io6 EX VIRIBUS VIVIMUS. 



indigent old men in China from various provinces. The archives of the 

 empire shew that of this number the reputed ages v? ere as follows : — 

 70 to 80 80 to 90 90 to 100 100 



194,086 169,832 9)996 21 



F. Shortness of German Lives. 



Mr. Neison observes ('Contributions to Vital Statistics,' p. xi.) that 

 in the returns from the Gotha Life Office, ' at the younger ages the 

 mortality is much less than that indicated by any of the other Tables 

 yet alluded to (English), but at the older ages tie rate of mortality is very 

 much greater.' Also, 



O. Shortness of American Lives. 



Professor Gill has obtained returns from New York Assurances 

 ' shewing the same peculiar features in the rate of mortality described 

 as characteristic of the Gotha Company's experience, only at the older 

 ages the mortality is even higher than that of the other.' 



The foUovring paragraph from the ' Lancet ' has come to hand while 

 these sheets are in the press : — ' The American Philosophical Society 

 has received from Mr. Pliny Earle Chase an important contribution on 

 the value of life in the town of Philadelphia. Mr.X;hase shows that, 

 notwithstanding the increased juvenile mortality, the Philadelphia life- 

 tables indicate a possible life in Philadelphia of 1 14 years, a probable 

 life of 33'44, and an expectation life of 35'09 years. He means by the 

 term possible life, the limit sometimes obtained in a given locality ; by 

 the probable life, the age the probability of living beyond which is as 

 great as that of dying before the age is attained ; and by the expectation 

 life he defines the average which will be attained by all who are bom. 

 In sixty-two years the average mortality was i in 47'836, the coloured 

 mortality in the same period being i in 27763. The ratio of still 

 births to total births was 4-3 per cent., and to total deaths 5-8 per cent. 

 The ratio of living births to population was 2-8 per cent., and of deaths 

 to births, 74-5. The average natural increase was 3'3, and the increase 

 by emigration 2'6 per cent. The main age at death was 23-57 years, 

 and the main age of persons living was 24-29. 



' But the most interesting facts in Mr. Chase's tables are those which 

 shew how the simple mode of life of a quaker community compares 

 with the life of a more active, or, rather, more luxurious people. He 

 analyses the life-tables of the two communities of Philadelphia, dividing 



