CHAPTER III 

 THE CHANCES OF DEATH 



THE LIFE TABLE 



UP to this point in our discussion of death and lon- 

 gevity we have, for the most part, dealt with general and 

 qualitative matters, and have not made any particular 

 examination as to the quantitative aspects of the prob- 

 lem of longevity. To this phase attention may now be 

 directed. For one organism, and one organism only, do 

 we know much about the quantitative aspects of longevity. 

 I refer, of course, to man, and the abundant records which 

 exist as to the duration of his life under various condi- 

 tions and circumstances. In 1532 there began in London 

 the first definitely known compilation of weekly " Bills 

 of Mortality." Seven years later, the official registra- 

 tion of baptisms, marriages and deaths was begun in 

 France, and shortly after the opening of the seventeenth 

 century similar registration was begun in Sweden. In 

 1662 was published the first edition of a remarkable book, 

 a book which marks the beginning of the subject which we 

 now know as ' ' vital statistics. ' ' I refer to ' ' Natural and 

 Political Observations Mentioned in the Following Index, 

 and made upon the Bills of Mortality ' ' by Captain John 

 Graunt, Citizen of London. From that day to this, in 

 an ever widening portion of the inhabited globe we have 

 had more or less continuous published records about the 

 duration of life of man. The amount of such material 



which has accumulated is enormous. We are only at the 



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