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assurance business, on the other hand, depends upon a certainty 
—death — which, with the duration of life, may be brought 
under mathematical calculations. This view has not always 
been recognised; for, at one time life assurance and annuity 
speculations led to the enactment of laws which made penal the 
staking of money, by annuities or insurance, on the life of the 
pope, or of a king or bishop. It was believed that such trans- 
actions were attended with danger, inasmuch as those persons 
might be privately despatched for the pecuniary benefit that 
would accrue to some of those interested in their death. 
Life assurance, based upon system, is, however, of modern 
origin. Till the beginning of this century, there were not more 
than half-a-dozen offices in existence. The two oldest are the 
Amicable (1706), and the Equitable (1762). In 1813, there 
were only fifteen offices ; in 1825, thirty-two ; whilst, at the pre- 
sent time, there are at least two hundred life assurance offices 
well-established in this country, employing no fewer than 2,000 
directors and managers, with a corresponding number of clerks ; 
moreover, agents in all our large towns are working outandrapidly 
extending the principles and practice of life insurance amongst 
the community. The wealth of some of these offices is enor- 
mous. In 1864, when the directors of seven insurance offices 
signed a memorial to the Chancellor of the Exchequer not to 
trespass upon the domain of legitimate private enterprises by 
introducing a government scheme, it was stated that the funds 
of these companies represented a capital of 100,000,000^; the 
amount assured 300,000,000^., and that new assurances were 
being effected at the rate of 30,000,000^. per annum. At the 
same time, it is estimated that not more than a tenth of the 
adult male population insure.* 
Friendly societies are essentially the provident life assurance as- 
sociations of the industrial ranks. They reckon above 3,000,000 
members, contributing an annual revenue of 5,000,000^., and 
possessing an accumulated capital of 20,000,000^. ; and when the 
habit of life assurance becomes more general among the arti- 
zans’ class, and when, as must eventually happen, the system 
* Life assurance was not altogether unknown to the Romans. We have 
a singular record of the earliest Friendly Society in a monument discovered 
in Italy, where the laws of the association were inscribed on marble. It 
was a kind of burial club, meeting monthly. New members had to present 
wine, besides 15s., at entrance ; 2d. a month was the subscription, and 21. 5s. 
was allowed for funeral expenses ; and the rules for preserving order and good- 
fellowship, and others relating to business, very much resembled those of 
modem friendly societies. In the middle ages, again, freemasonry, guilds, 
and corporations, besides promoting religion and trade, carried out the 
principles of mutual aid and protection, by granting pecuniary benefits to 
widows and orphans; and in modern times friendly societies are but a 
further development of life and health assurance principles. 
