登陆注册
20002900000081

第81章

There are many parts of Europe even now in which custom exercising the force of law prevents more than one son in each family from marrying; he is generally the eldest, but in some places the youngest: if any other son marries he must leave the village.When great material prosperity and the absence of all extreme poverty are found in old-fashioned corners of the Old World, the explanation generally lies in some such custom as this with all its evils and hardships.(19*) It is true that the severity of this custom may be tempered by the power of migration; but in the Middle Ages the free movement of the people was hindered by stern regulations.The free towns indeed often encouraged immigration from the country: but the rules of the gilds were in some respects almost as cruel to people who tried to escape from their old homes as were those enforced by the feudal lords themselves.(20*)5.In this respect the position of the hired agricultural labourer has changed very much.The towns are now always open to him and his children; and if he betakes himself to the New World he is likely to succeed better than any other class of emigrants.

But on the other hand the gradual rise in the value of land and its growing scarcity is tending to check the increase of population in some districts in which the system of peasant properties prevails, in which there is not much enterprise for opening out new trades or for emigration, and parents feel that the social position of their children will depend on the amount of their land.They incline to limit artificially the size of their families and to treat marriage very much as a business contract, seeking always to marry their sons to heiresses.

Francis Galton pointed out that, though the families of English peers are generally large, the habits of marrying the eldest son to an heiress who is presumably not of fertile stock, and sometimes dissuading younger sons from marriage, have led to the extinction of many peerages.Similar habits among French peasants, combined with their preference for small families, keep their numbers almost stationary.

On the other hand there seem to be no conditions more favourable to the rapid growth of numbers than those of the agricultural districts of new countries.Land is to be had in abundance, railways and steamships carry away the produce of the land and bring back in exchange implements of advanced types, and many of the comforts and luxuries of life.The "farmer," as the peasant proprietor is called in America, finds therefore that a large family is not a burden, but an assistance to him.He and they live healthy out-of-door lives; there is nothing to check but everything to stimulate the growth of numbers.The natural increase is aided by immigration; and thus, in spite of the fact that some classes of the inhabitants of large cities in America are, it is said, reluctant to have many children, the population has increased sixteen-fold in the last hundred years.(21*)On the whole it seems proved that the birth-rate is generally lower among the well-to-do than among those who make little expensive provision for the future of themselves and their families, and who live an active life: and that fecundity is diminished by luxurious habits of living.Probably it is also diminished by severe mental strain; that is to say, given the natural strength of the parents, their expectation of a large family is diminished by a great increase of mental strain.Of course those who do high mental work, have as a class more than the average of constitutional and nervous strength; and Galton has shown that they are not as a class unprolific.But they commonly marry late.

6.The growth of population in England has a more clearly defined history than that in the United Kingdom, and we shall find some interest in noticing its chief movements.

The restraints on the increase of numbers during the Middle Ages were the same in England as elsewhere.In England as elsewhere the religious orders were a refuge to those for whom no establishment in marriage could be provided; and religious celibacy while undoubtedly acting in some measure as an independent check on the growth of population, is in the main to be regarded rather as a method in which the broad natural forces tending to restrain population expressed themselves, than as an addition to them.Infectious and contagious diseases, both endemic and epidemic, were caused by dirty habits of life which were even worse in England than in the South of Europe; and famines by the failures of good harvests and the difficulties of communication; though this evil was less in England than elsewhere.

Country life was, as elsewhere, rigid in its habits; young people found it difficult to establish themselves until some other married pair had passed from the scene and made a vacancy in their own parish; for migration to another parish was seldom thought of by an agricultural labourer under ordinary circumstances.Consequently whenever plague or war or famine thinned the population, there were always many waiting to be married, who filled the vacant places; and, being perhaps younger and stronger than the average of newly married couples, had larger families.(22*)There was however some movement even of agricultural labourers towards districts which had been struck more heavily than their neighbours by pestilence, by famine or the sword.

同类推荐
  • 曲海总目提要

    曲海总目提要

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 尊隐

    尊隐

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 寄同年封舍人渭

    寄同年封舍人渭

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 频毗娑罗王诣佛供养经

    频毗娑罗王诣佛供养经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 雅言

    雅言

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 予情于景:我的转学生前桌

    予情于景:我的转学生前桌

    报道那天,陈菁菁似是看到了一个陌生的身影出现在教室。一个身材高瘦,白净腼腆的男生,抱着书包低着头,似是无所适从。偶然的机会,陈菁菁才发现,以上都是假象!现实内向,不易近人,拒人千里;线上开放,甚都敢说;毫不顾忌。然后说着说着,骂到自己这来了?不过她有的是时间整治他,毕竟,世界之大无奇不有。不可思议的事情一桩接着一桩,接下来还会发生什么呢?
  • 先婚厚宠

    先婚厚宠

    婚礼前夕,她遭遇爱情和友情的双重背叛,大龄失婚,她在母亲疯狂的轰炸下走上了相亲之路,却将他错认为相亲对象,短短一下午,她就从单身贵族踏入已婚妇女的行列……
  • 龙荡九天

    龙荡九天

    九天之上,一条金龙,穿梭在天地间,睥睨苍穹。苍穹之上,一个身披神甲的身影,全身爆发出强烈的金芒,目光,洞穿天地。。。。。。
  • 穿越之斗破苍穹

    穿越之斗破苍穹

    宅男得到大机缘,穿越斗破苍穹的故事,开后宫,收小弟的故事。
  • 女中医的养颜养生经

    女中医的养颜养生经

    本书从饮食、经络、四季等方面告诉女性朋友如何从细节入手为自己的养颜、养生服务,带给大家最健康的生活方式,将看似深奥难懂的哲学和中医原理,通过细致入微、通俗易懂的讲解和具体实例与操作展现给广大女性朋友,成为人人都能做到的日常习惯。
  • 一夜缠绵:夜少的囚宠妻

    一夜缠绵:夜少的囚宠妻

    传闻b市,最权贵的男人君邪夜——冷酷无情,对谁都极其凶残!却没有人知道,他有一个女人,宠到骨子里的女人,传闻澳门的赌场“王”,是由一个极其强势高贵的男人总管着——君邪夜,却没有人知道,他有一个女人,爱到骨子里的女人。一线牵扯,她被他拴在身边,却又被他丢之如弃,没有人知道,被他宠着,爱着的女人竟这般卑微。他为她倾尽所有,她却被他伤的遍体鳞伤!他们的相遇,犹如南柯一梦,到底是他不会爱,还是她爱得太卑微?
  • 录魂豪杰传

    录魂豪杰传

    这是一个战魂的世界,魂师们为世界魂灵的传承而战,华丽而又诡异的魂技,甚至还有来自自身魂魄深处的召唤的终极奥义。奇遇的天干地支神殿,更有天罡地煞散落人间,随着魂师飘洒的热血谱写出一本列传!
  • 畅行天下的女人社交书

    畅行天下的女人社交书

    拥有好人缘的女性,不仅修养佳、EQ好,外貌不重要,人情世故占第一。社交是一门艺术,需要每一位女性从外在修饰到内在涵养,从知己到了解他人心思、博得人心,进而赢得信任及好感。
  • 大次元时代

    大次元时代

    三个月前,宁慕钧得到一种名为重启的能力。只要他遇到倒霉的事,整个世界的时间就会倒流回他遇上倒霉事件之前!————————————————————标(正)签(体):黑暗系治愈轮回系
  • 寒风雪

    寒风雪

    我不负天,天何欺我仁。我不渎神,神何使我殇。若有天和神,何使我天南海北离。这世间何来的天,何来的神。纵使万罪加身又如何,终为她负了这世间。错的不是世人,而是天,既然是天的错,便让这天下人来偿还。只见蓦然回首,那人依然,灯火阑珊处。