Benefit or Friendly Societies. ^79 



be constantly sick, a proportion which upwards of twenty years' 

 experience has shewn to have been far too high. 



At a later period, when the numerous failures of Friendly 

 Societies began to attract more general attention, several of their 

 members were led to attend to the probable rate of sickness. 

 Mr R. Wilson, and some other individuals in the village of 

 Methven in Perthshire, instituted a survey to ascertain the sick- 

 ness for one year among the whole male population of the pa- 

 rish above fifteen years of age, with a view to obtain data for 

 calculating the scheme of a Friendly Society ; when it was ascer- 

 tained, that, from mental or bodily imbecility, one in every 

 twenty-one of the male population of that parish could not at 

 any time of their lives have been admissible into a Friendly 

 Society. Mr Gavin Burns of Hamilton, in his pamphlet on 

 Friendly Societies, already alluded to, estimated that one in 

 every twenty of the members of a society would be constantly sick, 

 or at all events not above 1 in 17. Mr Borland of Paisley, 

 and Mr Dick of Bathgate, it is believed, also paid some atten- 

 tion to the subject; but comparatively little benefit resulted 

 from these investigations. 



The great importance, however, of ascertaining the law of 

 sickness, from actual experience, continued to be still farther 

 pressed on Mr Oliphan^s attention, by his being frequently con- 

 sulted in Friendly Society affairs, and from witnessing the se- 

 rious evils that were constantly arising to their members from 

 miscalculation. At a conference with the intelligent Direc- 

 tors of the Deanston Society, whose questions he had been 

 unable satisfactorily to answer, the expediency of instituting 

 a public inquiry on the subject was forcibly suggested. In 

 1819, Mr Oliphant brought forward the case in the Highland 

 Society of Scotland, and moved that premiums should be offered 

 to Friendly Societies for returns of the ages of their members, 

 and the sickness which had been found by experience to corres- 

 pond with those ages. This motion was ultimately agreed to, 

 and a committee appointed to conduct the inquiry. Schedules 

 for collecting returns were then issued throughout Scotland, 

 with an exemplification of the form in which the information 

 was required *, and two premiums of twenty guineas each were 



* The Schedule and Exemplification were both carefully arranged by Mr 

 Will of the Customs. These will be found very useful in assisting such so* 



