ON LIFE INSUEANCE AND VITAL STATISTICS. 
By W. HARDWICKE, M.D., 
Deputy- Coroner for Central Middlesex , 8fc. 
W E propose in the following pages to discuss, as briefly as 
possible, and without technical and mathematical re- 
ferences, the principles of Life Insurance, and to $how, in a 
social point of view, the important and intimate relations of 
the science of Vital statistics with our commercial prosperity. 
With the mass of mankind, individual efforts suffice to pro- 
vide for little more than daily^necessities, and it unfortunately 
happens, that the unexpected death of a parent, or some sudden 
exigency, leaves a wife and family unprovided for, or entails 
upon them the necessity of maintaining themselves under the 
pressure of adversity, or of relying upon others for their sup- 
port. 
The most observable feature in English character is a love of 
independence, and this feeling the principles of life assur- 
ance serve above all others to foster, and annihilate that sense 
of insecurity in individual effort, of which most persons are 
conscious. Life assurance is indeed a contract with certain 
parties who invest money by which the uncertainties of life are 
compensated, and by which the representatives of those who do 
not live the average time share in the good fortune of those 
who exceed it. 
The words Insurance and Assurance are vaguely defined, but 
may with propriety be used synonymously. The word insurance 
is mostly used when speaking of indemnity for loss of property 
by fire or shipwreck ; while assurance generally refers to money 
payment upon death, or upon other contingencies depending 
upon the duration of human life. 
To be assured or made sure, and to be insured is much the 
same thing. There is, however, a distinction, which has, per- 
haps, a moral as well as a legal significance. Insurance against 
fire more nearly resembles a bargain or commercial speculation 
for realising a sum of money upon a chance event. Life 
VOL. vi. — NO. xxiv. x 
