Principles of Political Economy Part 35

[Footnote 245-14: Compare _Catlin_, N. American Indians, I, 118 ff. Even Strabo believed that among the Median mountaineers each man had five wives! (XI, 526.)]

[Footnote 245-15: Concerning Solomon's 700 wives and 300 concubines, see I Kings, 11, 3; according to the Canticle of Canticles, only 60 wives and 80 concubines. According to _Mirkhond_ and _Khondemir_, there was in the place in which the Sa.s.sand shah resided, 3,000 women of the harem and 12,000 female slaves. Polygamy among the latter cla.s.s is seldom possible or thought of. Of 2,800 Moslems in Bombay, only 100 lived in polygamy, and only 5 had three wives each.

(_Ritter_, Erdkunde, 1088.) I lay no weight here on the a.s.sertion so frequently repeated of travelers in the east, that more girls than boys are born there; for the reason that there is there no real statistics, and that the infidel travelers can be permitted few glimpses into the secrecy of family life. _Lady Sheil_ indeed a.s.sures us that in Persia itself the opinion prevails that there are a great many more women than men. Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia, 1855. Similar pretense among the Mormons.]

[Footnote 245-16: We find, even on Egyptian temples, pictures representing the castration of prisoners. _Franck_, in the Memoires sur l'Egypte, IV, 126. On Babylon, see _h.e.l.lanicus_, apud. Donat. ad Terent. Eunuch., I, 2, 87.

This province, besides a.s.syria (the ancient seat of sultan glory), delivered 500 castrated boys per annum to the king of Persia. (_Herodot._, III, 92.) Of the califs, Soliman is said to be the first (at the beginning of the 8th century) who had his harem superintended by eunuchs; a very sensual master who frequently changed his wives. (_Reiske Z.

Abulfeda_, I, 109 ff.; _Weil_, Gesch. der Kalifen, I, 573.) At an audience which the calif Moktadir gave to a Byzantine amba.s.sador, there appeared 4,000 white and 3,000 black eunuchs. (_Rehm._, Gesch. des Mittelalters, I, 2, 32.) In the harems of the present Persian persons of rank, there are usually from 6 to 8 eunuchs. _Rosenmuller_, Altes und Neues Morgenland, IV, 290. In Upper Egypt, the castration of handsome boys by monks (!) is a regular trade. About 2 per cent. die in consequence of the operation, the others rise in consequence in price from 200-300 to 1,000 piasters.

(_Ritter_, Erdkunde, I, 548.) In the Frankish middle age, the merchants of Verdun castrated persons to sell them in Spain. Compare _Liutprand_, Hist., VI, 3, in _Muratori_, Script. Rerum Ital., II, 1, 470.]

SECTION CCXLVI.

HISTORY OF POPULATION.--IN HIGHLY CIVILIZED TIMES.

The conditions of population among mature and flourishing nations is characterized by this, that the moral and rational preventive tendencies counter to over-population decidedly preponderate. Here so much value is attached to the life, and to the healthy and comfortable life of human beings already in existence that even the majority of the lower cla.s.ses take care to bring no more children into the world than can be properly supported, nor to bring them into being in advance of food. Here, too, mortality is relatively small, which when population is stationary is found in connection with a higher average duration of human life.[246-1]

While among savage and semi-savage nations, travelers are struck by no phenomenon as much as by the total absence of old men,[246-2] in most European nations the average duration of life has, during the last centuries, seemed to noticeably increase. In France, for instance, between 1771 and 1780, on a population of 29,000,000 at most, there were as many deaths as on 35,000,000 between 1844 and 1853.[246-3] In Sweden, the cla.s.sic land of statistics relating to population, mortality from 1749 to 1855 had diminished 0.107 per cent. per annum.[246-4] [246-5]

No reasonable man considers mere living the highest good; but, from an average prolongation of life, we may with great probability infer an improvement in the means of subsistence, in hygienic measures, etc., even for the lower cla.s.ses, who everywhere const.i.tute the great majority of the population. _Aisance est vitalite!_--at least on the supposition that morality remains the same.[246-6] How great may not have been the effect, for instance, of the healthier mode of the building of modern cities, of the disappearance of the greater number of fortifications etc., the more rational character of the healing art, the extension of vaccination,[246-7] the hygienic measures adopted by governments,[246-8]

the better care of the poor and especially the asylums for small children! The modern system of agriculture and of the corn trade make famines less destructive of life.[246-9] (-- 115). The modern quarantine-system has protected us entirely against a number of plagues; and the worst epidemics of our day cannot be compared with those of earlier periods or in less civilized countries. In the second half of the 17th century, it was estimated in London that a plague would occur once in every 20 years, each of which swept away one-fifth of the entire population.[246-10] And in that very city the annual mortality between 1740 and 1750 varied three-fifths, during the second half of the 18th century only one-third, during the 19th century only one-fifth in the same decade; a clear proof of the diminished fatality of epidemics.[246-11] [246-12]

[Footnote 246-1: The so-called _Populationistikers_ are wont to distinguish between the average and probable duration of life (_vie moyenne--vie probable_); and understand by the former the number of years which, on an average, have been accorded to one deceased; by the latter, the number of years after the expiration of which one-half of a given number of human beings have disappeared. If _x_ deceased persons have lived an aggregate of _s_ years, their average duration of life = _s_/_x_. In the case of a whole people, indeed, even the many-years' average of the duration of life of those deceased expresses the true average duration of life only when (a rare case) the aggregate population remains stationary. For, when the population is increasing, the average age of the deceased is smaller than the average duration of life, and, when population is decreasing, larger. In the saddest case of all, when there are no births whatever, and the nation is gradually dying out, there would be an increase from year to year of the average age. In all such cases, strictly speaking, only the actual observation and following up of those born, until they die; can afford a safe result. This is _Hermann's_ method, introduced into Bavaria since 1835. Compare the XIII. and XVII. numbers of the official Bavarian statistics with _G. Meyer's_ criticism in _Hildebrand's_ Jahrbuchern, 1867, I. And indeed _Hopf_, Preuss. Statist. Zeitschr., says that a complete table of mortality can be made, according to the best method, only after centuries of observation.

Compare _Kopf_, in the 3d edition of _Kolb's_ Handbuch der Statistik, and the solid works of _G. F. Knapp_, Ueber die Ermittelung der Sterblichkeit (1868) and Die Sterblichkeit in Sachsen (1869). _Price's_ mode of calculation of which _Deparcieux_ is the real author, which divides the number of the living by the arithmetical mean of the number of births and deaths is not only inaccurate (_Meyer_, loc. cit., 43 ff.) but erroneous in principle, since it allows two countries of equal population to be the same, the one of which has 120,000 births and a mortality of 80,000, and the other, on the contrary, 80,000 births and a mortality of 120,000. _Engel_ recommends as the measure of real vitality the ratio between the "living years" and the "dead years,"

meaning by the former the sum of the years which those still living have lived through, and by the latter the sum of the years lived through by those who have died within a given period. (Preuss. Statist. Zeitschr., 1861, 348 ff.) But the inference which may be drawn from a high or a low average of life is altogether ambiguous. A high average may as well be produced by a great mortality among children as by a favorable mortality among those of mature age; and a low average as well by a relatively small number of births as by a relatively short duration of life. (_Meyer_, loc. cit., 23, 24.)]

[Footnote 246-2: On the aborigines of America, see Lettres edifiantes, VII, 317 ff. _Cook,_ Third Voyage, III, ch. 2.

_La Perouse_, Voyage, ch. 9. _Robertson_, Hist. of America B., IV. _Raynal_, Histoire des Indes L., XV. On the African negroes: _M. Park_, ch. 1. They are said to manifest the symptoms of old age at 40, and very seldom to live to be over 55 or 60 years of age.]

[Footnote 246-3: _Necker_, De l'Administration des Finances de la France, 1784, I, 205 ff., gives for 1771-80 the average number of births, per annum, 940,935; of deaths, 818,391; the population at 24,229,000. _Legoyt_, Statist.

Comp., estimates the last, in 1784, at at least 26,748,843, probably even at 28,718,000. During the period, 1844-53, 35,000,000 to 36,000,000 Frenchmen had only about as many births (956,317) and deaths (815,723) as a much smaller population before the Revolution--the latter numbers, according to official estimation, omitting the still-born--which _Necker_ also scarcely took into consideration. _C'est la difference entre un peuple de proletaires et une nation, dont les deux tiers jouissent des bienfaits de la propriete. (Moreau de Jonnes)._ In France, there was one death, in 1784, on every 30 living; in 1801, on every 35.8 living; in 1834-5, on every 38 living; in 1844, on every 39.9 living; in 1855-57 (average), on every 41.1 living; in 1860-65 (average), on every 43.7 living. It is also probable, that the average duration of life in France increased from the fact that, from 1800 to 1807, the number of persons subject to conscription was only 45 per cent. of the whole corresponding number of births; but that from 1822 to 1825 it was 61 per cent. (_Bernoulli_, Populationistik, 452.) On Paris alone, see _Villerme_, Memoire lu a l'Academie des Sciences, 29 Nov., 1824. Compare _supra_, -- 10.]

[Footnote 246-4: _Wappaus_, Allg. Bevolkerungsstatistik. In Prussia, in the less cultured provinces (the eastern), the mortality and number of births is greatest; but in the whole country the relative mortality seems to have remained stationary since 1748. (_Engel_, Preuss. Statist. Zeitschr., 1861, 336 seq.) And even the average age of the deceased decreased even between 1820 and 1860 (344 ff.) In Berlin alone, the arithmetical mean of the number of births and deaths shows no improvement, at least (loc. cit. 1862, 195).]

[Footnote 246-5: In Geneva, where there have been almost uninterrupted tables of mortality, giving the age at the time of death, the average duration of life during the 2d half of the 16th century is estimated at 21-1/6 years; during the 17th century, at 25 years; from 1701 to 1750, at 32-7/12 years; from 1750 to 1800, at 34 years; from 1814 to 1833, at 40-2/3 years. Compare _Mallet_, Recherches historiques et statistiques sur la Population de Geneve, 1837, 98 ff., 104 ff., and _Bernouilli_, Schweiz, Archiv., II, 77; _per contra, d'Ivernois_, sur la Mortalite proportionelle des peuples consideree comme Mesure de leur Aisance et Civilization, 1833, 12 ff. But little can be inferred from this, on account of the large immigration, of adults for the most part. Geneva is said to have had, in the 16th century, never much more than 13,000 inhabitants; at the end of the 17th century it had 17,000; in 1789, 26,000; between 1695 and 1795 there was an increase of 6,000 at least from abroad. (_Bernouilli_, Populationistik, 369 seq.) Compare _Wappaus_ in the Gotting. Gesellsch. der Wissensch.

Bd., VIII, 1860, who, however, as well as _Neison_, Contributions to Vital Statistics, VI ff., is too skeptical as regards modern progress in vitality.]

[Footnote 246-6: Higher civilization, indeed, instead of leading to higher vitality, may lead to immoderate toil and immoderate enjoyment. (_Schaffle_, in the D.

Vierteljahrsschrift, April, 1862, 340.) _Engel_ says that, in general, life is more intense in our day, and hence leads to a more rapid exhaustion of individual life-force.

(Preuss. Statist. Ztschr., 1862, 53.) According to English experience of the well-fed cla.s.ses, those have the greatest duration of life who otherwise live in modest circ.u.mstances.

Thus, for instance, clergymen thirty years of age have still an average expectation of life of 39.49 years; members of the learned professions, 38.86; country gentlemen, 40.22; members of the aristocracy, 37.31; princes of the blood, only 34.04; sovereigns, only 27.16 (Statist. Journal, 1859, 356 ff.); while agricultural laborers, who have sufficient means and intelligence to partic.i.p.ate in the so-called friendly societies, have an expectation of life of 40.6 years after their thirtieth year. (_Neison_, loc. cit.) On the whole, it seems to be in harmony with the democratic leveling tendencies of our own age, that the better care of children and of the sick has lengthened short lives, and that the unrest of the times has shortened the long lives, although the level of the general average continually rises, notwithstanding. Thus, in Geneva, the proportion of those who outlived their thirtieth year was: in the 16th century, after 1549, 29.87; in the 17th century, 37.29; in the 18th century, 49.39; in the 19th century, until 1833, 58.85 per cent. of the number of births. On the other hand, the expectation of life of those who had attained their 80th year, was in these four centuries respectively 6.22, 5.87, 4.40 and 3.84 years. (_Mallet_, l. c., and Statist. Journal, 1851, 316 ff.) In keeping with this is, that according to _Guy's_ researches, the average duration of life of the English peerage and baronetage was, in 1500-1550, 71.27 years; 1550-1600, 68.25 years; 1600-1650, 63.95 years; 1650-1700, 62.40 years; 1700-1745, 64.13 years. (Statist.

Journal, 1845, 74.) However, we may most directly infer a favorable condition of things from the diminished mortality of children, for the reason that this, far more directly than the mortality of adults, is conditioned by the quality of food. The younger a child is, the more exclusively is its life-force the product of these two factors: the physical const.i.tution of its parents and the care bestowed upon it.

Compare _F. J. Neumann_, Die Gestaltung der mittleren Lebensdauer in Preussen, 1865, 26 ff. In Prussia, in 1751-60, only 312 in 1,000 outlived their tenth year; in 1861-70, 633 in 1,000. Yet, since 1856, the mortality of children has again begun to increase. (_Knapp_, Mittheilungen des Statist. Bureaus, VIII, p. 8.)]

[Footnote 246-7: _Duvillard_, a.n.a.lyse ou Tableau de l'Influence da la pet.i.te Verole, 1806, is of opinion that before vaccination only 4 per cent. of those over 30 years of age were spared by the small-pox; that two-thirds of all new-born children were attacked by the disease sooner or later, and that from one-eighth to one-seventh of those attacked died; and of small children even one-third. Hence, in many countries, the average duration of life was increased 3 years by reason of vaccination. In London, between 1770 and 1779, of 1,000 deaths, 102 were caused by the small-pox; in from 1830 to 1836, only 25 in 1,000.

(_Porter_, Progress of the Nation, I, 1, 39.) In Berlin, between 1792 and 1801, 4,999 persons died of the small-pox; between 1812 and 1822, only 555. (_Casper._) That this is really a consequence of vaccination is proved by the facts of the Chemnitz small-pox epidemic of 1870-71, during which, in four of the streets princ.i.p.ally visited by it, 9 per cent. were taken ill. Of 4,375 persons who had been vaccinated, 2.12 per cent. were attacked; of 644 who were not vaccinated, 54.38 per cent. Of those attacked, 2.1 per cent. of the former and 11.3 per cent. of the latter died.

(Leipzig Tageblatt, 5 Mai, 1871.)]

[Footnote 246-8: Among the earliest inst.i.tutions of medical police are the following: the Swedish Collegium medic.u.m under Charles XI; the Prussian, 1724; the Danish, 1740; the quarantine law of Louis XIV., of 1683; the Parisian bureau of nurses, 1715; lying-in establishments since 1728; French inst.i.tutions for the saving of drowned persons, 1740; English inst.i.tutions for the saving of persons in cases of apparent death, 1744; bathing largely promoted by government since the eighteenth century; prohibition by Maria Theresa of burial in churches and of locating cemeteries too near dwelling houses, in 1778. Even _Thomasius_, De Jure Principum circa Sepultur., -- 8, had advised this; and, in Italy, _Fr. Patricius_, De Inst. Republ. V, 10. On ancient medical police, see _Pyls_ Repertorium fur offentliche und gerichtliche Arzneiwissenschaft, II 167, ff. III, 1 ff.]

[Footnote 246-9: In France, the number of deaths in the cheap years, 1816 and 1819, amounted to an average of 755,877; of the dear years, 1817 and 1818, to an average of 750,065. (Ann. d'Economie politique, 1847, 333.) Thus, the same scarcity in Pomerania increased its otherwise smaller mortality relatively less than in Posen. (_Hildebrand's_ Jahrbb. 1872, I, 292.) It is a good sign that in Altenburg, between 1835 and 1864, the variation in the price of corn had no influence on its mortality, although the number of marriages and of births was conditioned by it. (_v. Scheel_ in _Hildebrand's_ Jahrbb., 1866, I, 161 ff.)]

[Footnote 246-10: _Sir W. Petty_, Several Essays, 31 seq.

Great regularity of epidemics in the tropical world: _Humboldt_, N. Espagne, II, 5. The great plague in the middle of the 14th century is said to have destroyed 2/3 of the population of Norway, of Upland, 5/6; in the mountain districts of Wermeland only 1 boy and 2 girls were left.

(_Geijer_, Schwed. Gesch., I, 186.) According to _Sismondi_, Gesch. der Italien. Republiken, VI, 27, 3/5 of the whole population of Europe died at that time. How the cholera would have raged among our forefathers in the middle ages!

Certainly, as it does now in the East Indies; since, when of those really attacked by the disease among ourselves so many die, we cannot attribute our small number of deaths from cholera to the smaller intensity of the disease or to the greater skill of our doctors, but chiefly to the better nourishment of our people, to their better dwellings and greater cleanliness. Compare _Heberden_, On the Increase and Decrease of Disease, 1801.]

[Footnote 246-11: _Bernouilli_, Populationistik, 363, seq.

Whether, on this account, we can infer the increased health of the people, is very much doubted by the aged _laudatores temporis acti_. They would have us believe that it is possible that the prolongation of the average of human life is to be explained by taking into account the case of numerous valetudinarians who formerly died early, but who are _now_ preserved to drag out a miserable existence. The relative number of those who have died of old age did not noticeably increase between 1816 and 1860 either in Berlin or in the Prussian state. (_Engel_, Zeitschr., 1862, 222.) Compare, per contra, _Marx_, Ueber die Abnahme der Krankheiten durch die Zunahme der Civilization: transactions of the Gottinger

In 1811-1815, " 41.5 "

In 1816-1820, " 31.6 "

In 1821-1825, " 32.1 "

In 1826-1830, " 33.0 "

In 1831-1836, " 34.0 "

In 1846-1850, " 37.8 "

In 1851-1854, " 37.88 "

In 1860-1864, " 37.56 "]

[Footnote 247-2: _Malthus_, Principle of Population, II, ch.

1. In Denmark, at the same time, 1 in 37 and 114.

(_Thaarup_, Danische Statistik., II, 1, 4.)]

[Footnote 247-3: In modern times, the intellectual and legal conditions which existed in Norway have been loosened to a great extent, and population in that country has, in consequence, made rapid advances. In 1769 the population was only 723,000; in 1855, it was 1,490,000. But the above customs for the most part continue still. Between 1831 and 1835, there was one marriage a year for every 138 living persons. The relative number of marriages is smaller than before. In 1769, there were, in every 1,000,376 married persons; in 1801, 347; in 1825, 345; in 1835, 322. In 1805, there were only 63 illegitimate births to every 1,000 births; in 1835, the proportion was 71.5 in every 1,000.

(_Blom_, Statistik Con N., II, 168, 173.)]

[Footnote 247-4: In England, there were, in 1838-47, of every 1,000 contracting marriage, 94 who had not yet completed their 21st year; in Belgium, 1840-50, only 54; but the famine year, 1846-47, noticeably lowered the relative number of minors in both countries. There were married--

Column Head Key: A - _In Belgium 1841-50._ B - _In the purely Flemish provinces._ C - _In the purely Wallonic provinces.

D - _Sweden 1831-35._ ============================================================== | A | B | C | D -------------+-------+-------+-------+------------------------ | per | per | per | | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | Before their 21st year | 56 | 32 | 74 |{ 359 per 1,000 males.

From 22 to | | | |{ 25 years | 219 | 181 | 259 |{ 463 per 1,000 females.

From 26 to | | | |{458 males, 387 females, 35 years | 503 | 511 | 490 |{ per 1,000.