I cannot better introduce the subject of this paper than by a quotation from Mr. Morgan’s Preface to his Tables of the Experience of the Equitable Society. He writes as follows :—

“In a body of lives of the same age, all selected as healthy from the general mass of mankind, it is obvious that the rate of mortality must be considerably less for the first ten or twenty years after selection, than amongst those from whom they are thus chosen. As, however, these selected lives advance in age, their general health and the rate of mortality amongst them will naturally approximate to the common standard. This approximation cannot be accurately estimated, if the observations be taken from a blended mass of lives, selected at the age of twenty, for instance, which have attained the age of fifty, and of lives selected at the age of fifty. The rate of mortality will for the former class be less, for the latter greater, than that which occurs in either class separately.

Some apology is needed, perhaps, for proposing to rediscuss a subject which has been handled so often, and by so many distinguished actuaries. But I am probably addressing gentlemen who have not had occasion to become familiar with all that has been written or said on the subject, and others to whom it may usefully be presented from a fresh point of view; and there are some important practical questions too on which the profession seem scarcely yet agreed, which will admit of further consideration. I shall not attempt to notice the various papers which from time to time have been contributed by actuaries towards the solution of the questions I am to consider. For many of the views I am to express I am necessarily indebted to those who have preceded me; and the aim of this paper is less to introduce what is new, than to enforce, and illustrate if possible, sound and correct opinions. I am anxious to set the subject in a light which will make it intelligible to others than actuaries, and to discuss principles rather than formulas.

The influence of Occupation upon health and longevity, is, I think, a subject deserving of even more attention than has hitherto been given to it by the Actuarial and Medical Professions. As the benefits conferred by Life Assurance are now almost universally recognized, they are being taken advantage of by classes of the community which, until the last few years, did not seem fully to appreciate them. It is therefore of no little consequence to have, as far as possible, a clear understanding of the relative risks attaching to different occupations and to the various branches of industry.