XVI. DE LA POPULATION

Il n’est donc pas surprenant qu’en voulant donner à cette équation une précision qu’elle ne comporte pas, les économistes aient plus divisé que rapproché les esprits, parce qu’il n’est aucun des termes de leurs formules qui ne prête le flanc à une multitude d’objections de raisonnement et de fait.

POPULATION

It is therefore not surprising that in seeking to make of this equation something more exact than its nature permits of, economists have managed to create more disagreement than unity of opinion, for there is not one term in the formulas they employ that is not open to a host of objections, based both on theory and on fact.

POPULATION

This is the way an opinion gains acceptance in France. Fifty ignoramuses repeat in chorus some absurd libel that has been thought up by an even bigger ignoramus; and, if only it happens to coincide to some slight degree with prevailing attitudes and passions, it becomes a self-evident truth.