384 



NATURE 



[July 6, 1916 



The early insurance companies charged a flat 

 rate of 5I. per cent, for members of all ages, 

 which was unfair to their younger members, but 

 profitable to the companies. Then Price was 

 lucky enough to come across the work of that 

 worthy clerk of Northampton whose bills of mor- 

 tality were prefaced each year by verses of the poet 

 Cowper, and by the aid of those bills constructed 

 a table of mortality. His method was erroneous, 

 but the error was on the right side, for he made 

 the mortality to be greater than it really was, and 

 so- as long as the Northampton table was used 

 the prosperity of the companies continued. Then 

 Milne constructed another table from the mor- 

 tality .experienced at Carlisle. Milne's methods 

 were correct, but his table, being based on a 

 limited local experience, was founded on insuffi- 

 cient data and was unevenly graduated. Still it 

 served as a standard table for very many years, 

 until Farr prepared from the Registrar-General's 

 returns for the whole population the English life 

 tables. These failed in the other direction; they 

 were too general. We are not including in these 

 observations the industrial insurances. 



In these circumstances the Institute of Actuaries 

 constructed a table from the actual experience of 

 the companies, known as the H°^ or healthy male 

 table; but by the year 1893, as Mr. George King 

 wrote, "it came to be felt that the Institute of 

 Actuaries' experience was passing out of date." 

 It was resolved to construct a table of mortality 

 on the experience of sixty companies during the 

 thirty years from 1863 to 1893, leaving out of 

 account all the experience of the earlier days of 

 the companies. In 1901 (not "a half-century ago," 

 as Dr. Campbell puts it) tables based on this 

 experience were published, and they are now the 

 standard tables in use. 



It appears from all we have said that the insur- 

 ance companies have been alive to the fact that 

 the duration of hfe has been gradually increasing, 

 and have not been unwilling to give their policy- 

 holders from time to time the benefit of the 

 advance of knowledge in that respect. The war 

 has now come to throw a new and lurid light on 

 this question. It has destroyed the lives or ruined 

 the health of many of those "whose lives have 

 been accepted as risks to be insured." But it will 

 come to an end some day, and normal conditions 

 will in time be restored. Meanwhile, we may be 

 well content with the materials with which 

 actuarial science has already furnished us. 



TROPICAL DISEASES. 



THE Bulletin of the St. Louis University for 

 January, 1916, contains a report of the work 

 of the expedition sent by the University to British 

 Honduras last summer for the study of tropical 

 diseases. This expedition, intentionally planned 

 for the purpose of a preliminary study of methods 

 of procedure, etc., illustrates the advantage of 

 these research expeditions. It is not that labora- 

 tories do not exist and that research is not carried 

 out in British Honduras, but such an expedition 



NO. 2436, VOL. 97] 



comes with a fresh outlook on problems, and 

 matters which may be taken to be among the 

 most ordinary events, scarcely worthy of record in 

 official reports, strike the members of an expedition 

 with an entirely fresh force. We may illustrate this 

 by two interesting examples, though perhaps not 

 of great importance. We do not recollect in the 

 official reports of British Honduras — and, indeed, 

 it may be because one does not read official reports 

 sufficiently carefully — the occurrence of poisoning, 

 said to be common during the summer months, 

 by the baracouta fish, nor do we recollect having 

 heard of this on the West Coast of Africa, where 

 the baracouta forms a welcome addition to the 

 ordinary diet of skinny chickens. Again, the 

 " botlass" fly (unidentified), after alighting on the 

 skin, leaves a black, hard spot and the bite is 

 very painful. This, again, to us is a new fact 

 and one certainly that should be investigated. 



The Bulletin has a special interest in that it 

 contains an " In Memoriam " notice of the life and 

 work of Dr. Edward Nelson Tobey, who was in 

 charge of this expedition to British Honduras to 

 study tropical diseases. He lost his life on the 

 ship Marowijne, in a West Indian hurricane, on 

 August 14. His life, as recorded here, was "one 

 of unreached ambition and of unrealised hope. 

 It was all effort and venture, with but little 

 fruition and rest." The words of Meredith's 

 sonnet on " Internal Harmony " — 



So that I draw the breath of finer air 

 Station is nought, nor footways laurel-strewn 

 Nor rivals tightly belted for the race. 

 Good speed to them ! My place is here or there ; 

 My pride is that among them I have place : 

 And thus I keep this instrument in tune — 



are, as those who knew " old Tobey " personally 

 can confidently assert, well applicable to him. 



J. W. w. s. 



THE MITTAG-LEFFLER INSTITUTE. 



IT was announced in our issue of March 23 

 (p. 85) that Mme. Mittag-Leffler and her 

 husband. Prof. G. Mittag-Leffler, the eminent- 

 inathematician, had made a will devoting the whole 

 of their property to the promotion of pure mathe- 

 matics. Details of this significant foundation are 

 given in the Revue generale des Sciences of May 

 30, from which the following particulars have been 

 derived : — 



The bequest includes their freehold villa with 

 its contents, among which is a fine mathematical 

 library ; and an endowment to provide for its 

 upkeep, salary of its curator, and other specified 

 purposes. To encourage the study of pure mathe- 

 matics in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Norway 

 there are to be bursaries tenable by young people 

 of both sexes belonging to these countries; they 

 must show real aptitude for research in pure 

 mathematics, but may pursue their studies at home 

 or abroad. There is to be a gold medal, similar 

 to the minor Nobel medal, for pure mathema- 

 ticians belonging to the aforesaid countries who 

 produce works above the average ; and a prize 

 for pure mathematics, to be awarded, if possible, 



