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Show 132 THE DESCENT OF MAN. PART ll. above primary check acts chiefly. by res~raining marriages. The greater death-rate of mfants m the poorest classes is also very important; as well as the greater mortality at all ages, and from various diseases, of the inhabitants of crowded and miserable houses. The effects of severe epidemics and wars are soon counterbalanced, and more than counterbalanced, in nations placed under favourable conditions. Emigration also comes in aid as a temporary check, but not to any great extent with the extremely poor classes. There is reason to suspect, as JVIalthus has remarked, that the reproductive power is actually less in barbarous than in civilised races. We know nothing positively on this bead, for with savages no census has been taken; but from the concurrent testimony of missionaries, and of others who have long resided with such people, it appears that their families are usually small, and large ones rare. This may be partly accounted for, as it is believed, by the women suckling their infants for a prolonged period; but it is highly probable that savages, who often suffer much hardship, and who do not obtain so much nutritious food as civilised men, would be actually less prolific. I have shewn in a former work,52 that all our domesticated quadrupeds and birds, and all our cultivated plants, are more fertile than the corresponding species in a state of nature. It is no valid objection to this conclusion that animals suddenly supplied with an excess of food, or when rendered very fat, and that most plants when suddenly removed from very poor to very rich soil, are rendered more or less sterile. We might, therefore, expect that civilised men, who in one sense are highly domesticated, would ~2 'Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication,' vol. ii~ p. 111-113, 163. CHAP. IV. MANNER OF DEVELOPMENT. 133 be more prolific than wild men. It is also probable that the increased fertility of civilised nations would become, as with our domestic animals, an inherited character: it is at least known that with mankind a tendency to produce twins runs in families.53 Notwithstanding that savages appear to be less prolific than civilised people, they would no doubt rapidly increase if their numbers were not by some means rigidly kept down. The Santali, or hill-tribes of India, have recently afforded a good illustration of this fact; for they have increased, as shewn by Mr. Hunter/4 at an extraordinary rate since vaccination has been introduced, other pestilences mitigated, and war sternly repressed. This increase, however, would not have been possible bad not these rude people spread into the adjoining districts and worked for hire. Savages almost always marry; yet there is some prudential restraint, for they do not commonly marry at the earliest possible age. 'l1he young men are often required to show that they can support a wife, and they generally have first to earn the price with which to purchase her from her parents. With savages the difficulty of obtaining subsistence occasionally limits their number in a much more direct manner than with civilised people, for all tribes periodically suffer from severe famines. At such times savages are forced to devour much bad food, and their health can hardly fail to be injured. Many accounts have been published of their protruding stomachs and emaciated limbs after and during famines. They are then, also, compelled to wander much about, and their infants, as I was assured in Australia, perish ·~ 3 M:r. Sedgwick, 'British and Foreiga Medico-C!Jirurg. Review,' July, 18G3, p. 170. 54 'The Annals of Rural Bengal,' by W. \V. Hunter, ISGS, p. 259. . ... ~ .. -. ,....- --.-....-- "" - . ~ - ... |
