Nor are the arguments against his geometrical progression more
conclusive, ‹ib.›
Fixed on twenty-five years as the minimum period in which
population may double itself, because this actually takes place
in America, 405.
Malthus merely asserts that it has a ‹tendency› to increase in a
geometrical progression, ‹ib.›
That this virtual power of multiplication will be restrained is
just what Malthus contends for, ‹ib.›
Restrained by preventive and repressive checks, 406.
He was wrong in adopting the limit of twenty-five years,
although it holds good in America, 406, 407.
This mixing up of the virtual and the real has exposed him to be
misunderstood and misrepresented, 406.
Calculation by Euler of period of doubling, 407.
Applying Euler’s calculation to the facts stated by Moses,
Hebrews who entered Egypt must have doubled in 14 years, ‹ib.›
Absolute power of multiplication limited by obstacles, 408.
Vegetable life limited by want of space and territorial
fertility—animals destitute of foresight, by want of food, 409.