And the following gives the deaths under a like arrangement over a series of years: [Note.-This T. is compiled from the Weekly Returns made by the Registrars of Lond., and relates to the 52 or 53 weeks of each year.] Dr. Buchanan Washbourne has shown that the difference in the general death-rate caused by the fatal cases in the Public Inst. of Gloucester varies from 1 to 16 p. 1000 of the pop. In 1867 Dr. W. A. Guy read before the Statistical So. a paper: On the Mort. of Lond. Hospitals; and incidentally on the Deaths in the Prisons and Public Inst. of the Metropolis. [Statis. Journ. xxx. p. 293] We shall speak of this paper under HOSPITALS, etc. In 1872, 12,029 deaths occurred in the public inst. of Lond. ; 6177 in the workhouses, 5085 in the civil hospitals, including 94 in hospitals for foreigners; 183 men died in the naval and military hospitals; 16 women and 60 children died in lying-in hospitals, 191 men and 155 women in lunatic asylums. One person in 6 dies in a public inst. Out of 100 deaths 9 occurred in workhouses, 8 in hospitals. The deaths in public inst. are increasing; more dying in hospitals, fewer in workhouses and prisons.-Reg.-Gen. Ann. Summary for 1872. DEATHS, REGISTRATION OF.-The Regis. of Deaths in England dates back to 1538, at which period a system of Parochial Regis. was attempted to be estab. under a mandate from Thomas Cromwell. [PARISH REGIS.] The appearance of the Plague in that and the following century caused a great deal of interest to be taken in the regis. of deaths; and indeed led to the estab. of B. of Mort. in London, and many of the larger towns, as we have already shown. [BILLS OF MORT.] The cessation of plague visitations and the general improvement in the public health appear to have led to some laxity in the system during the close of the last and the commencement of the present century. However, in 1831, the first visitation of Asiatic Cholera to Gt. Brit. came, and public attention was again drawn to the subject. This eventuated in the passing of the General Regis. Act in 1836, which has been productive of the greatest possible good. Similar measures for Scotland and Ireland followed; and we trust our regis. system is now about to be perfected. The form for general regis. of deaths comprises: the time of death, name and surname, sex, age, profession, and cause of death of the deceased; the signature, description and residence of the informant-who must be some person present at the death, or in attendance during the last illness, or else the occupier of the house (sec. 25), with the date of regis. and signature of registrar. [MARINE REGIS. BOOK.] [REGISTRATION.] DEATHS, STATISTICS OF.—Under this head we propose to give some general statistics of deaths not falling under either of the preceding heads: especially the statistics of deaths in E. and W. from the earliest dates of which we have any record. Under BILLS OF MORT. we have noted many of the earlier Death Registers; under PARISH REGISTERS, and REGISTRATION, this part of the subject will be further dealt with. Under MORTALITY OBS. we shall give a chronological account of numerous obs. which have been taken at various periods, and in various parts of the world, in view of collecting accurate statistics on the subject of deaths. From these have been constructed not only numerous T. of Mort. [MORT. TABLES], but a law of human mort. has been propounded, which we shall speak of in detail under MORT., LAW OF. We have shown in our art. BIRTHS [under date 1852], that from investigations made by Herr Hopf, of Gotha, and communicated by him to the Assu, Mag. [vol. iii. p. 255] in 1852, the ratio of ann. births to the pop. had been more uniform-that is, had presented a more limited range of fluctuations-than the deaths. We need not repeat the results; it will repay the reader to turn back and peruse them. [POPULATION.] Scientific writers have asserted that the number of persons who have existed since the beginning of time amounts to 36,627,843,275,075,845. These figures when divided by 3,095,000 (the number of square leagues of land on the globe) show 11,320,689,732 square miles of land as a total; which being divided as before give 134,622,976 persons to each square mile. Reduce the miles to square rods, and the number will be 1,853, 174,600,000, which being divided as before will give 1283 inhabitants to each square rod; which being reduced to feet will give about 5 persons to each square foot of terra firma. Thus it appears that our earth is one vast cemetery-1283 human beings lie buried in each square rod, scarcely sufficient for 10 graves. If every one had gone through the form of Christian burial, each grave must contain 128 persons, and the whole surface of the globe would have been dug over 128 times to bury its dead. Sir William Petty pub. in 1682 his famous Essay concerning the Multiplication of Mankind. At that period he estimated "the number of the quick and the dead who may rise at the last day" at 20,032,000,000, or less than "one-fifth part of the graves which the surface of Ireland will afford, without ever putting two bodies in any one grave"! But we may leave such estimates-which at the best are of no practical value-and come down to the facts and figures which relate to our own time, and are within the range of verification. The deaths in E. and W. are about 500,000 ann., increasing with the pop., and fluctuating very slightly. The ann. per-centage to the pop. is 21/5, varying in different districts of the country as already shown. The mort. is highest in winter and lowest in summer, varying in these respects slightly with the different districts. When this order is reversed, the cause is some epidemic disease, such as cholera, fevers, etc., usually most fatal in the summer season. The ann. rate of mort among males under 5 is 74 p.c.; among females under 5, 64 p.c.; among males at all ages, 2 p.c.; among females at all ages, 21/6 p.c. The classification of the causes of death is becoming reduced to a science. The materials for testing and amplifying all these and many other points of interest are contained in the preceding or the following T. DEATHS IN E. AND W. FROM 1700 DOWN TO 1871: [Note. The deaths in the first part of this T.-down to 1820-are drawn from Marshall's Mort. of the Metropolis, etc., 1832. From 1820 to 1838, from McCulloch's British Empire, 1844. From 1838 to 1871, from 33rd Rep. of Reg. Gen.] The R. of the Reg.-Gen. enable us to add the following valuable supplemental Tables: I.-Deaths regis. at different Ages in each of the Thirty-four Years 1838-71.-MALES. 227,220 1856 198,875 52,598 85,280 8031 4619 5854 7028 12,387 12,721 13,223 15,258 17,388 13,336 3567 183 8797 92,915 4813 5949 7072 57,816 99,827 1859 223,576 58,932 98,874 1860 215,238 56,892 90,428 7935 4353 1861 222,281 59,673 97,477 7926 4606 1862 222,622 56,960 96,029 9154 4760 1863 242,203 60,707 108,454 253,619 62,818 107,212 12,094 5499 6518 8086 15,041 12,407 5450 13,550 12,645 10,050 5309 6477 8249 15,615 16,704 18,303 1866 256,402 66,851 108,424 9903 5214 6626 8384 16,328 17,463 20,681 18,940 20,894 22,711 22,252 16,993 4227 202 17,068 4249 198 1867 242,588 65,464 101,502 8327 4578 6229 7678 15,088 16,236 17,474 20,483 22,865 17,509 4407 212 1868 247, 107 67,290 108,325 10, 131 4888 6164 7413 14,921 15,945 17,592 19,782 21,745 16,224 3799 178 1869 254,863 66,691 109,012 10,930 5090 6024 7428 15,332 16,421 18, 184 20,861 1870 265,586 1871 265,563 69,699 70,465 114,099 11,903 5470 6391 7612 I1,206 5421 110,523 15,894 16,940 18,622 6951 8772 17,655 17,823 23,625 17,572 4218 21,500 24,407 24,029 19,305 21,786 166 18,147 4407 194 17,557 4320 215 II.-Deaths regis. at different Ages in each of the Thirty-four Years 1838-71.-FEMALES. 1857 207,459 45,942 81,089 8644 4686 6718 7786 14,277 13,551 12,456 15,348 19,727 17,251 5475 451 1858 222,436 46,021 87,102 11,851 5430 1800 207,483 1859 217,205 46,697 85,390 44,092 76,356 1861 212,833 46,755 83,652 7964 4574 1862 213,944 44,413 82,484 1863 231,634 47,382 93,556 1864 241,912 50,117 92,591 11,541 1865❘ 238,691 53,303 92,687 1866 244,287 53,448 94,595 1867 228,487 51,797 1868 233,515 54,785 94,804 1869 239,965 53,583 1870 249,743 56,173 1871 249,316 56,169 94,550 7018 8199 14,914 14,364 13,473 15,544 14,870 13,735 16,656 15,878 15,465 19,733 6040 443 16,661 16,026 15,714 18,556 22,750 19,533 5940 481 17,454 16,940 16,258 15,915 15,488 15,247 15,967 15,050 14,836 15,896 15,468 15,812 18,819 23,653 16,492 15,893 16,163 19,912 24,561 16,475 16,531 20,015 24,830 16,593 20,787 17,537 5351 392 16,944 20,720 17,798 5705 430 23,584 19,176 23,426 18,256 23,064 19,958 6059 20,142 5926 17,780 21,689 416 428 20,255 6018 403 Years. All Ages. DEBENTURE (from the Latin debeo, to owe).-A deed-poll charging certain property or funds with the repayment of money lent to a person therein named, at a given int. It is frequently resorted to by public cos. to raise money for the prosecution of their undertakings. Unless specifically charged upon real property, under, say, an Act of Parl., a Debenture is only a kind of IŎU; and in all cases there must be power to issue debentures before they can be of any value. The term is also used at the Custom House for a kind of certificate given to persons entitled to receive a bounty or drawback. DEBILITY (from debilis, weak).—Asthenia, weakness, feebleness, decay of strength both in mind and body. DEBILITY, DEATHS FROM (Class, DEVELOPMENTAL; Order, Diseases of Nutrition).—See ATROPHY AND DEBILITY, which are now thrown together in the R. of the Reg.-Gen. In the mort. experience of the Scottish Widows Fund during 37 years (1815-52) there were 17 deaths returned under this head: 2 occurred between ages 30 and 40; 2 between 40 and 50; 2 between 50 and 60; 9 between 60 and 70; and 3 between 70 and 80. DEBITUM IN PRÆSENTI, SOLVENDUM IN FUTURO.-A debt due at present, to be paid at a future time. DEBT. A sum of money due from one person to another. DEBT INS. SO.-Founded in 1871, being apparently a private enterprise worked as an asso. We have given an account of its main features under COMMERCIAL CREDIT INS. The asso. has issued the following adv.: COMMERCIAL DEBT INS.-The Debt Ins. So. pays 10s., 12s. 6d., or 15s. in the pound, in cash, at the time of a debtor's failure, and all dividends which may be realized beyond the amount so paid. Debts are ins. monthly or yearly, from £10 to £200 each. The ordin. rates of prem. p. £100 p.a. are from 67s. to 1275. Prospectuses forwarded to wholesale houses. DEBTOR.-A person indebted pecuniarily to another. A creditor has an insurable interest in the life of his debtor; but a debtor has no such interest in the life of his creditor. A debtor has an insurable interest in property held as security by his creditor. He has been held to have an insurable interest in property which he had fraudulently concealed from his creditors. The whole subject, which is one of considerable practical importance, will be reviewed under INSURABLE INTEREST. DEBTS, INS. OF.-Under COMMERCIAL CREDIT INS. we have given a full outline of the various offices which have undertaken this class of bus. We shall have occasion to speak of some other developments of the principle under GUARANTEE INS. DECAPITATION.-The act of beheading. As a mode of capital punishment, it was introduced by William the Conqueror in 1076, being in his view a less ignominious mode of putting high criminals to death than the then existing modes. It became very fashionable during the reigns of Henry VIII. and Mary. DECEDENT.-A deceased person. DECEIT (from the Latin deceptio).—Fraud, cheat, craft, or collusion used to deceive and defraud another. [CONCEALMENT.] [FRAUD.] DECENNIAL.-Continuing for ten years; consisting of ten years; or happening every ten years-a decenniary or decennial period. age. DECENNIAL LIFE TABLES.-Tables showing the expectation of life at every tenth year of For the purpose of instituting comparisons regarding the longevity of the inhabitants of different parts of the kingdom, and of the towns and cities, such T. (which of course involve very much less time and labour in construction than ordinary L. tables) have been deemed sufficient; and Dr. Farr, in the Appendix to the 5th R. of Reg.-Gen. pub. 1843, furnished rules for the constructing and "correcting" such T. DECIMAL ARITHMETIC. The common system of arithmetic in which the scale of numbers proceeds by tens. The name derived from decem (ten) is expressive of the property of decimals: they always denote parts of ten, or ten continually multiplied by ten, as 10, 100, 1000, 10,000, to any appreciable extent. The decimal system is said to have been introduced by Regiomontanus about A.D. 1464. But the first known work on the subject was written by Simon Stevin, the Practique d'Arithmétique, pub. 1582. In another work of his, Disme, the Art of Tenths, pub. at Leyden in 1602, he gives reasons for conjecturing that this art was not first invented in Italy so recently as 200 or 300 years before his time (as many had conjectured), but that the very same art, or something nearly resembling it, was known in Rome in Julius Cæsar's time. DECIMAL NOTATION.-The greater proportion of the Tables and Annu. and Ins. and other values in the pages of this work are given in decimals: no other system being sufficiently exact or facile where comparisons have to be made, or where extreme accuracy is desirable. Most of our readers will be perfectly familiar with the use of decimals; but some will not. For the benefit of the latter it is necessary to explain that I or 10 or 100 or 1'000 means simply one. That I means I/10; 15, 12; 19, 19/10 That 125 means I ; 1'50, 1 1⁄2; 1'75, 134. In short, that I is the unit, and the figures on the right of the point only tenths, hundredths, or thousandth parts of it, according as one, two, or three figures (called places) be on the right; and that such counting applies to numbers of persons and things; and to time and quantities. That in money values I' means 1; 1'1, £1 25. ; 1'5, £1 10s. That 102 means 10 45.; 100'3, 100 6s. That 1250 means 1 5s.; 1750, £1 15s., and so on. The idea once obtained, the |