>Poverty no doubt discourages marriage, but doesn’t always prevent it. And it seems to be positively favourable to generation. A half-starved Highland wom

>Poverty no doubt discourages marriage, but doesn’t always prevent it. And it seems to be positively favourable to generation. A half-starved Highland woman may bear more than 20 children, while many a pampered fine lady is incapable of bearing any and is generally exhausted by two or three. Barrenness, so frequent among women of fashion, is very rare among those of lower station. >Luxury may inflame in the fair sex the passion for enjoyment, but it seems always to weaken—and often to destroy—the powers of generation Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations Given that he wrote that when North America was a rebellious colony where no chemicals were in common use and that we essentially all much, much, much richer than the rich people he talks about here it seems more likely to be something fundamentally human.