Page:The Effects of Civilisation on the People in European States.djvu/31

Rh would increase ten millions in every twenty years; that is, five hundred thousand a-year. Hence, therefore, in such a case, this number fall a sacrifice every year to the want of proper or sufficient food and other necessaries, the unwholesomeness of their employments, or to some other cause equally attributable to extreme civilisation. A sad reflection this! It is nevertheless strictly true, or very near the truth: a loss greater than the most destructive wars have ever occasioned.

Another fact strengthens this argument. When the Equitable Insurance Office, at Blackfriars Bridge, was first established, the premiums taken were according to a ratio proposed by Dr. Price, who formed it from the accounts of the annual deaths, taken from the bills of mortality kept in different cities of Europe. These deaths were about one in twenty-two, annually, of all the people, taken indiscriminately. Proceeding thus, the profits of the Society were so great, that in a few years they realised their enormous capital; upon which, their premiums were lowered. Their profits being still very great, they returned, in a very