488 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



of its value. Life-annuities continued to be sold on mere conjecture. 

 Even the Enorlish Government made no distinction between different 

 ages' in the early part of the eighteenth century. A child at ten years 

 could obtain a life annuity of 100 for 714, while it was probably 

 worth over 1,300 at that time. 



It is not within the province of this article to trace in detail the 

 progress made in the science of life contingencies. Nearly every 

 mathematician of note contributed to the perfection of the theory, 

 while it was left almost exclusively to England to apply it in practice. 



Passing over minor writers, Thomas Simpson, a self-taught mathe- 

 matician, a mind of great originality, next deserves notice. In 1742 

 he enlarged upon the theory of Halley, De Moivre, and others, and, 

 deeming the Breslau table not applicable to English conditions, he 

 compiled and computed a mortality-table from the London mortality 

 bills from 1728 to 1737. For a number of years he published pam- 

 phlets and delivered lectures on the subject, attracting the attention 

 of the public at large. 



Shortly thereafter James Dodson, also a very able mathematician, 

 employed Simpson's tables, and made many valuable additions and 

 suggestions thereto. He contributed a number of able papers to the 

 " Philosophical Transactions," and was the first to point out, in 1755, 

 how mortality-tables might be applied to the calculation of life-insur- 

 ance i^remiums. 



Up to this time, it will be noticed, life insurance in the modern 

 sense was unknown. Both tontines and annuities had the very oppo- 

 site object in view, sacrificing the whole capital for an increased in- 

 come during lifetime. The reasons that made tontines popular have 

 been briefly touched upon. Similar causes applied to life-annuities ; 

 besides, they provided a convenient way of evading the usury laws, 

 and were often resorted to for that purpose. It was impossible to dis- 

 criminate what part of the high rate of interest paid was for the use 

 of money, and what percentage was due to the chance of death. 



But, while life insurance as a system is of recent date, the practice 

 of effecting temporary insurance on lives had its origin with the rise 

 of marine insurance, probably as early as the fourteenth century. It 

 was no more, however, than a mere bet, not based upon any experience 

 or estimate, and led to many immoral devices. On that ground it was 

 declared unlawful, and prohibited in the Netherlands, Spain, and Italy, 

 together with other wager contracts, as far back as the fourteenth and 

 fifteenth centuries. In England, however, there was no restriction, 

 and, in the eighteenth century, betting on the lives of prominent 

 men was carried on regularly at Lloyd's and other coffee-houses in 

 London. 



The spirit of gambling, that set in with the South-Sea bubble in 

 1720, continued to ebb and flow until the statute against wager con- 

 tracts was enacted in 1773. It gave rise to a large number of wild 



