MORTALITY. 21 
procreative power is much more than adequate to fupply the fecretary and hiftorian of the Royal Society. But 
any wafte of that kind, and that the real obftacle to the the fa6t is, that the bills were collected into a volume by 
increafeof the people is the limited means of fubfiftence. the late Dr. Heberden: he procured, likewife, obferva- 
This had been obferved by Dr. Halley in his “ Further tions from leveral of his friends, reCtors of fome large 
Confiderations on the Breflaw Bills of Mortality,” (Phil, parilhes, or others likely to give him information; par- 
Tranf. 1693.) though it there alfo appears, that he had ticularly from Bps. Mofs, Green, Squire, and Dr. Birch, 
not fufficiently confidered the mode of its operation. Thefe, together with fome of his own remarks, were 
1 his was firft fully illuffcrated by Dr. Franklin in his ex- thrown into the form of a preface; and the whole was 
cellent “ Obfervations on the Increafe of Mankind, Peo- committed to the care of Dr. Birch. To make the cal- 
pling of Countries, &c.” written in Philadelphia in 1751, culations which appear at the end of the book, Dr. He- 
the fame year in which Mr. Morris’s pamphlet was firft berden employed James Poftlethwayt, efq. a very diftin- 
publifiied. The author alfo pointed out in that pamphlet, guifhed arithmetician. 
material defeCts in the bills of mortality, and propofed a In the year 1766, this branch of knowledge was enriched 
better method of keeping them, not only in London, but with new materials, of more value than all that had pre- 
throughout the kingdom. This gave occafion to a paper vioufly been laid before the public. Thefe were contained 
by Mr. James Dodfon, which was inferted in the Phil. 
Tranf. for that year (1751), wherein he Ihovved the im¬ 
portance of their being fo kept as to afford the means of 
valuing annuities on lives; and propofed other alterations 
which appeared to him calculated to fit them for the 
purpofe. 
Nicolaas Struyck of Amfterdam, who, in his “ Intro¬ 
duction to General Geography,” publilhed there in 17+0, 
had inferted “ Gifj'ingen over den Jiaut van't Menfchelyk 
Gcflagt; Conjectures on the State of the Human Species ;” 
publilhed at the fame place in 1753, a quarto volume, 
the firft half of which is aftronomical, the other is entitled 
** Nader Ontdehliingen noopens dm Jiaat van het Menfchelyk 
Gejlagt; Further Difcoveries concerning the State of the 
Human Species.” It contains ftatements of aCtual enu¬ 
merations of the people in many Dutch villages, prin¬ 
cipally in North Holland, wherein the fexes are diftin- 
guilhed, and the numbers in childhood, celibacy, marriage, 
and widowhood ; but with relpeCt to their ages, it is only 
ftated for each fex, how many were under ten years, and 
how many of the unmarried were above that age; except 
in two inftances, wherein the number of each fex is given 
in each interval of five years of age, from birth to the 
extremity of life: they amount all together to 2728, of 
whom not one was above the age of eighty-five, and 
only four above eighty. He generally gives, for each 
place, the names and profeftions or occupations of the 
perfons who made the enumeration, and the precife day 
on which it was made ; or, if it occupied the parties more 
days than one, thofe on which it was commenced and 
completed are given ; a practice which fliows a laudable 
folicitude about particulars, and a title to our confidence, 
the want of which we have great caufe to lament in too 
many other writers. ExtraCts from many parifti-regifters 
are alfo given; in thefe, too, the ages are feldom noticed; 
but in a few cafes they are given very minutely, efpecially 
in that of Weftzaandam, for which, the number who 
died in each interval of five years of age, from birth to 
the extremity of life, are given ; alfo the number in each 
year of age under fifteen, the number in each month of 
the firft year of age, even the number that died in the 
- firft hour from birth, in the firft twenty-four hours, and 
in each day of the firft week of their age. During a term 
of nineteen years, the whole number of deaths thus re- 
giftered was 3328; but the fexes were not diftinguiftied 
under fifteen years of age, which Struyckhimfelf lamented. 
The work alfo contains much information refpefting the 
population and parilh-regifters of Amfterdam, Haerlem, 
&c. with fome accounts of other countries, and of other 
works on the fubjeCt. 
In 1759 was publilhed, at London, in 4-to, “ A Collec¬ 
tion of the Yearly Bills of Mortality, from 1657 to 1758 
inclufive, together with leveral other Bills of an earlier 
date ; to which were fubjoined Captain Graunt’s Obfer¬ 
vations; Another Effay in Political Arithmetic, by Sir 
William Petty ; the Obfervations of Corbyn Morris, Efq. 
and A Comparative View of the Difeafes and Ages, with 
a Table of the Probabilities of Life for the lalt Thirty 
Years, by J. P. Elq. F.R.S.” This is a valuable com¬ 
pilation, and has been generally attributed to Dr. Birch, 
Vol. XVI. No. 1089. 
in three publications, of which we (hall firft notice the 
“ Recherches fur la Population des generalites d’Au- 
vergne, de Lyon, de Rouen, et de quelques Provinces et 
Villes du Royaume. Par M. Meffance, Receveur des 
Tallies de l’Ele&ion de Saint Etienne.” Molt of the 
political writers in France, for fome years previous to the 
date of this publication, had afferted confidently that the 
kingdom was depopulated, but without producing any 
proofs. The objedt of M. Meffance was, to enable his 
readers to judge of the merit of fuch affertions, and to 
pronounce lefs vaguely on a fubjedt in itfelf fo interefting, 
the knowledge of which can only be obtained by a great 
number of fadts and adlual obfervations. The work, 
accordingly, is filled with tables, exhibiting the refults 
of adlual enumerations of the people, and of extradfs from 
the parifti-regifters. They fiiow, for each fex, how many 
were under fourteen, or in celibacy above that age; thole 
in the ftates of marriage and of widowhood ; and the 
number of domeftic fervants. The numbers of families 
are alfo ftated; and the enumerations of the ecclefiaftics, 
properly claffed, are given feparately. But the author 
has alfo given the general refults of his tables, and the 
proportions they afford, very diftindtly ; and among thefe 
refults, the increafe of the population during the preceding 
fixty years, to which his refearches were generally limited, 
is clearly afeertained. The work likewife contains many 
interefting tables, in which the rate of mortality, and the 
produce of manufadluring labour, are compared with the 
contemporaneous prices of grain, in various places, ge¬ 
nerally for periods of twenty years each. 
The fecond work we have alluded to w r as publilhed 
at Yverdon in 8vo. it was entitled “ Memoire lur l’Etat 
de la Population, dans le Pays de Vaud, qui a obtenu la 
prix propofe par la Societe CEconomique de Berne. Par 
M. Muret, premier Pafteur a Vevey, et Secretaire de la 
Societe CEconomique du Vevey.” The Pays de Vaud 
contains 112 parilhes, and the population at that time 
was about 113,000 fouls. M. Muret wrote for informa¬ 
tion to all the clergymen in the country, who made him 
returns of the numbers of baptifms and burials in their 
refpedtive parilhes, for different periods, from ten to 
forty years, in many of which both the ages and lexes 
were diftinguilhed ; and from about two-thirds of them 
he obtained alfo the numbers of marriages and families 
adtually fubfifting; alfo the number of fouls, “ or at leaft 
of communicants,” in their parilhes : but neither the 
ages nor fexes were diftinguilhed in any of the enumera¬ 
tions of the living. - This performance does much credit 
both to the author’s induftry and judgment; but it has 
alfo material defedts. He gave upwards of fifty tables, 
by which he intended to lliow the probabilities and ex¬ 
pectations of life till five years of age, and at every fifth 
year after that, in different parilhes and places, under 
various circumftances of foil and fituation, and for people 
of different habits and occupations ; alfo for the two 
fexes leparately. Thefe mull have coft him a good deal 
of labour, and would have been extremely valuable had 
they been corredt; but, unfortunately, he did not under- 
ftand the conftrudtion of fuch tables, and they are not to 
be depended upon. He alfo took confiderable pains to 
G determine 
