238 ESSAY ON PROBABILITIES. 



would really have even less than they now possess, and 

 also less facilities of increasing their stock. The differ- 

 ences of talent and of life would still remain, constantly 

 working towards a restoration of the ancient inequalities, 

 in which they would almost instantaneously show their 

 power. A division of property, to be permanent, must 

 be accompanied by a division of intellect, a division of 

 manual skill, and a division of life; nor would the sum of 

 the parts make up the whole in anyone of the four, except 

 the last. A law which should tax the property of all who 

 live beyond a certain time of life, to provide an addi- 

 tion to the maintenance of the widows and children of 

 those who die before it, would not be so utterly im- 

 practicable, nor so pernicious, as an attempt at equaliza- 

 tion of fortune, intellect, or skill. Such a law would, 

 however, fail in its operation, by the mere difficulty of 

 arranging its enormous details, the frauds to which it 

 would give rise, and the temptation to idleness which it 

 would hold out to the young. A small community, 

 consisting of members of known honesty, living under 

 a government in which they reposed entire confidence, 

 and possessing sufficient inducements not to relax in 

 their exertions, by the certainty of a provision for their 

 families, might live under such a law : and such com- 

 munities actually do exist, under the name of insurance 

 companies. 



If a large number of persons, all of the same income 

 and prospects, and all certain of the same duration of 

 life, were to choose a common bank in which to de- 

 posit their savings, each laying by a given proportion 

 of his income, it is obvious that each would receive the 

 same sum as the rest at his decease ; but, if the lives 

 were of unequal and uncertain duration, this result 

 would no longer be produced. It might, however, be 

 attained by a covenant, that all sums paid in should 

 remain till all were dead, and then be equally divided 

 among the executors of the parties. Such a bank might 

 be called an equalization office, and it would present 



