394 O F I N F A N C Y. 



place as in London : M. Dnpie de S. Maur has 

 deinonftrated, by a number of experiments made 

 in France, that one half of the children born at- 

 the fame time are not extinct in lefs than i'even 

 or eight years; and, theretore, we might infure 

 the life of a new-born child for feven or eighc 

 years. When a child arrives at five, fix, or 

 feven years, it appears, from the fame experi- 

 ments, that its life is more certain than at any 

 other age ; for we may then infure for 42 years 

 more. But, in proportion as it advances above 

 five, fix, or leven years, the number of years it 

 wHli probably live conftantly decreafes. At 12, 

 for inftance, the chance is equal for 39 years 

 only, at 20 for 337, at 30 for 28, and fo on, 

 till the age of 85, when tlie chance is equal for 

 three years more *. 



In the growth of the human body, one thing 

 is exceedingly remarkable. The growth of the 

 foetus increafes more and more, in equal times, 

 till it efcapes from the womb. The growth of 

 the child, on the contrary, gradually diminilhes, 

 in equal times, till the age of puberty, to which 

 it makes a fudden bound, and foon acquires its 

 full ftature. The foetus, at the end of the firll 

 month, is an inch long ; at the end of the fe- 

 cond it is two inches and a quarter ; in three 

 months it is three inches and a quarter; in four 

 months it is more than five inches ; in five 



month.? 



* See the tables at the end of this volumeo 



