason resigns the helm, and our ideas fluctuate without order or direction, we sleep. Delirium and insanity are of the same nature. Fainting appears principally to consist in a relaxation of intellect, so that the ideas seem to mix in painful disorder, and nothing is distinguish- ed. He that continues to act, or is led to a renewal of action with perspicuity and decision, is almost inevitably a man in health.
The surest source of cheerfulness is benevolence. To a youth- * Vol. T., Book IV., Chap. IX.
PROLONGATION OF HUMAN LIFE. 251 ful mind, while everything strikes with its novelty, the individual situation must be peculiarly unfortunate, if gaiety of thought be not produced, or, when interrupted, do not speedily return with its healing virtue. But novelty is a fading charm, and perpetu- ally decreases. Hence the approach of inanity and listlessness. After we have made a certain round, life delights no m»re. A death-like apathy invades us. Thus the aged are generally cold and indifferent; nothing interests their attention, or rouses their sluggishness. How should it be otherwise? The objects of human pursuit are commonly frigid and contemptible, and the mistake comes at last to be detected. But virtue is a charm that never fades. The mind that overflows with kindness and sym- pathy, will always be cheerful. The man who is perpetually busied in contemplations of public good, can scarcely be inactive. Add to this, that a benevolent temper is peculiarly irreconcileable with those sentiments of anxiety, discontent, rage, revenge, and despair, which so powerfully corrode the frame, and hourly con- sign their miserable victims to an untimely grave.
Thus far we have discoursed of a negative power which, if suf- ficiently exercised, would, it is to be presumed, eminently tend to the prolongation of human life. But there is a power of another description, which seems entitled to our attention in this respect. We have frequently had occasion to point out the distinction be- tween our voluntary and involuntary motions.* We have seen that they are continually running into each other; our involun- tary motions gradually becoming subject to the power of volition, and our voluntary motions degenerating into involuntary. We concluded in an early part of this work,t and that, as it should seem, with sufficient reason, that the true perfection of man was to attain, as nearly as possible, to the perfectly voluntary state; that we ought to be, upon all occasions, prepared to render a rea- son of our actions; and should remove ourselves to the furthest distance, from the state of mere inanimate machines, acted upon by causes of which they have no understanding.
Our involuntary motions are frequently found gradually to be- come subject to the power of volition. It seems impossible to set limits to this species of metamorphosis. Its reality cannot be questioned, when we consider that every motion of the human frame was originally involuntary. J Is it not then highly probable, in the process of human improvement, that we may finally obtain an empire oyer every, articulation of our frame? The circulation of tlie blood is a motion, in our present state, eminently involun- tary. Yet nothing is more obvious, than that certain thoughts, and states of the thinking faculty, are calculated to affect this process. Reasons have been adduced which seem to lead to an opinion, that thought and animal motion are, in all cases, to be considered as antecedent and consequent. § We can now per- • Vol. I., Book I., Chap. V; Book IV., Chap. VII., X.
J Vol. I., Book IV. Chap. IX.
252 OF HEALTH, AKD THE haps by an effort of the mind correct certain commencing irregu- lariiies of the sj'stem, and forbid, in circumstances ^vhere those plienomena "would otherwise appear, tlie heart to palpitate, and the limbs to tremble. The voluntary power of some men over their animal frame, is found to extend to various articles, in ■which other men are impotent.
A further probability Avill be reflected upon these conjectures, if we recollect the picture which was formerly exhibited,* of the rapidity of the succession of ideas. If we can have a series of three hundred and twenty ideas in a second of time, why should it be supposed that we may net hereafter arrive at the skill of carrying on a great number of contemporaneous processes with- out disorder?
Nothing can be more irreconcileable to analogy, than to con- clude, because a certain species of power is beyond the train of our present obser^^ations, that it is beyond the limits of the human mind.f We talk familiarly indeed of the extent of our faculties; and our vanity prompts us to suppose that we have reached the goal of human capacity. But there is little plausibility in so arro- gant an assumption. If it could have been told to the savage in- habitants of Europe in the times of Theseus and Achilles, that man was capable of predicting eclipses and weighing the air, of reducing to settled rules the phenomena of nature so that no prodigies should remain, and of measuring the distance and size of the heavenly bodies, this would not have appeared to them less incredible, than if we had told them of the possibility of maintain- ing the human body in perpetual youth and vigour. But we have not only this analogy, showing that the discovery in question forms, as it were, a regular branch of the acquisitions that belong to an intellectual nature; but, in addition to this, we seem to have a glimpse of the manner in which the acquisition will be secured.
One remark may be proper in this place. If the remedies here proposed tend to a total extirpation of the infirmities of our nature, then, though we should not be able to promise them an \ early or complete success, we may probably find them of some utility. They may contribute to prolong our vigour, if not to im- mortalise it, and, which is of more consequence, to make us live while we live. Every time the mind is invaded with anguish and '^loom, the frame becomes disordered. Every time languor and indifference creep upon us, our functions fall into decay. In pro- portion as we cultivate fortitude and equanimity, our circu- lations will be cheerful. In proportion as we cultivate a kind and benevolent propensity, wemaybesecm-e of finding something i to interest and engage us.
Medicine may reasonably be stated to consist of two branches, animal and intellectual. The latter of these has been infinitely too much neglected. It cannot be employed to the purposes of a PROLONGATION OF HUMAN LIFE. 253 profession: or, where it has been incidentally so employed, it has been artificially and indirectly, not in an open and avowed man- ner. " Herein the patient must minister to himself."* It would no doubt be of extreme moment to us, to be thoroughly ac- quainted with the power of motives, perseverance, and what is called resolution in this respect.
The sum of the arguments which have been here offered,- amounts to a species of presumption that the term of human life/ may be prolonged, and that by the immediate operation of inte^ lect, beyond any limits which we are able to assign. It would be idle to talk of the absolute immortality of man. Eternity and im- mortality are phrases to which it is impossible for us to annex any distinct ideas, and the more we attempt to explain them, the more we shall find ourselves involved in contradiction.
To apply these remarks to the subject of population. One ten- dency of a cultivated and virtuous mind is to diminish our eager- ness for the gratifications of the senses. They please at present by their novelty, that is, because we know not how to estimate them. They decay in the decline of life indirectly, because the system refuses them, but directly and principally because they no longer excite the ardour of ike mind. The gratifications of sense please at present by their imposture. We soon learn to despise the mere animal function which, apart from the delusions of in- tellect, would be nearly the same in all cases; and to value it only as it happens to be relieved by personal charms or mental ex- cellence.
The men therefore whom we are supposmg to exist, when the earth shall refuse itself to a more extended population, will pro- bably cease to propagate. The whole will be a people of men, and not of children. Generation will not succeed generation, nor truth have, in a certain degree, to recommence her career every thirty years. Other improvements maybe expected to keep pace with those of health and longevity. There will be no war, no crimes, no administration of justice, as it is called, and no go- vernment. Beside this, there will be neither disease, anguish, melancholy, nor resentment. Every man will seek, with inefiable ardour, the good of all. Mind will be active and eager, yet never disappointed. Men will see the progressive advancement of vir- tue and good, and feel that, if things occasionally happen contrary to their hopes, the miscarriage itself was a necessary part of that progress. They will know that they are members of the chain, that each has his several utility, and they will not feel indifferent to that utility. They will be eager to enquire into the good that already exists, the means by which it was produced, and the greater good that is yet in store. They will never want motives for exertion; for that benefit which a man thoroughly imderstands and earnestly loves, he cannot refrain from endeavouring to promote.