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The Descent of Man

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2.47<br />

1853 71,019<br />

0.81<br />

1860 67,084<br />

2.18<br />

1866 58,765<br />

2.17<br />

1872 51,531<br />

We here see that in the interval <strong>of</strong> forty years,<br />

between 1832 and 1872, the population has decreased<br />

no less than sixty-eight per cent.! This<br />

has been attributed by most writers to the pr<strong>of</strong>ligacy<br />

<strong>of</strong> the women, to former bloody wars,<br />

and to the severe labour imposed on conquered<br />

tribes and to newly introduced diseases, which<br />

have been on several occasions extremely destructive.<br />

No doubt these and other such causes<br />

have been highly efficient, and may account for<br />

the extraordinary rate <strong>of</strong> decrease between the<br />

years 1832 and 1836; but the most potent <strong>of</strong> all<br />

the causes seems to be lessened fertility. Accor-

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