HAROLD A. BONER. Hungry Generations: The Nineteenth Century Case Against Malthusianism. Pp. viii, 234. New York: King's Crown Press, 1955. $3.75

• Author: Frank H. Hankins
• DOI: 10.1177/000271625530000150
• Date: 01 July 1955
• Published date: 01 July 1955
• Subject Matter: Articles

156

than

as

cases.

They

are

entitled,

for

ex-

ample,

to

be

told

the

truth

about

diagnosis

and

prognosis

so

that

they

may

make

their

own

plans

and

decisions.

The

only

excep-

tion

to

this

relates

to

the

care

of

those

who

are

psychotic

or

emotionally

disturbed.

Dr.

Fletcher

deplores,

in

this

connection,

the

tendency

among

physicians

to

treat

dis-

eases

rather

than

persons-an

impersonal

approach

which

he

ascribes

to

specializa-

tion

and

a

resulting

indifference

to

human

values.

It

may

be

added,

however,

that

this

attitude

derived

originally

from

the

nineteenth-century

emphasis

upon

a

local-

ized,

specific

pathology,

which

logically

focused

attention

on

diseases

as

such.

The

situation

is

being

modified

today,

quite

apart

from

its

moral

aspects,

by

a

partial

return

to

a

generalized

pathloogy

of

&dquo;the

whole

man.&dquo;

Science,

Dr.

Fletcher

declares,

has

ex-

tended

man’s

freedom

by

widening

the

choices

available

in

medical

matters;

while

theology

has

usually

limited

freedom

by

re-

jecting

each

new

alternative

in

turn.

Chief

among

these

alternatives

are

those

relating

to

life

and

death;

and

Dr.

Fletcher

there-

fore

poses

in

succession

the

controversial

issues

of

contraception,

artificial

insemina-

tion,

sterilization,

and

euthanasia.

He

ex-

amines

Catholic

opposition

to

each

of

these

procedures

and

ascribes

it

to

a

particular

concept

of

&dquo;natural

law.&dquo;

This

concept,

it

is

held,

has

come

to

identify

what

is

right

with

what

ordinarily

occurs

in

nature-

rather

than

with

moral

values

in

them-

selves.

Dr.

Fletcher

rejects

this

&dquo;ma-

terialistic

and

animistic

doctrine,&dquo;

and

con-

cludes

that

free

choice

in

each

of

these

issues

raises

man

about

brutish

or

fatalistic

attitudes

to

a

level

of

personal

integrity.

The

argument

throughout

is

primarily

moral

in

tone,

but

the

humane

advantages

of

the

proposed

practices-individual

and

social-are

also

noted.

The

appeal

is

to

reason

rather

than

to

dogma,

and

no

at-

tempts

are

made

to

shock

the

reader

or

to

arouse

feeling

against

those

who

think

otherwise.

The

study

impresses

the

re-

viewer

as

an

unusually

clear,

timely,

and

courageous

one.

RICHARD

H.

SHRYOCK

Johns

Hopkins

University

HAROLD

A.

BONER.

Hungry

Generations:

The

Nineteenth

Century

Case

Against

Malthusianism.

Pp.

viii,

234.

New

York:

King’s

Crown

Press,

1955.

$3.75.

Hungry

Generations

is

a

survey

of

the

literature

touching

on

the

Malthusian

con-

troversy

from

Godwin

to

Wells.

Through

the

writings

of

editors,

publicists,

econ-

omists,

novelists

and

poets,

the

author

traces

the

rise

and

decline of

the

authority

of

Malthus’

ideas.

Authors

receiving

most

attention

include

Carlyle,

Dickens,

Disraeli,

Godwin,

Kingsley,

J.

S.

Mill,

and

Southey;

but

many

others

are

included.

This

is

not

a

scientific

treatise,

but

literary

criticism.

Its

thesis

seems

to

be

that

the

ideas

of

Malthus

were

utterly

false,

were

accepted

because

of

their

utility

to

the

ruling

class,

but

finally

were

exposed

as

full

of

glaring

fallacies

by

the

literary

critics.

The

sur-

vey

conveniently

stops

short

of

the

revival

of

Malthusianism

following

World

War

I.

The

&dquo;Malthusian

controversy&dquo;

was

marked

by

much

heat,

hair

splitting,

and

logomachy

with

much

neglect

of

facts

or

even

scorn

of

them.

This

war

of

words

is

here

interestingly

traced

with

acuteness

and

general

impartiality

though

leaving

the

basic

issues

where

they

were.

Hence

it

is

a

work

of

scholarly

futility.

The

basic

fault

lies

in

the

narrow

interpretation

of

Malthusianism.

While

no

systematic

state-

ment

is

anywhere

made,

the

author

ad-

heres

rather

consistently

to

the

following:

Malthus

held

that

poverty

is

inevitable

and

incurable,

and

that

the

poor

are

themselves

responsible

because

of

their

inherent

im-

prudence

in

breeding;

hence,

a

Socialist-

Communist

utopia

is

unattainable;

more-

over,

poor

relief

should

be

abolished

be-

cause

it

undermines

prudence,

subtracts

from

the

well-being

of

the

prudent,

and

harms

the

imprudent

by

spreading

poverty

over

larger

numbers;

this

suffering

of

the

poor

is

part

of

the

mysterious

designs

of

Providence.

This

may

come

close

to

the

views

of

the

first

edition

of

the

Essay,

but

since

Malthus

was

fully

aware

of

criticisms

of

his

ideas

and

made

substantial

alterations

in

the

sec-

ond

edition,

it

is

not

possible

to

hold

him

to

such

a

harsh

interpretation.

The

proof

is

found

in

this

survey,

for

it

classes

among