[ 24 ° ] 
a and to edablidh, by obfervations, fome certainty 
u concerning the mortality of mankind of different 
tc ages. If thefe obfervations were fufficiently exadt, 
“ and a fufficient number of them made, they would 
tc be of very great ufe towards knowing the number 
u of the people, of their increafe, of the confumption 
tc of provifions, of the divifion of taxes, &c. Many 
“ ingenious men have dudied this fubjedt ; and lately 
cc Mr. Deparcieux, of the Academy of Sciences, has 
ic given us an excellent work, which ferves as a rule 
tc for the future, with refpedt to annuities for life : 
cc but, as his principal view was to calculate the mor- 
“ tality of annuitants, and that, in general, annuitants 
<c for life are men in one date, no concludon can be 
“ drawn from it for the mortality of mankind at 
“ large. The tables, which he has given in the 
<c fame work upon the mortality of the different re- 
<( ligious orders, are alfo very curious ; but, being con- 
t( fined to a certain number of men, who live in a 
“ different manner from others, they are not yet fuf- 
“ ficient to found exadt probabilities with relation 
{C to the general duration of life. 
“ Dr. Halley, Mefiieurs Graunt, Kerffeboom, 
<c Sympfon, &c. have alfo publidied tables of the 
a mortality of mankind ; and they have founded 
u them upon extradts from the bills of mortality of 
“ fome par iflies of London, Bredaw, &c. But it ap- 
<c pears to me, that their refearches, however ample, 
11 and the refult of long dudy, can afford only very 
4i didant approaches to the knowlege of the mor- 
“ tality of mankind in general. In order to make a 
<< good table of this kind, not only the regiders of 
<c the pariflies of fuch a city as London, Paris, &c. 
“ fhould 
