The favour with which the convening of the present Congress has been received by actuaries of all nations, and the very questions submitted to it by the members, fully show that everywhere the same desire has sprung up, namely that actuaries should know each other personally, so that later on there may be more effective inter-communication of ideas by the interchange of the writings which are periodically published. The question of language is a great obstacle, which it is in our interest to reduce to a minimum. A foreign tongue becomes easier to us, when the technical symbols employed, assuming a form which is familiar to us, indicate the drift of the paragraph. On the other hand, when the same symbol represents, according to the author using it, diametrically opposite ideas, the passage is made more difficult to understand, and the formulas, instead of being an index to its meaning, become a source of error.

The investigation of the experience, and valuation of the liabilities, of what are known as Clerks' Associations, present some features of special interest; and I have thought that it might he useful to discuss and explain some of the methods that have been employed in analyzing the data, and in deducing therefrom the tables of money values appropriate for the valuation of the risks.