EXPECT A LION EXPECTATION

in the doctrine of ckances, the value of any prospect of prize or property depending upon the happening of some uncertain event. A sum of money in expectation upon a certain event has a determinate value before that event bappens. If the chances of receiving or not receiving a hundred pounds, when an event arrives, are equal, then, before the arrival of the event the expectation is worth half the money. Expectation of life, the number of years which a man or woman of any age may be expected to live. To calculate this with any reasonable degree of probability, it is nece ary to have particulars of a large number of individuals. The earliest observations were based upon the records of the registers of certain towns. Out of a number of people alive at one date the numbers still living at the end of succe ive years were found, and an estimate of the probable duration of life was made. With increased facilities for collecting statistics of a larger number of lives, this estimate has since been modified. It is nece arily influenced by the progre of civilization, improved methods of sanitation, increased knowledge cf the best methods of treating diseases, and other causes, but the collected statistics are now so numerous that the actuaries of life a urance of tices have been able to prepare tables of mortality from which the cost of life premiums and the price of annuities are calculated.