Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1818-07-03

tue pOuy, It's ll>c WOulN DC NIUE
more than as many feet that is, little
more than five times the human stature
Ii is found that single human person,
employs in respiration not less than six
teen or eighteen times his own weight of
common air, IN every twenty -four hours.
III different degrees, some greater. some
less, Tie case IS the same with most other
ANIMALS. flanis make correspondent
use OK air for their purposes.
OIhCr views OF the economy of nature
coincide with the preceding. There is
known tendency in all organized beings
10 multiply beyond The degree necessary
Ia keep up their actual numbers. II is a
wise pro, ision of naihre. IL, 10 guard
asanS, the failure OF the species 2, TO
afford, in the. surplus, "a food for animals
whether subsistiDg OH vegetables, or on
other animals which subsist on vegetab les.
Nature has been equally provdent in
guarding against an excessive mHltiplica-
non OF any one species which might too
'ar encroach on others, by subjeciing
each, when unduly multiplying itself, TO
be arresiedin lis progress by The effect of
ire muliipiication 4, in producing a
deficiency of food and where that may
not happen, 2, In producing a state OF the
atmosphere uniavorable 10 lie andhealih.
All animals as well as plants sicken and
die IN q state too much crowded. Ii is
the case with our domestic animals of ev-
cry sort, where no scarcity OF food can be
the cause. To The same laws mankind
are equally subject. An increase, not
consisting with the general plan of nature,
arrests itself. According to the degree in
which the number thrown together OK.
ceeds the due proportion ofspace and air,
disease and mortality ensue. u was The
vl,iated air alone which put out human
life in the crowded hole OF Calcutta. In
space somewhat enlarged, the effect
would have been slower, but not less GER
tain. In all confined situations from the
dungeon TO The crowded warehouses;, and
from these to the compact population of
overgrown cities, iheatmosphere becomes,
III corresponding degrees, untitled by re-
lierated use, for sustaining human life and
health. Were the atmosphere brea.hed
IN cities not diluted and displaced by
fresh supplies from the surrounding coun-
try, the mortality would soon becohc gen
era' Were the surrounding country
thickiy peopled and not refreshed IN like
manner, tie decay of health, though a la
Ter, would he a necessary consequence.
And were the whole habiiable earth GOV.
cred with dense population, wasieiu
naiadies might he looked for, that would
tim the numbers into healthy pro-
portion.
Were the earth in every productive spot,
and III every spot capable of being made
productive, appropriated 10 the food of
man; were The spade substituted for The
plough, and all animals consuming the
food of man, or food for " hlch human
food might be substituted, banished from
existence, SO as oprodnce the maximum
OF population on the earth, there would
be more than an hundred individuals, for
every one now upon it. In the actual po-
puation OF many countries, il brings on
| occasionai epidemics 10 be traced TO no
other origin than the state of the atmos-
| phere. Increase the numbers ten or
| twenty fold, and can IT be supposed that
they would al any tine find the breath of
HE IN condition 10 support il or that
supposltlon be admissible when limited
10 single country, can it be admitted
when not only the contiguous countries,
but the whole earth was equally crowded
! Must we then adopt the opinion enter
| famed by some philosophers, that no va
| ration whatever III the numbers and pro-
| portions Of the organized beings belong
! ing 10 our globe, Is permitted by the sys-
TEN ofnatnrc; that the number of species
and of individuals, in the animal and We
| getable empires, since they attained des-
| tined complement, has been, and must al
ways be the same; that the only change
| possible, is IN local augmentations and
dlminutions which balance each other,
and thus maintain the established and
unalterabe order of things?
| This would be the opposite extreme to
| that which has beer, rejected. Man
though so similar in lis physical cons,i
tuition to many other animals, is essenii-
ally distinguished from all other organic
ed beings, by the intellectual and moral
powers with which he is endowed. He
| possesses a reason and will, by which
| lie can act on matter organized and uR :
organized. He can, by the exercise of
! these peculiar powers, Increase his sub
| sistence, by which his numbers NAV be
| Increased beyond the spontaneous sup
| plies of nature and IL would be rea-
sOnahle conclusion, that making as he
| does in his capacity ofan intelligent and
voluntary agent, Oh integral part of the
terrestrial system, the other paris of The
| system arc SO framed as not 10 be altoge-
ther, nnsusceptbie of his agency, and uiI-
| pliIble ia lis effects.
| This reasonable conclusion is confirm
ed by the fact, that the capacity of man,
| derived from his reason and his will, has
| effected an increase of particular plants
and animals conducive 10 an increase OF
his own race; and dmmuiion of ihe
numbers, il not of the species of plants
and animals displaced by that Increase.
Most, iinot ali of our d0mesticaied a.
nimais probably exceed the numbers,
which without The intervention Of man,
would be their natural amount whist
thcaDlmals prcIing on, or interfering with
them, are proportlonaily reduced in their
numbers.
The case is the same with cultivated