28 OBSERVATIONS on THE 
to notice in what inftances thofe dying after eighty years 
of age wete foreigners. But a laudable fpirit of enquiry 
is gaining ground among us, fo faft, that there is reafon | 
to expect the introduction of great regularity and precifion 
in fuch arrangements, in the feveral departments of our 
public ceconomy, as may lead to further attainments in 
ufeful knowledge, and particularly to improvements. in 
this branch of {cience. 
In purfuing this fubje&t, it becomes necefiary to flate 
thofe facts, from which, as data, deductions are ufually 
made, for the purpofe of afcertaining the condition of any 
given country, with refpect to its population. And, after 
thewing the refult of fimilar ftatements, here, and com-= 
paring them with fuch as have been made the ground 
work, in eftimates relating to European countries, the 
balance in favor of this country will be evident. 
Marriage is the fource of population. Therefore, the 
greater is the proportion of marriages in any country, 
the greater willbe its proportion of births.—lIt appeared, 
by a colleGtion of the yearly bills of mortality, publithed 
in London, in 1759, by Mr. Corbyn Morris,—that, in 
England, each marriage produces four children. Dp. 
Short, in his comparative hiftory of the increafe of man- 
kind, fays, that, in order tovbe fully fatished refpeCting 
the numbers of perfons to-be allowed to a family, he ob~ 
tained the true number of families and individuals in four- 
teen market-towns, fome of them confiderable in trade 
and populoufnefs; and that they contained 20,371 fami- 
lies, and 97,611 individuals ;—or, but little more than 
4% toa family. He adds, that, in order to.find the dif- 
ference in this refpect, between towns and country-parifh- 
es, he procured, from divers parts of the kingdom, the 
exact number of families and individuals, in fixty-five 
country-parifhes. The number of families was 17,208,-- 
individuals, 76,284; or, not quite 4} toa family. Dr. 
Davenant, 
