ASS 



AST 



the sum to be assured on each is particu- 

 larly mentioned. 



In 1782, a duty of Is. 6d. was imposed 

 on every 100?. assured from loss by fire, 

 which was increased in 1797 to 2s. per 

 wit. and in 1804 to 2s. 6d. per cent , the 

 annual duty now payable. From the pro- 

 duce of this duty, an estimate has been 

 formed of the total amount of proper- 

 ty assured from fire in Great Britain, 

 which appears to have been nearly as 

 follows : 



In 1785 . . . L. 125,000,000 



1789 .... 142,000,000 



1793 .... 167,000,000 



1797 .... 184,000,000 



1801 .... 223,000,000 



1806 .... 260,000,000 



In the year.last mentioned there were 

 eleven offices for assurance against fire 

 in London, and 21 in other parts of Great 

 Britain. 



ASSURANCE on liven, secures a sum of 

 money to be received on the extinction 

 of any life, in consideration of an annual 

 premium paid to the assurer during- the 

 continuance of the life. Such assurances 

 are made for a given term of years, or 

 during the whole continuance of the life, 

 or the joint continuance of two lives; 

 and as they are of great utility to persons 

 having life incomes or life estates, and as 

 collateral securities, in many cases, for 

 money borrowed, this species of assu- 

 rance, as it has become more generally 

 understood, has likewise greatly increas- 

 ed. In 1790 there were only three socie- 

 ties in London which made assurances on 

 lives ; in 1807 there were ten offices for 

 transacting such business. These offices 

 all require nearly the same annual premi- 

 ums, of which the following are a speci- 



Age. 



1 Year. 



7 Years. 



Whole Life. 



These rates are computed from the 

 probabilities of life, according to the 



Northampton bills of mortality; the mode 

 of calculating them is explained by Dr. 

 Price, in his Treatise on Reversionary 

 Payments, and by Mr. Morgan, in a very 

 useful work, entitled " The Doctrine of 

 Annuities and Assurances on Lives and 

 Survivorships, stated and explained." 



Persons who are engaged in military 

 or naval service, or who have not had the 

 small-pox, or are subject to the gout, are 

 charged an additional premium, supposed 

 to be adequate to the additional risk. 



Policies of assurance on lives gene- 

 rally contain clauses to the following ef- 

 fect. 



Conditions of assurance made by per- 

 sons on their own lives. The assurance 

 to be void, if the person whose life is as- 

 sured shall depart beyond the limits of 

 Europe, shall die upon the seas, (except 

 in his Majesty's packets, passing between 

 Great Britain and Ireland ;) or shall en- 

 ter into, or engage in, any military or na- 

 val service whatever, without the pre- 

 vious consent of the assurers ; or shall die 

 by suicide, duelling, or the hand of jus- 

 tice ; or shall not be, at the time the assu- 

 rance is made, in good health. 



Conditions of assurances made by per- 

 sons on the lives of others. The assu- 

 rance to be void, if the person whose life 

 is assured shall depart beyond the limits 

 of Europe, shall die upon the seas, (ex- 

 cept in his Majesty's packets passing 

 between Gi'eat Britain and Ireland;) or 

 shall enter into, or engage in, any milita- 

 ry or naval service whatever, without the 

 previous consent of the assurers; or shall 

 not be, at the time the assurance is made, 

 in good health. 



Any person making an assurance on 

 the life of another must be interested 

 therein, agreeable to Act of 14th of Geo. 

 III. chap. 48, which prohibits wagering, 

 or speculative insurances. 



ASTER, in botany, stunvort. Class, 

 Syngenesia Polygamia Superflua. Gen. 

 char. cal. common, imbricate, the inner 

 scales prominent a little at the end, low- 

 er ones spreading; cor. compound, radi- 

 ate; corollules hermaphrodite, numerous 

 in the disk ; females ligulate, more than 

 10 in the ray ; proper of the hermaphro- 

 dite, funnel-shaped, with a five-cleft 

 spreading border : of the female ligulate 

 lanceolate, three-toothed, at length roll- 

 ing back; stam. hermaphrodite; filaments 

 five ; capillary very short ; anthers cylin- 

 dric, tubulous ; pist. germ oblong; style 

 filiform, the length of the stamens; stig- 

 ma bifid, spreading; females, germ and 

 style the s.^me ; stigmas two, oblong- r- 



