3 6 9 
of the Weftminfter General Difperifary,. 
table of the chance of life from- infancy to 26 years of age- 
Age. 
Perfons 
living. 
Decreafe 
of life. 
O 
5400 
2250 
5 jn 12. 
2 
3 *S° 
45 ° - 
6 m 1 2 9 or r in 7 of the furvivors. 
4 
2700 
180 . 
'8 in 15, or I in 15 of the furvivors. 
6 
2520 
204 
4 in 7, or i> in 12 and of the furvivors,. 
8 
2313 
6 in 10, or 1 in 15 of the furvivors. 
.18 
26 
2160 
162a 
54 P 
7 In to, or 1 in 4 of the furvivors* 
3780 or {even-tenths would die. 
1620 or three- tenths would be living at the end of 26 yearn. 
5400. 
Whether this mode of calculating the chance of life will be 
admitted by gentlemen who have, made fpeculations of this 
kind their peculiar ftudy, I know not- I eonfefs,, that when I 
fir ft thought of it ? I expefted it would have proved more cer- 
tain and accurate than upon examination I have found it to be s 
for, although in the firft feries of years, where the deaths are 
numerous, the proportions agree tolerably well with the tables 
of M.. buffo n and others, yet as we advance we find ourfelves 
obliged to take longer periods than two years. Thus, for in- 
ftance, we may obferve, that although from 2 to 4, from 4. to 6, 
and from 6 to 8 years of , age,. the decreafe continues to go on ; 
yet fo far is this from being the cafe between the ages of 8 and 
10, or even 12, that there then appears to be feme trifling in- 
t creafe. But as the proportion of deaths from 8 to 10 or 1 2 is. 
probably inconfiderable, a very fmall deduction from the deaths, 
in the earlier years would rectify this difference. 'A deviation 
of this kind, I prefume, might be occafioned by the fmall-pox 9 
or 
