This volume consists of two works, namely: the anonymous "Remarks", a reply to the first and most pessimistic edition of Malthus's "Essay"; and "Effects of Civilisation", one of the earliest works of British socialism in which the author Charles Hall, disagrees with Malthus about the existing causes of poverty. For Hall it was not over-population that causes poverty but the exploitation of the poor to support the luxurious lifestyles of the rich.