Page:An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798).djvu/178

152 in the course of ages, but can never pass?

He then adds,

"There is no person who does not see how very distant such a period is from us; but shall we ever arrive at it? It is equally impossible to pronounce for or against the future realization of an event which cannot take place but at an era, when the human race will have attained improvements, of which we can at present scarcely form a conception."

Mr Condorcet's picture of what may be expected to happen when the number of men shall surpass the means of their subsistence, is justly drawn. The oscillation which he describes, will certainly take place, and will, without doubt, be a constantly subsisting cause of periodical misery. The only point in which I differ from Mr. Condorcet with regard