294? ESSAY ON PROBABILITIES. 



may be collected, and however sound they may be, 

 skill and judgment will always be requisite to apply 

 them to the cases which arise. In this respect the 

 offices resemble the individual problems which arise in 

 life contingencies. Many as are the cases which have 

 been described in books upon the subject, almost every 

 application of them requires attention to some cir- 

 cumstance peculiar to the instance in question. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH IN- 

 SURANCE, ETC. 



THE limits of this treatise will only afford a few words 

 on several points of interest, which I will therefore 

 condense into one chapter, taking the subjects as they 

 arise. 



The management of annuity offices is somewhat 

 more easy than that of insurance establishments ; and 

 the maxims of security in the former are, of course, 

 the direct reverse of those in the latter, so far as any 

 considerations of mortality are concerned. Tables 

 must be assumed of higher than the real vitality, and 

 a rate of interest somewhat below, or at least not above, 

 that which can actually be obtained. 



Those who wish to buy annuities on the firmest 

 possible basis, may deal with the government. The 

 commissioners for the reduction of the national debt 

 are empowered to grant . annuities in lieu of stock, on 

 terms calculated from the government tables (page 168). 

 The rates are high ; and though a private office may 

 really be as solvent as the nation, yet confidence springs 



