Buffon's Natural History. Volume 04 (of 10) / Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c

by comte de Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon

YEARS OF LIFE.

85	86	87	88	89	90	91	92
0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	0	1	2	0	4	1	1
0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
2	4	4	2	2	0	0	0
5	4	4	3	1	2	0	2
12	9	8	9	5	9	1	3
10753	10762	10770	10779	10784	10793	10794	10797
64	52	43	35	26	21	12	11
3	7	4	5	2	4	0	2
10	4	1	4	2	2	2	2
35	19	20	25	24	17	5	9
48	30	25	34	8	23	7	13
13010	15040	13065	13099	16017	13130	13137	13150
227	179	149	124	90	82	59	52
50	39	33	43	13	32	8	16
23763	23802	22835	22878	23891	23923	23931	23947
291	231	192	159	116	103	71	63

YEARS OF LIFE.

93	94	95	96	97	98	99	100
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
0	8	0	0	0	0	0	0
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
0	0	2	1	0	3	0	0
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
0	0	3	1	0	3	0	1
10797	10797	10800	10801	10801	10804	10804	10805
8	8	8	4	4	4	1	1
1	2	0	1	1	0	0	0
1	1	2	1	0	1	0	0
5	4	5	2	1	4	1	4
7	7	7	4	2	5	1	4
13157	13164	13171	13175	13177	13182	13183	13187
39	32	25	18	14	12	7	6
7	7	10	5	2	8	1	5
23954	23961	23971	23976	23978	23986	23987	23992
47	40	33	23	18	16	8	7

From these tables many useful conclusions might be drawn. But I shall only consider those which respect the probabilities of the duration of life. It is observable, that in the columns opposite the years 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, and other round numbers as 25, 35, &c. the deaths in the country parishes are more numerous than in in the preceding or subsequent columns. The cause of this seeming inconsistency arises from the generality of country people being ignorant of their exact age, and therefore if they die at 58 or 59 in the parish register it is entered 60; and so of other round numbers. From this irregularity the inconvenience is not great, as it may easily be corrected by the manner in which the numbers succeed each other in the Tables.

By the tables in the country parishes it appears, that almost one half of the children die before the age of four years, and by the Paris table not before 16; which great difference; certainly arises from the children being sent into the country to nurse, and consequently increases the number of deaths there in infancy. As likely to come at the truth, I have blended the two tables, and from thence calculated the probabilities of the duration of life as follows:

TABLE of the PROBABILITIES of the
DURATION of HUMAN LIFE.