^{page 16 note *} The observation, that “all that has hitherto dignified or sweetened human existence— our arts, our letters, our arms, our religion—have come from the shores of the Mediterranean,” is true of the useful system of life insurance, the earliest form of which appears to have been originated by one Lorenzo Tonti, a Neapolitan, in 1653. Some writers are, however, of opinion, that the system of marine insurance was in use amongst the Rhodians ten centuries before the Christian era. The oldest Life Insurance Company in England is the Amicable, which was instituted in the reign of Queen Anne. There are now nearly 300 Life Offices in the United Kingdom, the aggregate liabilities of which are estimated at upwards of £160,000,000 sterling, and their annual income from premiums at about £6,000,000 sterling. The most magnificent institution of the kind in the world is the Equitable, Nobody would fancy, on going into the quiet and unpretending office of that Society, in Bridge Street, Blackfriars, that their income in magnitude rivals that of some of the most important of the European States, and that in 1849 their accumulated property amounted to upwards of £8,000,000 sterling.

Of the theory of life assurance, it may be said that its leading principles are very simple. It is based on what is popularly known as the law of average. Say that there are 7,000 officers in the Indian army, it is quite uncertain how long any individual out of that number may live; but the mortality amongst the mass will be found to follow a fixed law. In fact, there are very few things indeed which are subject to less fluctuation than the average duration of life of large numbers of persons, all similarly circumstanced in regard to social position. But this is not all: curious enough, we find that even moral phenomena are in a great measure subject to this law of average. We can quite understand a physical law pervading the mortality of the human race, because death takes place independent of the will; but it is not easy to believe that the will, itself free, capricious, and entirely uncontrolled, as in individuals it certainly appears to be, should nevertheless, when large masses of persons are concerned, appear to follow laws as fixed and undeviating as those which control physical phenomena. Yet so it is: men collectively marry, commit crimes, go to law, &c., with the same uniformity as they die, and in some cases with even greater uniformity. We learn, for instance, that there has been less fluctuation between the number of persons yearly accused of crimes in all France from 1826 to 1844, than there has been in the annual mortality in Paris for the same period; and in England the number of offenders at each age, and the number of particular crimes committed, appear to be reproduced year after year with singular exactness. The practice of insuring the fidelity of servants in situations of trust is now as common in England as that of life insurance. Those who are desirous of further inquiring into this curious subject, we refer to the writings of M. Quetelet in particular, and to some remarkable papers in the Journal of the Statistical Society and the Assurance Magazine.

^{page 24 note *} One of the earliest papers on this subject is that published in the Gleanings of Science, a Calcutta periodical now extinct. The article appears in the Number for September, 1831, and is entitled “On the Duration of Life in the Bengal Civil Service.” In 1832 Mr. H. T. Prinsep read a paper to the Asiatic Society on “the Mortality of the Bengal Civil Service,” which is published in the Journal of the Society for July, 1832. In 1836 the “ Results of an Inquiry respecting the Law of Mortality for British India, by Major H. B. Henderson,” appeared in the Asiatic Researches, vol. xx. A paper by Mr. Christie, formerly actuary of the Universal Life Office, was in 1838 read to the Statistical Society, “On the rate of Mortality amongst Officers retired from the Indian Army.” This paper is published in the Journal of the Society for September of that year. In 1839 Mr. Woolhouse published his “ Investigation of Mortality in the Indian Army”—the most remarkable treatise on the subject which had, up to that time, appeared. Mr. Griffith Davies, of the Guardian Office, has at various times reported on certain of the funds of the three presidencies. The most important report, which treats of military lives, is that on the Bengal Military Fund, dated February, 1844.

In 1846 Mr. Curnin, of the Calcutta Mint, constructed a table of mortality of the civil servants who had come on the Bengal establishment since 1779. He also appears to have been about the same time engaged in forming a table applicable to military officers, when death put an end to his labours. In 1849 Mr. Neison completed his report on the Bengal Military Fund. In 1850 Mr. C. S. Francis published “An Investigation of the Rate of Mortality amongst certain Assured Lives in India;” and about the same time Mr. Griffith Davies reported on the Bengal Civil Fund. In February of last year Mr. Jellicoe, Vice-President of the Institute of Actuaries, read a paper to the Institute on the rates of premium for Bengal, which is published in the Assurance Magazine for that year. We should also state that Colonel Sykes has made some valuable contributions to vital statistics in India, which are published in the Journals of the Statistical Society of London, and that Major Hannyngton has given considerable attention to the same subject.

^{page 25 note *} Since writing the above, we have seen Mr. Neison's report on the same fund, dated 14th December, 1852. The results arrived at are in the highest degree interesting, and amply bear out our own view in several important particulars.

^{page 25 note †} Vital Statistics, p. 5.

^{page 27 note *} Asiatic Researches, vol. xx., p. 205.

^{page 31 note *} Probabilities, p. 257.

^{page 31 note †} Ibid., p. 261.

^{page 32 note *} Rate of Mortality amongst Assured Lives, p. 38.

^{page 35 note *} The method of division appears complicated, so that we quote it entire:—

“ 1. The profits are declared in each year on the second Wednesday in May, from which date all persons who may have assured for the whole term of life on the participating scale, and on whose policies six complete annual or twelve complete half-yearly original premiums have been paid, are entitled to participate in the profits of succeeding years, in either of the modes provided by the deed of settlement, viz., by a reduction of the annual or half-yearly premiums as they fall due, or by an equivalent addition to the sum assured by way of a bonus. Each assurer, on his first becoming entitled to participate in the profits, has the option of selecting either of the foregoing methods, and three months from the date of declaration of the profits is allowed for his making that selection, which, however, when once determined on, cannot be altered in after years.

“ 2. ‘The practice of an annual division,’ as observed by Mr. Babbage, ‘ distributes the profits with more regularity and justice than any other;’ and is especially advantageous to persons of advanced years, who cannot hope to participate in many septennial or decennial divisions, as practised by several other Offices.

“ 3. One fifth of the ascertained profit is divided between the policy-holders and share-holders—three fourths to the former, and one fourth to the latter; the remaining four fifths are set apart to enter into the average to be struck on the next succeeding year.”