Mr. Malthus, writing in 1806, says that “in these parishes in Scotland, where manufacturing has been introduced, which offered employment to children as soon as they have reached their sixth or seventh year, a habit of marrying early naturally follows; and, while the manufacture continues to flourish and increase, the evil arising from it is not very perceptible; although humanity must confess with a sigh, that one of the reasons why it is not so perceptible is that room is made for fresh families by the unnatural mortality which takes place among the children thus employed.” Mr. Van Houten gave a most eloquent variation of this theme at the meeting of the International Congress of Medical Men, at Amsterdam, in 1879, when he said that children should never be employed in industry:—“The child belongs to himself and to play. How many lives of children,” he continued, “do we not wear out in our clothes, or smoke away in our cigars!” Another writer in Malthus’ day is astonished at the rapid increase of population in parts of Scotland, in spite of a considerable emigration to America in 1770, and a large drain during the war. In the parish of Duthie (Elgin) the annual births were 1/12 of the whole population, the marriages one in 55. Each marriage in this place was stated to yield seven children, and yet the population had decreased. The women of Scotland appeared in those days to have been very prolific. In the parish of Nigg (Kincardine) there were 57 families with 405 children—_i.e._, nearly 7⅛ each. Compare this with modern France, with an average of three children to a marriage. In Scotland at present the number of children to a marriage is about four.