LONGEVITY. 



533 



tables of Ulpian agree perfectly with those afforded 

 by the great cities of Europe, and that they exhibit 

 the probabilities of life in ancient Rome to have 

 been the same as those of modern London. But 

 doctor F. Bisset Hawkins, in his Elements of Medi- 

 cal Statistics (London, 1829), says that the tables, 

 kept by the censors for 1000 years, and constituting 

 registers of population, sex, age, disease, &c., accoro!- 

 ing to Ulpian (who was a lawyer, and a minister of 

 Alexander Severus), refer only to free citizens, and 

 that, to draw a just comparison between Rome and 

 London, it would be necessary to take, among the 

 inhabitants of the latter city, only those who were 

 similarly circumstanced, viz., those whose condition 

 is easy; in which case, the balance would be greatly 

 in favour of modern times. Mr Finlayson has ascer- 

 tained, from very extensive observation on the decre- 

 ment of life prevailing among the nominees of the 

 Tontines, and other life annuities, granted by the 

 authority of parliament, during the last 40 years, that 

 the expectation of life is above 50 years for persons 

 thus situated which affords the easy classes of Bri- 

 tain a superiority of 20 years above even the easy 

 classes among the Romans. The mean term of life 

 among the easy classes of Paris is, at present, 42 

 years, which gives them an advantage of 12 years 

 above the Romans. In the third century of the 

 Christian era, the expectation of life in Rome was 

 as follows : From birth to 20, there was a proba- 

 bility of 30 years; from 20 to 25, of 28 years; from 25 

 to 30, 25 years; from 30 to 35, 22 years; from 35 to 

 40, 20 years; from 40 to 45, 18 years; from 45 to 50, 

 13 years; from 50 to 55, 9 years; from 55 to 60, 7 

 years; from 60 to 65, 5 years. Farther than this the 

 computation did not extend. The census taken from 

 time to time in Britain affords us information of an 

 unquestionable character. The first actual enumera- 

 tion of the inhabitants was made in 1801, and gave 

 an annual mortality of 1 in 44-8. In France, the 

 annual deaths were, in 1781, 1 in 29; in 1802, 1 in 

 30; in 1823, 1 in 40. In the Pays de Vaud, the 

 mortality is 1 to 49; in Sweden and Holland, 1 to 48; 

 in Russia, 1 to 41; in Austria, 1 to 38. Wherever 

 records have been kept, we find that mortality has 

 decreased with civilization. Perhaps a few more 

 persons reach extreme old age among nations in a 

 state of little cultivation; but it is certain that more 

 children die, and the chance of life, in general, is 

 much less. In Geneva, records of mortality have 

 been kept since 1590, which show that a child born 

 there has, at present, five times greater expectation 

 of life than one born three centuries ago. A like 

 improvement has taken place in the salubrity of large 

 towns. The annual mortality of London, in 1700, 

 was 1 in 25; in 1751, 1 in 21; in 1801, and the four 

 years preceding, 1 in 35; in 1811, 1 in 38; and in 

 1821, 1 in 40; the value of life having thus doubled, 

 in London, within the last 80 years. In Paris, about 

 the middle of the last century, the mortality was 1 in 

 25; at present, it is about 1 in 32; and it has been 

 calculated that, in the fourteenth century, it was one 

 in 16 or 17. The annual mortality in Berlin has 

 decreased during the last 50 or 60 years, from 1 in 28 

 to 1 in 34. The mortality in Manchester was, about 

 the middle of the last century, 1 in 25; in 1770, 1 in 

 28: 40 years afterwards, in 1811, the annual deaths 

 were diminished to 1 in 44; and, in 1821, they seem 

 to have been still fewer. In the middle of the last 

 century, the mortality of Vienna was 1 in 20; it has 

 not, however, improved in the same proportion as 

 some of the other European cities. According to 

 recent calculation, it is, even now, 1 in 22, or about 

 twice the proportion of that of Manchester, or 

 Glasgow. Many years ago, Mr Finlayson drew up 

 the following table, to exhibit the difference in the 



From Dec. 12, 1828, to Dec. 15, 1829, in London, 

 the whole number of deaths was 23,525. The pro- 

 portion of deaths, in different ages, was as follows : 



Under two yearn of age, 

 Between two aiid five, 

 Five and ten, 

 Ten and twenty, 

 Twenty and thirty, 

 Thirty and forty, 

 Forty and fifty, . 

 Fifty and sixty, . 

 Sixty and seventy, . 

 Seventy and eighty, 

 Eighty and ninety, . 

 Ninety and one hundred, . 

 One hundred and one 

 One hundred and eight, 



6710 

 2347 

 1019 



949 

 1563 

 1902 

 2(193 

 2094 

 2153 

 1843 



749 



95 



1 



On the average of eight years, from 1807 to 1814 

 inclusive, there died annually within the city of Phil- 

 adelphia and the liberties, the following proportion 

 of persons, of different ages, compared with the total 

 number of deaths : 



Under one year, 



From one to two years, 



Two to ten, . ... 



Five to ten, .... 



Ten to twenty, .... 



Twenty to thirty 



Thirty to forty 



Forty to fifty, .... 



Fifty to sixty, .... 

 Sixty to seventy, 



Seventy to eighty 



Eighty to ninety, .... 



Ninety to one hundred, 



One hundred to one hundred and ten, 



Per Cent. 



25-07 



1071 



567 



aoo 



3-60 

 8-63 

 1099 

 7-98 

 5-95 

 4-29 

 3-27 

 1-81) 

 0-80 

 0-0009 



Another question of interest is the inquiry in what 

 degree the various trades and professions are favour- 

 able to human life, or the contrary. Several state- 

 ments have lately been published respecting this 

 subject, but further and more copious observations 

 are required, to afford satisfactory results.* Literary 



The Literary Gazette gives in a tabular form, the results 

 of ;i work on this subject, from the pen of Mr Tharkrah, 



