Observations on the mortality of the Scottish Widows' Fund and Life Assurance Society, from 1815 to 1845 / by James Begbie.

Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the mortality of the Scottish Widows' Fund and Life Assurance Society, from 1815 to 1845 / by James Begbie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    mark that a large number of these, at all ages, are reported as the subjects of dyspepsia, a malady which is too lightly regarded in estimating the value of life, but which, as every day’s experience is tending to show, is the fruitful source of many more fatal disorders. Of the chronic affections of the brain and spinal marrow, num- bering 20 cases, 19 were males, and 1 female. Only 1 death took place before 30, 4 between 30 and 40, 4 between 40 and 50, 7 between 50 and 60, 2 between 60 and 70, 1 between 70 and 80, and 1 between 80 and 90. Several had been dyspeptic; two had suffered from rheumatism, and two from gout. In two instances there is evidence of hereditary disease of the brain, connected with strumous habit; one had had a threatening of apoplexy 15 years before in- surance, and one had sustained a fracture of the skull when a boy, but lived to 28. The papers relative to mania, epilepsy, and the remaining dis- eases of the third class, offer nothing worthy of remark, except that one of the 6 cases of delirium tremens occurred in a bankrupt, and another in a tavern-keeper, conditions of life very unfavourable for assurance. In the fourth class, that of diseases of the respiratory organs, the mortality reaches its highest rate; and when we consider that the business of life assurance is in a great measure exempt from loss by measles, croup, and other affections of this class prevalent among children, appears to approach too closely to the average number of deaths over the population of Europe from the same causes; but when we take into account the circumstance that the lives proposed for insurance are almost all from the professions and trades of large towns, and embrace comparatively few of the inhabitants of the agricultural districts, who enjoy the largest share of health and longevity, the value of selection will be more conspicuous. Of 152 deaths belonging to this class, consumption claims 72, or nearly one-half, and almost a ninth part of the gross mortality. The tables are composed of 61 males and 11 females. The age at which consumption proves most frequently fatal, and the period when the mortality from it sensibly declines, have been much dis- puted points among statists and physicians; and the question is one which it is of importance to determine. It is commonly stated and believed that the disease seldom occurs before 15 or after 35 years of age; but it is more correctly said, that after the 15th year, fully one-half of the deaths occur between the 20th and 40th years. In the fifth annual report1 of the registrar-general, we are informed, that of 51,023 males born in the metropolis, 8297 sunk under consumption, and that of these 1438 died between 20 and 30, 1498 between 30 and 40, 1611 between 40 and 50, and 1321 between 50 and 60, the remainder being before 20 or after 60; and he calculates, according to the metropolitan life table, 1 Second Edition, p. 438-39.