EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
615 
sum he is desirous to secure for them, even should he die 
the next day after having paid only the first annual pre- 
mium ? How many chances are there against his attaining 
the expectation due to his age ? Of every hundred persons 
of the same age, ten will be cut off in ten years. What 
assurance has he that he will not be one of the ten ? In the 
next ten years, eleven more will have gone to their graves ; 
and at the end of the thirty-seven years, of the hundred who, 
thirty-seven years previously, were living men of twenty-five, 
only fifty-six — little more than half — will remain. Who, 
then, that would not leave any one for whom he has a regard 
in difficulties were he cut off, will be so rash as to delay 
insuring because he has a chance of a long life? But this 
is not all. If he delays, he may be attacked by disease. He 
will, most likely, have about nine weeks’ sickness between 
tw enty-five and thirty-five, the effects of which on his consti- 
tution may raise considerably the premium for insuring his 
life. Between thirty-five and forty-five, he is liable to about 
twelve weeks’ illness ; fifteen, between forty-five and fifty- 
five. Lastly, should he have the singular good fortune to 
have all these chances turning in his favour — to attain a 
long life — to acquire independence — to have preserved good 
health, so that delay w ould not have increased his premium, 
he cannot be so selfish as to complain, w r hen he receives 
a return but little short of what he has advanced (w 7 ith 
its compound interest) — to grudge that little difference w 7 hich 
has gone to alleviate the sufferings of others who have been 
less fortunate, while he has so large a proportion of his 
payments returned to him, and has enjoyed so long the 
security he sought for his family, or his old age .” — Reid on 
Life Assurance . 
[Our readers must not be displeased if from time to time 
we direct their attention to this important subject. We be- 
lieve that the public mind is not yet alive to its own interest 
in reference to it, and requires to be educated to see its full 
value. We are contented to be charged with mercenary 
motives, but believe we are actuated by higher principles, 
