58 DISCOURSE ON THE STUDY 



than the institution of life-assurances. Nothing is 

 more uncertain than the life of a single individual ; 

 and it is the sense of this insecurity which has given 

 rise to such institutions. They are, in their nature 

 and objects, the precise reverse of gambling specu- 

 lations, their object being to equalize vicissitude, 

 and to place the pecuniary relations of numerous 

 masses of mankind, in so far as they extend, on a 

 footing independent of individual casualty. To do 

 this with the greatest possible advantage, or indeed 

 with any advantage at all, it is necessary to know the 

 laws of mortality, or the average numbers of indivi- 

 duals, out of a great multitude, who die at every 

 period of life from infancy to extreme old age. At 

 first sight this would seem a hopeless enquiry; to 

 some, perhaps, a presumptuous one. But it has been 

 made ; and the result is, that, abating extraordinary 

 causes, such as wars, pestilence, and the like, a re- 

 markable regularity does obtain, quite sufficient 

 to afford grounds not only for general estimations, 

 but for nice calculations of risk and adventure, such 

 as infallibly to insure the success of any such insti- 

 tution founded on good computations ; and thus to 

 confer such stability on the fortunes of families de- 

 pendent on the exertions of one individual as to con- 

 stitute an important feature in modern civilization. 

 The only thing to be feared in such institutions is 

 their too great multiplication and consequent com- 

 petition, by which a spirit of gambling and under- 

 bidding is liable to be generated among their con- 

 ductors, and the very mischief may be produced, 

 on a scale of frightful extent, which they are 

 especially intended to prevent. 



