MARRIAGE. 



that married women live longer than sin- 



iind in some circumstances even a greater 

 chance, that the woman shall be the sur- 

 vivor of a marriage, and not the man ; 

 and this difference cannot be accounted 

 for merely by the difference of age be- 

 tween husbunds and their wives, without 

 admitting the greater mortality of males. 

 In the district of Vaud, in Switzerland, 

 it appears, that half the females do not 

 die till the age of 46 and upwards, though 

 half the males die under 36. It is like- 

 wise an indisputable fact, that in the be- 

 ginning of life, the rate of mortality 

 among males is much greater than among 

 females. From a table formed by Dr. 

 Price, from a register kept for 20 years at 

 Gainsborough, it appears, that of those 

 who lived to 80, the major part, in the 

 proportion of 49 to 32, are females. M. 

 Deparcieux, at Paris, and M. Wargentin, 

 in Sweden, have further observed, that 

 not only women live longer than men, but 



gle women. From some registers exa- 

 mined by M. Muret, in Switzerland, it ap- 

 pears, that of equal numbers of single 

 and married women, between 15 and 25, 

 more of the former died than of the lat- 

 ter, in the proportion of two to one. 

 With respect to the difference between 

 the mortality of males and females, it is 

 found to be much less in country parishes 

 and villages than in towns ; and hence it 

 is inferred, that human life in males is 

 more brittle than in females, only in con- 

 sequence of adventitious causes, or of 

 some particular debility that takes place 

 in polished and luxurious societies, and 

 especially in great towns. From the ine- 

 quality above stated, between the males 

 and females that are born, it is reasonable 

 to infer, that one man ought to have but 

 one wife ; and yet that every woman, 

 without polygamy, may have a husband ; 

 this surplus of males above females being 

 spent in the supplies of war, the seas, &c. 

 from which the women are exempt. Per- 

 haps, says Dr. Price, it might have been 

 observed with more reason, that this pro- 

 vision had in view that particular weak- 

 ness or delicacy in the constitution of 

 males, which makes them more subject to 

 mortality ; and which consequently ren- 

 ders it necessary that more of them should 

 be produced, in order to preserve in the 

 world a due proportion between the two 

 sexes. That this is a work of Providence, 

 is well made out by the very laws of 

 chance, by Dr. Arbuthnot, who supposes 

 Thomas to lay against John, that for 82 

 years running, more males shall be born 

 than females ; and giving all allowances in 

 tHe computation to Thomas's side, he 



makes the odds against Thomas, that it 

 does not so happen, to be near five mil- 

 lions of millions of millions of millions to 

 one ; but for ages of ages, according to 

 the world's age, to be near an infinite 

 number to one. According to M. Kerse- 

 boom's observations, there are about 325 

 children born from 100 marriages. M, 

 Kerseboom, from his observations, esti- 

 mates the duration of marriages, one 

 with another, as in the following table. 

 Those whose ages, taken together, make 



40, live together between 24 and 25 years. 



50 22 . . 23 



60 23 . . 21 



70 19 . . 20 



80 17 . . 18 



90 14. . 15 



100 12 . . 13 



" Phil. Trans." No, 468. 



Dr. Price has shown, that on De Moi- 

 vre's hypothesis, or that the probabilities 

 of life decrease uniformly, the duration 

 of survivorship is equal to the duration of 

 marriage, when the ages are equal ; or, 

 in other words, that the expectation of 

 two j,oint lives, the ages being equal, is 

 the same with the expectation of survivor- 

 ship ; and, consequently, the number of 

 survivors, or (which is the same, suppos- 

 ing no second marriages) of widows and 

 widowers, alive together, which will arise 

 from any given set of such marriages 

 constantly kept up, will be equal to the 

 whole number of marriages, or half of 

 them (the number of widows in particu- 

 lar) equal to half the number of mar- 

 riages. Thus, the expectation of two 

 joint lives, both 40, is the third of 46 

 years, or their complement, i. e. 15 years 

 and 4 months ; and this is also the expec- 

 tation of the survivor. That is, suppos- 

 ing a set of marriages between persons 

 all 40, they will, one with another, last 

 just this time, and the survivors will last 

 the same time. In adding together the 

 years which any great number of such 

 marriages, and their survivorships, hav^ 

 lasted, the sums would be found to be 

 equal. It is observed further, that if the 

 number expressing the expectation of sin- 

 gle or jointlives, multiplied by the number 

 of single or joint lives whose expectation 

 it is,beaddedannually to asociety or town, 

 the sum gives the whole number living 

 together, to which such an annual addi- 

 tion would in time grow : thus, since 19, 

 or the third of 57, is the expectation of 

 two joint lives, whose common age is 29, 

 or common complement 57, 20 marriages 

 every year between persons of this age 

 would, in 57 years, grow to 20 times 19, 



