M O R T A L I T Y. 
the number of people in each clafs, according to their 
ranks, profeffions, occupations, &c. and the monadic 
orders of both fexes were particularly diftinguiftied: to 
thefe was prefixed a fummary of the cenfus of 1768 and 
1769, together withtheages, thediftinftionof thefexes was 
given; in the firft, the married were only diftinguifhed 
from Angle; but that of 1787 (bowed how many of each 
fex, and in each interval of age, were in the ftates of 
celibacy, marriage, and widowhood. A third enumera¬ 
tion of the people in Spain and the Spanifli pofieftions in 
Europe and Africa, including the Canary I (lands, was 
made-in 1797 ; and a full account of it, occupying nearly 
fifty large tables, was printed at Madrid in 1801. 
In 1801 were publiflied (in 4to.) “ Obfervations on the 
Increafe and Decreafe of different Difeafes, and particu¬ 
larly of the Plague, by William Heberden, jun. M. D. 
F.R.S.” containing fome tables, chiefly deduced from 
the London bills. We are alfo indebted to the fame 
ingenious phyfician for other interefting obfervations on 
the mortality in London, inferted in the Phil. Tranf. for 
1796. and in tho(e of the London College of Phyficians, 
vol. iv. 
.In the fame year (1801) was publifhed (in iamo.) 
another valuable work, entitled, “ Reports on the Dif¬ 
eafes in London, particularly during the years 1796, 1797, 
1798, 1799, and 1800, by Robert Willan, M. D. F. A. S.” 
part of thefe had been previoufly inferted in fome peri¬ 
odical publications ; the author’s obfervations were made 
both on the bills of mortality, and on the cafes that oc¬ 
curred in his own practice. 
In reading the writings of the phyficians who have 
treated thefe fubjedts, it is impoflible not to regret, that 
they have been io little attended to by the medical pro- 
feflion in general; and that bills of mortality have not 
been more generally kept in fuch a way, as to throw the 
lights which they alone can, on the caufes of the increafe 
and decreafe of different difeafes, and of the great dif¬ 
ferences that are found between the degrees of mortality 
in different fituations, and among different clalfes of the 
people. The information of this kind already before the 
public clearly fhows, that the general caufes which tend 
to fhorten life do alfo embitter it; and that, where the 
people are the mod happy, ufeful, and refpeftable, in 
their feveral ftations, there alfo, cateris paribus, they are 
the longed lived. And thefe inquiries, we think, are of 
more importance to governments, and better worth their 
attention, than ftatefmen are generally aware of. 
Thelaft publication upon this fubjedt we have to notice 
is a very recent one, namely, “ A Treatife on Annuities 
and Aflurances, by Jofliua Milne, Efq. 1815.” This is 
a very ufeful work. It contains clear abftradts of the mod 
important ftatements that have been publilhed fince Dr. 
Price’s time. Mr. Milne is adluary to the Sun Life- 
affurance Society; and in his work, and alfo in the Sup¬ 
plement to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, he has made 
fome very judicious remarks on the forms of bills of 
mortality, and on the means by which they might be im¬ 
proved. With a few of his obfervations we fhall conclude 
this part of the fubjedl. 
“ Of all the ftatements derived from bills of mortality 
and enumerations of the people, which we have men¬ 
tioned, only thofe for Sweden and Finland, and Dr. Hey- 
(ham’s for Carlifle, have been given in the proper form, 
and with fufficient corredlnefs to afford the information, 
which is the molt important object of them all—that 
which is neceffary for determining the law of mortality. 
To eft'edl this, it is only neceffary to know the mean num¬ 
ber of the living and of the annual deaths, in fufficiently- 
fmall intervals of age, throughout the extent of life, for 
a period of lime fufficient to allow of the accidental fluc¬ 
tuations arifing from more or lefs fruitful years, and 
other caufes, compenfating each other: fuch periods, 
probably, fliould not be lefs than eight or ten years; 
but the neceffary length will depend upon the climate, 
the number of the people, their general inodes of life, and 
23 
their political circumftances, Thefe data being obtained, 
it is not difficult to determine the proportion of the 
annual deaths to the number of the living in each year 
of age. Then, afl'uming any number of births, as 1000 
or 10,000, it is eafy to (how how many would die in each 
year of their age; and confequently, how many would 
furvive that year; which numbers of furvivors and of 
annual deaths, when arranged in the order of the ages, 
conftitute the defined Table of Mortality, by which all 
the moll important queftions refpedling the duration of 
human life may be ealily refolved. For want of under- 
(landing the principles upon which the proper conftruc- 
tion of fuch tables depends, mod of the writers on this 
fubjeft, many of them men of great merit and induftry, 
have taken much pains to little purpofe, and, after ex- 
ceflive labour, have arrived at falle conclufions. Hardly 
any of them appear to have been aware of the neceffity 
of obtaining the number of the living, as well as of the 
annual deaths, in each interval of age; or that would 
greatly enhance the value of bills of mortality, by ex¬ 
tending their ufeful applications. Dr. Price’s Effay on 
the proper Method of conftrudting Tables of Mortality, 
already mentioned, was intended to (how how fuch tables 
might be conftrudted from regifters of the deaths only at 
all ages; but the hypothefes he proceeded upon can 
hardly obtain in any real cafe; and, even if they did, his 
method would only determine the number of the living 
in the place, at every age; therefore, if it could be put in 
practice (which it never can), it would only fuperfede 
the neceffity ofadtual enumerations; and, with the num¬ 
bers fo obtained, we fliould have to proceed as above. 
That Effay of Dr. Price was an amplification of what 
Mr. Simpfon had previoufly advanced on the fubjedl, with 
his accuftomed accuracy, and contains many juft oblerva- 
tions on the defeats of the tables of mortality that had 
previoufly been publiflied; but fo far as it contributed 
to induce a belief that the determination of the number 
of the living in every interval of age, by adlual enumera¬ 
tion, was not neceffary to the conftrudlion of accurate 
tables, it mull have done harm.” (Milne, ch. iii.) Mr. 
Milne then proceeds to give his propofed new forms for 
keeping bills of mortality ; but for thefe we mull refer to 
his book, which contains every thing that can be defired 
on the fubjedl. 
The utility of bills of mortality is twofold, private and 
public. Their private ufe is to enable perfons to calculate 
the value of annuities of every kind, how the}'- may be 
granted or purchafed, and upon what terms thofe who 
have any valuable contingency which ceafes at their 
death may infure their lives, fo as to fecure the pay¬ 
ment of a fum of money to their heirs. Under the article 
Life-annuities, vol. xii. p. 642. we have given a very 
extenfive Table of the probabilities of life in eleven dif¬ 
ferent parts of Europe, colledled from the various autho¬ 
rities referred to in this article; and accompanied with 
calculations of the value of annuities for (ingle and joint 
lives, founded thereon. But this may be deemed a public 
ufe alfo, fince the government has made the granting of 
life-annuities a national meafure; and accordingly we 
have given, under the fame article, (p. 647-50.) the 
Tables publiflied by authority for that purpofe, with an 
explanation of them. 
But the more peculiar public ufe of bills of mortality, is, 
like the cenfus of the ancient Romans, to afeertain the 
ftrength of the nation, for the purpofe of taxation and 
warlike levies ; this has been lately done upon a great 
fcale in the American dates, and more recently in this 
country, under what is called the population-ad, 41 
Geo. III. c. 15. in purfuance of which, an enumeration 
of the people in Great Britain was made in 1801 ; alfo 
returns of the baptifms and burials ill England and Wales, 
during the year 1700, and every tenth year after that till 
1780, then for every year to 1800 inclufive, with the num¬ 
ber of marriages in each year from the commencement of 
1754 to the end of 1800. Large and clear abftradts of the 
a anfwers 
