he
only difference in this respect between Mr Malthus and Mr Sadler is,
that Mr Malthus knows what is meant by geometric progression, and
that Mr Sadler has not the faintest notion of what is meant by inverse
variation. Had he understood the proposition which he has enounced with
so much pomp, its ludicrous absurdity must at once have flashed on his
mind.

Let it be supposed that there is a tract in the back settlements of
America, or in New South Wales, equal in size to London, with only a
single couple, a man and his wife, living upon it. The population of
London, with its immediate suburbs, is now probably about a million and
a half. The average fecundity of a marriage in London is, as Mr Sadler
tells us 2.35. How many children will the woman in the back settlements
bear according to Mr Sadler's theory? The solution of the problem is
easy. As the population in this tract in the back settlements is to
the population of London, so will be the number of children born from a
marriage in London to the number of children born from the marriage of
this couple in the back settlements. That is to say--

2 : 1,500,000 :: 2.35 : 1,762,500.

The lady will have 1,762,500 children: a large "efflux of the fountain
of life," to borrow Mr Sadler's sonorous rhetoric, as the most
philoprogenitive parent could possibly desire.

But let us, instead of putting cases of our own, look at some of those
which Mr Sadler has brought forward in support of his theory. The
following table, he tells us, exhibits a striking proof of the truth of
his main position. It seems to us to prove only that Mr Sadler does not
know what inverse proportion means.

Countries Inhabitants on a Children to a
Square Mile, about Marriage

Cape of Good Hope 1 5.48
North America 4 5.22
Russia in Europe 23 4.94
Denmark 73 4.89
Prussia 100 4.70
France 140 4.22
England 160 3.66

Is 1 to 160 as 3.66 to 5.48? If Mr Sadler's principle were just, the
number of children produced by a marriage at the Cape would be, not
5.48, but very near 600. Or take America and France. Is 4 to 140 as
4.22 to 5.22? The number of births to a marriage in North America ought,
according to this pro