484 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



estimated. It appears that the method in common use was about 

 equivalent to assuming that all persons wlio attain the age of thirty- 

 would certainly live to the age of sixty, and then certainly die. This 

 purely arbitrary assumption was probably accepted by jurists as the 

 simple solution of a difficult problem. 



A great improvement was introduced by the Praetorian Prefect 

 Ulpianus, one of the most eminent of Roman jurists. He published a 

 table of mortality, in which a distinction was made between the differ- 

 ent ages, and the probable number of years of life for each given. The 

 rate of mortality assumed for the middle ages approximates to that 

 probably prevalent previous to the seventeenth century. Whether 

 this table was based ujDon actual observation or was purely speculative 

 is not settled ; but, if its estimates were correct, the chances of life 

 above sixty years were very poor indeed among the Romans. How- 

 ever, these early efforts do not seem to have exercised any influence 

 toward a proper investigation of the subject, and, having been forgot- 

 ten, they only possess a passing interest for us. 



The real germs from which life insurance ultimately developed were 

 life-annuities and tontine annuities. These latter derived their name 

 from a Neapolitan adventurer, Tonti, who came to Paris in 1653, in the 

 reign of Louis XIY. He formed associations based upon the agree- 

 ment that members should pay a certain sum of money into a fund, 

 which was to be managed by him or other founders. The interest on 

 this capital was annually divided among the surviving members, and, 

 as their number grew smaller, their income became larger from time 

 to time, until eventually the last survivor enjoyed the whole annual 

 proceeds, which often were considerable. An instance is given of a 

 widow who died in France in 1726, at the age of ninety-six, as the last 

 survivor of a tontine society, having an income of 79,000 francs ; her 

 husband had been a surgeon, and had paid 300 francs for her member- 

 ship in the association. 



Such schemes were naturally attractive, and spread rapidly over 

 Europe. Various modifications were introduced, adapting them to 

 changing circumstances. Even governments had recourse to them as 

 a means of raising money, when credit was low. The English Gov- 

 ernment made a tontine loan in 1693, comprising 1,002 members, 

 the last of whom died in 1783. The other, known as the Great 

 English Tontine, was started in 1789 for 1,000,000, embracing about 

 3,500 lives. 



Voluntary associations for specific purposes were also quite fre- 

 quent. One of a later date, originating in this city, may be mentioned 

 by way of illustration. The Tontine Association of New York, estab- 

 lished in 1794 by prominent merchants, upon 203 shares, applied its 

 fund of about $40,000 to the erection of a coffee-house at the corner 

 of Wall and Water Streets. There was an agreement that, when the 

 nominees (mostly young children of the originators) should be reduced 



