by looking upward, reach to a living faith. Of no contemporary Frenchman, perhaps, could it be more truly said, "Thou art not far from the kingdom of God." The key-note to the whole work is the declaration that the French Revolution failed because it was not religious as well as political. Nothing can be finer than his dissection of Rousseau's famous "Profession de Foi du Vicaire Savoyard," that root of modern French religious falsehood, of which M. Rénan's Jesuitical boudoir-atheism is but one of the latest fruits. He bitterly laments the nullity of the Protestant element in France in the hour of political trial. He declares that science cannot replace religion. He uncloaks the spiritual tyranny of St. Simonism and Comtism. He bursts out as follows against the last new goddess :

"Well, they say to me, then worship Hu

manity. A curious fetish, truly! I have

seen it too close. What! kneel before that which is on its knees before any triumphant force? Crawl before that beast crawling on its myriad feet? That is not my faith. What should I do with such a god? Take me back to the ibises and necklaced serpents of the

Nile."

And yet neither God nor Christ is in this book, so sternly truthful, so loftily and sharply true in its judgments of past and present. The Being and Fatherhood of God, the incarnation of Christ, the Eternal Sacrifice of redeeming love, the perpetual inspiration of the Holy Spirit, are not, for Edgar Quinet, the facts upon which stands the Universe. For him "there are three or four religious ideas spread upon the earth which give birth to the whole civil world. . . . Rocked from birth to death in the cradle which is called life, man will draw from the Unknown marvels which shall never

...

there will always be questions which science will not be able to answer. That mystery will form the inexhaustible ground of the religions of the future." This great and fearless thinker, after proving in the clearest manner the absolute need of a religion for breathing a soul into the great crises of a nation's life, has nothing after all to point to but the worship of the Unknown God.

The weakest faith could not indeed be shaken by M. Quinet's book, so genuine and impartial are his sympathies with

all that is earnest and true. Although he repeatedly insists on the fault committed by the Revolution in not actively. suppressing the Roman Catholic religion, it is doubtful whether even a Roman Catholic would not be strengthened in his faith by M. Quinet's profoundly true. remarks on the results of the Vendéan war, in which the apparent victors were really the vanquished, and not only left their opponents in possession of those religious rites for defence of which they had taken up arms, but in a few years came themselves to bow once more to the Roman Catholic faith. But the most devout Christian may learn from M. Quinet's pages; indeed, it is scarcely too much to say that in future no man can expect, without reading them, thoroughly to understand the period of which he speaks. Yet only those who are familiar with the twofold aspect of the French mind at the present day— fettered at home, and too often shrivelling within its fetters-free only in exile, but through exile too often embittered almost to madness-can appreciate the manly courage which has enabled M. Quinet to write a work so thoroughly independent of party prejudices and traditions, so inexorably true against friends as well as foes. No man before him has been able to unite such a passionate admiration of the great deeds of the Revolutionists-of the Convention especially-with such an unflinching condemnation of their crimes and evil tendencies, with such a searching exhibition of the evil results to which these led. No words can exaggerate the service which he has rendered to his countrymen, in showing that the work of the Terrorists was simply a renewal of that of the Ancien Régime itself, the adoption of "its weapons, its means, its method of government;" or in his dissection of the "seagreen incorruptible." Possibly there is even a trace of prejudice in his judg ments on Robespierre and St. Just, and he, perhaps, makes the most of a detail impugning the sexual morality of the latter, which he borrows from the unpublished memoirs of an old medical member of the Convention, Baudot, bequeathed to M. Quinet, and in his hands.

The work is indeed essentially the bitter fruit of exile. It is impossible to mistake the fact that the long arm of French

despotism is stretched over the head of the writer, even though dwelling in a Swiss city. It cannot fetter his thoughts, but it cramps his pen. He speaks for his countrymen, but in order to reach their ears he knows that he dare not say all. So in reference to the present he is compelled to wrap his thoughts in generalities. The application of his words can only thrill beneath them, as the life-pulse of a veiled human form beneath its robes. Who can mistake it, nevertheless, in passages such as this?

"To what kind of society are we advancing? There are various issues. But were one to hold as null the protest of certain isolated spirits, one might represent to oneself as follows the principal outlines of those social forms into which we are entering in Europe:-Uncultivated manners without public life, the rudeness of the popular state without a people, democracy without a demos, silence without repose, coarseness without freedom, Boeotia in Byzantium."

It would be time lost to point out one or two contradictions which occur in this noble book. One slight blunder may be noticed, the treating the "Digest" and the "Pandects"-two names for the same work-as distinct. Perhaps, also, M. Quinet is a little too chary of quoting authorities. He does not, indeed, strictly confine himself, as a note to the preface announces, to the quotation of unpublished works (of which, moreover, almost the only one quoted is the Mémoires de Baudot). But all are not so well read as himself in the history of his subject, and those who are not would often like to know the sources from which he has drawn. At the same time, not the slightest slur is hereby sought to be cast on M. Quinet's accuracy, on which those who are acquainted with his historical works know that they have reason to rely.

Popular Science Review.

ON LIFE INSURANCE AND VITAL STA

TISTICS.

BY W. HARDWICKE, M.D.,
Deputy-Coroner for Central Middlesex, etc.

WE propose in the following pages to discuss, as briefly as possible, and without technical and mathematical ref

erences, the principles of Life Insurance, and to show, in a social point of view, the important and intimate relations of the science of Vital statistics with our commercial prosperity.

With the mass of mankind, individual efforts suffice to provide for little more than daily necessities, and it unfortunately happens, that the unexpected death of a parent, or some sudden exigency, leaves a wife and family unprovided for, or entails upon them the necessity of maintaining themselves under the pressure for their support. of adversity, or of relying upon others.

The most observable feature in English character is a love of independence, and this feeling the principles of life assurance serve, above all others, to foster, and annihilate that sense of insecurity in individual effort of which most persons are conscious. Life assurance is indeed a contract with certain parties who invest money by which the uncertainties of life are compensated, and by which the representatives of those who do not live the average time share in the good fortune of those who exceed it.

The words Insurance and Assurance are vaguely defined, but may with propriety be used synonymously. The word insurance is mostly used when speaking of indemnity for loss of property by fire or shipwreck; while assurance generally refers to money payment upon death, or upon other contingencies depending upon the duration of human life.

To be assured, or made sure, and to be insured is much the same thing. There is, however, a distinction, which has, perhaps, a moral as well as a legal significance. Insurance against fire more nearly resembles a bargain or commercial speculation for realizing a sum of money upon a chance event. Life assurance business, on the other hand, depends upon a certainty-death -which, with the duration of life, may be brought under mathematical calculations. This view has not always been recognized; for, at one time life assurance and annuity speculations led to the enactment of laws which made penal the staking of money, by annuities or insurance, on the life of the pope, or of a king or bishop. It was believed that such transactions were attended with

almost with as much certainty as an astronomer can predict an eclipse of the sun. The mortality tables, founded on these calculations, are to the science of vital statistics what the balances, thermometers, and barometers are to investigations in physics. They serve to measure the life-force of individuals and nations, the years of life being units in the scale.

However uncertain any individual life may be, the uniformity of average is such that, where large numbers are concerned, a small fractional difference only is observed, but sufficient precision is attained for all practical purposes. Various tables have been calculated, to show the average duration of human life at all ages: one by Dr. Price, in 1782, called the Northampton table, framed from the ages at death of persons bur ied at Northampton, during forty-six years (1735-80). The Carlisle-a less accurate table-was compiled by Dr. Milne, from the mortality deduced from persons at Carlisle. More recently, a table was constructed from the ages at death of persons actually assured in several offices; this is called the "Experience table." All of these, and one by Mr. Finlaison, calculated from 22,000 government annuitants, represent the expectation of life in persons of the higher and middle grades of society. Lastly, an English Life table was calculated, under the auspices of Dr. Farr, soon after the census of 1841, from a population of 16,000,000 persons, and the ages at death in 24 millions of persons. This may fairly be considered to represent, for all practical purposes, the mortality

in the higher classes, professional persons, tradesmen, artisans, clerks, and servants. A further set of observations are said to be forthcoming; but they will not materially modify the character of the English Life table.

The most valuable and recent contribution to statistical science, however, is the supplementary volume of the Registrar-General on the mortality of England during the last ten years, for which we are also indebted to Dr. W. Farr. This forms a most worthy complement to his former labors, in elabor. ating a perfect English life-table. These returns show the annual rate of mortality per 1,000, in a very extensive series of tables, from the age of five to eightyfive years and upward, as well as the causes of death. These records enable us to observe the diversity and duration of life, in towns and country, in densely and scattered populations, amongst rich and poor, in agricultural, manufacturing, marine, and inland districts; gives us the opportunity of comparing and classifying these with each other, and of observing the differences effected by soil, climate, and occupation.

It is evident, from the perusal of this work, that there are certain districts and occupations where the mortality far exceeds the healthy standard, at ages when the majority of proposals are made for life assurance, viz.: from twenty-five to forty-five. In some localities lung diseases, for instance, range from two and a half to eight times the normal average of healthy districts.

The following tables serve to illustrate :—

In some of the old tables higher rates were charged. Such is the practice generally adopted. The amount in this table is without the addition or loading of premiums, for the purposes of management, profit, bonuses, and other contingencies.

Some offices have a table of rates increasing every five years; others may prefer decreasing rates of premium, graduated in various manners. It matters not much, however, at what age a person commences assurance; the more advanced in life of course pay higher premiums, on the chance of dying sooner, whilst the younger lives have smaller premiums, but a greater number of them. But the advantages of insuring young are manifold; bonuses

steadily increasing may often double the sum insured. In the Government Life Assurance and Annuity tables the premiums are very judiciously calculated to stop at the age of sixty, inasmuch as, after that age, ability to earn money begins to be precarious with working people, and these principally the Government scheme is intended to benefit.

The deposit plan of investing money for assurance is another system, capable of much modification. In this the interest of the money purchases a policy or an annuity, and in the event of death, or previous to death, the principal can be returned.* Numerous illustrations

*A deposit of 100% at 25 will assure 2344 108. 7d. at death; at 30, 2177. 9s. 5d.; at 40, 1877. 10s.