102 EX viRiBVs vivmus. 



Flourens', Cabanis', the Chinese, and other divisions 

 of the term of life indicate the writer's estimation of 

 that period for man as he knew him. 



Returning to the matter of statistics, we find that 

 there are few countries which have kept returns, or 

 in which the shifting nature of the population has 

 allowed the necessary facts to be readily acquired, 

 even amongst the most civilized ; and what we notice 

 very conspicuously is that statistics have been utterly 

 misinterpreted, and made to furnish conclusions by 

 faulty logic. The Northampton life-table of Price 

 is a remarkable instance of this. And we may point 

 to the discrepancies in some of the life-tables ap- 

 pended, when treating of the same classes, as further 

 examples. It is indeed only within the last twenty 

 years that really sound conclusions as regards lon- 

 gevity have been deduced from the statistics of 

 population. In Sweden, England,^ Belgium, Holland, 

 and Bavaria alone are there statistics which are of suffi- 

 cient value to quote. France has no sufficient returns 

 (though the old tables, now considered untrustworthy 

 by authorities, are given herewith), nor America, 



' There are no facts as to Ireland at all. Mr. Hendriks, in a letter 

 to the writer, states that he believes they are not such good lives, prima 

 facie, as English lives. A life-table for Scotland is given by Mr. Neison 

 (see Tables, p. 1 1 4.). Bacon, on the other hand, relates wonderful things 

 of the ' Hibemi sylvestres,' who are, he says, very long-lived ; and he 

 mentions, amongst other customs, their frequent use of saffron as a 

 draught. Irishmen have abandoned this potion and taken to others— 

 and are not now so celebrated for long life. 



