The method of valuation once so universal—viz., that by means of tables of annuities involving the rates of premium charged—is now, I believe, admitted on all hands to be erroneous, and is, so far as I can learn, pretty generally abandoned. I have on more than one occasion endeavoured to demonstrate the fallaciousness of that method, and it is therefore needless again to draw attention to the peculiar consequences resulting from it; more especially as the great majority of the Companies now estimate their liabilities, as most actuaries agree that they should do, with the aid of tables based upon rates of interest and mortality approximating as closely as possible to those which observation and experience have shown to be the actually prevailing ones.