As nearly all those readers whom the subject-matter of the following pages is likely to interest, are already fully acquainted with the nature and acknowledged utility of the Commutation Method, or arrangement of the preparatory Tables for Annuity and Assurance calculations into certain forms called the D,N,S,M, and R columns; it will, therefore, be unnecessary to enlarge on those points; and the facts to be presently adduced will have reference simply to the early history of that system of computation, or, more strictly, to the date when, and the person by whom, it was first really promulgated. In bringing such facts forward, it is requisite to disclaim the remotest intention of urging that full merit is not likewise due to those English writers who have either foreshadowed or extended the method in this country, and who, although not its first discoverers, were undoubtedly its improvers.

The discovery of some general Law of Mortality, by means of which the values of the contingencies, depending upon human life, might be expressed in some simple formulæ, without the necessity of performing the numerous calculations which are required even for the chances of a single life, and still more in the various eases, in which two or more lives are involved, has occupied the attention and labours of many scientific men. But the result has not hitherto been satisfactory, in spite of the skill with which their investigations have been conducted, and the unwearied patience which they have brought to the task. The failure has probably arisen from the want of a sufficient number of observations, the authenticity of which could be relied upon; or for want of that accuracy in the data, without which it is in vain to attempt to find the traces of a regular law, disturbed as it must be by the peculiar circumstances under which the observations were made, or by the ignorance, and, in some cases it may be, by the wilful errors of those who have been employed to collect the facts.

The term scholar, as current in the English language, has two extreme acceptations, tyro and proficient; or what the later Greeks fancifully termed the alpha and omega of acquirement. If we attempt to trace the steps by which even the adult student of any especial branch of professional or literary knowledge has fairly passed the boundary defined by the one meaning in passing on to that position denoted by the other, it will commonly be found, that in place of that lucid order, that straight line from point to point, which theory and resolve generally premise, the real order of acquirement has been desultory—the real line of progression, circuitous and uncertain.

The question as to the liabilities arising upon the destruction of property by a fire which has originated through negligence, is one of considerable importance, both to the public and to Insurance Offices; and as it appears that the vulgar notions afloat upon it, by no means tally with the law, and have, nevertheless, their origin in no less an authority than that of Sir William Blackstone, it may be a matter of interest to the readers of this magazine to investigate the subject.

In making this contribution to the spirit of advance which is characteristic of our age, the writer is fully aware of the danger of reforms. He remembers “the grace which antiquity can lend” even “to error;” and that by an almost universal instinct the Past is consecrated in the eyes of the Present. Thus, the half-lights and imperfections of our forefathers are clung to with a generous pertinacity. We endeavour to manage with the customs and remedies which sufficed for an early state of society, rather than frame new ones to suit the exigencies of our altered condition. In fact, to speak with Scaliger, we had rather eat acorns with our ancestors than bread with the men of our own generation.

In availing ourselves of the permission, which has been kindly accorded to us by Mr. Rucker, to publish the Statement which he has compiled with so much labour and skill, we cannot but draw the attention of our readers to a collection of facts on a subject on which very little authentic information has yet been made public. The author has brought together, for each of the years in the Statement, the facts under the different heads distinguished below; but as the object of this publication is rather to deal with the averages of results, and the number is scarcely sufficient in each year and under each head to form a fair standard of comparison, it has been deemed sufficient to reprint merely the general summary for the five years together, and to add the proportions per cent. so as to allow of some general means of comparing the totals together. With these and with Mr. Rucker's explanatory notes, this curious subject is left for the consideration of those whose pursuits may lead them to take an interest in similar enquiries, or whose experience may enable them to appreciate their value. It is hoped, indeed, that the publication may induce others to add to information on a topic so rarely touched upon, and yet so well worthy of the attention of the statist and the practical man of business.