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By tables of mortality are understood, carefully-computed lists, indicating how many survivors remain annually, during a series of years, out of a given number of births at the start. Many such tables have been computed during these latter years by various authorities and in different countries. They are highly interesting in a philosophical point of view, and indispensable for the calculation of the rates of interest to be paid by life insurance companies, the importance of whose operations is becoming daily better understood ftd ftppre* Kiatai by the wvMMtfen* pttbHci The first tables of mortality were drawn up by Halley in the year 1693, and were based on the registers of the city of Breslau, in Silesia. In 1746, De Parcieux published his " Law of Mortality in France for Chosen Heads." These chosen heads comprised only monks and nuns who had taken the oath of celibacy. In 1806, Duvillard computed another for France, from facts collected before the Revolution. The first table in which a distinction is made between the j sexes was, if we are not mistaken, established by Demonf errand in 1838 in the Journal de VEcole Poly technique. In England the first tables used were those calculated by Galloway and by Finlaison. In Germany, Baumann, Casper, and Hillsse were the pioneers in this branch of statistical science, and in Holland it was Kersseboom. In Belgium the eminent Secretary of the Academy of Sciences and Director of the Koyal Observatory, Mr. Quetelet, who, during a long life of study, devoted himself specially to th? investigations of the laws which regulate human mortality and of the periodicity of natural phenomena in various countries, has at different times published very complete and. interesting tables on the present subject. The rates of mortality in Belgium being very similar to what they are in this country, we reproduce them below, believing that they will prove interesting to many of our readers to whom the original documents are not available. In the first (Column is indicated the series of years from birth to the end of life ; in the second column, how many persons out of 100,000 born, remain alive on the average at the ex- : piration of each succeeding year; in the third column is found the probable further duration of life taken from any given period, as shown in the first column. The last column ' indicates that one to one may be betted on a person's chances of attaining an age obtained by the addition of his actual age to the number of years he has still the probability of living. The duration of the life of females in town and country is nearly equal, but with men it is far different, those living in rural districts living much longer than those in the cities. After the age of 25 the life of rural men is rather longer thau that of the women. TABLE OP MORTALITY. Age. Survivors. life. [ Age. Survivors. life. Born. 100000 32-9 I ! 1 79,448 88-4 63 30,944 .... 3 71,238 43-5 h 54 30,338 3 67,121 45'9 i 55 29,720 16'5 4 64,564 46-9 I 56 29,040 5 62,845 47-2 j 57 1 28,339 6 61,587 47-2 1 58 27,615 1 60,568 47-1 ! 59 26,896 8 59,702 46-8 i 60 26,160 13-1 9 58,944 46-4 i 61 25,352 10 68.220 45-9 ; 62 24,471 11 57,634 45'3 ; 63 23.543 13 57,150 44-7 64 2J.601 13 56,616 44-0 ? 65 21,625 10'J. 14 56,082 4i 66 20,630 ___ 15 55,548 ?& '.'. 67 19,624 16 54,948 42-2 h 68 18,601 17 55,818 41'6 ! 69 17,578 18 53,657 41-1 I 70 16,529 T5 19 52,965 40-6 71 15,487 20 52,254 40-0 I 72 UjteS 21 51,528 89-5 .'I 73 13,210 22 50 747 39-0 j 74 12,091 23 49;948 88-4 i ! 75 10,976 5'6 24 4S.150 37-9 j 76 9,888 25 4,459 37-S ! 77 8,822 26 47,820 88-6 78 7,764 27 47,804 85.9 ) 79 6,851 28 46.596 35'S I I 80 6,988 4'0 29 45.9M 34-6 I 81 5,152 30 j 45,388 S3-9 I 82 4,363 31 44,796 33-2 ' 83 3,648 ___ 83 44,210 32-5 ! 84 3,005 33 43,602 31-8 85 3,424 2'8 34 43,003 31-1 i SO 1,902 85 4a,40t 30-4 I 87 1,473 86 41,811 29-7 I 88 1,134 37 41,207 29-0 89 893 88 40,588 28-3 90 .683 2'4 39 89,958 27'6 I 91 518 40 39,817 27-0 it 92 391 41 88,655 26-3 i 93 276 42 37,980 i 25-6 i 94 193 43 37,295 34'9 95 131 1'9 44 86,6115 24-3 % 88 45 85,919 33-6 i 97 62 46 85,356 32-9 93 40 J 47 34,667 22'2 ( 99 33 I 48 34,082 21-5 1 100 12 10 49 33,498 20'8 I 101 6 50 32,877 20-1 I 102 3 51 32,335 .... 1 103 1
