offices in India, during the period from 1815 to 1847 inclusive. The reports of Messrs. Neison and Davies, on the Bengal Civil Fund, contain tables of the casualties which may be expected to occur amongst members of the covenanted civil service. Mr. Davies' table, formed from Dodwell and Miles' lists, for the sixty years ending 1838, is the same up to the age of forty as that employed by him in 1842, for the purposes of the Uncovenanted Fund, while from forty and upwards it is identical with the "Northampton Table." Mr. Neison's observations are founded on data obtained from " A Register of the Hon. East India Company's Civil Servants on the Bengal Establishment, from 1790 to 1842, compiled under the direction of Mr. H. T. Prinsep, late member of council of India." From the records of the India House, Mr. Neison arrived at results nearly similar to those deduced from Mr. Prinsep's list, and both agreed so nearly with Mr. Davies' table up to the age of forty, that, for the purpose of comparison, he adopted the latter table up to that age. From age fortyfive to the extremity of life, the same table as that used for the Military Fund has been adopted; and between the ages of thirty-nine and forty-five, the terms were interpolated. But on no former occasion has a table of mortality been constructed expressly applicable to East Indians. The records of the Uncovenanted Fund, which were kindly placed at our disposal by Mr. Kellner, are indeed more than ordinarily attractive, as facilitating enquiry into the mortality amongst that large and distinct section of the Christian community of India, which has never before been brought under observation; and it will be interesting to compare the results arising out of the present investigation with those applicable to civil, military, and mixed assured lives in India; and again the whole of the results with the mortality amongst the male population of England and Wales, as exhibited by the best authorities on the subject. Mr. Kellner's list furnishes the following particulars with reference to 945 persons who became subscribers to the Fund, during the twenty years ending 30th April, 1857, viz. the date of entry, together with the age at entry, and the age at death, resignation, or dismissal, the age at entry-verified by baptismal or other certificate-and the age at death or discontinuance, being in all cases computed to the nearest birth-day. Europeans and East Indians are distinguished in the list, and the following table exhibits the proportion of each class subscribing to the Fund. It should be understood that these are 945 lives, not entries, a necessary distinction, for there are instances of members of the Fund, who have been struck off and subsequently readmitted more than once. In such cases only the first entry and discontinuance are noted, in order that the list may have reference to lives only. For the benefit of those who take an interest in such pursuits, of whom there are many in this country, we shall, at the risk of being considered tedious, briefly explain the practical method of forming a mortality table. The object is to obtain, in the first instance, the rate of mortality per cent. per annum, at each age. In the present case, 945 persons enter the Fund in twenty years, of whom during that period 163 die, 94 withdraw, 106 are struck off, and the remaining 582 are alive, and members of the Fund at the expiry of the term. Had all these 945 persons entered in the same year and at the same age, it would be a very simple matter, but as they enter at age nineteen to sixty-six inclusive, and at various times during the twenty years, the process, which is as follows, is somewhat more laborious: (1.) A sufficient quantity of computing paper is divided into sections applicable to each age of life which comes under observation. (2.) The paper is ruled with columns to receive the parti culars, of which the results are exhibited in columns b, e, f, g, 1, m, in Abstract B. (3.) One computer then reads from the list of subscribers the entries at each age, while another computer registers the fact under its proper head, in the paper prepared for the purpose. (4.) The entries at each age being completed, the deaths, discontinuances, and number living at the end of the period, are similarly recorded, under their respective heads. (5.) As a check the whole process is repeated, one computer reading from the list, and another noting that the entry is correctly posted. (6.) The total under each column is then found, and the results transferred to their respective columns in Abstract B.* The following table then exhibits the principal elementary facts from which to determine the rate of mortality among the subscribers to the Uncovenanted Fund. In the explanation of the table, we have adopted very nearly the phraseology employed by Mr. Neison on similar occasions: a. Represents the age. b. The number of subscribers entering at each age. C. The number of subscribers remaining under observation from each preceding age. Thus two entered at age nineteen, and not coming under any of the contingencies contemplated in the succeeding columns, are re-entered as under observation at age twenty, when other two subscribers entered, there being then four under observation in all, out of whom one withdrew, and the remaining three are entered in this column opposite age twenty-one. d. The total number of subscribers under observation at each age. Thus there were three subscribers remaining under observation from the preceding age at age twenty-one, which, added to the nine entering at that age, makes twelve in all, of whom two are alive at 30th April, 1857, and therefore no longer under notice, leaving ten to be carried forward to column c opposite age twenty-two. e. The number dying at each age. f. Those who withdraw from the Fund. g. Those who are struck off. h. m. The total of ƒ and g. The number of subscribers alive at 30th April, 1857, and who have not withdrawn or been struck off. n. The total of columns e, l and m, or the number who pass from observation at any age. Under careful supervision, the educated Bengali, in computations such as the present, may, for accuracy and rapidity, be considered unrivalled. But it is of great importance, in order to confine the chance of error within the narrowest limits, that all the calculations be done in duplicate by independent computers, who should compare and verify the results at every stage. 0. p. .. ጥ. One-half of the numbers in column b. The number exposed to one entire year's risk of mortality; and is obtained for each age, by deducting the number in column q from the number in column d opposite the age. As subscribers enter at various periods throughout the year, the persons represented by the numbers in column b are, one with another, not subject to more than six months' risk, or which is the same thing, one-half of them to a year's risk. And as subscribers discontinue at various periods, throughout the year, they are, one with another, subject to only six months' risk in that year, or one-half of them to a whole year's risk. Hence one-half of the number entered, and one-half of the number discontinued, have to be deducted from the gross number under observation, as exhibited in column d, the residue in columnr being the number exposed to a complete year's risk, SEPT., 1858. N |