From the middle of the eighteenth century, almost all writings on population contained some reference to the point that population increases more rapidly than food supply, a point which was later to be elaborated by Malthus and which came to be known as the Malthusian Theory of Population.
This shift in the attitude to population size is worth nothing. The earlier optimistic view, which regarded a large and growing population as a source of strength and wealth, was gradually replaced by the view that it was undesirable to have a population that was too large in relation to the means of subsistence.
This pessimistic view was based on such considerations as the potential of the reproductive power of human beings, limited land and limited means of subsistence, the tendency of population to grow so rapidly as to create the problem of over-population and the harmful effects of over-population in relation to the means of subsistence.
The logical result of such a line of thinking was belief in the benevolent role of the various checks on population growth. The earlier belief that prolific fertility was a patriotic duty gave way to the idea of responsible parenthood for the well-being of the children.
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Intellectuals started thinking in terms of checks on child-bearing, mainly because of the excess fertility of the poor and the resulting burden imposed on society by the Poor Laws.
Several writers anticipated the doctrines later propounded by Malthus. Botero has already been referred to as his first important forerunner.
Writing in 1677, Mathew Hale referred to the capacity of mankind to increase in geometrical proportion, doubling in numbers in the course of thirty-four years or even less.
He also referred to corrective checks for controlling human population. Others, writing in the same strain, were: Robert Wallace (1687- 1771), John Bruckner (1726-1804), James Steurt (1712-1780), and Joseph Townsend (1739-1816).