DEATHS AMONG OFFICERS OF THE BENGAL ARMY. 
323 
pf life the lonc'evity of the surviving Anglo- 
Indians almost keeps pace with the Nor- 
thampton and other Tables, prepared during 
the last century in Europe. In the Civil Ser- 
vice the percentage of mortality for the last 
forty years has been somewhat under 2 per 
cent, for the first twenty years of residence in 
India ; a result far more favorable than that 
of the other services. After the age of 40, the 
ratio of decrement would appear to keep pace 
with that of the Army. 
At Bombay a Table has been received 
from England, prepared by an eminent Ac- 
tuary on data furnished from that presidency, 
which would have been valuable, but that 
throughout the document the Actuary, in the 
absence of more correct data, has erroneously 
assumed, that the probability of living any 
one year up to the age of 58 is correctly 
expressed by the fraction ; or in other 
words, that from the age of 18 to 58, one per- 
son uniformly and regularly dies per annum 
from every twenty seven members of the 
service. This error, which it appears the 
Actuary had no means of rectifying, has viti- 
ated the Table and calculations throughout, 
as it is at variance with the positive fact of 
the increasing danger of every five or ten 
years’ residence in India. The progressive 
ratio of age holds good here as in Europe, 
with an increased impetus from the effect of 
climate. The result of this error has made 
the expectation of life in the Bombay Table 
nearly 20 per cent, too favourable for all ages 
above 30 or 35, diminishing the probable 
value of. life for all ages below it. The 
fraction it is believed, may accurately 
represent the average annual decrement at 
Bombay for the entire service, but it varies 
necessarily with the age and rank of 
the individual, much in the same manner 
we presume as has been actually experienced 
in the last twenty years in the Bengal Army ; 
where 2,34 per cent, has been the ratio of 
yearly mortality for Ensigns, 2.75 for Lieute- 
nants, 3.45 for Captains, 4. 10 for Majors, 
4.84 for Lieutenant-Colonels, and 5.94 for Co- 
lonels. We may assume the general ages of the 
Ensigns to have been under 22, the Lieutenants 
under 33, the Captains and Majors 45, the 
Lieutenant-Colonels 55, &c. 
In the last twenty years (as recently ascer- 
tained) there have died one thousand one 
hundred and eighty-four Officers of tlie Ben- 
gal Army, or 59.2 per annum, out of an ave- 
rage number of one thousand eight hundred 
and ninety-seven persons, or about 3.12 per 
cent ; the mean ages of the deceased were as 
follows : — 
81 Colonels, deceased, mean age, 61 
97 Lieut.- Cols, ditto, ditto, 51 
78 Majors, ditto, ditto, 4() 
277 Captains, ditto, ditto 36 
651 Subalterns, the mean age not ascertain- 
ed, but it ranged from 18 to 33, 
It may be as well here to exhibit in a simple 
comparative Table the difference of the rate 
of mortality at the three Presidencies, Bengal 
being clearly less inimical to the health of the 
European than either Madras or Bombay. 
Comparative annual percentage of Mortality of the Office'>-$ of the three Armies of Bengal, 
Madras and Bombay * ’ 
Presidbnct 
Colonels. 
Lie lit. -Colonels, 
1 
Majors. 
Captains. 
1 Lieutenants. 
5 
0 
i Surgeons. 
i 
S 
0 
<u 
bo 
•2 
Total or General 
Percentage. 
General Average. 
Bengal, 1 
I 5.94 
4.84 
4.10 
3.45 
2.75 
2.34 
— 
— 
3.12 
1 
Madras 
5.40 
6.11 
5.42 
5.02 
4.17 
3 80 
4.68 
4.31 
4.49 
1 
|.3.85 
1 
Bombay, 
5.74 
5 45 
3.77 
3.78 
3.96 
3.15 
4.08 
4.21 
3.94 
1 
J 
Service has been accurately registered for the 
past thirty years. Its numbers' are not suffi- 
cient for any general Table, as the annual 
effective strength ol the Department has ave- 
raged only about one hundred and forty indivi- 
duals. Out of these have demised 3.36 per 
cent, while as many as 31 more, (^or 0.73 per 
cent.) have been drowned ; this mode of death 
having occasioned nearly one-sixth of the 
entire mortality. On the examination of the 
lables ot the Pilot E.stablishment which have 
been compiled in the Master Attendanl's 
Office, under orders of the Marine Board, seve- 
ral curious circumstances have come to view. 
Presuming them to be correct, we find their rate 
of decrement, generally speaking, does not ex- 
ceed that of the Officers of the Army, but the 
periods of service and the ages of the deceased 
are much less than those of the Europeans 
elsewhere exhibited. Thus while the Branch 
Pilots or seniors, whose time of life corres- 
ponds with that of Field Officers^ have de- 
mised at the percentage of 4.46 per annum, 
the extreme age of the oldest has been 4? 
only, the mean age being 44 of all who died. 
