MODERN BASIS OF LIFE INSURANCE, 631 



Thus it appears that, with the exception of the period from fifteen 

 to thirty-seven, where the larger mortality can be easily explained on 

 physiological grounds, females have a far better chance of life than 

 males. This is particularly marked in the first year of life, and after 

 fifty-three years of age. 



Some of the results deduced from this table will no doubt surprise 

 many. It is not commonly assumed that age thirteen is the healthiest 

 in life, or that so large a proportion ol' infants will reach as high an 

 age as is here indicated. Nor is it generally known that more boys 

 are born than girls, and that the weaker sex has such decided advan- 

 tages in life over the stronger. But:, while nearly five per cent, more 

 male than female infants are born, the very reverse appears in the 

 whole population, there being about five per cent, more females living 

 than males. Of course, these proportions refer to England only, and 

 they vary in different countries, according to conditions and influences 

 that the reader can readily picture to himself. 



English Lif ;3 Table No. 3 marks an epoch in statistical science, and 

 the results obtained are valuable and sufficiently reliable for prac- 

 tical purposes, but much yet remains to be done to satisfy scientific 

 inquiry. An annual census, which is strongly urged, would allow a 

 closer and more frequent examination of facts, and reduce mathemati- 

 cal speculation to a minimum. 



One question of grave importance can not yet be considered as 

 definitively settled ; it is whether the rate of mortality is steadily de- 

 clining, and the duration of life is correspondingly extending. In a 

 general way, and as compared with former centuries, there can be no 

 doubt that a marked improvement is to be found. Take the popula- 

 tion of England as an illustration :, 



It was estimated in 1651 at 5,450,000 



" " 1751 at 6,400,000 



Census of 1801 at 8,892,536 



" 1851 at 17,927,609 



This shows an increase of seventeen and a half per cent, for the 

 century from 1651 to 1751, of thirty-nine per cent, for the fifty years 

 to 1801, and of one hundred and one and a half per cent, for fifty 

 years to 1851. 



These rapid strides are not astonishing when we consider the epi- 

 demics, the internal strife, the famines, and insufficient means of com- 

 munication, the disorderly and unsettled habits of former times, and 

 compare them with the better hygiene, the greater comforts, and the 

 generally refining influences of the present. But this increasing ratio 

 of growth may be due either to a larger percentage of births, or to a 

 smaller proportion of deaths, or to both causes combined. Statistics 

 seem to indicate that both factors are even now contributing to this 

 result. In 1841, out of 1,000 of the population, 15*4 were married dur- 



