ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF LIFE INSURANCE. 483 



gates will remain the same under similar conditions. This conception, 

 so self-evident to-day, was slow to dawn upon the human mind. An- 

 cient pagan belief, various forms of superstition, as well as theology, 

 all assumed life to be under the special control of a mysterious and 

 arbitrary power. The conviction that it is subject to laws, as unalter- 

 able as those that govern the physical universe, has only gained ground 

 within a comparatively recent period. Nor could such a view assert 

 itself until mathematics and statistics had reached a certain degree of 

 perfection ; for, previous to that, the law of averages and probabilities, 

 as applicable to social problems, could not be understood. 



Even after science had taken the initiative, and formulated the law 

 upon such data as were accessible, a long period elapsed before steps 

 were taken to apply its principles to practical ends. The conditions 

 of society were as yet too unsettled, property and life too insecure, to 

 permit such experiments. Not until after the middle of the eighteenth 

 century did the desire to provide for widows, orphans, and other de- 

 pendents, become so general as to lead to the establishment of a life- 

 insurance society in London. 



Since then the system has been steadily perfected, and has grown to 

 considerable dimensions all over the civilized world. At present more 

 than 600,000 lives are insured in the United States alone ; and the 

 usefulness of the institution is only beginning to be properly appre- 

 ciated. In view of this fact, and of the general interest that co- 

 operative enterprises are attracting just now, it may be well to point 

 out that life insurance must be reckoned among the grandest and most 

 successful efforts ever attempted in that direction. It has, moreover, 

 a century's experience to attest the strictly scientific principles upon 

 which it rests. Such an institution well deserves to be better and 

 more generally understood ; but, however large the number directly 

 interested, it is strange how few have correct notions about it. This 

 is probably attributable to the character of the literature on the sub- 

 ject, which, addressed to specialists, employs many technical terms, 

 or, intended for soliciting agents, contains mere platitudes. Thus the 

 impression prevails that it is either too dry or veiled in too much mys- 

 tery to deserve the attention of even the educated classes. 



It will be the aim of these articles, while giving an outline of the 

 origin and history of mortality-tables, the results attained, and an ex- 

 planation of the practical working of the whole system, to present it 

 in so plain and popular a manner as to be readily understood by every 

 intelligent reader. 



I. Origix and History. ^Among the nations of antiquity, the 

 Romans were the first to make an effort to arrive at a law of mortality. 

 To this they were led indirectly by their highly developed system of 

 jurisprudence. It became necessary at times to fix the value of life- 

 estates, i. e., property owned during lifetime only, without the right of 

 alienation or bequest, and to do so the probability of life had to be 



