The rate of population growth increased greatly in the late 1800s for various reasons. Some of these reasons included a falling death rate, caused by better sources of nutrition, and medical and sanitation advances. The general population was able to eat better due to “improved methods of farming, food storage, and distribution” (249). The increased amount of food and nutritional availability helped decrease the amount of people dying from starvation. Because pregnant women could eat better, their babies were stronger and did not die at young ages. Revolutionary scientists and their discoveries also played a key role in the population boost. Louis Pasteur successfully identified the link between microbes and disease and later made other
