352 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



Year. 



Number of 

 Report. 



1853 

 1854 

 1855 

 1856 

 1857 



XII. 

 XIIL 

 XIV. 



XV. 

 XVI. 



Average of tioo years 

 before Act of 1844, 



Average of five years 

 before Act of 1849, 



Average of eight years, 

 1850-57, 



Births. 



11.0 

 18.3 



28.7 



Deaths. 



12.8 



11.1 



9 years, 1849-57. 



18.4 



Marriages. 



7.3 



5.7 



11.1 



Massachusetts. 



166 towns, 1855 



31.2 



21.4 



12.4 



England and Wales. 



Nineteen 



years 

 1858-56, 



( Average, 

 ■< Greatest, 

 ( Least, 



32.9 



34.5 (1856) 



30.3 (1838) 



22.4 



25.1 (1849) 



20.5 (1856) 



8.2 



8.9 (1853) 

 7.3 (1842) 



Professor Peirce explained the principles involved in esti- 

 mating the actual value of the property of life assurance 

 companies. 



Professor G. P. Bond stated that he had received from 

 England a successful photograph of Donati's comet, taken 

 near London by a common camera. It represented the nu- 

 cleus with a small part of the tail. 



Professor Cooke made some remarks upon Mr. Storer's 

 paper on the Alloys of Zinc and Copper (presented at the 

 previous meeting), and illustrated the bearing of the facts 

 determined by Mr. Storer, and of others observed by him- 

 self, upon his view of the variation of chemical force. 



