Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Analecta.
ancl conduct ; and thirdly , the value of money . The result of their labours had been , that the exact duration of a number of lives , under given circumstances , had been deduced with certainty . He was afraid the longevity of the species was retrograding . The question was an important one , and they must watch it . It would also be important to inquire the duration of the lives of those born during years succeeding those of famine . He feared the lives of children so bom did not come
up to the average . Actuaries were the advisers of those who had money to invest , and ill doing so thsy must act conscientiously ; in that sense they were physicians . He trusted they would soon have a library , to which he should be happy to contribute , ancl that they would soon be in a condition to disseminate important information . Air . BROWNE , of the AVestminster Fire antl Life , proposed the health of the President . The toast was warmly responded to .
The PRESIDENT , in returning thanks , said , he knew no society which possessed the right of taking a position higher than theirs . Afr . PETER HARDY , in returning thanks for the Vice-Presidents , said he felt deeply the honour which had just been conferred on his valued friends and himself . For himself he assured them he deeply felt the kindly sympathy and support which he had experienced at the hands of his professional brethrenwhen he stood forth at firstand aloneto
, , , advocate the formation of this Institute ; but for that he should have presented to the world the specimen of an unsuccessful man . Air . SYLVESTER proposed the health of Mr . Neison . Mr . NEISON , having returned thanks , urged on the attention of the meeting the necessity which had existed for such an institution . AVithin recent years the great domain of scientific research had become divided
amongst a diversified body of labourers , each having specific ancl distinctive subjects of inquiry , ancl this division had , so far as the learned societies of the metropolis were concerned , left neglected the range of Life Contingencies . There was , therefore , the utmost necessity for the establishment of such an institution , and if a few earnest ' and diligent members give their minds to the task of throwing light on the unsolved problems connected with Life Assurance , their labours are sure to be rewardedancl a significance and importance given to the Institute of
, Actuaries , equal to that of any other of the learned bodies . If at any time it was important for Actuaries to labour , to develope the laws which should he practically employed in Life Contingencies , it is certainly at present . It is now known that the members of the profession are not agreed on some points of the most vital importance . Only a few weeks since , a most able document issued from a government office , which would throw doubts on the safety of certain practical methods , known to
prevail in some of our best established and oldest Assurance Companies . It is not fitting that such doubts should gain currency ; and he could only express a hope , that the researches of this Institution would dispel all the clouds that now hang over that province of science . He was aware that after important truths were developed , it was difficult to make them practically bear on the monetary institutions of the country . They had a noted instance connected with the labours of their President .
Some thirty-nine years ago he commenced agitating on the subject of government annuities , and after proving that the national exchequer was suffering at the rate of about HOQOl a-week from the terms on which annuities were granted , it cost hitn arduous toil to induce government to alter the ruinous scale on which the public annuities were sold . No VOL . vi . 3 s
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Analecta.
ancl conduct ; and thirdly , the value of money . The result of their labours had been , that the exact duration of a number of lives , under given circumstances , had been deduced with certainty . He was afraid the longevity of the species was retrograding . The question was an important one , and they must watch it . It would also be important to inquire the duration of the lives of those born during years succeeding those of famine . He feared the lives of children so bom did not come
up to the average . Actuaries were the advisers of those who had money to invest , and ill doing so thsy must act conscientiously ; in that sense they were physicians . He trusted they would soon have a library , to which he should be happy to contribute , ancl that they would soon be in a condition to disseminate important information . Air . BROWNE , of the AVestminster Fire antl Life , proposed the health of the President . The toast was warmly responded to .
The PRESIDENT , in returning thanks , said , he knew no society which possessed the right of taking a position higher than theirs . Afr . PETER HARDY , in returning thanks for the Vice-Presidents , said he felt deeply the honour which had just been conferred on his valued friends and himself . For himself he assured them he deeply felt the kindly sympathy and support which he had experienced at the hands of his professional brethrenwhen he stood forth at firstand aloneto
, , , advocate the formation of this Institute ; but for that he should have presented to the world the specimen of an unsuccessful man . Air . SYLVESTER proposed the health of Mr . Neison . Mr . NEISON , having returned thanks , urged on the attention of the meeting the necessity which had existed for such an institution . AVithin recent years the great domain of scientific research had become divided
amongst a diversified body of labourers , each having specific ancl distinctive subjects of inquiry , ancl this division had , so far as the learned societies of the metropolis were concerned , left neglected the range of Life Contingencies . There was , therefore , the utmost necessity for the establishment of such an institution , and if a few earnest ' and diligent members give their minds to the task of throwing light on the unsolved problems connected with Life Assurance , their labours are sure to be rewardedancl a significance and importance given to the Institute of
, Actuaries , equal to that of any other of the learned bodies . If at any time it was important for Actuaries to labour , to develope the laws which should he practically employed in Life Contingencies , it is certainly at present . It is now known that the members of the profession are not agreed on some points of the most vital importance . Only a few weeks since , a most able document issued from a government office , which would throw doubts on the safety of certain practical methods , known to
prevail in some of our best established and oldest Assurance Companies . It is not fitting that such doubts should gain currency ; and he could only express a hope , that the researches of this Institution would dispel all the clouds that now hang over that province of science . He was aware that after important truths were developed , it was difficult to make them practically bear on the monetary institutions of the country . They had a noted instance connected with the labours of their President .
Some thirty-nine years ago he commenced agitating on the subject of government annuities , and after proving that the national exchequer was suffering at the rate of about HOQOl a-week from the terms on which annuities were granted , it cost hitn arduous toil to induce government to alter the ruinous scale on which the public annuities were sold . No VOL . vi . 3 s