form such other values as might be required in the solution of any particular problem in hand. Of the values thus requiring to be formed, those of the single and ann. prems for assu. occur perhaps more frequently than any others; and hence the desirableness of simplifying as much as possible the operations by which these are deduced from the corresponding annuities. To effect this simplification was the object of Mr. Orchard's work, in which, as will be admitted by all competent to form an opinion on the subject, the author has been completely successful. The arithmetical operation heretofore necessary has been entirely superseded, and the required values are found simply by inspection. In 1850 Mr. Wm. Wood pub. conversion tables, showing the single and ann. prems. for assu. payable on the extinction of any single or of any joint lives, or of the longest of any two or more lives, deduced from the values of life annu. at various rates of int. The purpose of these Tables was the same as that of Mr. Orchard's. Mr. Wood says: The object of the following tables is to save the labour of calculating, from the values of the annu. the single and ann. prems. for an assu. of a sum payable at the end of the year in which any single life, or joint lives, or the longest of any two or more lives, shall become extinct. The single prems. for £100 are given at 3, 3 and 4 p.c. The ann. prems. are given at 4 p.c. for every difference of one penny. From these the ann. prems. deduced from the same annu. derived from other rates of int. are readily obtained. The tables it will thus be seen are thoroughly practical. The results are of course applicable to any tables of life annu., from whatever rate of mort. they may be derived. In 1851 Mr. Peter Gray, Mr. W. A. Smith, and Mr. W. Orchard, jointly pub. Ins. and Annu. Tables according to the Carlisle Mort. at 3 p.c. These Tables included present value of annu. and single and ann. prems. for survivorship ins. on every combination of two lives. Table VII. is a conversion table for passing from the value of an assu. to that of an annu. In the intro. to the vol., believed to have been written by Mr. Gray (Mr. Orchard being then dead), there is the following: It is proper to mention that the idea of this table belongs to Mr. Orchard, one of the compilers of the present work. Mr. Orchard pub. in May last a work entitled, "Single and Ann. Assu. prems, for every value of Annuity on Single or Joint Lives, or Survivors," etc., at eight rates of int.; the object of which is, as its title imports, from the value of an annuity on a specified status to pass to either the single or the ann. prem. for assu. on the same status. From this the transition to the inverse form of the table here given was easy. Mr. Orchard exhibited some specimens of his tables, in manuscript, at one of the sessional meetings of the Inst. of Actuaries, on the 8th January, 1850; and singularly enough, at the very next meeting on the 28th of same month, there was laid on the table a copy of the work having the same object in view. It is intituled Conversion Tables, by Wm. Wood, F.S.A., etc. On comparison of the two works, it will appear that while the idea on which they are founded is the same, they have little in common in the manner in which that idea has been carried out by the respective authors. In 1851 Mr. W. T. Thomson pub. a large Sheet Table comprising annuity values at every age, based upon the Carlisle Table 3 per cent. (See again 1853.) In the same year Mr. Filipowski pub. (in an appendix to his anti-logarithms), a Table of Annuities for 3 joint lives at 3 per cent. Carlisle. This table arranged for all Quinquennial Combinations was first pub. in 1850. In 1852 Mr. Benjamin Hall Todd pub. Life Assu. Investigation Tables, showing the value of £100 policy for any number of years (not exceeding 50) interpolated for months, according to the Carlisle T. of Mort. and 3 p.c. int. ; also ann. and single assu. prems., Carlisle T. 3 p.c. int., interpolated for months. The author says: With the aid of the tables at present in use, the method of valuing policies may be sufficiently curt and convenient for ordinary practical purposes; but when the Actuary has to investigate the affairs of a Co. and to ascertain its true position, the labour attending such an inquiry is very arduous; and from the immense mass of figures to be dealt with, all such investigations require to be very carefully checked to insure that correctness which the importance of the subject demands. . . . It was under these impressions that the idea of forming a table of the value of policies first suggested itself to the author. In 1853 Mr. W. T. Thomson pub. Actuarial Tables, Carlisle 3 p.c. single lives and single deaths, with auxiliary tables, in one vol.; a most comprehensive and excellent arrangement characterizes these tables; they are too well known to all actuaries to require detailed notice here. In the same year there was pub. in Assu. Mag. (vol. iii.) the five orig. Tables compiled by Mr Peter Hardy, deduced from the Mort. experience of the Equitable So. [EQUITABLE So. EXPERIENCE.] In the same year (1853) the Hon. Elizur Wrigh., then Ins. Commissioner for the State of Massachusetts, pub. in Boston, U.S., Valuation Tables on the Combined experience rate of Mort. for the use of Life Ins. Cos. These Tables give the ann. monthly and daily values of policies, at 3 and p.c. int., for all periods and ages from 10 to 100; and they constitute the standard by which the position of asso. doing life bus. in that State are annually tested. But for the aid of such a set of Tables, it would be impossible for the officers of the Ins. department to make these yearly tests. A 2nd ed. of these Tables, with many add., has been pub. during the present year. (See 1871.) In 1854, Mr. Peter Hardy pub. in Assu. Mag. (vol. iv.) a Table showing the present value of £1 p.a. for any number of years not exceeding 100, at the following rates of int. 1, 1, 1), 17, 21, 28, 2§, and 2}. In 1855 there was pub. in Assu. Mag. (vol. v. pp. 363-8) Tables of single and ann. prems. for Joint Life Ins. for all ages between 15 and 60, deduced by William Braid, of Edinburgh, from the Carlisle Table. Int. 3 p.c. Same year there was pub. also in Assu. Mag. (vol. vi. pp. 115-120) a series of tables for determining the values of annu, and assu. on 3 lives according to the Carlisle Table of Mort., and showing the values of the annu. payable during the joint lives. Int. 3 p.c. By the same author. Same year, Assu. Mag. (vol. v.) contains a Table constructed by Charles Gabriel Shaw value of £1 during the joint continuance of 3, 4, 5, and 6 lives of equal ages. Carlisle. 3 p.c. In 1857, Mr. W. E. Hillman pub. Tables of the Value of a Policy of Ins. for £1, according to the mort. indicated by the Carlisle observations, and also the Combined Experience of Life Ins. Cos. at 3, 3, and 4 p.c. int., with preparatory Tables for ascertaining the value of such ins. for every age from 14 to 60 years, and of duration from I to 50 years. Tables of this description were much required in the profession; but unfortunately these have not quite met the requirement. Mr. Laundy, writing to the Assu. Mag. (vol. ix. p. 239), says, "Instead, however, of obtaining the expected aid, I discovered that a considerable number of the values I had based upon Mr. Hillman's figures were untrue, owing to the extreme inaccuracy of the Table referred to (Experience Table), not a page of which is without numerous errors." Mr. Laundy recalculates the entire table. Mr. Manly (Assu. Mag. vol. xiv. p. 264) says: I can fully endorse Mr. Laundy's remark that no reliance whatever can be placed upon the correctness of the values in Hillman's Tables. In 1858 Mr. David Chisholm pub. Commutation Tables for joint annu. and survivorship assu. based on the Carlisle Mort. at 3, 3, 4, 5, and 6 p.c. int., with tables of annu. and assu. on single lives, and other useful tables, and an intro. on their construction and use. "The object of the present pub. is to provide the actuary with a complete series of life assu. tables on the system originated by the late Geo. Barrett, and improved by Mr. Griffith Davies." In 1859 Mr. Jardine Henry pub. The Government Annuity Tables, embracing the values of annu. on single, and two joint lives, at 3, 4, 5, and 6 p.c. p.a. for every combination of age and sex, founded upon the mort. obs. contained in Mr. John Finlaison's report, 1829. It has always appeared to us that the compiler of these tables has fallen into the error of taking for the base of his calculation, observations No. 8 and 15 of the late Mr. Finlaison, instead of Nos. 13 and 20-which latter were really the ones upon which all the Tables of Life Annuities computed for the service of the Government were based. Has this been previously observed ? In 1861 Mr. W. Downing Biden pub. Rules, Formulæ, and Tables for the valuation of Estates, whether Freehold, Copyhold, or Leasehold, in possession or in reversion, and dependent on terms of certain duration, or on a Life or Lives; with new Rules and Tables for ascertaining the correct market value or fair price to be given for annu., rev. and next presentations, in order to secure to the purchaser a certain rate of int. on equitable terms; and a set of Conversion Tables for ascertaining from the price of an Annu. the cost of a Rev., to allow the purchaser a given rate of int. with security. Some of these tables are deduced from the Carlisle Mort., some from the English Life Tables. In 1863 Mr. Andrew H. Turnbull pub. Tables of Compound Int. and annu., yearly, half-yearly, and quarterly payments in decimals and currency; with rules for determining the amount of principal and int. in any payment of annu., and for the construction of Tables showing the same. In 1864 Dr. Farr pub. English Life Tables (No. 3.), Tables of Lifetimes, annuities and premiums, with an intro. The tables are very extensive, comprising, in single lives, an entire suit of commutation columns at the several rates of interest from 3 to 10 p.c., for male and female lives separately, by whole years as usual; with additional ones by halfyearly and quarterly values of int. and mort.; and every possible combination of two joint lives, male and female, two males and two females, interest at 3 p.c. The fundamental logarithmic columns were evolved and printed by Scheutz's calculating machine, made in London by Mr. Donkin. The admirable introduction to the work cannot be too much commended to the actuarial student. It epitomizes the entire analysis of the science; and, amongst its other and various merits, points emphatically to a distinction between interest and discount, which has sometimes been misunderstood.-Paterson. In 1866 Mr. Jardine Henry pub. vol. 1 of his Government Life Annu. Commutation Tables for single and two joint lives at 0, 1, 2, 24, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 p.c. p.a. ; and for three and four joint lives at 3 and 6 p.c. p.a., founded on the experience of the Government annuitants up to 1823, and on the further experience from 1823 to 1853, with Tables showing on inspection the ann. prems. for an ins of £100, by the above or by any other Tables, for single, two, three, and four joint lives, at 3 p.c., and also at all other rates on addition of constants. The work is to be completed in 8 vols. See an observation we have made regarding his previous work, 1859. In 1868 the pub. of the ACTUARIAL MAG. was commenced. of orig. Tables. [ACTUARIAL MAG.] It contains a number In 1869 was pub. (part 1) Valuation Tables, prepared specially for the use of the Ins. Department, State of New York, and based upon Homan's Table. Int. 4 p.c. [AMERICAN MORT. TABLES.] The following is a statement of the Tables contained therein: I. (43 pages), showing the net values per one thousand dollars of whole life pol, with equal annual prem., for December 31st of each year, interpolated for months, with a side table giving the monthly and daily difference and the values at the beginning and end of each policy year. II. (one p.), showing the net values per one thousand dollars of whole-life pol. prem. paid by a single payment; serving also for the valuation of additions or reversionary dividends and all wholelife pof. fully paid up, whether by a single payment, or by five, ten, or any other number of payments; table interpolated for months, with the same side-table as in No. I. III. (5 p.), showing the net values per thousand dollars of whole-life pol. by equal annual prem. for five years or till previous death, interpolated for months, with the same side-table as in No. I. IV. (10 p.), showing the net values per one thousand dollars of whole-life pol. by equal annual prem. for ten years or till previous death, interpolated for months, with the same side-table as in No. I. V. (3 p.), showing the net values per one thousand dollars of whole-life pol. by equal annual prem. for fifteen years or till previous death; giving values at the beginning and end of each policy year, with the monthly difference. VI. (4 p.), showing the net values for one thousand dollars of whole-life pol. by equal annual prem. for twenty years or till previous death; giving the values at the beginning and end of each policy year, and the monthly difference. VII. (28 p.), showing the net values per one thousand dollars of endowment assu. pol. maturing at age 65, with equal annual prem. till maturity or previous death, interpolated for months, with the same side-table as in No. I. In 1870 part 2 of the same work was issued, and contained the following Tables: Nos. VII.A, VII.в, VII.C, and No. VIII. (25 p.), showing net values per one thousand dollars of endow. assu. pol., maturing at ages 25 and 60, by payments as specified in each table. Nos. VIII.A, VIII.B, VIII.C, VIII.D, and VIII.E (29 p.), showing net values per one thousand dollars of endow. assu. pol., maturing at age 60, by payments as specified in each table. Nos. IX., IX.A, IX.B, IX.c, IX.D, and No. X. (23 p.), showing net values per one thousand dollars of endow. assu. pol., maturing at ages 30 and 55, by payments as specified in each table. Nos. X.A, X.B, X.C, X.D, and X.E (21 p.), showing the net values for one thousand dollars of endow. assu. pol. maturing at age 55, by prem. as specified in each table. Nos. XI., XI.A, XI.B, XI.C, XI.D, XI.E, and No. XII. (26 p.), showing net values per one thousand dollars of endow. assu. pol. maturing at ages 35 and 50, by payments as specified in each table. Nos. XII.A, XII.B, XII.C, XII.D, and XII.E (18 p.), showing net values per one thousand dollars of endow. assu. pol. maturing at age 50, by payments as specified in each table. Nos. XIII., XIII.A, XIII.B, XIII.c, XIII.D, XIII.E, and No. XIV. (27 p.), showing net values per one thousand dollars of endow. assu. pol., maturing at ages 40 and 45, by payments as specified in each table. Nos. XIV.A, XIV.B, XIV.C, XIV.D, and XIV.E (15 p.), showing net values per one thousand dollars of endow. assu. pol., maturing at age 45, by payments as specified in each table. No. XV. (28 p.), showing net values per one thousand dollars of endow. assu. pol., maturing at age 65, by equal ann. prem. till mortality or previous death. Nos. XV.A, XV.B, XV.C, XV.D, and XV.E (26 p.), showing values per one thousand dollars of endow. assu. pol. maturing at age 65, by payments as specified in each table. Part 3 of the work will be very soon completed. The cost of the 3 parts, £42. The typography appears perfect. In 1871 was pub. in Boston, U.S., 2nd ed. of Prof. E. Wright's Valuation Tables on the combined experience of actuaries (17 offices) rate of Mort., revised and enlarged. The author says: These tables, so far as they give the net values of ordinary policies, with ann. prems. payable during life, were printed for the use of a few subscribing Cos. in 1853. Very few other than whole-life, or short-term policies were then issued. At the present moment it will create some surprise that some of the Cos. for which these tables were prepared, insisted on maintaining a 3 p.c. reserve, on which account they were cast at both 3 and 4 p.c... Since 1853, and especially since 1858, different forms of policy, or modes of paying prem., have been greatly multiplied, requiring not only many new tables for convenience in valuing for reserve, but for settling other important questions of equity necessarily arising out of the great diversities in the conditions of the policies. To this reprint of old tables, a good many new ones that seemed most needed have been added, and a number of others the purpose of which will be presently explained. BONUSES, mode of ACTUARIAL VALUATIONS. See ACTUARIAL INVESTIGATIONS. ascertaining. VALUATIONS for SURPLUS. ACTUARIES, CONSULTING.-Actuaries of known reputation have frequently a very considerable income from a species of chamber practice, quite apart from the conduct of the business of any particular office with which they may be associated. In the process of legal business all sorts of questions arise regarding the values of life interests, reversions, leaseholds, next presentations, etc., etc.; and the Courts, before making orders for dealing with the same, properly require a valuation to be made by a competent actuary. Then again, vendors as well as purchasers require to know the values of life policies, annuities, life interests, etc., about to be placed in the market for sale. Many books have been pub. professing to give rules and tables to guide in such matters. But the opinion of a man practically conversant with such questions must necessarily stand before all that can be said by rule. He knows the proper deductions and allowances to be made; the proper rate of int. to be assumed; the inclination or otherwise to invest at certain times in certain classes of securities: hence a fee of a few guineas may save as many hundreds. Most persons over-estimate the values of such investments when not acting under competent advice. Some of the problems which come before actuaries in this manner are of great interest. Many of the smaller ins. offices, having no regularly appointed actuary on their staff, fall back upon the services of consulting actuaries, and reap the benefit of their larger experience at a very small comparative cost. Mr. James Dodson may be regarded as the first who filled the office of Consulting Actuary. He stood in that relation to the founders of the Equitable. De Moivre had indeed been much consulted in the earlier part of last century; but chiefly as regarded chances at play. In the U.S. several of the best known actuaries are entirely consulting, that is, have no fixed engagement with any particular office, ACTUARIES EXPERIENCE.-ACTUARIES' TABLE.-The Experience Table, 17 Offices (1843), which we in this work call the OLD EXPERIENCE TABLE, is generally designated by one of the above titles by actuaries and writers in the U.S. The Experience Table of 1869, we in these pages, with a view to the avoidance of confusion, call the NEW EXPERIENCE TABLE. The OLD EXPERIENCE TABLE was some years since adopted by the State of Massachusetts as the standard for its State valuations, and is still retained. [AMERICAN MORT. TABLES.] It is very often called the ACTUARIES' EXPERIENCE. ACTUARIES, FACULTY OF, IN SCOTLAND. See FACULTY OF ACTUARIES. ACTUARIES, INSTITUTE OF (GREAT BRITAIN).—With a view to the especial training of actuaries to the duties of their calling. [ACTUARY.] The Institute of Actuaries was founded in Lond. in 1847. Most of the leading members of the profession have taken a warm interest in it from the beginning. Its successive presidents have been Mr. John Finlaison, Mr. Charles Jellicoe, Mr. Samuel Brown, and the President now is Mr. W. B. Hodge. A president is now elected every third year; the affairs are governed by the President and Council. The Institute consists of contributing members, viz., Fellows and Associates; and non-contributing members, viz., Honorary Foreign and Corresponding Members. Fellows have the right of attaching to their names F.I.A.; Associates A.I.A. An Associate who, "for a period of three years, may have been Act. to the Government, or Act., Principal Officer, Manager, Sec., or Assistant Act. to any Life Assu., Annuity, or Rev. Interest So., or who has received a certificate of competency, may be at once admitted as Fellow, without ballot." The first art. of its consti. sets forth its objects as follows : The Institute of Actuaries of Great Britain and Ireland is an asso. founded for the purpose of elevating the attainments and status, and promoting the general efficiency of all who are engaged in occupations connected with the pursuits of an Actuary; and for the extension and improvement of the data and methods of the science, which has its origin in the application of the doctrine of prob. to the affairs of life, and from which life assu. annuity, reversionary interest and other analogous institutions derive their principles of operation. It embraces as its peculiar province of inquiry all monetary questions involving a consideration of the separate or combined effects of interest and probability. With a view to the preparation of the younger members for the high duties of their calling, a course of instruction has been indicated by the Council, the completeness of which may be sufficiently judged of by a bare enumeration : MATRICULATION EXAMINATION.-Vulgar Fractions; Decimal Fractions; Logarithms; Evolutions; Equations, Simple and Quadratic; Series, Arithmetical and Geometrical; Permutations and Combinations; Binomial Theorem; Finite Differences; Geometry; First Four Books of Euclid. SECOND YEAR'S EXAMINATION.-Theory of Logarithms; Elements and Theory of Probabilities; Compound Int. and Annuities Certain; Tables of Mort.; Construction of Auxiliary Tables; Annuities and Assu. on Lives; Annuities and Assu. on Survivorships; Miscellaneous questions. THIRD YEAR'S EXAMINATION.-Life Assu. Finance: Construction and Graduation of Tables of Mort.; Existing Tables of Mort., the mode of their Construction and their respective Merits; Methods of determining the Surplus in an Assu. Co., and of distributing it amongst the Assured. Legal Principles: Acts of Parl.; Charters of Incorp.; Deeds of Set.; Partnerships, Lim. and Unlim., Powers and Duties of Persons constituting them; Policy considered as a Contract; Probates and Letters of Administration; Assignments; Personal Representatives: Bankruptcies. Statistics: Methods for the Arrangement and Collection of Data; Tests of Accuracy; Preparation of Abstracts and Reports; General System of the Country's Finance; Funded and Unfunded Debt, and Fiscal Arrangements; Taxation. Currency, Banking, and Investment: Currency, metallic and paper; Nature of Banking Bank of England, Private and Joint Stock Banks; Bills of Exchange; Comparative Value of Securities; High and Low Prices; Fluctuations in the Rate of Interest. Miscellaneous: Book-keeping; Auditing; Valuation of Marketable Securities; and Approximate Calculations. In the preparation of this work we have kept before us the preceding requirements. Some are of course altogether beyond our range. The Institute has its own organ: the Journal of the Institute of Actuaries and Assu. Mag. pub. quarterly. [ASSURANCE MAG.] In 1867 an attempt was made to found an Inst. of Actuaries in the U.S., but it did not proceed. ACTUARIES, LONGEVITY OF.-We think the profession of an actuary is one that should peculiarly conduce to longevity. We do not find that any special records have been kept. We have compiled a few instances of ages at death, at the moment of going to press, only as a nucleus. Griffith Davies Professor De Morgan Benjamin Gompertz 67 65 77 85 ACTUARY.-Originally a public officer in the Roman Courts of Justice, who drew up writings, contracts, etc., in presence of the magistrate, whence his name, from Actus, an instrument. Actuarii also kept the military accounts of the Romans. The Clerk who registered the acts and constitutions of the convocation in the assemblies of that body was termed actuary. The officers appointed to keep Savings Bank accounts were formerly termed actuaries. Some dictionaries include short-hand writers and registrars of public bodies under the term. An actuary, as now understood, is a person who is trained to apply the doctrine of mathematical prob. to the affairs of life. The classes of problems with which he has to deal embrace all monetary questions that involve a consideration of the separate or combined effect of int. and prob. An actuary is now regarded as a necessary officer of every asso. transacting life, annuity, or rev. bus. He may be either a resident actuary, a term applied to persons holding a fixed appointment with any particular asso.; or he may be a consulting actuary, whose services are at the disposal of any person or asso. requiring the same. [ACTUARIES, CON SULTING.] The title of actuary can scarcely be said to properly belong to any person in Gt. Brit. who is not a member of the Inst. of Actuaries of Gt. Brit. and Ireland, or of the Faculty of Actuaries in Scotland. Mr. Wm. Morgan was probably the first resident actuary appointed. He became act. of the Equitable in 1774. Dr. Price addressed the following remarks to that So. on the duties and the importance of the office of actuary. There are no questions the solution of which requires a stricter attention, or greater skill in investigation, than some in the doctrine of assu. Difficult questions are sometimes brought to the So.; and the Directors, not being themselves mathematicians, are under a necessity, in making their demands, of being governed by their Actuary: and should he happen to be unqualified, he must make mistakes, and either the public or the So, will be injured. In short, the So. can scarcely be sensible enough of the importance of both abilities and probity in the servants it employs; nor therefore of the particular reason there is for guarding their places against the applications of candidates who in any future vacancies may endeavour to intrude themselves by their connexions or influence. It was in 1819 that the profession of the actuary came to be specially recognized by the Government. This came about in two forms. First by the appointment of Mr. John Finlaison to the office of actuary to the Commissioners of the National Debt; and second, by enacting (59 Geo. III. c. 128, sec. 2) that the Tables and Rules of all Friendly Societies should be "approved by two persons at least, known to be professional actuaries, or persons skilled in calculation," as fit and proper, according to the most correct calculation of which the nature of the case would admit. (See 1846.) In 1826, Mr. Babbage said in his Comparative View, speaking of the actuaries of the then offices: The degree of knowledge possessed by persons so situated at the different Inst. is exceedingly various, passing through all degrees, from the most superficial acquirements, derived merely from the routine of an office, up to the most profound knowledge of the subject. These differences in degree of attainments are not peculiar to the profession of the actuary. The requirement of an actuarial certificate to the Tables, etc., of F. Sos. enacted in 1819, was superseded by the law of 1829; but in 1846 there was enacted the 9 & 10 Vict. c. 27, sec. 13 of which provided as follows: After the passing of this Act, the Reg. of F. Sos. in England and Scotland shall not certify the rules of any F. So, estab. after the passing of this Act, for the purpose of securing any benefit depending on the laws of sickness or mort., unless such So. shall adopt a Table which shall have been certified to be a Table which may be safely and fairly adopted for such purpose under the hand of the actuary to the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt, or of some person who shall have been for at least five years an actuary to some Life Ins. Co. in Lond., Edin., or Dublin, and the name of the actuary by whom any such Table shall have been certified shall be set forth in the rules, and printed at the foot of all copies of such Tables printed for the use of the So. (See 1850.) By the 13 & 14 Vict. c. 115, the enactments of 1819 and 1846 are modified, and the employment of an actuary in relation to F. Sos. is rendered optional, except that the Reg. is not to grant a 'certificate to any So. assu. to any member thereof a certain annuity deferred or immediate, unless the Tables of Contributions payable for such kind of assu. shall have been certified by an actuary as aforesaid, or furnished by the Reg." But if the Rules and Tables were certified by an actuary as provided by the act of 1846, then the So. was to be designated a "certified" So. By 15 & 16 Vict. c. 80 (1852), an act to abolish the office of master in ordinary of the High Court of Chancery, and to make provision for the more speedy and efficient despatch of the bus. of the said Court, authority is given (sec. 42) to any judge of the Court to obtain the assistance of "actuaries or other scientific persons" the better to enable such Court or judge to determine any matter at issue in any cause or proceeding, and to act upon the certificate of such persons. Under this authority the opinions of actuaries are very constantly required by the Court. In 1853 a gool deal of attention was drawn to the subject of the training and qualification of actuaries, by reason of the Select Com. on Assu. Asso., which sat in that year, taking some notice of the question. Mr. Samuel Brown, in a paper read before the Inst. (Assu. Mag. vol. iv., p. 93), took occasion to say : I apprehend that the real bus. of the actuary is the reasoning on all events to which the mathematics of prob. can be applied, and reducing the conclusions to a form in which they can be practically used for the public benefit. His study is the doctrine of averages; and though his functions have been hitherto confined in a great measure to subjects relating to the assu. of human life, there are evidently many other topics to which in time his attention ought to be directed. The discovery of the mathematical laws of events will eventually be recognized as the sole means of bringing uncertainty to certainty, and out of irregularity deducing order. Whilst men depend wholly on their individual experience and skill, without consulting the laws deduced by mathematics from a large collection of |