An Essay on the Principle of Population

Thomas Robert Malthus

Population multiplies geometrically; food increases arithmetically. From that grim pair of curves, an anonymous 1798 essay shook political optimism to its roots. Malthus argues that scarcity checks every dream of easy perfectibility, pressing the case through nineteen brisk chapters. Presented in the first edition text, the one that started the controversy. Confront the argument Darwin later thanked.